Intellectual Merit:
This project will advance research and theory on teacher-driven models for integrating CS standards into curriculum through sustainability education. The innovative approach to design-based teacher professional learning modules that are grounded in an RPP will contribute to the fields of teacher education, curriculum development, and computer science education in productive ways. Research on best practices for training teachers to modify NGSS lessons for CS/CT integration will contribute to a growing body of knowledge on teacher education and how to support teachers’ professional learning at scale.
Broader Impact:
Products from the RPP’s research and development will include a set of tools, heuristics, and curricular units, which will be made publicly available through the University of Maryland’s Center for Science and Technology in Education website and will be disseminated state-wide through MSDE’s networks. The smaller-scale PD workshops will be released for public distribution and will be implemented in local schools by teacher leaders on the project team. This will provide a mechanism for local capacity-building in C-STEM and sustainability integration. Focusing on in-service teachers and teacher-leaders, who already have deep knowledge and experience integrating standards-based frameworks into their curricula allows us to more effectively empower and support the dissemination of knowledge and tools to other educators. Finally, by anchoring the unit in the discipline of sustainability, this project will contribute to global efforts to prepare students to make sense of and respond to complex environmental challenges.