Science Teachers' Learning

Science Teachers' Learning
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-01-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309380189

Currently, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or are revising their own state standards in ways that reflect the NGSS. For students and schools, the implementation of any science standards rests with teachers. For those teachers, an evolving understanding about how best to teach science represents a significant transition in the way science is currently taught in most classrooms and it will require most science teachers to change how they teach. That change will require learning opportunities for teachers that reinforce and expand their knowledge of the major ideas and concepts in science, their familiarity with a range of instructional strategies, and the skills to implement those strategies in the classroom. Providing these kinds of learning opportunities in turn will require profound changes to current approaches to supporting teachers' learning across their careers, from their initial training to continuing professional development. A teacher's capability to improve students' scientific understanding is heavily influenced by the school and district in which they work, the community in which the school is located, and the larger professional communities to which they belong. Science Teachers' Learning provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers' learning and how to implement successful programs for professional development. This report makes actionable recommendations for science teachers' learning that take a broad view of what is known about science education, how and when teachers learn, and education policies that directly and indirectly shape what teachers are able to learn and teach. The challenge of developing the expertise teachers need to implement the NGSS presents an opportunity to rethink professional learning for science teachers. Science Teachers' Learning will be a valuable resource for classrooms, departments, schools, districts, and professional organizations as they move to new ways to teach science.

Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards

Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2015-03-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309305152

A Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) describe a new vision for science learning and teaching that is catalyzing improvements in science classrooms across the United States. Achieving this new vision will require time, resources, and ongoing commitment from state, district, and school leaders, as well as classroom teachers. Successful implementation of the NGSS will ensure that all K-12 students have high-quality opportunities to learn science. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards provides guidance to district and school leaders and teachers charged with developing a plan and implementing the NGSS as they change their curriculum, instruction, professional learning, policies, and assessment to align with the new standards. For each of these elements, this report lays out recommendations for action around key issues and cautions about potential pitfalls. Coordinating changes in these aspects of the education system is challenging. As a foundation for that process, Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards identifies some overarching principles that should guide the planning and implementation process. The new standards present a vision of science and engineering learning designed to bring these subjects alive for all students, emphasizing the satisfaction of pursuing compelling questions and the joy of discovery and invention. Achieving this vision in all science classrooms will be a major undertaking and will require changes to many aspects of science education. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards will be a valuable resource for states, districts, and schools charged with planning and implementing changes, to help them achieve the goal of teaching science for the 21st century.

Professional Development for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Learning

Professional Development for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Learning
Author: Olia E. Tsivitanidou
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319914065

​This book examines the implementation of inquiry-based approaches in science teaching and learning. It explores the ways that those approaches could be promoted across various contexts in Europe through initial teacher preparation, induction programmes and professional development activities. It illustrates connections between scientific knowledge deriving from the science education research community, teaching practices deriving from the science teachers’ community, and educational innovation. Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Learning (IBST/L) has been promoted as a policy response to pressing educational challenges, including disengagement from science learning and the need for citizens to be in a position to evaluate evidence on pressing socio-scientific issues. Effective IBST/L requires well-prepared and skilful teachers, who can act as facilitators of student learning and who are able to adapt inquiry-based activity sequences to their everyday teaching practice. Teachers also need to engage creatively with the process of nurturing student abilities and to acquire new assessment competences. The task of preparing teachers for IBST/L is a challenging one. This book is a resource for the implementation of inquiry-oriented approaches in science education and illustrates ways of promoting IBST/L through initial teacher preparation, induction and professional development programmes.

Ambitious Science Teaching

Ambitious Science Teaching
Author: Mark Windschitl
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2020-08-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1682531643

2018 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented. The book is organized around four sets of core teaching practices: planning for engagement with big ideas; eliciting student thinking; supporting changes in students’ thinking; and drawing together evidence-based explanations. Discussion of each practice includes tools and routines that teachers can use to support students’ participation, transcripts of actual student-teacher dialogue and descriptions of teachers’ thinking as it unfolds, and examples of student work. The book also provides explicit guidance for “opportunity to learn” strategies that can help scaffold the participation of diverse students. Since the success of these practices depends so heavily on discourse among students, Ambitious Science Teaching includes chapters on productive classroom talk. Science-specific skills such as modeling and scientific argument are also covered. Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, Ambitious Science Teaching presents a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them.

