Science Teachers' Learning Enhancing Opportunities, Creating Supportive Contexts (2015) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
7 Teacher Learning in Schools and Classrooms
7 Teacher Learning in Schools and Classrooms
Pages 147-174
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 147... ...
This chapter focuses on what is known about the broad array of such teacher learning opportunities that arise in classrooms and schools. In one recent report, The New Teacher Project (2015)
|
From page 148... ...
It then considers the roles of coaches and mentors and of induction programs for beginning teachers. It is important to note that while the research base on learning opportunities embedded in teachers' everyday work is thin, many innovative approaches currently being developed and implemented may hold promise for enhancing science teachers' learning and expanding the available research in this area.
|
From page 149... ...
For example, the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools at the University of Wisconsin conducted a multimethod study of 24 elementary, middle, and high schools undertaking comprehensive restructuring in 22 districts and 16 states, with special attention to the quality of instruction in mathematics and social studies. They found that aspects of school-wide professional community -- shared norms and values, a focus on student learning, a habit of reflective dialogue, deprivatization of practice, and collaboration -- were associated with more robust instruction and provided supports for teacher learning (Newmann and Associates, 1996;
|
From page 150... ...
identify professional community, together with an improvement-oriented work culture and access to professional development, as elements of "professional capacity" that were associated with measured gains in achievement and attendance in Chicago elementary schools over a 6-year period in the 1990s. In a series of papers developed from analysis of the NELS:88 database, Valerie Lee and colleagues argue that more "communally organized" schools produced higher levels of teacher satisfaction, positive student behavior, pedagogy supportive of student problem solving and sense making, and student learning in mathematics and science (Lee and Smith, 1995, 1996; Lee et al., 1997)
|
From page 151... ...
Such external ties -- active participation in university-based professional development, collaboration in university-led research projects, and membership in mathematics teacher networks -- were a key factor in the strong professional community forged by the teachers within the school and in the student outcomes they were able to generate. Vescio and colleagues (2008)
|
From page 152... ...
Fewer than 5 percent of elementary teachers reported having served as leader of a teacher study group focused on science teaching. The figures are somewhat higher at the secondary level, with 19 percent of middle school and 26 percent of high school science teachers having led such a group.
|
From page 153... ...
Much of what these authors report regarding professional learning communities -- including the significance of skilled facilitation and the benefit of helping teachers learn to elicit, analyze, and respond to students' thinking -- appears broadly in studies of professional development across subject domains. However, the authors argue that STEM-related professional learning communities have distinguishing features that warrant attention.
|
From page 154... ...
These seven projects illustrate the range of contexts in which professional learning community arrangements have been introduced to support science teachers' learning, including one such community for rural teachers created entirely in an online environment. The projects vary widely in the number of participants, in the specific strategies employed, and in the available research on project processes and outcomes.
|
From page 155... ...
In a year-long, video-based investigation of a group of secondary mathematics and science teachers involved in the Project Pathways site at Arizona State University, researchers analyzed the teachers' discourse at three points in time (Clark et al., 2008)
|
From page 156... ...
review further advance understanding of the kinds of interactions likely to be associated with teacher learning in the context of content-focused collaborative groups. Unlike studies that relied heavily on self-reports, these studies employed audio and/or video recordings of group interaction to trace changes in teachers' demonstrated conceptual understanding, depth of interaction, attention to student thinking, and classroom practice.
|
From page 157... ...
As in other studies, skilled facilitation emerged as a key factor in the teachers' ability to make productive use of the time spent in these groups. Collaborative teacher groups formed one component of a 3-year program of science professional development for elementary and middle school teachers investigated by Lakshmanan and colleagues (2011)
|
From page 158... ...
There remains relatively little research on the effects of professional learning communities on science teachers' or students' learning. However, the available research is suggestive, illuminating the potential of well-run and -organized teacher study groups to lead to change among participating teachers (see Box 7-1 for discussion of lesson study as an approach to teacher study groups)
|
From page 159... ...
Although lesson study is based in another educational system, its potential to serve as a structure around which to design teacher learning opportunities in U.S. schools has enjoyed considerable uptake in the field of mathematics education (e.g., Perry and Lewis, 2011)
|
From page 160... ...
The San Francisco Exploratorium's Teacher Institute is another example. Since 1984, it has been offering summer professional development for practicing middle and high school science teachers.
|
From page 161... ...
. A study of 21 California schools engaged in school-wide reforms suggests several additional characteristics of effective teacher networks (Penuel and Riel, 2007)
|
From page 162... ...
Recognizing these informal leaders and giving them time to work with peers can be helpful in building effective teacher networks. COACHING AND MENTORING RESOURCES IN SCHOOLS Schools and districts have increasingly embraced instructional coaching as a form of workplace-embedded professional development support.
|
From page 163... ...
In general, the committee was unable to locate sufficient research on different models of coaching and mentoring, their implementation, and their effects on teacher knowledge and practice and student learning, especially with regard to science teachers (recall that not one of the professional development evaluations included in the Scher and O'Reilly [2009] meta-analysis included the use of coaches for science teachers)
|
From page 164... ...
Like professional learning communities and coaching, "induction" can have very different meanings in different contexts. Some induction programs are quite thin, involving orientation meetings focused on how to work within the district or school bureaucracy.
|
From page 165... ...
Ingersoll and Strong (2011) reviewed 15 empirical studies of the effects of induction programs on beginning teachers.
|
From page 166... ...
Moreover, little of the existing research focuses specifically on science teachers, and thus it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the power of induction programs to support the development of earlycareer science teachers. CONCLUSIONS Teachers spend the majority of their professional time in classrooms and schools, and it is imperative that those settings support their professional learning, both individually and collectively.
|
From page 167... ...
It is important to understand these innovations better so their potential to support teachers as they work to improve their science instruction can be harnessed. Conclusion 7: Science teachers' professional learning occurs in a range of settings both within and outside of schools through a variety of structures (professional development programs, professional learning communities, coaching, and the like)
|
From page 168... ...
. Professional Development Schools: Schools for a Developing Profes sion.
|
From page 169... ...
. Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of Math Professional Development Approaches.
|
From page 170... ...
Synergies of Lesson Study at the School, District, and National Levels. Paper commissioned by the Committee on Strengthening Science Education through a Teacher Learning Continuum, Washington, DC.
|
From page 171... ...
. Virtual professional learning communities: Teachers' perceptions of virtual versus face-to-face professional development.
|
From page 172... ...
. The effects of professional development on science teaching practices and classroom culture.
|
From page 173... ...
Yoshida (Eds.) , Building our Understanding of Lesson Study (pp.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.