The project RDE-FRI: The Effects of Simulation Enhanced Training for Teachers on the Science Achievement of Third and Fourth Graders is a 36 month, $299,942 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of the project is to train elementary school teachers in effective teaching strategies so that third and fourth grade students with disabilities will experience effective science education and improve their science achievement. Effective teaching strategies are taught to elementary school teachers using a simulated classroom setting, the web-based simSchool system, which includes a diverse group of learners with and without disabilities. The research team is conducting a four (4) phase project which begins with programming the unique learner characteristics of the science classroom Avatars for an environmental science unit on the life in a pond. Phase two of the project includes field testing the simSchool unit with elementary school teachers who are also graduate students. During the third phase of the project the research team collects pre- and post-intervention data from elementary school teachers to compare the effectiveness of the simSchool approach to a face-to-face approach. Phase four of the project includes an investigation of the impact of the simSchool approach on the science achievement of third and fourth graders with and without disabilities as measured by curriculum based assessments and achievement gain scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Wisconsin Environmental Inventory. This project builds on the prior success of the team's NSF-funded work on the teacher professional development (DRL-0322847) and on the use of the simSchool approach to educating girls in science (GSE-0114917), as well as Education Department funding for the use of simSchool for pre-service elementary teacher training (P116B060398).
This highly experienced team, which is lead by a researcher with a special education background, benefits from collaborations with the David Gibson, the developer of the simSchool system, as well as partnerships with teacher education faculty from the University of Maine-Farmington, the University of Nevada-Reno, Southeastern Louisiana University, and the University of Florida-Gainesville. Ten (10) teachers who are graduate students at the University of North Texas (UNT) will participate in this project and the impact of their training is being assessed on 80 K-12 student with disabilities and 420 without disabilities. An additional 20 third and fourth grade students with disabilities and 30 third and fourth grade students without disabilities, from the Elm Fork Educational Program sponsored at the UNT, are participating in the validity testing phase of this project.
This project addresses the RDE-FRI track goal of investigating effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM by measuring the impact of teacher training on science education for third and fourth graders with disabilities. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by Leslie Leach an external evaluator. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors that includes John Southworth from the University of Hawaii; Barbara McKenzie from the University of West Georgia; Theresa Overall from the University of Maine, and John Park from North Carolina State. There is also an extensive dissemination plan which includes publishing findings in peer-reviewed professional journals, presenting project materials and results at special education, science, technology and education research conferences, and communicating project methods and outcomes with the RDE community as well as the broad community of simSchool users.
Project SETS (Simulation-Enhanced Training for Science Teachers) was a three-year project that attempted to improve training for elementary level science teachers using a simulated classroom (simSchool) as a laboratory experience. In the simulated classroom, divergent populations and students with disabilities were emulated. The "simSchool" program provided pre-service teachers with a "virtual practicum" to develop their teaching skills prior to teaching in real classrooms. The program trained users to develop skills in differentiating instruction, classroom management, special education and adapting teaching for students with various cognitive abilities. Intellectual Merit. SimSchool offered the opportunity for novice teachers to gain rapid experience in implementing effective teaching strategies for students with disabilities in an inclusion science classroom. Project SETS validated the simulated classroom model by determining how closely simSchool actual represents the teaching/learning experience gained through actual experience in a simulated inclusion science classroom. Currently, there is critical shortage of both science teachers and special education teachers across the country. Project SETS has helped to determine whether a simulation can provide novice teachers with necessary skills to be successful in the classroom. Based on the successes achieved in Project SETS, project personnel applied for additional funding. Through additional funding from the EduCause Foundation, the project is continuing to provide critical training opportunities in working with diverse populations to teacher preparation institutions. Broader Impact. The US faces a critical shortage of highly trained teachers. Other career areas such as pilot training and the medical field have used simulation to provide a plethora of training experience in a "safe" simulated environment. In Project SETS, simSchool proved to be an effective method for increasing the teaching experiences of novice teacher entering the field. Further exploration of simulations as a teacher training tool, could have a great impact on the current teacher shortage as well as teacher quality. Through simulations, novice teachers could be moved to "seasoned" teachers in a more rapid time frame. More experience with working with students with disabilities could be provided prior to the novice teachers entrance into the field. Currently, with funding from EduCause, the findings from this Research in Disabilities Education project are being disseminated to other teacher preparation institutions thereby providing enhanced experiences with working with students with disabilities to a large number of future teachers. SimSchool could prove to be an effective device for providing rapid teaching experience and for providing the skills to assist novice teachers with meeting with success in the classroom. Summary of Research. After participating in simSchool, a teacher's level of perceived effectiveness increased. In addition, results indicate that the simSchool model, when considering data from one student across tasks, was able to simulate the behaviors of that student. We are continuing to explore the effectiveness of simulations for training future teachers.
