Preparing Teachers to Design Sequences of Instruction in Earth Systems Science

Abstract

This research study examined whether and how professional development can help teachers design sequences of instruction that lead to improved science learning. The efficacy of three professional development programs and a control condition was compared in a cluster randomized trial involving 53 middle school science teachers from a single school district. The four conditions varied along two dimensions: (a) the extent to which the programs guided teachers’ selection of curriculum materials and (b) whether or not teachers received explicit instruction in models of teaching associated with particular methods for designing instruction. Results indicated that the two programs most effective at improving students’ science learning were the ones in which teachers received explicit instruction in models of teaching.

Keywords

social context computers and learning educational policy networking evaluation instructional practices

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alozie

N. M.

Moje

E. B.

Krajcik

J. S.

(2010). An analysis of the supports and constraints for scientific discussion in high school project-based science. Science Education, 94, 395–427.

Atkin

J. M.

Black

(2003). Inside science education reform: A history of curricular and policy change. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Ball

D. L.

Cohen

D. K.

(1999). Developing practice, developing practitioners: Toward a practice-based theory of professional education. In Darling-Hammond

Sykes

(Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession (pp. 3–31). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Baron

R. M.

Kenny

D. A.

(1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

Barron

B. J. S.

Schwartz

D. L.

Vye

N. J.

Moore

Petrosino

Zech

Bransford

J. D.

(1998). Doing with understanding: Lessons from research on problem and project-based learning. Journal of Learning Sciences, 7, 271–312.

Bauer

D. J.

Preacher

K. J.

Gil

K. M.

(2006). Conceptualizing and testing random indirect effects and moderated mediation in multilevel models: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 11, 142–163.

Blumenfeld

Soloway

Marx

R. W.

Guzdial

Palincsar

(1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 369–398.

Borman

G. D.

Gamoran

Bowdon

(2008). A randomized trial of teacher development in elementary science: First-year achievement effects. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1, 237–264.

Bransford

J. D.

Schwartz

D. L.

(1999). Rethinking transfer: A simple proposal with multiple implications. In Iran-Nejad

Pearson

P. D.

(Eds.), Review of research in education (vol. 24, pp. 61–100). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

10.

Brown

J. L.

(2004). Making the most of Understanding by Design. Washington, DC: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

11.

Brown

M. W.

(2002). Teaching by design: Understanding the intersection between teacher practice and the design of curricular innovations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

12.

Brown

M. W.

(2009). Toward a theory of curriculum design and use: Understanding the teacher-tool relationship. In Remillard

J. T.

Herbel-Eisenman

B. A.

Lloyd

G.M.

(Eds.), Mathematics teachers at work: Connecting curriculum materials and classroom instruction (pp. 17–36). New York, Routledge.

13.

Brown

M. W.

Edelson

(2003). Teaching as design: Can we better understand the ways teachers use materials so we can better design materials to support their changes in practice. Evanston, IL: Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools.

14.

Bybee

R. W.

(1997). Achieving scientific literacy: From purposes to practices. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

15.

Bybee

R. W.

(2004). Scientific inquiry and science teaching. In Flick

L. B.

Lederman

N.G.

(Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science (pp. 1–14). New York, NY: Springer.

16.

Bybee

R. W.

Taylor

J. A.

Gardner

Van Scotter

Powell

J. C.

Westbrook

Landes

(2006). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Origins, effectiveness, and applications. Colorado Springs, CO: Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.

17.

Cochran-Smith

(2003). Teaching quality matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 54, 95–98.

18.

Cohen

D. K.

Hill

H. C.

(2001). Learning policy: When state education reform works. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

19.

Cohen

D. K.

Raudenbush

S. W.

Ball

D. L.

(2003). Resources, instruction, and research. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(2), 1–24.

20.

Davis

E. A.

Krajcik

(2005). Designing educative curriculum materials to promote teacher learning. Educational Researcher, 34(3), 3–14.

21.

Davis

E. A.

Varma

(2008). Supporting teachers in productive adaptation. In Kali

Linn

M. C.

Roseman

J. E.

(Eds.), Designing coherent science education (vol. 5, pp. 94–122). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

22.

Desimone

L. M.

(2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181–199.

23.

Enyedy

Goldberg

(2004). Inquiry in interaction: How adaptations of curricula shape classroom communities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 905–935.

24.

Fishman

B. J.

Marx

R. W.

Best

Tal

(2003). Linking teacher and student learning to improve professional development in systemic reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 643–658.

25.

Geier

Blumenfeld

Marx

R. W.

Krajcik

Fishman

B. J.

Soloway

(2008). Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 922–939.

26.

Gray

J. T.

Camp

P. J.

Holbrook

Owensby

Hyser

Kolodner

J. L.

(2001). Learning by Design technical report: Results of performance assessments for 1999–2000 and 2000–2001. Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Computing.

27.

Green

D. P.

S. E.

Bullock

J. G.

(2010). Enough already about “black box” experiments: Studying mediation is more difficult than most scholars suppose. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 628, 200–208.

28.

Institute of Education Sciences. (2009). CFDA 84.305A education research grants. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

29.

Kennedy

M. M.

(1999). Form and substance in mathematics and science professional development. National Institute for Science Education Brief, 3(2), 1–7.

30.

Kesidou

Roseman

J. E.

(2002). How well do middle school science programs measure up? Findings from Project 2061’s curriculum review. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 522–549.

31.

Krajcik

J. S.

Blumenfeld

P. C.

(2006). Project-based learning. In Sawyer

R. K.

(Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 317–333). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

32.

Krajcik

J. S.

Czerniak

C. M.

(2007). Teaching science in elementary and middle school: A project-based approach (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

33.

