A Situated Professional Development Approach to Build Teacher Efficacy for Computational Modeling

• In Event: Invigorating STEM Teaching Practices Across Contexts

Abstract

Computational modeling can be a powerful mechanism for students to learn authentic scientific practices in the classroom. However, most teachers do not possess the knowledge, skills, or dispositions to integrate computational modeling into their science teaching practices. This study applied Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy’s (1998) integrated model of teacher efficacy to investigate how a situated professional development approach provided teachers with affordances to build their self-efficacy to implement computational modeling in the science classroom. Results showed that this approach provided teachers with important sources of information that helped to develop their self-efficacy for using computational modeling to facilitate science learning. Our analyses also yielded some important recommendations for researchers and practitioners who might wish to improve the approach.

Authors

• Danielle Cadieux Boulden, Code.org

• Jennifer K. Houchins, North Carolina State University

• Arif Rachmatullah, SRI International

• Jessica Vandenberg, North Carolina State University

• Bita Akram, North Carolina State University

• Veronica Catete, North Carolina State University

• Nick Lytle, University of Florida

• Tiffany Barnes

• Eric N. Wiebe, North Carolina State University