Engaging Teachers as Learners With an Anchoring Phenomenon in Practice-Based Professional Development

• In Event: Examining Practice-Based Science Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
As states adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, teachers need professional development [PD] that supports their understanding of these standards and focuses on the changes in practice required to implement them (Garet et al., 2001). This work describes our practice-based PD approach that incorporates immersive learning experiences for elementary science teachers (teachers as learners), centered on investigating natural phenomena, while highlighting how teachers can use representations for sensemaking in their own teaching (teachers as designers). We are interested in examining how the initial learning experience acts as an anchoring phenomenon for teachers’ work as they teach and discuss their practice during the year.

Framework. Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) provides a framework of core science teaching practices that set a vision for how teachers elicit and support student thinking in their practice (Windschitl et al., 2018). We designed a practice-based PD using AST practices and tools to position teachers as learners and designers. During the year, we wondered how this approach would influence teachers’ decisions in both planning and facilitating science lessons.

Methods.
Data was collected in an urban district in the southeastern US. Nine teachers participated in the PD, engaging in four video club PD sessions (Sherin & Han, 2004). For this study, we utilize a case study (Yin, 2017) approach to capture the ways one teacher (Anne) referenced the summer experience in subsequent PD sessions, implicitly and explicitly. Anne was chosen because of connections between PD experiences and her classroom practice. The research team collaboratively engaged in inductive coding and constant-comparative analysis based on Anne’s references to the summer PD (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). We examine how the immersive experience with teachers in the summer PD influenced Anne’s planning and instructional decisions throughout the year.

Results and significance.
Anne referenced the summer PD in four different ways during the year:
● Category 1: Selection of Phenomenon Anne referenced the summer phenomenon when she described how she re-organized science concepts around a meaningful and relevant phenomenon (see Figure 1)
● Category 2: Drawing on Specific Activities Anne drew on specific activities from the summer phenomenon and modified them for her own content and context (see Figure 2)
● Category 3: Modeling conventions In PD, teachers were introduced to modeling conventions that Anne introduced to her students: zoom-ins for the unobservable, arrows for movement, labeling.
● Category 4: Facilitation tools to elevate student ideas Anne facilitated learning using tools and practices that were introduced to her through the summer PD, including back pocket questions and summary charts.

Positioning teachers as learners in our PD provided a foundation for engaging in design with anchoring phenomenon. As teacher educators, we were interested in learning more about what PD features would “stick” with teachers and influence design and facilitation decisions. This study identifies different components of a practice-based PD that one teacher accessed to help shift her instructional practices. This study contributes to identifying high-leverage experiences that we plan to use to refine our PD design and that could inform the design of practice-based PDs.

Authors

• Andrea Henrie, Vanderbilt University

• Heather Jo Johnson, Vanderbilt University

• Danielle Keifert, University of North Texas

• Rachel Diane Askew, Freed-Hardeman University

• Ashlyn Pierson, The Ohio State University