Impacts of Practice-Based Professional Development on Teacher Project-Based Learning Practices

• In Event: Examining Shifts in Teachers' Student-Centered Practices as a Result of Practice-Based Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives

Project-based learning (PBL) holds the potential to provide students with transformative educational experiences that can increase engagement with challenging real-world tasks. As PBL becomes more prevalent as a student-centered approach and more researchers try to design Professional Development (PD), we need to analyze the efficacy of PD to support shifts in teachers’ practice so that they reflect core principles of PBL. Indeed, some evidence suggests that for PBL to be successful, teachers must enact practices aligned to the core domains of PBL (Author et al., 2019). Yet, we do not know, specifically, whether such practice-based PD impacts teachers’ implementation of PBL within the classroom. As such, the current research explores growth of teachers’ enactment of practices over the course of PBL training to see whether PD impacted certain PBL practices to greater or lesser extents that may help inform future PD initiatives.

Thus, our primary research questions are the following:


Q1. How did practice-based PD impact teachers’ enactment of PBL practices after directly targeted PD and after full completion of PD?

Q2. Were there differences in teachers’ PBL practice growth scores between targeted and full completion time points?

Method

Teachers interested in advancing PBL instruction were recruited, consented, and submitted baseline videos of their instruction before undergoing PD. Teachers were assigned to PD groups based upon subject area and underwent targeted practice-based PD cycles, each focusing on a core domain of PBL (e.g., PD focus on collaboration practices). After teachers (N=30) underwent targeted PD, they submitted videos of classroom instruction. Additionally, after full completion of all PD cycles, teachers (N=12) submitted post-PD videos. Videos were scored on scale of, 1=no presence to 4=high support, using the PBL Protocol. Interrater reliability was above .6 kappa across domain practices.

Results

Q1. Paired samples t-tests revealed that teachers significantly increased their scores related to disciplinary authenticity (p<.035, for both), disciplinary rigor (p<.022, for both), and iteration (p<.02, for both) after targeted and completed PD. Collaboration practices were only affected after targeted PD, t(29)=2.64, p=.02, (See Table 1).

Q2. Growth scores across the PD time points were calculated. Paired samples t-tests show that teachers’ growth in choice after PD was greater than when it was targeted, t(29)=-3.01, p=0.13. No other differences in growth emerged (See Table 2).

Significance

The purpose of this study was to explore impacts of professional development on teachers’ growth in PBL practices. Findings show that teachers’ disciplinary rigor, disciplinary authenticity, and iteration seemed to be impacted to greater extents than the other PBL practices, although teacher collaboration practices were affected after PD focus on collaboration. Practice-based PD may help teachers initially “try out” practices which translate into sustained reflection in enacting PBL practices. However, teachers did not significantly grow in practices related to real world authenticity and choice. It may be that practice-based PD needs to be tied to quality PBL curriculums that incorporate student choice and connections in producing work for real audiences. Additionally, teachers may need more intensive training in these practices for successful enactment.

Authors

• JeanMarie Farrow, Fairleigh Dickinson University

• Sarah Schneider Kavanagh, University of Pennsylvania

• Pamela L. Grossman, University of Pennsylvania

• Preeti Ganesh Samudra, SUNY - College at Plattsburgh

• Christopher G. Pupik Dean, University of Pennsylvania

• Zachary Herrmann, University of Pennsylvania