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3D-RST
Meet the Teachers

3D-RST: Developing Capacity for 3D Science Teaching in Rural Utah 

Participant Information 

Time Commitment & What to Expect:

  • Participants spend, on average, about 3-5 hours per week on the grant. You may log more or less depending on where we are in the TMLS cycle.
  • Attendance to the week-long Summer workshop (July 8-12, 2024) at BYU.
  • Attendance of the in-person weekend meetings once per quarter (Friday-Saturday) at BYU.
    • In-person meeting dates will be determined during the Summer Workshop
  • Zoom meetings with your groups throughout the quarter
    • During these meetings, you will teach, discuss, and revise your lesson plans

Expectations:

  • Attendance to the Summer workshop and quarterly in-person meetings.
  • Active participation during all in-person and virtual meetings.
  • Honesty in tracking your non-contracted work hours .
  • Being responsible for and managing your borrowed Swivl robot
  • Responsibly using grant resources.
  • Being invested, vulnerable, and open to learning a new and creative way of teaching.
  • Coming as a professional to work together with your team in creating lesson plans.

Compensation:

  • You will be paid $25/hr for all non-contracted work hours. (At each in-person meeting, you will submit an invoice containing the hours worked, and our project manager will submit your invoice for payment.)
  • All expenses covered for in-person meetings
    • Hotel rooms will be provided for you near campus.
    • You will receive mileage reimbursement.
    • Breakfasts are provided at the hotel, lunches will be catered during the meetings, and per diems will be reimbursed to you for dinner.
  • We will cover the cost of your substitute teacher for any days of school missed to attend our in-person meetings.
  • The grant will provide your team with the needed supplies for the lessons you create together. Those supplies will be mailed to you.

Things our current participants want you to know:

  • “There is a large time investment, but the reward is definitely worth it.”
  • “This is the absolute BEST professional development I have ever had. It has impacted how I teach and the considerations I make when planning activities for my students. While it is a bigger time commitment, you are also compensated for your time - something incredibly rare for teachers.”
  • “We believe this will change the impact they have on their students. That they will have students who have never liked science that start liking science, and those who liked it will like it even more.”
  • “There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone.”
  • “It is absolutely worth the time. 3D science teaching is now much more clear, and I feel much more confident teaching the SEEd standards.”
  • “I have really learned a lot from this process, especially about productive questioning, SEPs, and CCCs usage in lesson planning.”

How to apply 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Read more about what 3D Science is here: Three Dimensional Learning.
  • Lesson study is an established professional learning model that has successfully met teachers’ needs by improving collaboration, helping teachers examine their practice, and enhancing student learning. Traditionally, lesson study is conducted in small groups that meet in person to create lessons, review each other’s teaching, and revise lessons together.

    The lesson study process has been shown to increase student learning and significantly impact teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge. Utilizing lesson study also increases teachers’ expectations for student achievement by encouraging teachers to consider students’ interaction with content rather than focusing on only the content itself.
  • Technology-Mediated Lesson Study (TMLS) uses the same cycle of engaging teachers in iterative, collaborative processes of lesson design, teaching, observation, and lesson redesign but uses technology resources that notably allow teachers to interact and learn together when not co-located.

    Because of the geographic distance between rural science teachers, traditional lesson study is impossible, but in TMLS, technology is utilized to connect otherwise isolated teachers to co-create lessons and offer feedback on teaching and the lesson material.

    In TMLS, colleagues observe the lesson via video recording, then meet online, transforming how rural science teachers collaborate. The TMLS process invites participants virtually into their colleagues’ classrooms, an intimate, vulnerable act that we believe will support strong collegial relationships, even though the teams will meet via technology.