How Early-Career Science Teachers Negotiate Their Beliefs and Practices During an Online Induction Program

Abstract

Prior research has reported that, in the absence of high-quality, science-specific induction support, science teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices are consolidated into teacher-centered, didactic practices as they are socialized into the classroom (Luft et al., 2003; Simmons et al., 1999). This study presents findings from A Study on Promoting Reflective and Equitable Practice Through Science Induction (PREPScI), an NSF Noyce Track 4 project focused on developing a strong empirical understanding of effective induction support for early-career secondary science teachers working in high-need schools. A primary goal of this project is to explore how participating teachers’ reform-based beliefs and practices change through their first year in an induction program. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design (Creswell, 2014) was used to assess how 16 beginning science teachers who participated in our online induction program understood and enacted reform-based strategies within their K–12 classrooms. Quantitative analysis of changes in teacher responses to the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning instrument (BARSTL; Sampson, Enderle, & Grooms, 2013) over the span of one academic year revealed statistically significant changes in beliefs related to Lesson Design and Implementation and The Nature of the Science Curriculum. Similar analysis of observational data from the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP; Sawada et al., 2002) over the same span of time revealed no statistically significant changes over the academic year but suggested some evidence for an increase in reformed practices related to Student/Teacher Relationships. Qualitative analysis of Teacher Beliefs Interviews (TBIs; Luft & Roehrig, 2007) conducted with these teachers served to contextualize and explain findings from the BARSTL and RTOP. The three themes resulting from this analysis are making learning meaningful, agency in planning, and listening to student conversations. These findings illustrate how our early-career science teachers negotiated between the reform-based theories presented in their preservice licensure program and the realities of the classroom.