Changes in Elementary Teachers' Perceptions and Facilitation of Argumentation Throughout Yearlong Participation in Professional Learning

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Student Discourse and Argumentation

Abstract

This study investigates how elementary teachers’ perceptions and facilitation of scientific argumentation changed throughout their participation in the first year of a multi-year professional learning (PL) program. The PL emphasized a set of critical practices that foster argumentation in elementary science through a practice-based approach. Drawing from teacher surveys and classroom video recordings, results show changes in both teachers’ perceptions and facilitation of classroom argumentation. Interestingly, while the video recordings show that students gained proficiency in developing, evaluating and critiquing ideas and that there were significant changes in the teacher practices following the initial experiences of the PL, including the Summer Institute, no significant changes in the practices were observed in the video from the Fall to the Spring.

Authors

• Matthew Wilsey, Stanford University

• Coralie F Delhaye, Stanford University

• Melissa Collins, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California - Berkeley

• Sara Allan, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California - Berkeley

• Emily V. Reigh, Stanford University

• Hilda Borko, Stanford University

• Jonathan F. Osborne, Stanford University