Science Teachers' Learning Enhancing Opportunities, Creating Supportive Contexts (2015) / Chapter Skim
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5 Science Teachers' Learning Needs
5 Science Teachers' Learning Needs
Pages 93-114
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From page 93... ...
represents a significant departure from current teaching approaches, all teachers -- regardless of their preparation or experience -- will require some new knowledge and skills. The committee's charge was to consider what is known about teachers' learning over the course of their careers and how that knowledge might bear on current efforts to improve science teaching and learning in schools.
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From page 94... ...
In contrast to the view of teacher learning as an individual accomplishment along a linear continuum, our view is that science teachers build this expertise as they teach in classrooms; engage in professional learning; and work in systems that can support, accelerate, or constrain learning. Central to our thinking is the observation that the quality of individual teachers' instruction is shaped not only by their own capabilities and experience, but also by the leadership of their school, the professional community of teachers with whom they work, and the instructional resources available to them.
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From page 95... ...
Supporting Diverse Student Populations in Learning Science The committee anticipates that the vision of science education set forth in the Framework and NGSS -- where implemented well -- stands to be highly motivating to students. Because it is substantially different from the typical fare of U.S.
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From page 96... ...
, an aspect of pedagogical content knowl edge. She would need to be able to plan a set of experiences with the phenomenon that could help address specific alternative ideas (such as putting food coloring in the water or showing condensation forming on a cold mirror)
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From page 97... ...
In addition, she would need to know typical problems her students are likely to encounter as they engage in scientific modeling, as well as techniques she can use to support them in developing and using models of this phenomenon. What teaching practices would the teacher need to employ, informed by and building on her content knowledge?
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From page 98... ...
This integration of substance and supports is particularly important because the new vision of science teaching in the Framework and NGSS requires a new pedagogical conceptualization of how to support students' engagement with new scientific practices, disciplinary ideas, and discourse practices. Providing an equitable science education requires that teachers listen carefully to their students, crafting instruction that responds to their diversity in meaningful ways.
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From page 99... ...
The implication of these observations is that teachers need to develop classroom discourse practices that socialize students to new science practices and understandings. Research has shown that good curriculum materials and sound professional development opportunities can help teachers improve learning for diverse learners, including English language learners and low-performing students (e.g., Cuevas et al., 2005; Geier et al., 2008)
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From page 100... ...
Some scholars have called the former "content knowledge for teaching" (e.g., Ball et al., 2008) in an attempt to distinguish between content knowledge for liberal arts education or a disciplinary major from the content knowledge needed to deeply understand the crosscutting concepts, disciplinary core ideas, and scientific practices that are central to the new vision of science teaching and learning.1 Recently, educators at TeachingWorks have begun identifying what they call "high-leverage content," which they define as "the particular topics, practices, and texts that are foundational to the K-12 curriculum and vital for beginning teachers to be able to teach skillfully." As they note, "even when adults know this content themselves, they often lack the specialized understanding needed to unpack and help others learn it."2 1 The concept of content knowledge for teaching combines content knowledge with pedagogical content knowledge (discussed below)
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From page 101... ...
Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Science Teaching Practices The concept of pedagogical content knowledge (e.g., Shulman, 1986, 1987) has been widely adopted and elaborated by numerous science educators and teacher educators (e.g., Berry, Friedrichsen, and Loughran, 2015; Gess-Newsome and Lederman, 1999; Lederman and Gess-Newsome, 1992; Pardhan and Wheeler, 1998, 2000; van Driel et al., 1998)
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From page 102... ...
Identifying these core instructional practices is especially important in light of the limited experience of the current science teaching workforce and the expectations embodied in the new vision of science teaching.
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From page 103... ...
For example, elementary and secondary science teachers need to be able to use their pedagogical content knowledge to lead whole-class discussions that help students make sense of data collected by different small groups as part of their investigations. They need to be able to use a range of instructional representations to illustrate, for example, the flow of electric current in a circuit and help students recognize the strengths and limitations of each representation (e.g., water flowing through pipes, teeming crowds, passing hand squeezes)
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From page 104... ...
In terms of content knowledge, beginning secondary teachers may need to learn disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, or practices that were not part of their disciplinary preparation. Teachers who may not have a strong science background or the confidence to teach science will need to learn the content and how to teach it in ways that lead to increased self-efficacy.
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From page 105... ...
Thus, they will likely need to bolster their content knowledge in addition to their teaching practices. This is neither a simple nor straightforward task: in learning instructional practices that enhance students' learning of disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific practices, elementary teachers will need to continuously adapt instruction in ways that support all students' learning, including students will special needs, those for whom English is a second language, and those with diverse cultural backgrounds.
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From page 106... ...
In the NSSME (Banilower et al., 2013) , more than half of middle school teachers surveyed reported that access to professional development was a moderate or major problem -- perhaps not surprising when only about half of the districts surveyed employed staff dedicated to supporting science instruction in the middle schools.
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From page 107... ...
They will also need opportunities to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge, including how to use new technologies to engage in activities that integrate disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific practices. As new curricula emerge that are aligned with the new vision, teachers will need extensive experiences with trying these curricula out and adapting them to their contexts.
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From page 108... ...
. In the most recent national survey conducted by Horizon Research, the principal's support was the factor in promoting effective science instruction cited most frequently by both middle school (Weis, 2013)
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From page 109... ...
Three important areas in which science teachers need to develop expertise are • the knowledge, capacity, and skill required to support a diverse range of students; • content knowledge, including understanding of disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices; and • pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science, including a reper toire of teaching practices that support students in rigorous and conse quential science learning.
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From page 110... ...
As previously noted, elementary teachers have spent little time teaching science, and helping them prepare for more intensive science instruction will take time and resources. Middle and high school teachers typically have a greater understanding of science than their elementary school colleagues but may not know how to teach it in ways that help students connect ideas through crosscutting concepts or engage in the scientific practices to bring content alive and make it relevant to students' lives.
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From page 111... ...
. Examining Pedagogical Content Knowl edge: The Construct and Its Implications for Science Education.
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From page 112... ...
. Beginning secondary science teachers in different induction programmes: The first year of teaching.
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From page 113... ...
. Enhancing science teachers' learning through peda gogical content knowledge.
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From page 114... ...
. Developing science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge.
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