Professional Development

Integrating Chemistry and Earth science (ICE) has developed innovative units bringing Earth science concepts and practices into the high school chemistry curriculum to address NGSS expectations in the absence of high school Earth science courses. ICE features 3D teaching about local phenomena with student-designed investigations in the schoolyard and labs, exploration of BES datasets and conceptual modeling. ICE built a community of practice with teachers, school leaders, education researchers and scientists supporting rigorous, responsive teaching.

This is an NSF-funded collaborative Early-Stage Design and Development project of the Educational Testing Service and Western Washington University. Our focus is on developing assessment measures and instructional materials related to content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions. In this poster, we'll share development work on educative curriculum materials for teacher educators that have been designed to support the development of pre-service elementary teachers' CKT.

Co-PI(s): Emily Borda and Dan Hanley, Western Washington University

We are investigating the development of middle-schoolers' understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. We are studying how and to what extent students' participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations.

We are investigating the development of middle-schoolers' understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. We are studying how and to what extent students' participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations.

We are investigating the development of middle-schoolers' understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. We are studying how and to what extent students' participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations.

Despite widespread agreement about the importance of teacher professional development (PD), translating what is learned in PD to classroom practice remains challenging. Guided by Self Determination Theory, this study examines how PD facilitators, including pedagogical coaches and university faculty, support the three basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness for teachers' intrinsic motivation as learners in PD focused on reform-based science instruction. Study findings include high-leverage practices that facilitators can use to support teacher motivation.