Graphing Calculators

This research aimed to assess three case studies of in-service science teachers regarding their practices of socio-scientific issue (SSI)-based teaching as they participated in a specially developed professional development (PD) program. Data were collected throughout the PD program from group discussions, observations, interviews, and the review of documents, and they were analyzed using within-case and cross-case analysis methods. The findings showed that the PD program had positive impacts on the teachers’ practices of SSI-based teaching. There were some modifications that combined their old teaching styles and SSI-based teaching; however, they attempted to link the science content within a social context in a way that motivated student ownership of learning. They modified their roles as information providers to be learning facilitators. Their students were also encouraged to employ scientific evidence-based reasoning to address the issues under discussion. The three science teachers also added questions to enhance student thinking about the application of scientific knowledge in society. At the individual level, teaching confidence and teaching enthusiasm had powerful influences on their practices of SSI-based teaching. At the school level, the amount of teaching time and the lack of experts on SSI-based teaching in the school were found to be barriers to SSI-based teaching. The results of this study contribute to the growing body of knowledge about preparing science teachers to link their science lessons to the real world, and they also provide a framework for future studies.

The scientific enterprise holds the most promise for addressing urgent societal challenges when diversity, inclusivity, and collaboration are fostered within the science community. This requires that scientists develop personal and interpersonal competencies that allow them to participate in diverse, inclusive, and collaborative endeavors. Within STEM education, persistence and success in science and math are also influenced by such personal and interpersonal experiences. The personal connection students feel to the class material, the nature and tone of interactions among students and faculty, the sense of agency that students develop around accessing the “hidden curriculum” (office hours, research experiences, and other academic support or leadership experiences), and the sense of mattering and belonging, are all important factors in helping students develop an identity as a scientist. At our small liberal arts college, a survey of 800 students in science and math courses revealed that women, students of color, first generation to college students, and students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds disproportionately report these factors as barriers to their academic success in science and math classes. We are exploring whether we can foster a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative community of science while also lowering barriers to student success through the creation of opportunities for students and faculty to come together in interdisciplinary Grand Challenge learning collectives. Learning collectives tacklecomplex societal issues that students care deeply about and which can be addressed only through collaboration among different disciplines and lived experiences. We report on outcomes and lessons learned from a Grand Challenges learning collective focused on Global Climate Change. A set of linked introductory STEM courses (Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Data Science, Psychology) and freshman writing seminars (Sociology, History, Earth Science) addressed climate change from their own disciplinary perspectives while providing opportunities for students to engage in climate change work in foundational science courses. Work inside classes was supported by community conversations and events outside of class. At the conclusion of the introductory level courses, students explored opportunities to continue building the community by serving as near-peer mentors, by engaging in student research experiences or community-engaged learning experiences, or serving as a student Catalyst working to improve inclusion. Fundamental to the evolution of the learning collective was a program of professional and personal development for faculty and students. Working groups, formed around topics of common interest, aimed to build capacity for inclusion and equity. Faculty participants expressed the need for sustained support as they examined their teaching practices and experimented with ways to foster greater inclusivity. Students deeply valued out-of-class conversations and interactions with faculty that humanize the scientific enterprise and that help them foster their own identity as a scientist.

Science teachers are expected to teach in innovative ways that are different from their long experience as students. Professional development programs are planned to help teachers’ development, yet, there is little knowledge of the long-term effects of professional development programs (PDPs), and especially on actual practice. The purpose of this study is to gain a long-term perspective of the ways in which the process and outcomes of a reform-oriented, extended PDP are expressed in science teachers’ practice. Data sources included interviews and documents. The study presents four case studies of the practices of junior high school science teachers (grades 7–9) in Israel, with respect to a past PDP in which they took part a decade ago. The cases are presented in pairs of a leader and a follower. Each case details the teacher’s work context, sustained implementation, coherence of tools and approaches, and adaptations. All four teachers shared the view that scientific skills are important to their students as learners in a changing world. All four teachers adopted one or two major approaches, which were the PDP’s main focus. In addition, the two leaders adopted two more approaches. The teachers were still using many strategies associated with the major foci of the PDP. The level of enactment and modifications of the strategies varied. Usability of innovations is discussed in relation to the teachers’ context. We suggest that science teachers’ professional development include the ability to adapt the innovation to their teaching context in order to sustain the changes for a long period of time.

