Dr' Diane Newby

1
Effects of An Inquiry-Based Science Professional
Development Program on Elementary Teachers
Science Teaching Attitudes and Practices

• Dr. Diane Newby
• Dr. Mingyuan Zhang
• Dr. Xiaoping Li
• Central Michigan University

2
Introduction of the Program

• Inquiry-Based Science Instruction for Teachers
  Connecting Learners to Science (IBSIT) is a
  professional development partnership between
  Central Michigan University and Highland Park
  School District in Michigan. 

3
The Purpose of the Program

• To provide a series of professional development
  experiences that encourage 33 Highland Park
  elementary classroom teachers to use
  inquiry-based science instruction and to
  integrate writing literacy and equity teaching
  approaches into their science lessons.

4
Teacher Needs

• The top six areas of needs from the Teacher
  Survey are as follows
• Content area reading/writing strategies
• Experiences with hands-on, minds-on science
  investigations
• Science content knowledge
• Alignment of science and language arts content to
  facilitate integration
• Technology integration
• Equity in science and literacy

5
Professional Development Model

• The programs conceptual model is based on the
  professional development principles identified by
  Sparks and Hirsch (2000).
• Learn from exploration.
• Learn through collaboration.
• Learn by implementation.
• Learn with coaching and feedback.

6
Learn from Exploration

• Workshop leaders model the role of teacher as
  facilitator to help teachers transform from
  teachers telling to students doing. This type of
  approach addresses the needs and wants of the
  learners and empowers them to take control of
  their own learning.

7
Learn through Collaboration

• Participants work in collaborative, heterogeneous
  groups where individuals can learn skills from
  one another and learn both the advantages and
  challenges of producing strategies and skills in
  a collaborative environment

8
Learn by Implementation

• The tenets of inquiry-based learning, including
  essential questions and authentic tasks, are
  explored, giving participants the knowledge of
  why the inquiry-based approach improves student
  understanding and how to integrate this type of
  learning in their classrooms

9
Learn from Coaching and Feedback

• Coaches will observe the instructional
  performance of teachers and students abilities
  to reason, solve problems, apply knowledge, and
  communicate effectively and provide feedback
  based on the observation.

10
Three Phases of the Program  

• Three half-day workshops on curriculum mapping
  and equity in science.
• Nine three-hour intensive workshops on
  inquiry-based science and writing to learn in
  science.
• Implementation of inquiry-based science units.

11
Phase I Science Curriculum Mapping

• Curriculum mapping is a procedure for collecting
  data about the actual curriculum in a school
  district, using the school calendar as an
  organizer.

12
Phase I Science Curriculum Mapping (cont.)

• Why Do Curriculum Mapping?
• Do you know what your colleagues of the same
  grade are teaching?
• Is it possible that some important skills you
  assume someone will teach has never been taught?
• Is the content you are teaching repeated by other
  teachers?

13
Phase I Science Curriculum Mapping (cont.)

• Curriculum Mapping Charting the Course for
  Science
• Each teacher records major elements on a
  calendar-based science curriculum map content
  and process skills.
• Teachers from the same grade read each others
  maps to complete a grade level map for science.

14
Science Curriculum Mapping
15
Some Interesting Findings

• Weather conditions, seasonal changes (K)
• Weather conditions/types of weather (1st Grade)
• Weather/seasons (2nd Grade)
• Three states of matter (3rd Grade)
• Change in matter (4th Grade)
• Matter (5th Grade)

16
Phase II Intensive Workshops

• Nine three-hour intensive workshops
• To promote inquiry-based teaching/learning
  strategies
• To engage participants writing science unit plans
  by using Understanding-by-Design Model (Wiggins
  McTighe, 2001)

17
Phase II Intensive Workshops

• The intensive workshops begin with the process
  skills
• The Process Circus Developing the Process
  Skills of Inquiry-Based Science

18
Process Skills Data Collection
19
Inquiry Learning

• Three kinds of hands-on learning activities
• guided activity,
• inquiry activity,
• challenge activity.
• The activities were followed by small group
  discussions and large group discussions

20
Challenge Inquiry
21
Phase II Unit Plan Design

• Understanding by Design
• To assist educators interested in designing
  units and courses of study that focus on
  developing and deepening students understanding.

22
Working on the Unit Plan
23
Phase III Implementing Unit Plans

• Six unit plans were completed.
• Teachers in different grades introduced their
  unit plans.
• Each group sample taught one of the lessons to
  their colleagues.
• The groups reflected and discussed the process.

24
A Lesson on Simple Machines
25
Phase III Implementing Unit Plans

• Teachers are teaching the units in their
  classrooms.
• Teachers are being observed and videotapes are
  being made.
• Videos are being evaluated and shared with the
  teachers.

26
Evaluation of the Program

• Evaluative data are being collected through
• Teacher Attitude Surveys
• Participant Ratings of the Training Sessions
• Observations of Science Lessons
• Science test of the Stanford Achievement Test
  Ninth Edition

27
Teacher Attitude Survey (Jesky-Smith, 2002)

• The 13-items from the Jesky-Smith survey were
  presented using a five-point Likert format, and
  three items were added, one that addressed
  combining science and writing, and two that
  addressed equity in the classroom.
• The mean score for the March administration was
  67.5 (SD 6.6) and the mean for the November
  scores was 69.8 (SD 5.8). This represented a
  significant increase t (15) 2.5, p lt .05 from
  March to November.

28
Participant Ratings of the Training Sessions

• About 86.9 of the teachers who participated in
  the trainings reported an increase in knowledge
  and content understanding of inquiry-based
  science, relative to the Michigan Curriculum
  Framework.
• Over 87 of the teachers who participated in the
  IBSIT trainings agreed that the sessions
  adequately addressed student outcomes and
  increased their confidence and knowledge.

29
Observations of Science Lessons

• Classroom observation and video tapes show that
• Teachers are implementing integrated science
  units in their classroom.
• Teachers are applying hands-on and minds-on
  activities learned from the workshops. For
  example, in one fourth grade class, the children
  were asked to examine the erosion problems around
  their campus during a science unit on earth
  science.
• Teachers are integrating writing into their
  science lessons. For example, the third grade
  children were instructed to write a narrative
  about the volcano they drew after a science
  lesson on volcano.

30
Student Achievement

• The Science Test of the Stanford Achievement
  Test Ninth Edition (SAT-9) was administered in
  the fall of 2003 to the students whose teachers
  participated in the training. A control group of
  students whose teachers did not participate in
  training also completed SAT-9. Student
  achievement data will be reported after SAT-9 is
  conducted at the end of 2003-2004 school year.

31
Summary

• The preliminary result showed a positive change
  in teacher attitudes toward inquiry learning and
  teaching.
• About 87 of teachers who participated in the
  trainings reported an increase in knowledge and
  content understanding of inquiry-based science,
  relative to the Michigan Curriculum Framework and
  agreed that the sessions adequately addressed
  student outcomes and increased their confidence
  and knowledge.
• Teachers reported that they feel more comfortable
  to implement hands-on, minds-on, integrated
  science units.