A Three-Year Experimental Study of the Impact of a Museum-Based Teacher Professional Development Program on Teachers and Students

• In Event: 77.050 - Museums and Teacher Professional Development: Illuminating the "Invisible Infrastructure" of Science Institutions in Teacher Learning

Abstract

Objectives. The goal of this study was to causally measure the impact of a museum-based teacher PD program on its teachers and students using ecologically valid measures, and to see how that impact changes over time.

Research context. The studied teacher PD program takes place at a large science museum. Teachers mostly teach grades 4-8. A typical program schedule includes six daylong sessions spread across an academic school year. The content focus is on inquiry and domain knowledge, both with a heavy emphasis on the NGSS’s aspects of three-dimensional learning.

Theoretical framework. Broadening our understanding of the context in which teachers learn is one of the fundamental challenges of modern PD research (Luft and Hewson, 2012). Informal science education (ISE) programs tend to be more object-based, student centered and with a broader content focus while more formal PD settings tend to be more expert-based, teacher-centered and focused in its content (Astor-Jack, McCallie & Balcerzak, 2007). There have been calls for more research on direct links between PD and student achievement (Desimone, 2009; van Driel, Meirink, van Veen & Zwart, 2012), yet there are only a “handful” of experimental studies on science-specific PD (Wilson, 2013).

Data sources and analysis. In 2015-2016, applicants to the program were randomly placed in a control or treatment group. The treatment group were admitted into the program while the control group was not. Teachers and their students in both groups were given a pre- and post-survey at the start and end of the year. The survey measured attitudes and behaviors towards science and scientific content knowledge using questions taken mostly from well known standardized tests, but with an “Explain” prompt added. Three years later, teachers from both groups were given a nearly identical follow-up survey, but with a new section about what museum-based education and experiences they participated in the meantime (ex: field trips and use of exhibits).

Results. 125 teachers and 1,676 students participated in the year one study (Authors, 2018). Teachers in the treatment group showed a 7% gain in subject content knowledge over the control group. Students of teachers in the treatment group showed a 4% gain in subject content knowledge over the control group on multiple-choice items and an 11% gain on the constructed response items. There was no overall change in science attitudes of teachers or students. The three year follow up study is underway and will be completed before the AERA final paper deadline in February, 2019.

Significance. This is the first known experimental study of a museum-based PD program’s impact on teachers and their students. One of the surprising results was that student impact was seen in the first year, when other studies have shown PD tends to have a greater impact in subsequent years (Harris & Sass, 2011; Johnson & Fargo, 2010; Kyriakides, Christoforidou, Panayiotou & Creemers, 2017). The follow up results will provide more evidence of long term impact (or not), which gets to the core goals of in-service teacher education.

Authors

• C. Aaron Price, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

• Gauri Vaishampayan