Developing Meaningful Professional Development for Urban Science Teachers: Enhancing Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Skills

• In Event: 64.084 - Teaching and Teacher Education in Urban Communities

Abstract

The Colleges of Engineering and Education are in collaboration to offer a summer research program for urban high school science teachers. This research seeks to highlight teachers’ perspectives of the program’s impact on their content knowledge and pedagogical skills in bioengineering and educational practices in an effort to contribute to the body of knowledge about developing meaningful professional development for teachers. In highlighting teachers’ perspectives of the program’s impact on their depth of content knowledge and pedagogical skills, this study contributes to the body of knowledge about developing meaningful professional development to support teachers, emphasize the importance of teachers’ perspectives, and highlight the importance of professional development’s role in changing instruction and improved student learning.

Authors

• Jennifer D. Olson, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Miiri A Kotche, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Anthony Felder, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Andria Shyjka, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Janet Omitoyin, University of Illinois at Chicago