Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Surface, T. M.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 1000
INSTITUTE, WEST VIRGINIA 25112

4-H GROWTH ON THE GO

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: It is a truth universally acknowledged that when media giants like Verizon are using advertisement dollars to encourage youths to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) these fields must be in want of a well-educated workforce. Unfortunately, our bright scientific minds are underserved in the early years when it should be easiest to engage with their questing minds. Enter, then, Growth on the Go, a program aimed to reinvigorate science engagement in the classroom. As it stands, science and math, instead of being frontiers of exploration and possibility, are either absent from the classroom or, perhaps worse, made unappealing. This is in large part because early education and elementary teachers are underprepared to teach these subjects; they have little training in the sciences, particularly in chemistry, engineering, and physics. This lack of content knowledge is combined with a lack of pedagogical practices on delivering science education and leads, detrimentally, to avoidance. An alarming number of elementary students do not receive science education weekly when, in fact, they should be receiving it most days if not every day.Growth on the Go aims to change this by providing teachers with low-anxiety trainings that increase teacher confidence in content knowledge and their ability to teach STEM subjects. Rather than teachers translating their anxiety to their students, Growth on the Go will help them cultivate and convey enthusiasm for the topics at hand. The program will target both pre-service and in-service teachers with trainings; it will provide additional support to in-service teachers through a lending library of curriculum boxes developed on 14 themes and other tools such as iPads and microscopes. Each themed box focuses on hands-on learning opportunities and incorporates multiple scientific disciplines as well as literacy, history, and other relevant subjects. Growth on the Go will also provide event days, delivering positive STEM encounters to students in underserved communities in West Virginia. This is all made possible by its mobile capacity, bringing tools, professional development, and resources to the communities in the tradition of George Washington Carver's Moveable Schools. With this vibrant beginning, students will grow into questioning, engaged citizens and students of the sciences.

OBJECTIVES: Goal Statement: Growth on the Go aims to increase the amount of time spent on and the quality of engagement with STEM in prek-5th grade classrooms by better preparing pre-service and in-service teachers to engage with STEM; the program will increase their confidence, knowledge, and professional support network through trainings while providing necessary supplies.Objectives1. Extension ObjectivesTo increase Preschool-5th grade educators' confidence in teaching STEM and agriculture concepts.To increase the amount of time Preschool-5th grade teachers spend on STEM and agriculture concepts in the classroom.To provide materials and curriculum for hands-on science education to Preschool-5th grade teachers.To engage communities in schools in positive experiential STEM learning opportunities.2. Teaching ObjectivesTo increase pre-service teachers' confidence in teaching STEM and agriculture concepts.To increase curriculum development and instructional opportunities for pre-service teachers.To increase technology use in science lessons.

APPROACH: Growth on the Go will deliver seasonal trainings on STEM content, curriculum, and pedagogy practices. Each year thirty teachers will be recruited to participate in seasonal trainings. Upon completion of the trainings they will have access to the curriculum box library. A null set of in-service teachers will receive access to the curriculum boxes but not participate in trainings. Pre-and post-surveys will be completed by both groups of teachers. This means that all trained teachers will complete pre and post surveys around the trainings and then surveys for each box; the null group will complete a survey before signing out the boxes and then after each subsequent box has been utilized as well as at the program's end. Pre-service teachers will also complete pre and post surveys on confidence; however, all preservice teachers will receive training from Extension agents in partnership with their EDUC 318 professor.All surveys will be analyzed by the evaluator. Program efficacy will be evaluated through pre- and post- surveys. In-service and pre-service teachers will be surveyed on their own perceptions of their current knowledge, ability to teach STEM, and how effective they feel they are in presenting the material to the students. The survey, done on a Likert scale, would give a statistical analysis of how teachers feel their students have gained knowledge from their ability to teach the material. The post-survey would also have an open-ended component that would allow for reflection. Additional qualitative data can be ascertained from focus interviews with students. Keeping the students' identity confidential and anonymous, IRB approval should be granted to use the students' feedback.

PROGRESS: 2019/04 TO 2020/03
Target Audience:Preschool-5th grade educators, and pre-service teachers Changes/Problems:Due to retirement of the CO-PI, new professors have been sought as partners to continue the program at the in-service level. Several meetings have been held with the Dean of Education at WVSU to further this partnership and create a collaboration. These conversations are ongoing with professors expressing interest and excitement at the prospect of working together and utilizing materials to increase STEM confidence in pre-service educators. Even as these details are being finalized, it is possible that pre-service teachers could opt to join in the PD offered to in-service teachers with modified requirements for receiving materials from the program. However, with the quarantine from COVID-19 we are tasked with making changes that both address social distancing in how we deliver PD as well as that address how teachers must change their approaches to education. To address this, we are preparing a virtual model of training and partnering with current in-service teachers who excel at science to prepare curriculum that will align fully with classroom needs while increasing STEM confidence and engagement for in-service educators. We are planning to have virtual Moodle training and anticipate requesting a no-cost extension. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training has been taking place for the pre-service teachers, enabling them to work one on one with the Growth on the Go extension staff. Through these interactions, the undergraduate students worked towards gaining a better understanding of how to create and implement a lesson plan, acknowledge and change their attitudes about science, and learn about using science notebooks in elementary classrooms. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, additional curriculum boxes will be finalized and training for the pre-school-5th grade teachers will be underway. The second cohort of undergraduate pre-service teachers will be trained in the fall. Results from the preliminary pre and post survey from our first cohort of students will allow us to strengthen our program to make sure that we are increasing teacher's confidence in teaching STEM and agriculture concepts. We are looking towards delivering the modules online utilizing Moodle combined with live virtual sessions. These efforts will allow us to provide educators with virtual resources to use in the next year as well as materials to utilize when normal classroom education resumes. We will also create virtual methods of connecting pre and in-service teachers, possibly utilziing on-line social media platforms to increase interaction and support among educator. We will also allow pre-service teachers to join virtual sessions with in-service teachers to be certain that they have access to the program.

IMPACT: 2019/04 TO 2020/03
What was accomplished under these goals? Staff worked with the co-PI teaching a pre-service class aimed at increasing confidence in teaching STEM and familiarizing pre-service educators with best practices in science education. Staff have created modules for delivering to in-service teachers and have recruited current in-service teachers who excel in science instruction to partner in reviewing the modules and the delivery method to both pre-service and in-service educators. These efforts assist in meeting Extension Objectives 1 and 2 as well as Teaching Objectives 1 and 2. More materials have been purchased for box creation as well as plans made to complete the purchasing of supplies in order to meet Extension Objective 3. Staff provided several STEM Days to schools in the targeted counties as part of meeting Objective 4. A van has been purchased to enable the delivery of materials and training.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2019/04 TO 2020/03
No publications reported this period.