An Environment-Based Summer Institute: Creating a Positive Learning Environment for Urban Teachers

• In Event: Pedagogy and Learning Environments

Abstract

This study describes a 2-week, professional development institute designed for 18 urban teachers working in high-needs schools in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The institute covered the Common Core Standards in mathematics and language arts, and used a transdisciplinary approach in which a local environmental issue or problem served as the centralizing theme to integrate the disciplinary areas. Perceptions of the institute’s learning environment were assessed using the little known 7-scale, Professional Development Learning Environment Survey—PDLES (Waxman, Stillasano, & Lee, 2009). Results revealed average item means ranging from 4.28 for Teacher Outcomes to 4.68 for Teacher Expectations. Questionnaires, drawings of a transdisciplinary teacher, and semi-structured interviews were also used to collect data.

Author

• Catherine Shelley Martin-Dunlop, Morgan State University