Lasting impact of a professional development program on constructivist science teaching

Beamer, Tyler; Sickle, Meta Van; Harrison, Gary W.; Temple, G.

doi:10.1007/bf03173676

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Whereas the traditional teacher-driven instructional strategies to teach science focus on the didactic presentation of a static body of facts isolated within disciplinary boundaries (Crawford 2005;Polman and Pea 2001;Southerland et al 2003), studentcentered instructional strategies to teach science emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Lehrer and Schauble 2006;McNeill and Pimentel 2009;Statistics Canada 2009). In student-centered instruction, learning science is active and socially constructive (Beamer et al 2008;Bentley et al 2007;Lemke 1990Lemke , 2001Ozkal et al 2009;Palmer 2008;Wu and Tsai 2005), involving scientific inquiry (Blanchard et al 2009;Duschl et al 2007;Kim et al 2007), dialogic interactions (Linn et al 2003;McNeill and Pimentel 2009;Statistics Canada 2009;Scott et al 2006;Yerrick and Roth 2005), and hands-on activities Hofstein and Lunetta 2004;Kipnis and Hofstein 2008;Lunetta et al 2007).…”

Section: Science Instructional Practices and Science Achievementmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of motivation, self-beliefs, and instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents in Canada

2010

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This study examined the effects of motivation to learn science, science self-beliefs, and science instructional practices on science achievement of 13,985 15-year-old students from 431 schools across Canada. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses, while controlling for student-and school-level demographic characteristics, revealed the substantial predictive effects of motivation to learn science, science self-beliefs, and science instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents. Motivational beliefs-self-efficacy and self-concept-and enjoyment of science had substantial positive predictive effects on science achievement. In contrast, general interest in science had a negative predictive effect on science achievement in the context of other variables. Whereas science teaching using hands-on activities had a substantial positive predictive effect on science achievement, science teaching using student investigations had a substantial negative predictive effect in the context of other variables. The final HLM model indicated that only 8% of the variance in science achievement was between schools and 92% of the variance involved students within schools.

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Section: Science Instructional Practices and Science Achievementmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of motivation, self-beliefs, and instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents in Canada

2010

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“…Inquiry‐based PD that builds teachers’ scientific process skills can increase teachers’ understanding of science and confidence in their ability to teach science (Bencze, ; Bulunuz & Jarrett, ; Nadelson et al, ; Raino, ). When teachers participating in PD improve in their self‐efficacy with science process skills, use of constructivist teaching practices typically increases (Alexander, Heaviside, & Farris, ; Beamer, Van Sickle, Harrison, & Temple, ). There is also evidence that sustained, content‐focused PD can improve teaching practice and student learning (Desimone, ; Desimone & Garet, ).…”

Section: Background and Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching aquatic science as inquiry through professional development: Teacher characteristics and student outcomes

et al. 2017

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We present an inquiry-based, aquatic science professional development (PD) for upperelementary, middle, and high school teachers and examine changes in student outcomes in light of participating teachers' characteristics and the grade band of the students. Our study lends support to the assertion that inquiry-and content-focused PD, paired with classroom implementation, can effectively improve student learning. Our findings indicate that students improved in their nature of science (NOS) and aquatic science content knowledge and that these changes depended in some ways on the participating teachers' characteristics and adherence to the program. The students' improvements were amplified when their teachers adhered more closely to the PD activities during their classroom implementation. The teachers' previous science PD experience and pre-PD understanding of inquiry-based teaching also explained some of the variability in student growth. In both NOS and content, students of teachers with less prior science-PD experience benefited more. Grade band also explained variation in student outcomes through interactions with teacher-characteristic variables. In high school, students of teachers with lower pre-PD inquiry knowledge appeared to learn more about NOS. Our results suggest that inquiry and content training through PD may minimize disparities in teaching due to inexperience and lack of expertise. Our study also demonstrates the value of PD that teaches a flexible approach to inquiry and focuses on underrepresented, interdisciplinary content areas, like aquatic science. #

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“…Teacher learning outcomes are shaped through PD structure, design, and objectives. An extensive body of the literature was reviewed to determine the following: Impacts of PD on science teacher learning and experiences (Bell and Odom, 2012;Eilks and Markic, 2011;Opfer and Pedder, 2011;Posnanski, 2010); science teachers' growth and change (Akiba, 2012;Banilower et al, 2007;Goodnough, 2010;Melville and Yaxley, 2009;Ramlo, 2012;Tan and Nashon, 2013); positive relationship with instructional practices (Beamer et al, 2008;Desimone et al, 2002;El-Hani and Greca, 2013;Kazempour, 2009;Lee and Buxton, 2013;Smith, 2015); reflective practices (Capobianco and Feldman, 2006;Mamlok-Naaman and Eilks, 2012;McNicholl and Blake, 2013;Saylor and Johnson, 2014;Tang and Shao, 2013); and science teachers' self-perception (Allen and Penuel, 2015;Lustick, 2011;Mikelskis-Seifert and Duit, 2013;Mokhele and Jita, 2010;Torff and Byrnes, 2010).…”

Section: Science Teachers' Pd Learning and Experiences In Western Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Review of the Literature on Pakistani Science Teachers’ Professional Development

Qureshi

Demir

2019

SEI

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Pakistan, like many other countries of the world, has continually been criticized for its unproductive professional development (PD) policies and practices for teachers due to low student achievement in science disciplines. A good portion of science teachers (62%) in Pakistan was found to be uncomfortable in teaching the scientific concepts (National Education Assessment System [NEAS], 2014) and PD programs are failing to address this issue. There is a need to reconstruct the operationalized knowledge of PD for Pakistan to expand the ways of knowledge creation, examination, authentication, and distribution. This also implies the need to review the current western literature on PD designs and practices to explore the ways of addressing the issues of Pakistani PD programs. With this purpose in mind, the current study set out to search the comparative understanding of science teachers' PD learning and experiences in Pakistan.The study was carried out to review the literature on science teachers' PD learning and experiences in the Western context (The US and European countries) while comparing it with the situation of Pakistani science teachers' PD practices. This seeks to address the critical questions of how to increase the effectiveness in Pakistani PD practices.

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Lasting impact of a professional development program on constructivist science teaching

Cited by 6 publications

References 7 publications

Influence of motivation, self-beliefs, and instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents in Canada

Influence of motivation, self-beliefs, and instructional practices on science achievement of adolescents in Canada

Teaching aquatic science as inquiry through professional development: Teacher characteristics and student outcomes

A Comparative Review of the Literature on Pakistani Science Teachers’ Professional Development

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