Middle School Science Teacher Program: Science Inquiry Through Modeling Pedagogy, Content Learning, and Evaluation (SIMPLE)

• In Event: 25.059 - Examining the Impacts of Practicum-Based Professional Development

Abstract

Objective
The SIMPLE professional development program was designed to improve the middle school science teachers’ content knowledge, inquiry self-efficacy,and inquiry-based practices. The program began with a two-week summer Institute and continued with three follow-up sessions during the academic year for 40 middle science school teachers.

Perspective
The literature on effective professional development supports the design of this program in that it provides opportunities for teachers to build their content and pedagogical content knowledge, provides time for teachers to reflect on their practice, immerses teachers in research-based learning approaches that they can use with their students, and forms a collaborative community of professionals (Bell & Gilbert, 1996; Garet et al., 2001; Loucks-Horsley et al., 2003; Thompson & Zeuli, 1999).

Method
The Institute was divided into four main segments over the two-week period: inquiry pedagogy instruction, small group content instruction,practice-teaching with middle school students, and small group reflection sessions. In the morning pedagogy session, the teachers spent from 30 to 60 minutes (varied by day) participating as students in inquiry-based activities. After the activities, the teachers were led through discussions of the modeled pedagogy in relation to the science and engineering practices (NRC, 2012). Each day, after the whole group pedagogy session, teachers were divided into three content area teams by grade level. In each group, a University content instructor (Ph.D. in science) as well as a pedagogical instructor (expert
teacher) led the teachers through content embedded inquiry lessons. In order to practice their inquiry strategies, the teachers engaged in teaching middle school students recruited for an enrichment program. This practice-teaching allowed participants to immediately enact their newly learned inquiry strategies in a low-stakes environment. Each teacher-team taught six 90-minute classes to small groups of students. After the practice-teaching sessions project staff met with the teachers for 30 minutes to collaboratively reflect on their practice-teaching sessions, discussing their strengths and “missed opportunities” with inquiry teaching. Within these reflective groups, the teachers set instructional goals to improve aspects of their teaching before the next practice-teaching session. Project staff helped the teachers set goals that resulted in improving their practice and increasing their efficacy for inquiry.
The PD program continued during the academic year with three 4-hour Saturday workshops held at a local middle school. In addition to the workshops, the project staff observed teachers and provided in-classroom support as requested by the teachers.

Findings & Significance
Using a pre-post program methodology, teachers in this program have shown significant increases in the quality of their inquiry-based instruction using the Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol (EQUIP, Marshall,Smart, & Horton, 2010) from before to after the program. We have also seen significant increases in teachers’ personal self-efficacy and outcome expectancy for teaching some of the essential features of inquiry as measured with the Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) instrument (Smolleck, Zembal-Saul,& Yoder, 2006). Teachers have described the importance of the practice-teaching and reflection sessions on their implementation of inquiry-based practices in their classrooms during the academic year.

Author

• Christine R. Lotter, University of South Carolina