STEM: Integrated Teaching Project

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This project develops several distinct programmes for teachers of mathematics and science.

1) Integrated teaching project: STEM teacher professional development programme

This programme aims to establish a theoretical underpinning for the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” and to generate a data-driven teaching roadmap within a three-year period. Based on this roadmap, a sustainable professional development programme for mathematics and science teachers at secondary and high school levels is also developed.

In 2015, when the project received its first support, a pilot study was carried out in Ankara involving 45 mathematics and science teachers. In 2016, it is estimated to have reached a total of 250 teachers through workshops in 13 different locations. During an eight-month period, the teachers who participated in the programme undertook 92 hours of study, which consisted of face-to-face workshops, online training, the writing of lesson plans, classroom practice, evaluation and examinations. The workshops were led by the project’s coordinator in the first year of the programme and were then transferred to its leading teachers in the second year. In the third year of the programme, a much wider teacher audience of over 1,500 people was reached, by using professionally edited video recordings from the workshops. Online learning management systems are an important part of the programme, ensuring effective communication and continuity of interaction between teachers and academics.

The intellectual merit of this programme is that it allows the theoretical roadmap for the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” to be implemented for the first time as a sustainable and inclusive professional development method for teachers across Turkey. The broader impact of the project relies on its unprecedented scale: the largest of its kind in Turkey. The “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” is also expected to influence the official curriculum and nationwide educational policies of the Ministry of Education. Another important broader impact of the project will be the creation of a sustainable network of teachers through the www.inteach.org portal.

2) Integrated teaching project: early STEM curriculum development programme

This three-year programme aims at developing “Early STEM” and “STEM Junior” curricula. Educational materials (e.g. Teacher Book, Activity Book, Story Book) are developed and used in the context of “Early STEM” and “STEM Junior”, covering every year to the end of the fourth grade. Subject knowledge tests are also developed, and a team of teachers trained both to administer these tests and to support the process by sharing their knowledge with their colleagues. During the first year, 250 teachers participated in the programme, and it is anticipated that the second and third years of the programme will reach nearly 1,600 teachers and 32,000 students. All the teachers have a follow-up through the programme’s online system, which is revised based on the teachers’ feedback. The materials that are produced as part of the programme are evaluated for commercial use and remain under the copyright of the project’s executive.

The intellectual merit of the programme is the customisation of the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” — developed by the project’s leader — for pre-school and elementary schools. This innovation is the first of its kind, and an impact analysis carried out on the resulting programmes. The results of the research are shared at academic conferences and with journals; and by cooperating with the Provincial Directorates of National Education the programme can appeal to state schools and significantly increase the visibility and awareness of the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework”.

3) Integrated teaching project: STEM Centre development programme

This programme — comprising research, training and consultation — focuses on the establishment of a STEM centre based on the “Integrated Teaching Framework”. The STEM centre model that is developed as part of this programme explores how the physical and virtual learning environments are designed, how the centre supports schools, the teachers and the classroom learning process, how to organise and reach large numbers within the centre, and how to train and support teaching staff. The programme takes into consideration the establishment of the PayasSTEM centre by the Municipality of Payas District of Hatay Province during the 2016-2017 academic year. Support is provided for the design of the centre’s physical layout, for the selection and training of its instructors and staff, for the evaluation of its programme’s contents, and for increasing the broader impact of the newly established centre.

The intellectual merit of this programme lies in the “STEM: The Integrated Teaching Framework”, which offers a theoretical roadmap that can be applied in the non-school settings of Hatay province. In terms of broader impact, it is anticipated that the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” can also affect local education policies, and create synergies in the Çukurova region.

4) Integrated teaching project: Harezmi teacher education programme

This programme aims at developing a teacher training programme, managed by the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and the Ministry of Education’s General Directorate of Innovation and Education Technologies, to be known for short as the “Harezmi Model”. Within the scope of the project, it provides consultancy to administrators of public institutions, in order to increase consistency with the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework”. A ten-week-long process for planning the Harezmi Model is put in place, in which training is provided to practising teachers and their practices improved through the feedback that they receive from their project manager. The programme itself started in February 2017.

5) Integrated teaching project: Supporting Erzincan University

This programme is aimed at educating faculty members and staff during the 2016-2017 academic year and at providing consultancy services for the writing and management of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teacher education projects at Erzincan University, within the scope of the “STEM: Integrated Teacher Project — Lead Teacher Professional Development Programme” at Bahçeşehir University. In this context, a sample workshop was carried out at Erzincan, managed by the project’s executive.

The establishment of a teacher training process follows, alongside the provision of the necessary distance education infrastructure for sharing relevant knowledge. Teachers participating in the programme do a total of 92 hours’ work over a period of eight months. This includes hundreds of workshops, online training sessions, the writing of lesson plans, classroom practice, practice assessments, and exams.

In terms of intellectual merit, the “STEM: Integrated Teaching Framework” demonstrates an institutional road map that can be applied across the Erzincan province. The broader impact of the project is set out in the “STEM: Integrated Education Framework”, which creates synergies within the Erzincan province, affects local education policies, and sets an example for university-based sustainable teacher education programmes.

6) TÜSİADSTEM: Integrated teaching for the innovative children of the knowledge society

This programme aims at developing a low-intensity professional development programme for young teachers with a leadership potential who teach science and mathematics courses in fifth and sixth grade. The first phase of the programme ran from October 2016 to July 2017, training 40 TUSIAD STEM lead teachers, and indirectly reaching approximately 3,600 middle school students.

The programme has the following four main outputs, relating to intellectual merit and broader impact:

  1. Flexible Curriculum: a TUSIADSTEM kit and a guide for the development of one-on-one teacher training.
  2. Professional Learning Community: the TUSIADSTEM online portal, and the online teacher training courses it offers.
  3. Knowledge Society: the TUSIADSTEM fair.
  4. Theory and Practice: a TUSIADSTEM impact analysis report and related academic studies.

In the second year of the programme, it was planned that the programme would be implemented across five different cities by giving responsibility for mentoring to lead teachers. This offered the potential to access 800 teachers and 72,000 students, depending on the levels of financial support provided. The domain name http://ogretmen.tusiadstem.org is registered as the project’s online portal.

 

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