Krajcik

J. S.

Marx

R. W.

Blumenfeld

P. C.

Soloway

Fishman

B. J.

Middleton

(2000, April). Inquiry based science supported by technology: Achievement and motivation among urban middle school students. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

34.

Krajcik

J. S.

McNeill

K. L.

Reiser

B. J.

(2008). Learning-goals-driven design model: Developing curriculum materials that align with national standards and incorporate project-based pedagogy. Science Education, 92, 1–32.

35.

Lin

H.-T.

Fishman

B. J.

(2006). Exploring the relationship between teachers’ curriculum enactment experience and their understanding of underlying unit structures. In Barab

S. A.

Hay

K. E.

Hickey

D. T.

(Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 432–438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

36.

Liu

Congdon

Raudenbush

S. W.

(2001). Optimal design for multi-level and longitudinal research (Version 0.23) [Computer software]. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Survey Research Center of the Institute of Social Research.

37.

Marx

R. W.

Harris

C. J.

(2006). No Child Left Behind and science education: Opportunities, challenges, and risks. Elementary School Journal, 106, 467–477.

38.

McNeill

K. L.

(2009). Teachers’ use of curriculum to support students in writing scientific arguments to explain phenomena. Science Education, 93, 233–268.

39.

McNeill

K. L.

Pimentel

D. S.

(2010). Scientific discourse in three urban classrooms: The role of the teacher in engaging high school students in argumentation. Science Education, 94, 203–229.

40.

McTighe

Seif

(2003). A summary of underlying theory and research base for understanding by design. Unpublished manuscript.

41.

McTighe

Wiggins

(1999). The Understanding by Design handbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

42.

McWilliams

McAuliffe

Lockwood

Larsen

Rosenberg

Hoover

(2006). Earth Science by Design: A handbook for professional developers. Cambridge, MA: TERC.

43.

Minstrell

Kraus

(2005). Guided inquiry in the science classroom. In National Research Council (Ed.), How students learn: History, mathematics, and science in the classroom (pp. 475–514). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

44.

National Research Council. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

45.

National Research Council. (2006). Systems for state science assessment. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

46.

National Research Council. (2007). Taking science to school: Learning and teaching science in grades K–8. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

47.

National Research Council. (2010). A framework for science education: Preliminary public draft. Washington, DC: Committee on Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards, Board on Science Education, National Research Council.

48.

Penuel

W. R.

Gallagher

L. P.

(2009). Comparing three approaches to preparing teachers to teach for deep understanding in Earth science: Short-term impacts on teachers and teaching practice. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 18, 461–508.

49.

Raudenbush

S. W.

Bryk

A. S.

(2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

50.

Reiser

B. J.

Spillane

J. P.

Steinmuler

Sorsa

Carney

Kyza

(2000). Investigating the mutual adaptation process in teachers’ design of technology-infused curricula. In Fishman

O’Connor-Divelbiss

(Eds.), Fourth International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 342–349). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

51.

Reiser

B. J.

Tabak

Sandoval

W. A.

Smith

B. K.

Steinmuller

Leone

A. J.

(2001). BGuILE: Strategic and conceptual scaffolds for scientific inquiry in biology classrooms. In Carver

S. M.

Klahr

(Eds.), Cognition and instruction: Twenty-five years of progress (pp. 263–305). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

52.

Remillard

J. T.

(2000). Can curriculum materials support teachers’ learning? Two fourth-grade teachers’ use of a new mathematics text. Elementary School Journal, 100, 331–350.

53.

Remillard

J. T.

(2005). Examining key concepts in research on teachers’ use of mathematics curricula. Review of Educational Research, 75, 211–246.

54.

Rivet

(2006). Using transformative research to explore congruencies between science reform and urban schools. In Barab

S. A.

Hay

K. E.

Hickey

D. T.

(Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 578–584). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

55.

Schneider

R. M.

Krajcik

(2002). Supporting science teacher learning: The role of educative curriculum materials. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13, 221–245.

56.

Schneider

R. M.

Krajcik

Blumenfeld

(2005). Enacting reform-based science materials: The range of teacher enactments in reform classrooms. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42, 283–312.

57.

Shavelson

R. J.

Webb

N. M.

Burstein

(1986). Measurement of teaching. In Whittrock

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 50–91). New York, NY: Macmillan.

58.

Songer

N. B.

Lee

H.-S.

Kam

(2002). Technology-rich inquiry science in urban classrooms: What are the barriers to inquiry pedagogy? Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 128–150.

59.

Spillane

J. P.

(1999). External reform initiatives and teachers’ efforts to reconstruct their practice: The mediating role of teachers’ zones of enactment. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31, 143–175.

60.

Squire

K. D.

MaKinster

J. G.

Barnett

Luehmann

A. L.

Barab

(2003). Designed curriculum and local culture: Acknowledging the primacy of classroom culture. Science Education, 87, 467–489.

61.

Tabak

Reiser

B. J.

(1997). Complementary roles of software-based scaffolding and teacher-student interactions in inquiry learning. In Hall

Miyake

Enye

N.N.

(Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Learning (pp. 292–301). Toronto, Ontario: International Society of the Learning Sciences.

62.

Thissen

Chen

W.-H.

Bock

(2003). MULTILOG for Windows (Version 7.0.2327.3) [Computer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International.

63.

Wartofsky

(1979). Models: Representation and the scientific understanding (Vol. 4). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Riedl.

64.

Wayne

A. J.

Yoon

K. S.

Zhu

Cronen

Garet

M. S.

(2008). Experimenting with teacher professional development: Motives and methods. Educational Researcher, 37(8), 479–479.

65.

Wertsch

J. V.

(1998). Mind as action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

66.

Wiggins

McTighe

(1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.