Effectiveness of a curricular and professional development intervention at improving elementary teachers' science content knowledge and student achievement outcomes: Year 1 results

Abstract

Teacher knowledge of science content is an important but under-studied construct. A curricular and professional development intervention consisting of a fifth grade science curriculum, teacher workshops, and school site support was studied to determine its effect on teachers'science content knowledge as measured by a science knowledge test, a questionnaire, and classroom observations. These three measures, along with college science courses taken, were then used to examine the effect of teachers' science content knowledge on student achievement outcomes. The intervention had a significant effect on the treatment group teachers' science knowledge test scores and questionnaire responses compared to the control group, but not on the classroom observation ratings. Teachers' scores on the science knowledge test were found to be the largest significant teacher-level predictor of student achievement outcomes regardless of participation in the intervention. #

Why are the early elementary race/ethnicity test score gaps in science larger than those in reading or mathematics? National evidence on the importance of language and immigration context in explaining the gap‐in‐gaps

“…Prior work elsewhere has done a comprehensive job of synthesizing research around science instruction with English language learners and culturally diverse students (i.e., Lee, ; Lee & Buxton, ). More recent research has highlighted the potential for interventions and practices including teacher professional development (Adamson, Santau, & Lee, ; Diamond, Maerten‐Rivera, Rohrer, & Lee, ; Llosa et al, ) and integration of language development strategies or second languages into science instruction (Llosa, Van Booven, & Lee, ; Turkan, De Oliveira, Lee, & Phelps, ). Such practices and interventions, explicitly tailored to science, have the potential to reduce the gap‐in‐gaps and promote greater racial/ethnic equity in early science test performance.…”

Insights on how to shape teacher learning policy: The role of teacher content knowledge in explaining differential effects of professional development

“…These general principles have been shown to apply across content areas, including science. While teacher knowledge in science has not received as much attention as in mathematics (see Diamond, Maerten-Rivera, Rohrer, & Lee, 2014), research has established a link between teachers' knowledge of science and their students' science achievement (e.g., Fleer, 2009;Shallcross, Spink, Stephenson, & Warwick, 2002;Supovitz & Turner, 2000). As in mathematics, there seems to be a consensus that elementary and middle school teachers on average do not have the strong science knowledge needed to foster 21 st -century science learning (e.g., Jüttner, Boone, Park, & Neuhaus, 2013;Nowicki, Sullivan-Watts, Shim, Young, & Pockalny, 2013), but that when they do, they are better able to foster deep and meaningful student learning across multiple science domains (Diamond et al, 2014).…”

“…These ideas stressing the important links among teacher knowledge, instruction, and student learning have been the focus of many conceptual and empirical expositions across different subjects, including science (e.g., Diamond et al, 2014;Maerten-Rivera, Ahn, Lanier, Diaz, & Lee, in press;Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen, 1997), mathematics (e.g., Borko et al, 1992), and English (Grossman, 1989).…”

“…Santagata et al (2012), in discussing variation in teacher response to a PD intervention, suggest gauging PD to teachers' knowledge and needs. In asking what types of content knowledge are necessary for effective teaching, Diamond et al (2014) leave open the idea that such knowledge may differ across teachers. Other researchers recommend considering knowledge and experience differences among teachers in designing PD (Loucks-Horsley Stiles, Mundry, Love, & Hewson, 2010) and personalizing PD to address teachers' particular circumstances and challenges with instructional practices (Bitan-Friedlander et al, 2004;Starkey et al, 2009).…”

A Face-to-Face Professional Development Model to Enhance Teaching of Online Research Strategies

“…Just a few examples of professional development activities are formal or informal learning communities among teachers (e.g., Little, 1999Little, , 2002Mathews, Holt, & Arrambide, 2014;McLaughlin & Talbert, 1993;Stein, Smith, & Silver, 1999), co-teaching and mentoring (Pancsofar & Petroff, 2013;Schifter & Fosnot, 1993), reflecting on lessons (Diamond, Maerten-Rivera, Rohrer, & Lee, 2014;Schifter & Fosnot, 1993), group discussions (Ball & Cohen,1999;Gearhart & Wolf, 1994), study groups (Greenleaf, Schoenbach, Cziko, & Mueller, 2001), own inquiry/action research (Guskey, 2000;Nadelson et al, 2013), and designing new curricula (Guskey, 2000;Little, 1993). Desimone (2009) suggests that professional development effectiveness should be measured, not by the type of professional development (e.g., workshop or study group), but by the characteristics of the activities (e.g., content focus, coherence, and duration) that help increase teacher learning, change practice, and improve student outcomes.…”