Professional Development Informing Practice and Practice Informing Professional Development: An Iterative Improvement Approach

• In Event: Inquiry-Based Professional Development in Science

Abstract

Inquiry science instruction is especially challenging in elementary grades where teachers are constrained by crowded curricula and time. Professional development (PD) may provide an opportunity to support elementary teacher development of inquiry science instruction. The study examines the inquiry practice of two teachers who participated in an inquiry science PD and the relationship between their enactment of inquiry and PD experience. Classroom observations, teacher interviews and surveys, lesson plans, teacher presentations, and videos from the PD were analyzed. Teachers’ inquiry enactment assessed through discourse analysis revealed teacher controlled discourse, low level questioning, and limited discussion. Analysis of the PD revealed limited teacher opportunities to experience inquiry, and a disconnect between lesson content and inquiry practice. Implications for PD are discussed.

Authors

• Doron Zinger, University of California - Irvine

• Elizabeth A. van Es, University of California - Irvine

• Brad Hughes, University of California - Irvine