The overarching goal and objective of the Developing a Cadre of Teacher Leaders in Science project is to improve student understanding of physical science concepts and their ability to design and perform scientific inquiries by providing teachers with intensive and sustained professional development.  The professional development will emphasize the role of inquiry and children's ideas in science teaching and learning. 

The project can be broken down into discrete goals all of which contribute to improved student learning in science and which result from the Needs Assessment provided by the districts.

Data Sources

Materials analyzed for this project include:

• End of course project survey of participants;
• Project staff interviews;
• Participant focus group; and
• Activity observations.

Program Goals and Objectives

Based on the MSP Project Grant Application (2008-2009), the goals and objectives of the project were:

• To improve teacher knowledge and understanding of physical science concepts, especially those identified by the physical science strand of the revised NH Science Frameworks.
• To improve teacher knowledge of the pedagogy needed to develop student understanding of the physical science concepts identified by the Grade Level Learning Expectations of the New Hampshire Science Frameworks.
• To promote teacher understanding of the role of children's ideas in science, how children develop scientific understanding, and the critical role of ongoing assessment in learning and teaching in science. 
• To establish an effective partnership and collaboration around teaching and learning in Science between Rivier College, an institution involved in science teacher preparation, and local elementary and secondary schools.

Qualitative Data

Data for this report were collected during an onsite visit to the project in Summer, 2009. A participant focus group was conducted with session participants. Interviews were conducted with project director and co-director. Observers scripted activity observations, and RMC Research staff used a specific protocol for the focus group and interviews, then analyzed the data for trends that could provide insights into progress toward the MSP project goals.

Data summaries and matrices were created and analysis was undertaken using techniques and principles recommended by Miles & Huberman (1994),[1] and data were distilled into this summary.

This project summary is based on project data, including the original project proposal, and contains exact quotes to illuminate findings, based on project director communications, focus group interviews, project staff interviews, observations, and so forth, to complement the analysis where appropriate.

Results

Participants in the Developing a Cadre of Teacher Leaders MSP project at Rivier College were provided a four-question reflection instrument in March 2010, to which 25% of respondents provided specific responses. Additionally, two other participants sent reflections in narrative form, and two participants sent other materials that represented reflections about their involvement in the project as well as their perceived impacts on classroom practice and student learning. A trend analysis across all materials submitted by respondents showed a strong sense of affiliation with the project and profound changes in the way participants viewed their own practice and the benefits for students in an inquiry approach to science teaching and learning. Additionally, interview and focus group data, as well as observations of professional development activities contributed to the determination that the professional development experience, coupled with the follow-up activities provided by project staff, had positive impacts on participant knowledge related to inquiry science, their confidence in bringing an inquiry approach into their classrooms, and perceived benefits and impacts on practice, student engagement and appreciation of science.

Professional Development Experience

Observations of professional development activities showed that the primary mode of instruction engaged participants through hands-on and collaborative learning experiences that emphasized scientifically-based research, state academic content standards, assessment and evaluation methods, with specific classroom focused activities and content specific instruction that met the needs of diverse learners.

The professional development providers modeled for participants learning experiences that included convergent and divergent learning opportunities, along with guided discovery and inquiry approaches the included participants developing their own structure to accomplish a task. Instructors used a combination of direct instruction and inquiry at appropriate times, engaging participants in a combination of individual or independent work, cooperative or collaborative learning (i.e., pair-share, small group, etc.), and large group or whole class activities and discussions. Included in the instructional approaches was a combination of hands-on, minds-on learning experiences and demonstrations or simulations that helped guide participant thinking and learning.

Participants were most often observed engaging in, reflecting on, or discussing instructional practice; actively using materials and/or scientific equipment; as well as coaching one another in the use of instructional strategies.

Knowledge, Understanding, and Change in Practice

What Teachers Have Learned

Teachers participating in the project, regardless of their tenure in the profession, felt the project provided them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to more effectively implement an inquiry approach in their classrooms, often indicating how they were also able to extend the application of this approach beyond the science classroom. Many indicated they felt this approach gave students ownership and control of their own learning. Collaboration between colleagues was often cited as an important and beneficial outcome of participating in the project, not just with other participants, but within buildings.

