The Washout Effect: Investigating Teachers’ Hesitation in Implementing POGIL Pedagogy After Professional Development

The importance of teachers being engaged in professional development initiatives is widely acknowledged in the literature and in most cases these initiatives are largely focused on addressing teachers’ lack of subject content knowledge. The problem of teachers having inadequate environmental knowledge is common in South Africa due to the fact that much of the environmental content knowledge in the curriculum is new, and environmental education itself is a new field. This is an area of interest in South Africa as a third iteration of the post-apartheid curriculum, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) has recently been introduced into schools and many subjects have environmental learning content. Inadequate subject content knowledge influences teachers’ abilities to choose appropriate teaching and assessment methods and this might negatively affect the process of teaching and learning. Knowledgeable teachers are needed to help learners understand the current issues affecting citizens, and in particular, environmental issues, which form the focus of this study. The main research questions addressed are: 1. What are the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme in relation to environment and sustainability content knowledge? 2. How does the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme influence teachers’ practice? 3. What practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme are characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives? 4. How are (if at all) the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, teaching and assessment of Biodiversity content in CAPS living practices? This work was conducted as a qualitative case study and it was carried out in the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga in South Africa. It included four teachers from the Eastern Cape and five from Mpumalanga. Seven teacher trainers also participated, two of which were based in Gauteng and the rest in the Eastern Cape. Data were generated through interviews and document analysis, and included analysis of teacher portfolios showing evidence of classroom practice. The study explored teachers’ experiences of an environmental education training programme called ‘Fundisa for Change’, which has been set up as a national partnership initiative to strengthen teachers’ environmental knowledge and teaching skills in order to address the above-mentioned problem. It focused on training teachers in the Life Sciences, particularly on new content knowledge on Biodiversity, and on teaching and assessment skills. It also looked into how the training influenced teaching practice. The study worked with practice theory, in particular Kemmis and Grootenboer’s (2008) theory of practice architectures, to look at the sayings, doings and relatings pertaining to the teaching of Biodiversity, and the enabling and constraining of this practice. The features and the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change professional development programme have been presented and explained. The study also used the ecologies of practices theory to describe the living nature of practices. The following are the key findings: • The Fundisa for Change programme improved the participating teachers’ Biodiversity content knowledge, teaching and assessment skills. • Practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives are: duration; active involvement of teachers; providing teachers with subject content knowledge; promoting establishment of professional learning communities; coherence; follow-up; and assessment of teachers. • The conditions that affect the participating teachers’ teaching practice are: the use of language (both scientific and instructional); infrastructure (availability of computer laboratories, science laboratories, extra classrooms and libraries); teaching and learning support materials including laboratory apparatus; class size; and policies. • The Fundisa for Change programme encourages teachers to improvise and use the local environment in their teaching to try to tackle the problem of lack of funds and equipment. • Teaching Biodiversity practice is ‘living’ as it is characterised by the principles of living ecologies. Recommendations based on the findings are: • There is a need for more teacher training by Fundisa for Change and other organisations whose training activities are SACE approved to cater for more teachers. • A more structured plan of action from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is needed to assist and involve more organisations and stakeholders. • Provision of infrastructure and teaching and learning resource materials to schools by the DBE needs to be accelerated as it is legally binding. • Follow-up should be formally incorporated into Fundisa for Change programme activities. • Formation of professional learning communities is very important to help new teachers as there is no formal induction programme in South Africa. • An induction policy by the DBE needs to be formulated to help establish an induction programme for newly qualified teachers. Recommendations for further research are: • Use of lesson observation for data collection to improve results. • A larger sample could be used to expand the insights gained in this study. • Fundisa for Change practices can be studied at the level of teacher professional development practices. • Other modes of teacher professional development initiatives such as Lesson Study can be tested out to overcome the challenge of teachers not wanting to be observed. • More research can be carried out on the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, student learning and assessment, as practices associated with teaching Biodiversity. The study was important in that it gave an understanding of what makes continuing teacher professional development initiatives effective. The study also looked at teaching Biodiversity through the use of contemporary forms of a practice theory which are the theory of practice architectures and the theory of the ecologies of practices. This provided understandings into how professional development programmes are experienced in practice, and showed that though the teachers were trained and positive benefits accrued, there are factors which enable or constrain their actual teaching Biodiversity practice. The study also showed that practices are interrelated in ecologies of practices. These factors need to be considered in professional development programming.