Currently, 19 states have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) while 16 states have revised their standards to mirror the NGSS. Transitioning from the previous standards to the NGSS requires in-depth teacher professional development (PD) that delves into the three-dimensional (3D) performance expectations (PE) of the NGSS. Each PE constitutes: science and engineering practices (SEPs), disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs). Teaching in the 3D model shifts the focus of science classrooms to environments where students use DCIs and CCCs with scientific practices to explore, examine, and explain scientific phenomena and to design solutions to problems. Recent literature argues that PD plays a key role in providing teachers with knowledge and skills to familiarize themselves with NGSS and assist them in successfully implementing new curricula and changing teaching practices. During 2015-2017, each summer, we led a three-week robot-integrated PD program for middle school science and math teachers. To address the shift in 3D science teaching and learning, six teachers (three math and three science), who had previously participated in the PD program, were recruited for a new PD workshop in 2018. The goal of the PD was to support teachers in selecting the PE’s relevant to their middle school curriculum, in addition to using Bybee’s 5E instructional model, thus creating robotics-based NGSS-plus-5E lessons. The 5E’s include: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. In the classroom, the teacher selects a science phenomenon for their first “E” and then takes students through a journey making the phenomenon clearer with each subsequent “E”. As part of the framework for this study, teachers became learners and went through four NGSS-plus-5E lessons created by PD facilitators to then create their own lessons. The workshop was planned and conducted based on Desimone’s conceptual framework for effective PD, which suggests five key features: content focus, active learning, coherence, sustained duration, and collective participation. The paper addresses the following research questions: (1) To what extent are the lesson plans developed by science and math teachers aligned with the three-dimensional learning of the NGSS and 5E model? (2) How can the lessons be improved for three-dimensional learning? The methodology for the analysis is a qualitative case study of two groups of middle school science and math teachers. During the PD, the two teams of three middle school teachers each collaboratively developed lesson plans which focused on ways to implement the 5E inquiry-based and the NGSS-aligned science instruction. The science lesson plans developed by the participants were the main data sources in this study. We focused on two exemplary lesson units, which were analyzed using two vetted rubrics: the Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) rubric for Science v3 and the 5E Inquiry Lesson Plan (ILP) rubric v2. The EQuIP rubric provides criteria by which to examine the alignment and overall quality of NGSS lessons. The 5E ILPv2 was developed for use in evaluating teachers’ inquiry-based 5E lesson plans and it comprises of a total of 21 items, each item being Likert-type with a range of 0-4 points. In this study, analyzing lesson plans using the rubrics provided opportunities for suggestions and feedback for improvement to developers and it informs the development of new lessons by the project team. All data were triangulated by the PD facilitators with the same perspectives to establish validity and reliability.

Professional development (PD) programmes take a wide variety of forms. Lloyd and Davis (2018) present a model to map the diversity of PD programmes based on the extent to which intrinsic control of learning was afforded to the teachers by the PD. In this study, Lloyd and Davis’s model was applied to map two different PD programmes. Both programmes aimed to achieve similar outcomes, they ran over a similar timeframe of 2 years, and both were targeted at early career teachers (ECTs). Yet, despite these similarities, the ECTs mapped the programmes differently onto the model, and the extent to which the programme outcomes were achieved also varied. The degree to which ECTs considered that the PD afforded them a sense of control and an influence over the direction of their learning was found to be associated with the extent to which the intended programme outcomes were met. Building in an optimal balance of autonomy supportive opportunities into PD programmes is likely to be an important feature of their success.

A priority for science education is to enhance pedagogical innovation in classrooms with practicing science teachers through professional development programs (PDPs). One way forward is to use a twenty-first century approach by designing a blended (i.e., online and face-to-face) program. While this approach is not new, this model has not been investigated as part of a large-scale PDP in Canada. This chapter reports on a PDP with a blended design implemented by a teaching association to support teachers’ implementation of innovative science teaching practices (e.g., inquiry, technology-enhanced teaching). The PDP had three elements: face-to-face workshops and seminars, collaboration in an online learning environment, and knowledge mobilization through sharing of developed resources. Over the PDP’s duration, 142 elementary science teachers participated. Using aggregate data from a mixed-methods approach, our evaluation research documented minor changes in elementary teachers’ views and practices with respect to the targeted innovative instructional practices. By synthesizing our findings within the current extant literature, we provide specific recommendations for future PDP designers and contribute to the research call to identify evidence-based practices from science-specific studies on blended PDPs. These recommendations include attending to technological supports, accountability considerations, and meaningful integration of online and face-to-face learning opportunities for teachers of science. Contributing to research that is designed for science teaching communities in Canada sheds light onto the nebulous area of professional learning for science teachers.

