Collaborative Professional Development in Chemistry Education Research: Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice

Abstract

Professional development that bridges gaps between educational research and practice is needed. However, bridging gaps can be difficult because teachers and educational researchers often belong to different Communities of Practice, as their activities, goals, and means of achieving those goals often differ. Meaningful collaboration among teachers and educational researchers can create a merged Community of Practice in which both teachers and educational researchers mutually benefit. A collaboration of this type is described that centered on investigating students' abilities to apply chemical thinking when engaged in authentic tasks. We describe the design-based principles behind the collaboration, the work of the collaborative team, and a self-evaluation of results interpreted through a Communities-of-Practice perspective, with primary focus on the teachers' perceptions. Analysis revealed ways in which teachers' assessments shifted toward more research-based practice and ways in which teachers navigated the research process. Implications for affordances and constraints of such collaborations among teachers and educational researchers are discussed.

Uncovering Chemical Thinking in Students’ Decision Making: A Fuel-Choice Scenario

“…31 The primary tool for data collection was the GoKart interview protocol, whose development has been previously reported. 12 This instrument presents an evaluation scenario in which students must make a decision and explain why they select one fuel over other available options to power a GoKart for an amusement park. The options presented are gasoline derived from petroleum, gasoline derived from wood pellets, E85, and natural gas.…”

“…Prior to collecting the data for the study, all members of the research team (author set) trained in cognitive interview methods and engaged in a norming process to ensure the interview techniques and approaches were consistent. 12 The middle and high school students were interviewed by their teachers, and the university students were interviewed by research team members at the university. To obtain a representative sample of students, each of the six teachers on the research team tried to interview one student who they judged 'gets it', one student who 'earnestly tries but struggles', and, if possible, one student in between.…”

“…12 In this contribution, we present the results of a study guided by the question: How do middle school, high school, and f irst-year university students use chemistry knowledge to make decisions, such as what f uel to use to power a vehicle? Decision making of undergraduate students, graduate students, and chemistry professors is reported in a separate paper.…”

Concepción de la identidad química en estudiantes y profesores de química. Parte II: comparación entre participantes en dos universidades de diferentes países

“…Como parte de un proyecto sobre progresiones de aprendizaje en pensamiento químico (Szteinberg et al, 2014), se desarrolló un protocolo para entrevistar a estudiantes (anexo 1). Este protocolo presenta un escenario de evaluación en el cual los participantes tienen que tomar decisiones y explicar por qué elegirían un combustible (las opciones son: gasolina de petróleo, gasolina de trozos de madera, gas natural o E85) para activar un GoKart.…”

Who Owns the Content and Who Runs the Risk? Dynamics of Teacher Change in Teacher–Researcher Collaboration

“…Such collaborations and partnerships bring common and well-known challenges with them, ranging from concrete issues such as timeallocation and funding to issues more to do with various dynamics of the collaboration and dilemmas concerning relations, roles, and responsibilities in the group (Erickson et al 2005). In particular, differences in culture and forms of knowledge valued seem to work against the development of shared professional communities between educators from universities and schools (Cuban 1992;Szteinberg et al 2014). The differences are commonly cast in terms of differential power relations and gains, with teachers usually coming out worst, facing the risk of being disempowered and denied access to knowledge relevant to their perceived problems (Butler et al 2004;Clark et al 1996;Hardy and Melville 2013).…”