Balancing Adaptations and Outcomes: Understanding Teacher Decision Making When Using Geospatial Technologies

• In Event: Spatial and Geographic Analysis in Environmental Education Research

Abstract

Introduction & Objectives

Our goal is to understand how teachers engaging in collaborative curriculum design adapt and change instructional materials to best meet their personal and pedagogical goals, curricular objectives and classroom culture. This study examined how three teachers developed a shared vision regarding both pedagogy and content, worked together to design a geospatial technology-based lesson around climate change and biodiversity, and subsequently adapted the lesson and technology for their classrooms. Three case studies reveal the nuanced and specific decisions co-designers make provided with the opportunity and support to adapt a lesson.

Theoretical Framework

In contrast to calls for implementation fidelity of instructional materials (Loucks, 1983; Penuel & Means, 2004), there is a growing emphasis on understanding how teachers adapt and change lessons to meet their own goals, needs and constraints (reviewed in Davis & Varma, 2008). Squire et al. (2002) demonstrated how adapting instructional materials is a local phenomenon based on a variety of factors that highlight the importance of classroom and school cultures. The use of a technology such as Google Earth, which can also be adapted and modified by a teacher, adds a significant dimension to a lesson that must be balanced with considerations and decisions regarding pedagogy and content (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources

This study occurred within the context of a three-year, NSF-funded curriculum design project on using geospatial technologies to explore the relationships between climate change and biodiversity. Three teachers, involved as co-design partners, worked with the authors to design a Google Earth-based lesson examining the relationships among temperature, precipitation and elevation from an inquiry-based, data-driven perspective. Research data included fieldnotes from the design process, classroom observations, and teacher interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed using the constant comparison method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Cases were developed for each teacher.

Results

Lessons on temperature, precipitation and elevation were inquiry-based. Students were given a few basic instructions, but the process and software use was driven by a series of content-focused questions that required students to use the data and software effectively.

Teacher adaptations were driven by three primary categories of consideration: students, curriculum and the technology. Each teacher made significant modifications to the student handouts and re-structured the lesson so it was similar to their approach towards other lessons or assignments. For example, one teacher removed much of the structure of the handout, condensed the series of instructional steps at the beginning, and then asked the students to write a paper responding to a set of questions. The questions were a more focused list of concepts and topics that students were walked through step-by-step in the original handout. Another teacher added more structure and mechanisms for support, as she was teaching a class of ninth grade students who demonstrate significant challenges academically. Reasons for these changes are explored in depth.

Scholarly Significance

This study reveals the decisions made by teachers who are encouraged to adapt curricular resources and the sociocultural dimensions of decision-making within three very different school settings.

Authors

• James G. Makinster

• Daniel R. Zalles, SRI International