https://careers.pageuppeople.com/873/eb/en-us/job/500073/postdoctoral-resea…
Project Summary:
The Next Generation Science Standards provide unique opportunities for school children and teachers to engage in inquiry-driven and collaborative science learning. Along with this opportunity comes a need for shifts in the way science is taught in the United States. Teachers must not only support their students in understanding core science concepts, but also in exploring concepts via science and engineering practices. Students and teachers explore science by making sense of natural phenomena and engaging in solutions to problems. However, shifts in educational practice often occur in isolation, separately at the university or in school districts. Building on research from a prior NSF-funded project, this project employs an innovative, iterative approach involving a Networked Improvement Community to co-create a shared vision and co-defined research agenda between university researchers, science educators and school district practitioners working together to reform teacher education across a variety of contexts. By studying outcomes of shared supports and teacher tools for use in multiple steps along the science teacher pathway, we would create an opportunity to map variation existing in the system science teacher education. This process would integrate an iterative nature of educational change in local contexts impacting enactment of the Next Generation Science Standards in both university teacher preparation programs and in school district professional training activities and classrooms. This project has the potential to impact wider levels of reform beyond isolated school initiatives and provide a model for synergy and alignment in complex efforts and policy involved in improving teacher practices, ultimately bolstering a variety of coordinated efforts that have positive impact in classrooms.
Summary of position:
The Post-Doctoral Researcher will work in collaboration with a research team to design research, coordinate and conduct data collection, analyze data, prepare manuscripts for publication, and prepare reports.
This is a temporary, full-time position through June 30, 2022, with the possibility of reappointment.
Responsibilities
Design research studies
Propose research questions and detailed plans for study
Contribute to sampling design
Collect quantitative and qualitative data
Conduct interviews of teachers and administrators (20-40/year)
Oversee graduate student researcher and teacher researcher in the collection of interview data
Coordinate with administrative staff in collecting survey data
Collect observations of Networked Improvement Community (
NIC) meetings
Organize and analyze quantitative and qualitative data
Coordinate with administrative staff and researchers in downloading, storing, and organizing data
Coordinate with administrative staff and lead undergraduate researchers in data entry and transcription
Conduct qualitative data analysis and interpretation, including various forms of coding using current software
Provide data visualization of quantitative data; run basic statistics
Prepare conference presentations and publications of research findings
Propose, write, and present at national educational research conferences
Prepare research publications that report on major aspects of the research project for highly regarded research journals
Attend research, NIC and leadership meetings
Required Qualifications
Work experience in and knowledge of K-12 education
Research experience in science education, teacher learning/professional development, and/or educational reform
Methodological expertise in quantitative and/or mixed methods research
Experience presenting at national conferences and publishing in high-impact educational research journals
Experience working in research teams
Must have reliable transportation and the ability to travel to different school districts throughout the day
