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Science teachers learn to be policy advocates

By Trey Smith, Rebecca Hite and Rebecca Vieyra
Categories: Advocacy/policy
August 2021
The AAPT/AIP Master Teacher Policy Leader Fellowship is a one-year fellowship that aims to build teachers’ policy knowledge, skills, and dispositions to act as change agents in science education policy spaces. Funded by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institution of Physics, the fellowship is composed of a cohort of 11 teachers in nine self-selected state-level teams who came together from across the country for a weeklong summit in Washington, D.C. During this summit, teachers developed action plans to improve equity in science education — from petitioning state legislatures to allocate funding for science teachers’ professional learning, to enlisting science teaching societies to promote evidence-based pedagogies to help girls and young women feel more welcome in science classrooms. Amy and her colleague

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References

AAPT Physics Master Teacher Leader Task Force. (2017). Aspiring to lead: Engaging K-12 teachers as agents of change in physics education. www.aapt.org/K12/upload/PMTL-Report-2017__aapt_fina.pdf

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Bundy, B., Dahl, J., Guiñals-Kupperman, S., Hengesbach, J., Martino, K., Metzler, J., Smith, T., Vargas, M., Vieyra, R., & Whitehurst, A. (2019). Physics teacher leaders influencing science education policy. The Physics Teacher, 58(3), 210-213.

Gonzales, P., Williams, T., Jocelyn, L., Roey, S., Kastberg, D., & Brenwald, S. (2009). Highlights from TIMMS 2007: Mathematics and science achievement of U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students in an international context. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Heiman, H.J., Smith, L.L., McKool, M., Mitchell, D.N., & Roth Bayer, C. (2016). Health policy training: A review of the literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(1), 1-12.

Hite, R. & Milbourne, J. (2018). A proposed conceptual framework for K-12 STEM master teacher (STEMMaTe) development. Education Sciences, 8(4), 1-25. doi.org/10.3390/educsci8040218

NASEM. (2017). Increasing the roles and significance of teachers in policymaking for K-12 engineering education: Proceedings of a convocation. The National Academies Press.

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NRC. (2014a). Exploring opportunities for STEM teacher leadership: Summary of a convocation. The National Academies Press.

NRC. (2014b). Literacy for science: Exploring the intersection of the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core for ELA Standards: A workshop summary. The National Academies Press.

NRC. (2007). Taking science to school: Learning and teaching science in grades K-8. The National Academies Press.

Powell, D. (2016, November 16). Is it appropriate for teachers to discuss politics in school? [Web Blog Post]. blogs.edweek.org/edweek/K-12_Contrarian/2016/11/appropriate_ for_teachers_discuss_politics_school.html

Saçkes, M. Trundle, K.C., Bell, R.L., & O’Connell, A.A. (2010). The influence of early science experience in kindergarten on children’s immediate and later science achievement: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2), 217-235.

Sunderman, G.L., Tracey, C.A., Kim, J., & Orfield, G. (2004). Listening to teachers: Classroom realities and No Child Left Behind. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d). Albert Einstein distinguished educator fellowship program. science.osti.gov/wdts/einstein


Image for aesthetic effect only - Trey Smith
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Trey Smith (johsmi@upenn.edu) is a science, technology, and engineering teacher in Philadelphia public schools.

Image for aesthetic effect only - Rebecca-hite-epfp
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Rebecca Hite (rebecca.hite@ttu.edu) is assistant professor of science education at Texas Tech University.

Image for aesthetic effect only - Rebecca-vieyra-1-scaled
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Rebecca Vieyra (rvieyra@aapt.org) is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland-College Park.


Categories: Advocacy/policy

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