I think the teachers are moving from a textbook (classical naming of the phases) to knowing what it [inquiry] looks like, it is becoming blurrier because of increased understanding. Like any laws of physics, it is one thing to recite them, another to understand them.

A great vehicle for us to talk, to create, how this has impacted our other teaching, not just giving the answer, let the discovery come in social studies, the arts, let me be the facilitator of the knowledge.

 

I had no idea that the art of teaching through inquiry would feel so comfortable and seep into all subject areas in my classroom. One of the most rewarding aspects was to see students with special needs take off as the barriers of their educational constraints were torn down and they could explore along with the rest of the class.

 

I feel that this project has given me the tools to not only have more fun while teaching science, but to teach it in a meaningful way that involves the children in observation, exploration and experimentation. The children are more involved and responsible for their learning as the subject and discussion is directed by them, their interests and their questions.

Impacts on Curriculum and Classroom Practice

Participants consistently indicated that their involvement has changed how they teach, involving students more, asking questions rather than providing answers, and feeling more comfortable not having all the answers, but knowing how better to find them. Many respondents feel they have become the voice for discovery within their buildings as it pertains to examining and defining curriculum. The participants indicated that students have responded to this change in their classroom practice with greater interest and enthusiasm, which is resulting in more active involvement and increased understanding for students. Respondents indicate that their classrooms have become more collaborative learning environments, with the teacher facilitating the learning process.

I think I am much more willing to let the kids do more of the thinking, coming up with their own questions, not being passive learners. [This] is a way for me to step back and let them take on their own learning.

The letting go of every step, letting discovery happen. As we begin to look at the science curriculum (and other curriculums) we are the voice for looking at discovery, the voice for the students, to keep wonder in the curriculum.

 

By developing more of the process skills, the critical inquiry and the literacy, it is easier to spend more time on the big topics, rather than running through them, they can think about them on their own now. They had a shallow understanding, now they are developing the depth.

This project has given me the skills to allow students to ask/create the questions and then explore the solutions/answers. I have stopped looking over the shoulders of students and guiding them toward answers. I am now more of a facilitator of their learning.

 

One way that science inquiry has changed my teaching is that I am no longer so concerned with the students in my class getting the correct answer right away. I give them more time to observe and question and then come to their own conclusions. From there, we talk about the subject as a class and use the text book to help us come to the correct conclusions. I think that it is harder to sit back and let your students just go ahead and draw their own conclusions, but it makes them more reliant on themselves and the resources around them than the teacher to find the correct answers.

 

Now, there is an enthusiasm for science and self discovery. Students make observations first, come up with questions, and then try to dive into the answers on their own. I am there to guide, not to tell. Afterwards, we discuss what we all noticed and the students take their own notes. There is a new sense of pride within the classroom.

 

Changes in Student Learning

Participants collectively agree that as a result of the changes in the classroom resulting from an inquiry approach, students are taking more ownership of and responsibility for their own learning. Students are becoming more patient learners, knowing that given time, they will be able to develop a conclusion based on their observations and data, not just something they have read about. That is a powerful motivator for students, which has led to better communications about their findings and more detailed responses to the questions being explored. What they are learning in science carries over to their other classes as well.

We worked very hard on verbalizing and drawing/recording what we observe when we do science. The first few journal entries for our decomposer columns had very little detail. The entries maybe took up half a page (if I was lucky). As the students became more invested in their columns, their drawings and thoughts became clearer and more detailed. Students were drawing, labeling and writing away. When students asked questions or hypothesized, they wrote them in their journals. This also connected with writing in all subjects as students had to write what they thought and back it up through the data and information they collected.

 

I’ve seen students discover that they can be successful in science when they had been labeled unsuccessful in other areas. They may not score high on the textbook quizzes, but their drawings are so detailed they can convey their knowledge in other ways and I can grade them on those skills.

 

Science has become something to do rather than something to read about. Expectations of science have changed for the students in our classrooms. What they do in science has helped them justify their reasoning in math, language arts, and social studies.

