Exploring Ecological Changes in a Teacher Leader's Reflections Upon Integrated Science Curriculum Reform

• In Event: Equitable Change in Science Education

Abstract

Implementing reform-based curriculum necessitates exploring teachers’ perceptions and experiences. Using the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform (TCSR) model that situates teachers’ thinking and practice as central to systemic reform forms an interpretive lens to explore the various ecological layers that comprise an ever-changing educational landscape (Woodbury & Gess-Newsome, 2002). This study seeks to explore the changes in ecological levels that manifest in a teacher leader’s reflections upon implementing curricular reform integrating chemistry and Earth science. Using a directed content analysis, findings show more reflections from a classroom perspective despite spending more time at the district-level. A broader district-level perspective became equally prominent in later years. The confluence of personal and systemic contexts illustrates the breadth and depth needed to understand reform’s complexities.

Authors

• Kevin Fleming, The George Washington University

• Jonathon Grooms, The George Washington University

• Alan Berkowitz, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

• Bess Caplan, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies