Science Teachers' Instructional Behaviors and Their Students' Science Learning: A Randomized Controlled Research Study in Schools

• In Event: Using Observational Measures in K–5 Classrooms to Understand Teacher and Student Outcomes

Abstract

In this randomized controlled trial validation study, we explored the impact of the ongoing, intensive, and structured virtual professional development and virtual mentoring and coaching on 5th-grade science teachers’ instructional time allocation by using a low-inference observational instrument. By observing 98 science teachers in 58 schools from 27 school districts across Texas three times during the academic year 2018-2019, we found the treatment teachers outperformed control teachers significantly in time allocation of various domains and hence identified the increase of observed instructional practices in the treatment groups. In addition, the findings revealed improved instructional practices within treatment classrooms, implying that the positive effect of the intervention to enhance the quality of pedagogy and the content area instruction in science.

Authors

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Cindy Lynn Guerrero, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Shifang Tang, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Chenxuan He, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Zhuoying Wang, Texas A&M University - College Station