Beyond Team Chemistry: How High School Departments Influence How Intradepartment Teacher Learning Communities Collaborate

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Professional Development in Secondary Science

Abstract

This qualitative comparative case study explores the relationship between the norms and routines teachers establish in autonomous collaborative groups and those that exist within the departments in which those groups are situated. Theoretically, I frame our analysis using the teacher collaborative learning research, social psychology research, and the research on high school departments. Findings suggest that departmental influence, in the form of norms departments sustain over time, impacts the norms and routines department-specific teacher collaborative groups establish to structure their collaborative work.

Author

• Paul Sutton, Pacific Lutheran University