Impact of Hands-On Professional Development Workshop in North Dakota on K-12 Teacher Confidence in Space Sciences

Clifford Hall, Room 210

This study examines the confidence levels of space science pedagogy for eighteen North Dakota in-service teachers. The teachers completed a two-day professional development (PD) workshop at the University of North Dakota, conducting hands-on NASA-themed activities. A pre- and post-survey were administered prior to and following the workshop. These surveys revealed three statistically significant results: 1) after a workshop, teachers feel confident in teaching space science, t(34) = 3.669, p < 0.001; 2) teachers felt more confident teaching space science once they are aware of available educational resources, materials, and opportunities that can complement their teaching, t(19.83) = 5.548, p < 0.001; and 3) after a workshop, teachers feel more confident adapting other STEM lesson plans to cover space science topics, t(33) = 3.237, p < .05.