Examining Interactions Between Collaborative Professional Development, Science Teachers' Knowledge, and Students' Reasoning

• In Event: Collaboration, Structures, and Tools in Science Teacher Learning

Abstract

Science teachers’ knowledge and beliefs greatly influence the nature of instructional experiences they create for learners in their classrooms. Professional development experiences provide science teachers with varied opportunities to further their understanding of the epistemic functions of knowledge-building scientific practices in the classroom. This study compared outcomes involving teachers who participated in one of two professional development experiences focused on supporting students’ science talk, with only one including collaborative work. Results indicate that students taught by teachers engaged in collaborative redesign of materials demonstrated greater improvement in their scientific reasoning abilities. Further exploration showed more sophisticated epistemological orientations toward science by the teacher aligned with students’ improvement with scientific reasoning.

Authors

• Patrick J. Enderle, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Kari L. Roberts, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Schellinger, Florida State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sierra Morandi, Florida State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Harini Krishnan, University of Utah-Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ruveyde Asli Kaya, Florida State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University
  Non-Presenting Author