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

Abstract

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. #

Pelatihan Menyusun Soal Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis Dan Analisis Menggunakan Model Rasch Bagi Guru Ipa

“…Rendahnya implementasi penilaian kemampuan berpikir kritis berdampak pada rendahnya kemampuan berpikir kreatif dan kritis siswa Indonesia (Reta, 2012). Rendahnya kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa menghambat kegiatan inkuiri (Duncan Seraphin et al, 2017) dan juga menyebabkan siswa kurang dapat berinovasi (Fauville et al, 2013).…”

Admission test analysis of pre-service math-science teacher based on its related factors

“…These implied two critical points which are (1) learning process in especially at the middle school level, has not been able to create a learning atmosphere that supported the specific level of student's cognitive development; and (2) the existence of students who are at the concrete and transitional level will be an obstruction to internalize the substantive concepts that tend to be abstract and complex. In general, a sufficient level of logical thinking will develop in line with adulthood and supported by collaborative learning that is suitable to inquiry and teacher support (Duncan Seraphin et al, 2017;Shanahan & Bechtel, 2020;Yu & Singh, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, he/she need to consider how to build knowledge and self-efficacy that grow with his/her teaching experiences (Rachmatullah & Ha, 2019;Rozenszajn & Yarden, 2014). The model of teacher professional development determined by several factors such as (1) teacher characteristics, (2) content knowledge, (3) pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry, (4) experiences, dan (5) adherence (Duncan Seraphin et al, 2017). Scholastic tests and academic tests will predict the content knowledge and a student's potential to develop in general.…”

“…This result showed that TOLT and MMI could measure a student's capacity to be successful in teacher preparation programs with a balance between cognitive and non-cognitive factors. Therefore, the integration of TOLT and MMI is essentials ( Duncan Seraphin et al, 2017).…”

An Interdisciplinary RET Program: Assessment with Concerns-Based Adoption Model (RTP)

“…Professional development (PD) is required of many teachers. Teacher PD has been shown to improve student achievement in science [14], and PD is considered imperative to the realization of standards in curriculum [15]. Teachers are typically required to earn a certain number of continuing education credits (CEUs) as part of their work contract.…”