Exploring Interactions Between Teacher, Curriculum, and Instructional Setting That Shape Middle School Energy Curriculum Implementation

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Seven
  In Roundtable Session: Models, Strategies, and Interactions in Science Teaching and Learning (Table 7)

Abstract

This multi-case study investigates how the instructional setting intersected with teachers’ orientation towards curriculum to support or constrain implementation of a new energy literacy unit in six middle school classrooms. We analyzed interview and observational data to explore how teachers’ orientation towards the curriculum unit and their instructional setting shaped their implementation. Orientations toward the unit included importance of novel teaching and making connections to existing curriculum, and/or practical knowledge. Instructional setting factors included the presence, or absence, of building supports, inadequate class time, and COVID-19 policies. Orientations generally supported teachers’ enactment of the materials, whereas instructional setting factors that could not be negotiated caused barriers to enactment. Our implications include the importance of teacher support for new curriculum implementation.

Authors

• Laura Zangori, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Suzanne Otto, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Sepideh Fallahhosseini, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Laura Cole, Colorado State University
  Presenting Author