Professional Development to Support a Cognitive Apprenticeship Approach to Disciplinary Writing in Science

• In Event: 69.058 - Poster Session 16
  In Poster Session: 69.058-6 - Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Science education reform highlights the need for students to learn to construct and critique scientific explanations and arguments. Creating opportunities for students to practice written construction and critique allows all students to participate, which is often problematic in oral discourse. We report on a two-year professional development project to support teachers’ practices of teaching disciplinary writing and critique. In the second year of the project, the teachers implemented a cognitive apprenticeship approach with PD support. Findings indicate that the cognitive apprenticeship approach gave teachers an explicit model that helped them support students’ writing, but that the teachers modified the approach in ways that may have restricted students’ potential for developing appropriate criteria for scientific critique in writing.

Authors

• Daniel M. Levin, University of Maryland - College Park

• Susan De La Paz, University of Maryland

• Yewon Lee, University of Maryland - College Park