The Impact of Professional Development on Teachers' Enactment of New Literacy Practices on Middle School Students' Reading and Science Content Learning Outcomes

• In Event: 49.079 - A Broad View of the Efficacy of Literacy Programs and Policies

Abstract

Integrating literacy practices in science instruction has always been a challenge for teachers. With advancing technology, “literacy” evolves to include new forms of literacy made possible by digital technologies. “New literacy” refers to using technology to research, locate, evaluate, synthesize and communication information. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework to guide science teachers’ new literacy practices. We worked with 25 middle school science teachers through PD; they implemented the modules for one year. We adopted mixed-methods to examine their teaching before and after the PD, and investigated the change of teachers’ new literacy practice, students’ ELA test score, and science content learning outcomes.

Authors

• Hui-Yin Hsu, New York Institute of Technology

• Shiang-Kwei Wang, New York Institute of Technology

• Daniel Coster, Utah State University