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5 Teacher and School Readiness for Laboratory Experiences
Pages 138-167

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From page 138...
... · School administrators play a critical role in supporting the successful integration of laboratory experiences in high school science by providing improved approaches to professional development and adequate time for teacher planning and implementation of laboratory experiences.
From page 139...
... We then compare the desired skills and knowledge with information about the current skills and knowledge of high school science teachers. We then go on to describe approaches to supporting teachers and improving their capacity to lead laboratory experiences through improvements in professional development and use of time.
From page 140...
... Science Content Knowledge Helping students attain the learning goals of laboratory experiences re quires their teachers to have broad and deep understanding of both the processes and outcomes of scientific research. The degree to which teachers themselves have attained the goals we speak of in this report is likely to influence their laboratory teaching and the extent to which their students progress toward these goals.
From page 141...
... Deng (2001) describes pedagogical content knowledge for science teachers as an understanding of key scientific concepts that is somewhat different from that of a scientist.
From page 142...
... The importance of pedagogical content knowledge challenges assump tions about what science teachers should know in order to help students attain the goals of laboratory experiences. Specifically, it challenges the as sumption that having a college degree in science, by itself, is sufficient to teach high school science.
From page 143...
... Teachers need to listen in a way that goes well beyond an immediate right or wrong judgment. Methods of assessing student learning in laboratory activities include systematically observing and evaluating students' performance in specific laboratory tasks and longer term laboratory investigations.
From page 144...
... . To lead effective laboratory experi ences, science teachers should know how to use data from all of these assessment methods in order to reflect on student progress and make in formed decisions about which laboratory activities and teaching approaches to change, retain, or discard (National Research Council, 2001b; Volkman and Abell, 2003)
From page 145...
... . This lack of discussion may be due to the fact that high school science teachers depend heavily on the use of textbooks and accompanying laboratory manuals (Smith et al., 2002)
From page 146...
... Strong academic preparation is also essential in helping teachers develop the deep knowledge of science content and sci ence processes needed to lead effective laboratory experiences. However, many high school teachers currently lack strong academic preparation in a science discipline.
From page 147...
... These limits, in turn, could contribute to lower science achievement, especially among poor and minority students. Uneven Quality of Preservice Science Education Even teachers who have majored in science may be limited in their ability to lead effective laboratory experiences, because their undergraduate science preparation provided only weak knowledge of science content and included only weak laboratory experiences.
From page 148...
... Science teachers may be modeling instructional practices they themselves witnessed or experienced firsthand as students in college science classes. Clearly, their preservice experiences do not provide the skills and knowledge needed to select and effectively carry out laboratory experiences that are appropriate for reaching specific science learning goals for a given group of students.
From page 149...
... Few professional development programs for science teachers emphasize laboratory instruction. In reviewing the state of biology education in 1990, an NRC committee concluded that few teachers had the knowledge or skill to lead effective laboratory experiences and recommended that "major new programs should be developed for providing in-service education on laboratory activities" (National Research Council, 1990, p.
From page 150...
... . In contrast to these short, ineffective approaches, consensus is growing in the research about key features of high-quality professional development for mathematics and science teachers (DeSimone, Porter, Garet, Yoon, and Birman, 2002; DeSimone et al., 2003, p.
From page 151...
... Other studies indicate that high-quality professional development can encourage and support science teachers in leading a full range of laboratory experiences that allow students to participate actively in formulating research questions and in designing and carrying out investigations (Windschitl, 2004)
From page 152...
... It was implemented over four day long Saturday sessions spread over a semester. Between sessions, teacher participants reflected on what they were learning and applied some of it in their classrooms, following the active learning approach suggested by the research on professional development for science teachers.
From page 153...
... . This earlier research indicated that, just as engaging students in laboratory experiences in isolation led to little or no increase in their understanding of the nature of science, engaging prospective or current science teachers in laboratory activities led to little or no increase in their understanding of the nature of science.
From page 154...
... Professional Development Partnerships with the Scientific Com munity. Scientific laboratories, college and university science departments, and science museums have launched efforts to support high school science teachers in improving laboratory teaching.
From page 155...
... They felt confident to guide their students through the same process, where there is no `right answer.'" It is unclear whether these and other ad hoc efforts to provide summer research experiences reach the majority of high school science teachers. Although no national information is available about high school teachers' participation in laboratory internship programs, a recent survey found that only 1 in 10 novice elementary school teachers had participated in internship programs in which they worked directly with scientists or engineers.
From page 156...
... In this section we describe the difficulty school administrators encounter when they try to support effective labora tory teaching. Supporting Teachers with Professional Development School administrators have a strong influence on whether high school science teachers receive the professional development opportunities needed to develop the knowledge and skills we have identified.
From page 157...
... Although the time frame of the study prevented analysis of whether the teacher communities were sustained over time, the results suggest that school districts can use focused professional development as a way to create strong teaching communities with the potential to support continued improvement in laboratory teaching and learning. Scheduling Laboratory Teaching and Learning Currently, most schools are designed to support teaching that follows predictable routines and schedules (Gamoran, 2004)
From page 158...
... Associations of science teachers have taken differing positions on how administrators can best support teachers in preparing for and cleaning up after laboratory expe riences. The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
From page 159...
... . No national survey data are available to indicate whether science teachers receive adequate preparation time or assistance from trained laboratory technicians.
From page 160...
... Improving high school science teachers' capacity to lead laboratory ex periences effectively is critical to advancing the educational goals of these experiences. This would require both a major changes in undergraduate science education, including provision of a range of effective laboratory experiences for future teachers, and developing more comprehensive sys tems of support for teachers.
From page 161...
... . Prospective and practicing secondary school science teachers' knowledge and beliefs about the philosophy of science.
From page 162...
... . Organizational conditions that support inquiry in high school science instruction.
From page 163...
... . Improving science teachers' conceptions of nature of science: A critical review of the literature.
From page 164...
... . Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
From page 165...
... . The effects of professional development on science teaching practices and classroom culture.
From page 166...
... Rethinking the continuum of preparation and professional de velopment for secondary science educators. Paper prepared for the Committee on High School Science Laboratories: Role and Vision, June 3-4, National Re search Council, Washington, DC.
From page 167...
... . Retired scientists and engineers: Providing in-classroom sup port to K-12 science teachers.


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