Research Overview

The STeLLA CO² project brought together stakeholders from three undergraduate secondary science education programs in Colorado, tasked with mentoring preservice science teachers (PSTs).

Our cross-stakeholder teams: Faculty members who taught undergraduate science courses; faculty members who taught secondary preservice education courses; and mentor teachers (MTs) who supported PSTs’ field experiences.

Our theory of change:

• Our theory of change highlights how stakeholder roles shifted as part of our community-driven model for supporting coherence in PST programs.
• Phase 0 (Status quo): University education and science faculty are loosely connected due to their affiliation, while mentor teachers often have working relationships with education faculty or their designates.
• Phase 1: BSCS facilitates collaboration among team members, as they develop a shared vision for effective science teaching using STeLLA.
• Phase 2: BSCS supports university teams in developing unique plans to enhance the effectiveness and coherence of their program. Team members adopt different roles to achieve desired outcomes.
• Phase 3: Teams lead the implementation of their plans with support from BSCS.

Review some of the papers that we have written about our work.

Research and Conference Papers

NARST 2024

• Cherbow, K., Lo, A. S., Herrmann-Abell, C. F., Stennett, B., & Askinas, K. (2024, March 19). Impacting Preservice Teachers’ Classroom Practice Through the Development of Coherent Science Teacher Education Experiences [Conference Paper]. NARST 2024 Annual International Conference, Denver, CO.
• Stennett, B., Lo, A. S., Herrmann-Abell, C. F., Cherbow, K., & Askinas, K. (2024, March 17). Communities Supporting Preservice Teacher Learning in Colorado [Conference Poster]. NARST 2024 Annual International Conference, Denver, CO.

NARST 2021

• Lo, A. S., Stennett, B., Hvidsten, C., & Askinas, K. (2021, April 9). Adapting and Scaling the STeLLA PD Program Conceptual Framework in Preservice Teacher Education Programs [Conference Paper]. NARST 2021 Annual International Conference (virtual).

ASTE 2024

• Lo, A. S., Bekins, A., Lindsay, W., Martin, A., Newberg, J., Smith, J., Gagnon, R., Knight, J., Knoblock, R., Larm, R., Scott, A., Strode, P., Stennett, B., & Cherbow, K. (2024, Jan). A practitioner’s perspective on engaging in cross-stakeholder collaborations to enhance secondary science preservice preparation programs [Themed Paper Set]. ASTE 2024 International Conference, New Orleans, LA.

ASTE 2021

• Lo, A. S., Hvidsten, C., Stennett, B., & Askinas, K. (2021, January 14). Developing a common vision for supporting coherence in three preservice science teacher education programs. ASTE 2021 International Conference (virtual).