In this study, researchers designed and implemented a 1-year professional development (PD) program that focused on supporting teachers in evaluating and selecting digital learning contents. Participants in this investigation included 109 teachers who consented to the study amongst a total of 171 teachers from five school districts across central Ohio. In addition to their participation in the PD program, they completed surveys, interviews, and self-reflections in this mixed-method study. The results revealed that teachers’ perceived TPACK increased over time throughout the PD program, suggesting that training teachers to evaluate digital contents can be an effective PD model to improve teachers’ capacity in learning technology integration. The PD program was especially effective for teachers with less prior experience in technology integration or related training. Mathematics teachers, in comparison to teachers from other disciplines, began with low TPACK; however, these initial differences gradually diminished over the course of the PD program. In terms of their motivation in digital content evaluation, teachers’ expectancy for success increased significantly while their task values remained medium high. The qualitative analyses provided additional insights and revealed design suggestions for success in future PDs.

Purpose: Teacher content knowledge (CK) and its contribution to student achievement (SA) are understudied in physical education, especially concerning the examination of the effectiveness of professional development (PD) programs using direct measures of teachers’ CK and SA. To make progress in this research area, this study investigated the contribution of a content-focused PD program to teachers’ CK and SA in basketball, using direct measures thereof. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was utilized to examine the contribution of a PD program. The authors measured the CK of 52 elementary classroom teachers and their fifth or sixth grade students’ (n = 913) achievement in basketball before and after the PD program. The data were analyzed using unilevel and multilevel regression analyses. Results: Teachers who participated in the PD program exhibited higher learning gains in their CK; their students also exhibited higher learning gains. Discussion and Conclusion: The study findings suggest that PD programs focused on enhancing teachers’ CK might also support SA.

Teachers often enter the profession through a traditional (four-year teacher education program) or an alternative route without an education degree and appropriate testing credentials. Math teachers entering through an alternative route have a higher rate of attrition than math teachers with a traditional license. In addition, math and science teachers have a higher attrition rate than other teachers. This article looks at specific differences between traditionally and alternatively licensed math and science teachers' commitment to teaching and retention intentions. The differences explored can provide school system leaders with an insight into how to differentiate the induction experiences for math and science teachers with alternative and traditional licenses

This past five years has seen a drastic reform takes over in English Language Education. The reform prompts a significant change in the field of teaching, learning and the assessment system. To note, the recent implementation of CEFR-aligned Classroom-Based Assessment (CEFR CBA) demands teachers to be a comprehensive implementer in assessing students within their teaching and learning practices. As this enactment is concerned, teachers’ professional development (TPD) program plays the crucial roles to ensure teachers are well equipped with the content and pedagogical knowledge in the new policy. TPD has become an important professional learning medium for teachers in the aim of increasing their professionalism to enact educational change. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the enactment of teachers’ professional development program within two main contexts which are at the meso (school) and macro (education department) level. This study revealed that the enactment of TPD program for CEFR CBA was largely transmissive but lacking the sense of practicality to ensure the dispersion of knowledge can happened throughout the entire cascade system. Several challenges like the uncertainty to conduct in-house training, non-option teachers, participants engagement and limited time was discovered to become the factors which impede the effectiveness of TPD to serve its purpose in coaching and mentoring teachers to implement CEFR CBA. The findings of this study have the implication on the program designers and providers to better equip TPD which can address the needs of teachers at the micro level.

The paper examined professional development of senior secondary school biology teachers on inquiry-based teaching. To become and remain a competent biology teacher requires a continuous process that starts from pre-service experiences in undergraduate years to the end of a professional career. Science knowledge is constantly changing and expanding its relevance to societal issues therefore, these teachers needs constant opportunities to build their understanding and abilities in the same direction. Consequently, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) presented a vision of learning and teaching science in which students will have the opportunity to become scientifically literate. (NSES)(NRC,1996: 56). In the vision, science teachers are professionally responsible for their own professional development and for the maintenance of their teaching profession, hence this paper. Professional development is a specialized training, formal education or advanced professional learning to offer help to administrators, teachers and other educators improve their professional knowledge, skill and effectiveness in the teaching of biology in the classroom (hidden curriculum, 2014). The paper considered some majors issues that leads to teacher professional development which includes: professional development for biology teachers on inquiry-based teaching,  teachers current teaching of biology, concept of inquiry-based teaching, student learning of biology, consensus  or standards for professional development programme, impact of professional development programme, researches on professional development programme, challenges of professional development programme,  the paper was concluded by stating that  coaching and support for teachers at points of implementation should be encouraged,  professional development programs should be for a longer period of time more than what is obtainable presently, proper monitoring and evaluation of training received and its implementation among others.

