Teaching and Learning of Nature of Science and Scientific Inquiry: Building Capacity Through Systematic Research-Based Professional Development

Abstract

This study provides an example of a systematic professional development project designed to build capacity for the teaching of nature of science and scientific inquiry, while not sacrificing the learning of more traditional science subject matter. Specifically, this project examined the impact of a 5-year professional development project called Inquiry, Context, and Nature of Science (ICAN) on K-12 science teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, and their students’ knowledge, related to nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI). For 5 years a total of 236 science teachers in K-12 participated in the project and over 23,000 students were affected by the project. During each year of Project ICAN teachers engaged in science internships, NOS and SI activities, model lessons, curriculum development, microteaching presentations, and assessment practices related to NOS/SI. The pre- and post-test results from the Views of Nature of Science, Form D (VNOS-D), and the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) instruments indicated that teachers and their students significantly improved their understandings of NOS/SI. In addition, analysis of teachers’ microteaching lessons showed that there was a developmental continuum of teaching NOS/SI from implicit to didactic to explicit teaching as teachers progressed through the program.