Professional Development

Ed+gineering: An Interdisciplinary Partnership Integrating Engineering into Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs

Principal Investigator:
Jennifer Kidd

While new standards call for elementary students to learn engineering, many teachers do not receive any training in engineering and feel underprepared to teach it. Ed+gineering partners preservice teachers with engineering undergraduate students at three points during their respective preparation programs to develop and teach engineering lessons to elementary students. These three collaborations help engineering students develop interdisciplinary collaboration skills while helping preservice teachers develop the competence and confidence to integrate engineering.

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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Broadening Participation
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Elementary School
Post-secondary

Teaching STEM with Robotics: Design, Development, and Testing of a Research-based Professional Development Program for Teachers

Principal Investigator:
Vikram Kapila

To lower the barriers in STEM disciplines for students, using evidence-based research, we designed and conducted a professional development program that built middle school teachers' capacity to use hands-on robotics and engineering design as the curriculum focus. Through summer workshops, teachers learned to: build and program LEGO robots; create and implement standards-aligned robotics-based STEM lessons; and develop, practice, and examine optimal pedagogical approaches for STEM learning using robotics.
 

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Discipline/Topic:
Computer Science
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Educational Technology
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Middle School

Video in the Middle: Flexible Digital Experiences for Mathematics Teacher Education

Principal Investigator:
Nanette Seago

The Video in the Middle (VIM) project is creating forty asynchronous two-hour modules in which a video clip is at the center as teachers take part in an online experience involving mathematical problem solving, video analysis of classroom practice, and pedagogical reflection. A RCT study was conducted in February/March 2020 with 68 teachers randomly assigned across the three delivery formats Self-paced: 29, Locally facilitated: 19, VIM facilitated: 20) to examine the VIM PD impact.

Co-PI(s): Catherine Carroll and Bob Montgomery, WestEd

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Discipline/Topic:
Mathematics
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Middle School

Decomposing Practice in Teacher Professional Development: Examining Sequences of Learning Activities

Mathematics
Discourse
Professional Development
Research
Teacher Practice
Elementary

In this paper, we analyze a PD design, examining its activities and the sequencing of professional learning tasks. We use a theoretical framework typically used in pre-service teacher education to understand the design of one PD program. Our overarching goal is to theorize about how to design PD and sequence professional learning tasks for practicing teachers.

Access Link
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X19309874?via%3Di…
Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Daniel J. Heck

Kristen A. Malzahn

Lara K. Dick

Lead Organization(s)
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Horizon Research, Inc.
Year
2020
Short Description

In this paper, authors analyze a PD design, examining its activities and the sequencing of professional learning tasks.

Controlled Implementations: Teaching Practice to Practicing Mathematics Teachers

Mathematics
Discourse
Professional Development
Teacher Practice
Elementary

In this chapter, we use the Framework for Teaching Practice (Grossman, et al., 2009) as a conceptual tool for analzying the design of professional development. Although initially developed to examine the education of prospective teachers, we contend that this framework is appropriate for analyzing and supporting the design of professional development. The framework consists of three elements: decompositions, representations, and approximations of practice.

Access Link
https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004418967/BP000021.xml
Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Lara Dick

Reema Alnizami

Dan Heck

Kristen Malzahn

Lead Organization(s)
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Horizon Research, Inc.
Year
2020
Short Description

In this chapter, authors use the Framework for Teaching Practice (Grossman, et al., 2009) as a conceptual tool for analzying the design of professional development.

In the Classrooms of Newly Hired Secondary Science Teachers: The Consequences of Teaching In-field or Out-of-field

Science
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Teacher Practice
High

Science teachers must sometimes teach outside of their expertise, and this type of teaching assignment is referred to as being out-of-field. Among newly hired teachers, this type of assignment may have a detrimental impact in the development of their instruction. This study explored the classroom instruction of 17 newly hired teachers who were teaching both in-field and out-of-field in the physical sciences during their first three years.

Access Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1046560X.2020.1800195
Author/Presenter

Jessica B. Napier

Julie A. Luft

Harleen Singh

Lead Organization(s)
University of Georgia (UGA)
Year
2020
Short Description

Science teachers must sometimes teach outside of their expertise, and this type of teaching assignment is referred to as being out-of-field. Among newly hired teachers, this type of assignment may have a detrimental impact in the development of their instruction. This study explored the classroom instruction of 17 newly hired teachers who were teaching both in-field and out-of-field in the physical sciences during their first three years.

Out-of-Field Teaching in Science

Science
Professional Development
Teacher Practice
Elementary
Middle

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Luft, J. A., Hobbs. L., & Hanuscin, D. (Eds.) (2020). Special issue: Out-of-field teaching in science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(7), 719-820.

Access Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uste20/31/7?nav=tocList
Author/Presenter

Julie A. Luft

Linda Hobbs

Deborah Hanuscin

Lead Organization(s)
University of Georgia (UGA)
Year
2020
Short Description

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Out-of-Field Teaching in Science

Science
Professional Development
Teacher Practice
Elementary
Middle

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Luft, J. A., Hobbs. L., & Hanuscin, D. (Eds.) (2020). Special issue: Out-of-field teaching in science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(7), 719-820.

Access Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uste20/31/7?nav=tocList
Author/Presenter

Julie A. Luft

Linda Hobbs

Deborah Hanuscin

Lead Organization(s)
University of Georgia (UGA)
Year
2020
Short Description

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Activating Math Talk: 11 Purposeful Techniques for Your Elementary Students

Mathematics
Broadening Participation
Discourse
Multilingual Learners
Professional Development
Teacher Practice
Elementary

Many mathematics teachers agree that engaging students in high quality discourse is important for their conceptual learning, but successfully promoting such discourse in elementary classrooms—with attention to the needs of every learner—can be a challenge. Activating Math Talk tackles this challenge by bringing practical, math-specific, productive discourse techniques that are applicable to any lesson or curriculum.

Access Link
https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/activating-math-talk/book263223
Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Daniel Heck

Kristen Malzahn

Lead Organization(s)
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Horizon Research, Inc.
Year
2021
Short Description

Activating Math Talk is a resource for promoting high-quality math discourse in grades K-5. The content of the chapters and discussion questions within are meant to spark conversations among teachers, teacher leaders, administrators, and education faculty about how to get all students, in particular emergent multilingual learners, talking about math in productive ways. It presents both a theoretical and practical lens and offers useful frameworks, techniques, and other supports for mathematics instruction.

Integrating Chemistry and Earth Science

Principal Investigator:
Alan Berkowitz

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.

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Discipline/Topic:
Chemistry
Earth Science
Assessment
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience:
High School
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