Teacher professional education development is actually another type of development that crosses over into a category of teacher training development that encompasses two other types of teacher training—one of which is formal and the other is informal teacher training. The other approach to teacher professional development is quite different from the professional development of professional education. The focus of the professional development of teachers is a dynamic process of development in which teachers take the initiative, actively, and consciously pursue the direction of professional development of teachers. Therefore, how to observe and study the direction of teachers’ professional development from the perspective of teachers is an urgent problem that needs to be studied and solved. The professional development of teachers should be combined with their own social and teaching lives. In addition, information technology should be integrated into teachers’ daily teaching life, so that it can be used as a tool to support teachers’ professional development. Information technology has gradually become a tool and a means that teachers cannot do without in their teaching lives, so it is important to study and think about it from various aspects, such as the teaching process and teachers’ growth experiences, and to continuously study teachers’ professional development. Therefore, it is necessary to study how information technology can be used well by teachers and used by teachers to become a useful tool in teachers’ educational and teaching work from various aspects. This paper first argues that the main goal of teachers’ professional development is to gradually grow into expert teachers, while the main content of teachers’ professional development is to understand practical knowledge, and the specific tool used by teachers in teaching is the application of social software support that can support teachers’ professional development (Romanowski and Alkhateeb, 2022). This paper envisages that information technology can be integrated into the entire teaching environment and the teaching process of teachers, as a tool and a means to make the content of teachers’ teaching more concise and clear. Through the use of information technology and other tools, teachers can gradually identify what they need to improve and add to their teaching process, lay the foundation for their future development, and pave the way to become better teachers with a clearer plan for their future development.

Purpose: The persistent academic underperformance in public secondary schools in Kenyan rural areas has raised concerns among educators, policymakers, and local communities. The purpose of the study is to evaluate how teacher professional training and development influence academic performance. One of the key factors believed to have contributed to this challenge is the lack of sufficient and effective professional training and development programs for teachers. There is a growing need to examine how teachers' professional training and development influence students' academic outcomes. The problem this study seeks to address is the unclear and under-researched relationship between teachers' professional development and students' academic performance in Ndhiwa Sub-County. Methodology: The study used descriptive research design and 15 public secondary schools, 113 teachers and 522 students were involved in the study as study respondents. The study used document analysis and semi structured questionnaires to collect the quantitative data, which was analyzed through descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages). Findings: The study reveals that teachers' professional training and development have a significant impact on students' academic performance in public secondary schools in Ndhiwa Sub-County. The findings also indicated that teachers who undergo continuous professional development are better equipped with modern teaching strategies, content knowledge, and student engagement techniques, which in turn positively influence students' academic outcomes. Teachers with higher levels of training and access to ongoing professional development demonstrate improved classroom management, increased use of learner-centered methodologies, and more effective assessment technique. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: From the study findings, the study recommends that schools and educational authorities should develop more structured and regular Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programs that focus on subject-specific training, pedagogical skills, and updated teaching methodologies. This is because the study findings likely indicate that teachers who engage in regular training and development show better performance in student outcomes. The education policy makers should come up with the programs that forge partnerships between secondary schools and local universities or teacher training colleges to provide advanced training opportunities and access to educational research.

این پژوهش با هدف بررسی رابطه مولفه‌های خودکارآمدی و اعتمادسازمانی مدرسه با توسعه حرفه‌ای معلمان دوره ابتدائی با نقش میانجی ادراک رهبری انجام شد. روش پژوهش، توصیفی از نوع همبستگی که با استفاده از تکنیک مدلسازی معادلات ساختاری و با نرم افزار Spss و Amosتجزیه و تحلیل گردید. جامعه آماری شامل تمام معلمان رسمی دوره ابتدایی شهرستان ارومیه 1400 نفر بودندکه با استفاده از روش نمونه‌گیری خوشه‌ای چندمرحله ای با بهر‌گیری از فرمول کوکران تعداد 302 نفر به عنوان نمونه انتخاب گردید. ابزارهای سنجش شامل پرسشنامه‌های استاندارد اعتماد سازمانی Popen (2003)، خودکارآمدی معلم Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk (2001) پرسشنامه رفتار رهبری ادراک شده(1987) Schriesheim ، پرسشنامه توسعه حرفه‌ای Behdani (2016) بود که روایی و پایایی آن‌ها تایید شد و برای روایی و پایایی آن از تحلیل عاملی تاییدی و آلفای کرونباخ استفاده شد. نتایج نشان داد که خودکارآمدی معلم، اعتماد و ادراک رهبری با توسعه حرفه‌ای معلم ارتباط مثبت و معناداری دارد، اما خودکارآمدی اثرمستقیم و معنی‌داری بر توسعه حرفه‌ای ندارد. اثر غیرمستقیم اعتماد و خودکارآمدی بر توسعه حرفه‌ی از طریق ادراک رهبری مثبت و معنی‌دار می باشد و ادراک رهبری نیز نقش واسطه‌ای را در ارتباط اعتماد و خودکارآمدی با توسعه حرفه‌ای ایفا می کند. در واقع، معلمان به عنوان مجریان برنامه درسی می‌توانند کمبودها و کاستی‌های برنامه های درسی تدوین شده را رفع نمایند و یا این که حتی اگر برنامه‌ای به بهترین حالت تدوین شده باشد اگر معلم اثربخشی و کارایی لازم را نداشته باشد، آن برنامه‌های مطلوب درسی را پوچ یا بی‌اثر نماید.