This study explored a professional development (PD) program preparing mathematics coordinators to lead effective PD in their schools. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic emerging in the midst of this study, the PD program and school team PD were performed online instead of face-to-face. We explored the PD program and school team PD design before and during COVID-19 period, and the coordinators' expertise-based PD leadership professional identity (LPI). Findings revealed structural stability of the PD program design, and support of coordinators’ LPI. Coordinators enacted a structural transition of effective PD design into the school team PD, demonstrating their LPI in practice.

In preparing a science lesson plan, teachers may deal with numerous difficulties. Having a deep understanding of their problems and their demands is extremely essential for the teachers in preparing themselves for the job. Moreover, it is also crucial for the stakeholders in planning suitable and in-need teachers’ professional development programs, in school management, and in teaching aid. This study aimed to investigate the primary school science teachers’ opinion toward practice of teaching and learning activities in science learning area. Target group was 292 primary science teachers who teach Grade 4 - 6 students in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand in the academic year of 2014. Data were collected using Questionnaire about Investigation the opinions of the primary science teachers toward practice of teaching and learning activities in science learning area. The questionnaires were consisted of closed questions scored on Likert scale and open-ended questions that invite a sentence response to cover from LS Process Ideas. Research findings were as follow. The primary science teachers’ level of opinion toward teaching and learning science subject ranged from 3.19 – 3.93 (mean = 3.43) as “Moderate” level of practice. The primary school science teachers’ needs to participate in a training workshop based on LS ranged from 3.66 – 4.22 (mean = 3.90) as “High” level. The result indicated that they were interested in attending a training course under the guidance of the Lesson Study by training on planning of management of science learning to solve teaching problems in science contents with the highest mean score 4.22. Open-ended questions questionnaire showed the needs of the implementation of the lesson plans to be actual classrooms, and supporting for learning Medias, innovations, and equipment for science experimentation.

In the last twenty years in US science education, professional development has emphasized the need to change science instruction from a direct instruction model to a more participatory and constructivist learning model. The result of these reform efforts has seen an increase in science education professional development that is focused on providing teaching strategies that promote inquiry learning to learn science content. Given these reform efforts and teacher responses to professional development, research seems to indicate that whether teachers actually change their practice may depend on the teachers' basic epistemological beliefs about the nature of science. The person who builds the bridge between teacher beliefs and teacher practice is the designer and facilitator of science teacher professional development. Even though these designers and facilitators of professional development are critical to science teacher change, few have studied how these professionals approach their work and what influence their beliefs have on their professional development activities. Eight developers and designers of science education professional development participated in this study through interviews and the completion of an online questionnaire. To examine the relationship between professional development providers' science beliefs and their design, development, and implementation of professional development experiences for science teachers, this study used the Views on Science Education Questionnaire (VOSE), and interview transcripts as well as analysis of the documents from teacher professional development experiences. Through a basic interpretive qualitative analysis, the predominant themes that emerged from this study suggest that the nature of science is often equated with the practice of science, personal beliefs about the nature of science have a minimal impact on the design of professional development experiences, current reform efforts in science education have a strong influence on the design of professional development, and those providing science education professional development have diverse views about epistemology and the nature of science. The results and conclusions from this study lead to a discussion of implications and recommendations for the planning and design of professional development for science teachers, including the need to making equity and social justice issues an integral part of inquiry and scientific practice.

Journal article reviewing is often considered an unexplored or unknown practice. There is limited discussion about it, and what there is often rests on assumptions that reviewers are experienced and have knowledge about the topic of the article review, and that the model of practice involves double-blind reviewing. This curriculum review investigates a professional development program for article reviewers which was introduced by an educational journal in response to its reviewers’ request for professional development. The curriculum was based on a community of practice model and was reviewed by inviting stories of experience from the program participants. The review highlights that professional development initiatives can be evaluated based on participants’ perception of improvement in practice, and that hidden practice elements exist in any professional practice development program, and these can also be enhanced by professional development. The implications of this realisation for academic development practice emphasise not only the viability of a community of practice model for professional development but the value of participant stories in evaluating the impact of such initiatives.