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The Power of a Conceptual Framework in Video-Based Professional Development Design

Mon, April 11, 4:30 to 6:00pm, Marriott Marquis, Floor: Level Two, Marquis Salon 17

Abstract

Purpose: Previous research documented the positive impact of a videocase-based, analysis-of-practice professional development program (PDP) on elementary science teaching and learning. This paper examines the design and implementation decisions made in setting up and orchestrating this PDP, emphasizing the role of the program’s conceptual framework and highlighting design changes made over time.
Theoretical Framework: Foundational to this PDP is a conceptual framework that supports teachers in learning to look at science teaching and learning through two lenses: the Student Thinking and the Science Content Storyline Lenses. For each lens, teachers examine, analyze, and practice using a limited set of research-based science teaching strategies. Videocases focus on science learning goals in the teachers’ curriculum, and analysis engages teachers in thinking about this science content while learning how to reveal, support, and challenge student thinking and how to create coherent science content storylines.
Teachers analyze classroom video and student work in small study groups where they can feel safe to have their ideas, their content understandings, and their science teaching analyzed and challenged. Explicit norms, tools, and protocols scaffold the thinking required for productive analysis.
A three-phase design reflects a situated cognition view of teacher learning and a cognitive apprenticeship instructional design:
1. To deepen content knowledge and learn about the framework, teachers analyze videos from teachers outside the group.
2. To begin to translate knowledge into practice, participants teach lessons designed to support their use of the framework and analyze video from each other’s classrooms.
3. In a new content area, teachers plan lessons using the program’s lenses, strategies, and planning tools.
Methods and Results: Effectiveness of this PDP was assessed through measures of teacher learning, teacher practice, and student learning. In an experimental, RCT study involving 138 teachers and 2823 students, students whose teachers experienced this PDP significantly outperformed students whose teachers were in a content deepening program (CDP) of equal duration (p< .001 with a Hedges’ g effect size of 0.68 standard deviations). In a quasi-experimental study, teachers experiencing the PDP developed deeper science content knowledge (p< .001) and stronger lesson analysis abilities (p< .001) than teachers in a CDP. In addition, teachers in the PDP increased their use of Student Thinking and Science Content Storyline teaching strategies (p< .01).
Significance: Because of the effectiveness of this and other video-based PD programs, there is interest in understanding the thinking that guides video-based PD design, implementation, and modifications. Key design features in our program include an overarching conceptual framework, clearly specified teacher learning goals, and a theory-guided progression in which PD leaders support teachers through multiple cycles of a professional growth pathway: learn, analyze, use and apply, reflect. Changes in the design over time include greater clarity on the selection of teacher video, increased intentionality in the scaffolding of lesson analysis, and a more rigorous planning process to deepen understanding of the Science Content Storyline Lens. By illuminating behind-the-scenes thinking of program designers/leaders, this paper contributes to our understanding of the power of a video-based PDP that is framework-driven.

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