This poster presents our NSF collaborative project Enhancing Cybersecurity Education Using POGIL. Although the POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) instructional approach has been used and evaluated in science and engineering disciplines, the use of POGIL in cybersecurity education is not in place due to the lack of POGIL materials in cybersecurity. To deliver key learning outcomes as well as soft in cybersecurity students, we are developing POGIL materials for teaching cybersecurity, implementing the POGIL teaching pedagogy in cybersecurity courses, and evaluating the teaching and learning effectiveness of the developed POGIL materials and teaching method. We are developing POGIL materials for fifteen topics in six areas: cryptography, access control, network security, risk management, web security, and secure coding. These POGIL materials will be implemented and evaluated in eight different courses at three universities. Through assessing the developed POGIL materials and teaching method, we seek to answer the following research question: Is using the POGIL method more effective than the traditional/lecture-based teaching method in terms of learning outcomes, learning experience, attitudes and motivation? The developed POGIL materials will contribute to the effective resources for cybersecurity education, and enhance cybersecurity education by developing student key skills as well as improving student attitudes, motivation and enjoyment in learning.

Stage 1: Survival During Stage 1, which may last throughout the first full year of teaching, the teacher's main concern is whether she can survive. This preoccupation with survival may be expressed in questions the teacher asks: "Can I get through the day in one piece? Without losing a child? Can I make it until the end of the week? Until the next vacation? Can I really do this kind of work day after day? Will I be accepted by my colleagues?" Such questions are well expressed in Ryan's enlightening collection of accounts of first-year teaching experiences (3).

В условиях социально-культурных и педагогических трансформаций высших образовательных организаций важным компонентом их модернизации становится реформирование системы профессионального развития педагогов, перед которой процессы глобализации и цифровизации выдвинули новые требования. Все это вызывает необходимость формирования у преподавателей вузов готовности к постоянному повышению своей профессиональной квалификации и непрерывному профессиональному развитию в контексте единого образовательного пространства. Следовательно, компаративные исследования проблем профессионального развития преподавателей вузов в России и за рубежом являются принципиально актуальными и своевременными. Данные исследования являются ответом на требования современного демократического общества к профессионально-личностным качествам педагогов и векторам их профессиональной деятельности в новых условиях. Готовность к профессиональному развитию у педагогов неразрывно связана с их стремлением к повышению профессионального мастерства и с достижением успеха в работе. Формирование данной готовности, так же как и процесс профессионального развития, в целом должны носить индивидуализированный и одновременно добровольный характер. Для этого необходимы определенные условия, в том числе реальная заинтересованность руководства вуза в профессиональном развитии каждого педагога, наличие различного рода ресурсов и развитая инфраструктура для организации данного процесса, разработанные и апробированные модели индивидуализации профессионального развития педагогов вуза. Бенчмаркинг как технология проведения сравнительно-педагогического исследования моделей профессионального развития педагогов показал свою эффективность в выявлении успешных практик в данной области и позволил выявить три основные модели в организации процесса повышения профессионального мастерства и развития в вузе. Представленные в статье зарубежные модели организации профессионального развития преподавателей вузов могут быть использованы в российских вузах при условии их адаптации к российским реалиям и образовательным традициям. In the context of socio-cultural and pedagogical transformations of higher educational organizations, the reform of the system of teachers’ professional development becomes an important component of their modernization, before which the processes of globalization and digitalization have put forward some new requirements. All this causes the need for university teachers to be ready to constantly improve their professional qualifications and be ready for continuous professional development in the context of a single educational space. Therefore, comparative studies of the problems of professional development of university teachers in Russia and abroad are fundamentally relevant and timely. These studies are a response to the requirements of modern democratic society for teachers’ professional and personal qualities and the vectors of their professional activity in new conditions. Teachers’ readiness for professional development is inextricably linked with their desire to increase their professional skill and achieve success in their activities. The formation of this readiness, as well as the process of professional development as a whole, should be individualized and, at the same time, voluntary. To do this, it is necessary to have certain conditions, including the real interest of the university leadership in the professional development of each teacher, the availability of various kinds of resources, and a developed infrastructure for organizing this process, as well as developed and tested models of individualization of the process of teachers’ professional development. Benchmarking as a technology for conducting a comparative pedagogical study of the models of teachers’ professional development has shown its effectiveness in identifying successful practices in this field and made it possible to identify three main models in organizing the process of increasing professional excellence and development at the university. Foreign models of the organization of professional development of university teachers, presented in the article, can be used in Russian universities, provided that they are adapted to the Russian realities and educational traditions.