Professional Learning in a School-Based Community of Science Teachers

Professional Learning in a School-Based Community of Science Teachers
Author: Wayne Melville
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9460911714

This book conceptualises professional learning as the engagement of teachers in a virtues-based personal reflection and/or public discourse around the episteme, techne and phronesis in the spaces ‘in-between’ the metaphors of understanding community: meanings, practice, and identity.

Professional Learning Communities at Work

Professional Learning Communities at Work
Author: Richard DuFour
Publisher: Solution Tree
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781879639607

Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.

The Professional Knowledge Base of Science Teaching

The Professional Knowledge Base of Science Teaching
Author: Deborah Corrigan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2011-03-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9048139279

Over the past twenty years, much has been written about the knowledge bases thought necessary to teach science. Shulman has outlined seven knowledge domains needed for teaching, and others, such as Tamir, have proposed somewhat similar domains of knowledge, specifically for science teachers. Aspects of this knowledge have changed because of shifts in curriculum thinking, and the current trends in science education have seen a sharp increase in the significance of the knowledge bases. The development of a standards-based approach to the quality of science teaching has become common in the Western world, and phrases such as “evidence-based practice” have been tossed around in the attempt to “measure” such quality. The Professional Knowledge Base of Science Teaching explores the knowledge bases considered necessary for science teaching. It brings together a number of researchers who have worked with science teachers, and they address what constitutes evidence of high quality science teaching, on what basis such evidence can be judged, and how such evidence reflects the knowledge basis of the modern day professional science teacher. This is the second book produced from the Monash University- King’s College London International Centre for the Study of Science and Mathematics Curriculum. The first book presented a big picture of what science education might be like if values once again become central while this book explores what classroom practices may look like based on such a big picture.

Evaluating Professional Development

Evaluating Professional Development
Author: Thomas R. Guskey
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2000
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780761975618

Explains how to better evaluate professional development in order to ensure that it increases student learning, providing questions for accurate measurement of professional development and showing how to demonstrate results and accountability.

STEM Teachers and Teaching in the Digital Era

STEM Teachers and Teaching in the Digital Era
Author: Yifat Ben-David Kolikant
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2020-02-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3030293963

This book brings together researchers from Israel and Canada to discuss the challenges today's teachers and teacher‐educators face in their practice. There is a growing expectation that the 21st century STEM teachers re‐examine their teaching philosophies and adjust their practices to reflect the increasing role of digital technologies. This expectation presents a significant challenge to teachers, who are often asked to implement novel technology‐rich pedagogies they did not have a chance to experience as students or become comfortable with. To exacerbate this challenge, the 21st century teachers function not only in a frequently‐changing educational reality manifested by continuous reforms, but are also bombarded by often contradictory and competing demands from the legislators, administrators, parents, and students. How do we break the vicious circle of reforms and support STEM teachers in making a real change in student learning? This book is unique for at least three reasons. First, it showcases research situated in Israel and Canada that examines the challenges today's teachers and teacher‐educators face in their practice. While the governments of both countries emphasize STEM education, their approaches are different and thus provide for interesting comparisons. Second, in addition to including research-based chapters, prominent scholars discuss the contributions in each of the book sections, problematizing the issues from a global perspective. Third, technology has a potential to empower teachers in this era of change, and this book provides the unique insights from each country, while allowing for comparisons, discussing solutions, and asking new questions. This book will be of interest to all involved in STEM teacher education programs or graduate programs in education, as well as to educational administrators interested in implementing technology in their schools.

Teaching Middle Years

Teaching Middle Years
Author: Nan Bahr
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Academic
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2005
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781741146738

A comprehensive introduction to the rapidly growing area of middle schooling, for teachers, teacher education students and school administrators.