UROP Project

Learning through Collaborative Design Professional Development

Science Education, Learning, Social Science
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Research Mentor: Sierra Morandi, she/her
Department, College, Affiliation: School of Teacher Education, Education
Contact Email: smorandi@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Dr. Ellen Granger she/her
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: granger@bio.fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators: Dr. Sherry Southerland she/her
Faculty Collaborators Email: ssoutherland@admin.fsu.edu
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 4
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Wednesday, September 6th, 9:00 - 9:30 AM
Thursday, September 7th, 10:00 - 10:30 AM
Friday, September 8th, 10:30 - 11:00 AM
All sessions will use the same Zoom link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/97796182364
If you have any difficulties accessing the Zoom room please reach out to Sierra (smorandi@fsu.edu)

Project Description

The Learning through Collaborative Design Professional Development (LCD PD) project is a National Science Foundation-supported research project that aims to explore the best ways to support science teachers to engage their students in "figuring things out" in science through talk. The project, having formally concluded this summer, is still ongoing in its data analysis. We are currently in the process of examining our longitudinal teachers, which is centered on four years of continuous data collection done with focal teachers from the first year of the project who continued to engage in the PD and with researchers. We are analyzing these data to understand the role of teacher collaboration in their learning and practice, and we are interested in identifying interesting patterns in the data related to teacher practice and student engagement across the years. Additionally, we are working on analyzing different survey data points that have been collected and are yet to be explored in depth.

Research Tasks: Student research assistant(s) will examine classroom video and audio data from longitudinal teachers, as well as explore survey results and interviews.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Ability to work independently and in groups. Time management skills. Interest in examing human interactions and teaching.

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy is to support individuals to explore research experiences and pursue their interests within the research project space. There is no single way to be a good mentor but the role of a mentor is to be a facilitator in a mentee's exploration of research. Mentoring includes leveraging student interests and ideas, identifying strengths, and developing skills that are useful beyond just the singular context of research. Reciprocal communication is key. Targeted and customized communication is a necessity for each and every mentee, as no two people's needs are the same. The environment we hope to cultivate includes a non-judgemental, positive space that allows both mentor and mentee to grow as well as feel safe and comfortable to learn. Mentorship is an investment on both sides. This means there is an understanding that mentees exist as whole individuals whose needs might extend outside of the research space and that growth is not limited within the bounds of the project work.

Additional Information


Link to Publications

https://lcdpd.education.fsu.edu/
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