Co-Evolution of High School Science Teachers' Collaborative Inquiry and Classroom Teaching

• In Event: Describing and Situating Teachers' Collaborative Learning

Abstract

This study explores how five high school science teachers’ collaborative inquiry and classroom teaching co-evolved over six months. We qualitatively analyzed video/audio recordings of the teachers’ interactions on a job-embedded professional development day (8 hours) and in eight after-school meetings (11 hours) as well as their classroom teaching (34 lessons). The teachers focused on supporting students’ writing of scientific explanations. Most of the teachers increased the amount and kinds of instructional supports for scaffolding students’ construction of explanations in their teaching. The shift was closely connected to the teachers’ collaborative work: their collective analysis of student work, constant negotiation of goals and expectations, and discussions and testing of instructional practices and tools for supporting students’ writing of evidence-based explanations.

Authors

• Soo-Yean Shim, University of Washington - Seattle

• Jessica J. Thompson, University of Washington