Abstract
The National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States funds Research Experiences for Teachers (RETs) for K-12 science teachers. The RET program seeks to provide science teachers with research experiences so they can provide enhanced science or engineering inquiry experiences for their students. One form of RET that focuses on science pedagogy has resulted in some promising changes in teachers’ thinking and lesson design. This case study examines how a cohort of ten secondary science teachers’ inquiry conceptions and lesson design changed after participating in a science pedagogy RET, and analyzes the relationship between the components of the program and changes seen in teachers’ inquiry conceptions and lessons. Significant changes in teachers’ inquiry conceptions and particularly their lessons were a result of teacher adoption of the inquiry-based instructional modeled during the science pedagogy RET. A theory of action is proposed for RET design that would better promote and support teacher learning and foster changes in classroom instruction.
Highlights
The Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were launched in the United States in 2013 as a way to guide teachers’ decisions about curriculum, assessment, instruction, and to better prepare students for the rigors of college and STEM careers (NGSS Release, 2013)
We looked for changes in the nature of the responses teachers provided on the pre and post program questionnaire in order to examine how the teacher’s conceptions of inquiry changed after the Research Experiences for Teachers (RETs)
The teachers who participated in this study described inquiry in terms of their personal experiences rather than in terms of how it is conceptualized and described in the science education literature
Summary
The Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were launched in the United States in 2013 as a way to guide teachers’ decisions about curriculum, assessment, instruction, and to better prepare students for the rigors of college and STEM careers (NGSS Release, 2013). It has been noted that many teachers in the United States have not had an opportunity to participate in scientific research as part of their formal education (e.g., Abrams, Southerland, & Silva, 2007; Anderson, 2007; Capps & Crawford, 2013). These teachers, as a result, do not understand the practices of science nor how to integrate these practices into their lessons
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