 

Students understand that they are in charge of their own learning and, that although different students learn at different rates, they have the skills and the time for this to happen. Additionally, students are writing more across the curriculum, writing more scientifically; graphing skills have improved; they are not upset by making presentations to the classroom; they are more willing to communicate both verbally and via written means, the results of their investigations. In short, they are making more sense of common phenomenon around them.

 

Comparison with Other Professional Development Experiences

Participants indicated that as a professional development experience, this has been challenging, but rewarding. Because it is a building, developmental experience, rather than a listening activity, it has had impacts that are lasting, with opportunities to implement between sessions. That just hasn’t happened in other professional development they have participated in. To participants, this is about teaching and learning, experiencing science as a learner and teacher, not listening to someone else, but doing it themselves. The teachers involved in this have indicated they have a better understanding of how students feel in their classroom. All of these are what makes this professional development experience powerful, and what is helping to change what takes place in their own classrooms with students.

I always come away learning a lot, and knowing what I don’t know.

It is the hardest thing I ever got up in the morning to do, and was so excited to get there.

 

This is one of the only PD [experiences] that I have gone to that has resulted in change in what I am teaching. This is more than just putting in the PD hours.

 

Having teachers experience an activity similar to how their students experience an activity is a powerful teaching and learning model. Using a combination of table talk and whole group sharing modeled for participants how to actively engage their students in the learning process.

 

When the discussion emerged about what students know and think about green beans, this stimulated how teachers thought, how many of their students have even seen a whole green bean, since they get them cut up at the lunchroom. Or do “French cut green beans” actually come from France? This discussion really caused many participants to think about how students think, and what they know when they have experiences they draw from.

 

Lessons Learned

Participants indicated a number of things that were important to keep in mind when implementing this type of professional development experience. They recognized that involvement of administrators early on in the process is critical to the understanding expectations and levels of support for teachers. Participants recognized that they are trying to do too many things on their own, and that collaboration with colleagues is key to making change happen at the classroom and building level. They also saw this as a continuous learning process that may start out simple enough, but becomes more complex and coherent over time. Equally important is the opportunity to share with teachers outside of their own school and district, so they can share thinking, strategies, and success as well as get ideas for their own improvement. Additionally, participants suggested it is important to make sure participating teachers have input into the process, so there is ownership for their learning (with the recognition that the same is true of students in their own classrooms).

The participants were trying to work with colleagues, without a formal structure now, to see how we could do more for the teacher in the classroom. It started as one thing, now it is more complex, sophisticated.

 

We have incorporated two aspects on this collaboration, one is on collaboration of students in the classroom, but also thinking about the teacher as a researcher on learning. To go into each other’s classroom and gathering data about the learning, that is important, and a huge difference from how teachers usually work.

 

An initial meeting with superintendents from all participating districts is critical so they know expectations and requirements.

 

A planning team of participating teachers, so there is ownership. Active involvement, even though you can have concerns, they need to be the project leadership.

 

Have the teachers go back to their districts and share. (In the beginning, they don’t know anything and now they are chomping at the bit to do that.) We are all teachers from NH, that is what we have in common, we share with each other the problems we have in our district, and we see our commonalities and share solutions.

Challenges

The challenges for project leadership and project participants were similar in some regards, especially related to time, resources, support, and measuring impacts. Since this experience focused on scientific inquiry, it takes more time, for exploration, data collection, and drawing conclusions. However, pacing and curriculum guides don’t always allow for expanding the learning opportunity for these to take place in a short period of time. It will take continued planning on the part of participants and project leaders to think about where inquiry fits best, and how to align this approach with school science curriculum. Support, in the form of space, materials, and shared learning opportunities will continue to be a challenge for participating institutions, especially when it comes to meeting space and common meeting times. Finally, assessing teacher and student learning of inquiry continues to pose unique challenges. There just doesn’t appear to be a good, multiple choice instrument, that gets at the many facets of scientific inquiry. Finally, being able to generate sufficient resources to support an in-depth level of learning focused on one school and their staff, with the “formula” approach of the MSP program, based on number of schools participating, doesn’t lend itself well to this inquiry process.

 

 

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