Professional learning opportunities for teachers of science have increasingly focused on deepening teachers' disciplinary and/or pedagogical science content knowledge. One method of addressing teachers' knowledge is to engage them with instructional materials they are or will use with their students. This strategy may include engaging with the student activities themselves as learners, or analyzing the materials to discuss the intended learning goals and progression of ideas for students' conceptual development. Twelve research studies investigated science professional development programs using this strategy. (See Table 1.)
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Science Content |
Name of Study
(Click on the name of each study to read a description of how the intervention engaged teachers with student instructional materials in science.) [PDF 324K] |
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| Evaluation of a model for supporting the development of elementary school teachers' science content knowledge (Alonzo, 2002) |
3 |
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| Elementary teachers' understanding of standards-based light concepts before and after instruction (Atwood et al., 2005) |
K-5 |
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| Integrated science and mathematics professional development programs (Basista & Mathews, 2002) |
4-10 |
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| Experienced junior high school teachers' pck in light of a curriculum change: The cell is to be studied longitudinally (Cohen & Yarden, 2009) |
6-8 |
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| Connecting all the pieces (Heller, et al., 2003) |
K-5 |
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| Development of experienced science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of models of the solar system and the universe (Henze et al., 2008) |
9-12 |
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| Organization, implementation, and results of an Eisenhower systemic elementary science reform project (Jones, 1997) |
K-5 |
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| Fostering self-reflection and meaningful learning: Earth science professional development for middle school science teachers (Monet & Etkina, 2008) |
6-8 |
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| An assessment of the effectiveness of Full Option Science System training for third- through sixth-grade teachers (Robardey et al., 1994) |
3-6 |
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| Using research based assessment tools in professional development in current electricity (Shen et al., 2007) |
K-8 |
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| Developing science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (van Driel et al., 1998) |
9-12 |
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| The effects of a two-year molecular visualization experience on teachers' attitudes, content knowledge, and spatial ability (Williamson & Jose, 2008) |
9-12 |
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Findings from Research
Each of the 12 studies that included the use of student science instructional materials reported at least some positive results on participating teachers' content knowledge, though in some cases (Cohen & Yarden, 2009; Williamson & Jose, 2008) the results were weak. None of the studies was in fact designed to systematically study the effects of this particular strategy for deepening teacher content knowledge; rather, the studies examined programs comprising multiple interventions, without isolating the influence of any one strategy. In this sense, the studies are more akin to program evaluations than systematic research on interventions. Although none of the studies investigated the unique contribution of the strategy of using student instructional materials, consistent positive results across programs support claims regarding its effectiveness in deepening teachers' science content knowledge.
Teacher participants in the 12 studies ranged from grades Kindergarten through 12, but the majority of the studies focused on the elementary grades. One study focused on life science, two focused on earth science, four of the studies addressed various science topics, and five focused only on physical science.
The experiences for teachers in the 12 studies included three courses (Alonzo, 2002; Robardey, Allard, & Brown, 1994; Shen, Gibbons, Wiegers, & McMahon, 2007), three academic year inservice workshops (Heller, Daehler, & Shinohara, 2003; Monet & Etkina, 2008; van Driel, Verloop, & de Vos, 1998); and five summer workshops lasting between two and four weeks (Atwood, Christopher, & McNall, 2005; Basista & Mathews, 2002; Hanley, 2006; Jones, 1997; Williamson & Jose, 2008). One of the summer experiences (Jones, 1997) also included follow-up during the school year in the form of inservice activities and classroom visits. In addition, one of the studies (Henze, van Driel, & Verloop, 2008) followed teachers using a new science curriculum.
Nine of the 12 studies used written pre- and post-tests to measure teachers' gains in content knowledge (Alonzo, 2002; Atwood et al., 2005; Basista &Mathews, 2002; Jones, 1997; Heller et al., 2003; Monet & Etkina, 2008; Shen et al., 2007; Robardey et al., 1994; Williamson & Jose, 2008). Researchers in the Alonzo (2002) study also interviewed teachers and observed their classrooms after the intervention. van Driel and colleagues (1998) analyzed transcripts of teacher discussion during workshops. The Heller and colleagues (2003), Monet and Etkina (2008), and Williamson and Jose (2008) studies also included attitude surveys; in addition, Heller and colleagues (2003) interviewed teachers and Monet and Etkina (2008) used structured journals.
Teachers participated in each of these experiences on a voluntary basis, so generalizability of the findings from the studies must be considered in this light. The populations that the participating teachers represent are limited to those willing and able to commit to fairly extensive interventions. The small sample sizes of the studies also raise some questions about how appropriate it is to generalize the results.
Although all of these studies used either a pre-post design to measure changes in teachers' content knowledge or traced changes over several points in time, none of them used comparison groups of teachers who did not participate in the professional development programs. It is possible that participating teachers might perform better on a measure of content knowledge on a post-test simply because they had completed it previously, in one case (Basista & Mathews, 2002) only a few weeks before. Two studies (Jones, 1997; Shen et al., 2007) implied that different questions were used for the pre- and post-tests; however, they provided no evidence that the tests had the same level of difficulty, raising questions about the comparability of the results. The Shen and colleagues (2007) study did not include statistical tests to verify that scores on the pre- and post-tests were significantly different.
Additional limitations were noted regarding some of these studies. Three of the studies did not describe the intervention in enough detail to support interpretations linking their teachers' experience with the results (Alonzo, 2002; Heller et al., 2003; van Driel et al., 1998). Potential bias was also an issue for three of the studies (Basista & Mathews, 2002; Monet & Etkina, 2008; van Driel et al., 1998) in which the researchers designed and/or implemented the intervention. Concerns of potential bias were evident in the van Driel and colleagues (1998) study, in which only three transcript segments were analyzed from a workshop and multiple classroom observations, but no justification was given for choosing these particular segments. Finally, in one study (Cohen & Yarden, 2009) it was not clear when the sources of evidence were collected over the course of the intervention, so it is possible that the study confounded impacts of the professional development with factors related to teachers' enrollment in professional development.
For the research on engaging teachers with student instructional materials in science, click here. [PDF 11K]
The 12 studies described above were part of a more inclusive review of research on experiences intended to deepen teachers' science content knowledge. For more information about research on this relationship, you are invited to read a review of findings from studies of experiences intended to deepen teachers' science content knowledge click here.
[PDF 111K]