Stoichiometry is one of the difficult topics in the senior secondary school chemistry curriculum. It is usually taught through the traditional lecture method of presentation that is non-engaging for learners. Consequently, there is poor understanding, achievement, and negative perceptions of stoichiometry and chemistry in general. The goal of this study was to explore learners’ evolving proficiency in stoichiometry and attitudes towards science as a result of their participation in Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) activities. That is, POGIL which incorporates guided-inquiry and collaborative learning was introduced as an intervention strategy in learning stoichiometry. This was assessed by examining learners’ experiences with learning stoichiometry before and after the POGIL intervention. The study further investigated possible contributing factors to learners’ evolving proficiency in stoichiometry and attitudes towards science. This study employed the socio-cultural learning theory as proposed by Vygotsky (1978). The role of socio-cultural features such as ‘social interaction’, ‘cultural tools’, ‘self-regulation’ and ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) were explored with regards to learners’ stoichiometry proficiency and attitudes towards science progression as they participated in POGIL activities. The work of Kilpatrick, Swafford and Findell (2001) on proficiency and Fraser (1981) on attitudes towards science were used as analytical lenses to understand learners’ proficiency in stoichiometry and attitudes towards science, respectively. This study was underpinned by the pragmatic research paradigm. Thus, a Quant + Qual concurrent mixed-methods approach which involves generating, analysing, and integrating both qualitative and quantitative data to provide answers to research questions was adopted. It was an intervention study carried out in two senior secondary schools in the Ilorin metropolis of Kwara State, Nigeria. A sample of 53 senior secondary school year two learners participated. Questionnaires and journal entries were completed by the 53 learners, while seven learners were interviewed. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative data generating tools including pre-and post-tests. The stoichiometry learning questionnaire (SLQ), test of science related attitude (TOSRA) questionnaire, and stoichiometry achievement tool (SAT) were used to generate quantitative data while the SLQ, semi-structured interviews, and journal entries were the qualitative data tools. Data were generated in three phases. Phase one was baseline data through SLQ, TOSRA and SAT pre-tests. The second phase was the intervention phase where the POGIL approach was implemented in the classrooms and learners were engaged in journal entries. Post-intervention was the last phase where TOSRA and SAT post-tests were administered and semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. Thus, data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Before the POGIL intervention, the findings of this study revealed that most of the learners perceived stoichiometry as difficult because of the instructional characteristics, the nature of stoichiometry concepts, and learners’ attributes. After the POGIL intervention, however, learners showed increased proficiency in stoichiometry and attitudes towards science. Findings also indicate that learners’ proficiency in stoichiometry and attitude towards science were associated with the facilitators or learning environment features, the nature of instructional characteristics, learners’ perceptions of stoichiometry or science, and the extent to which learners could comprehend or master science concepts. Notably, these features are intertwined and cohere with the socio-cultural theory and POGIL principles. This study offered insights into how proficiency in stoichiometry and attitudes towards science may develop among senior secondary school learners in Nigeria. The findings point to POGIL as an example of an instructional approach that provides enabling characteristics and useful information for planning instructional activities for the development and nurturing of proficiency and attitudes towards science. The results suggest that the POGIL strategy could alleviate some of the factors perceived as contributors to difficulty in learning stoichiometry. As such, the study makes contributions to the field of science education in Nigeria particularly regarding how both the tenets of the socio-cultural framework (social interaction, cultural tools, self-regulation, and ZPD) and POGIL (guided-inquiry and collaborative learning) could be aligned to facilitate the development of proficiency and attitudes towards science. The study, therefore, recommends that POGIL should be used as an inquiry-based approach in science classrooms to promote the development of learners’ proficiency and attitudes towards science. The study could also be utilised as a resource to guide or set a base for further investigation into the implementation of POGIL in other areas of chemistry or science as well as creating professional development spaces that promote community of practice among science teachers as observed in this study.

Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education, which was implemented in 2014, claims that primary and secondary school teachers must promote their professional development to improve students' learning. This study analyzes existing literature to achieve the following research aims: 1. To understand the connotations of professional development for teachers and the current situation in Taiwan, and to analyze the planning strategy for professional development for teachers after the implementation of the 12-Year Basic Education in Taiwan. 2. To analyze the main issues with the professional development of teachers in Taiwan after the implementation of the 12-Year Basic Education. 3. To analyze the main strategies to promote the professional development of primary and secondary school teachers after the implementation of the 12-Year Basic Education. Using a literature review, this study explores the direction and implications of professional development for teachers in Taiwan, the issues that affect teacher professional development after the implementation of Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education and proposes strategies for professional development of primary and secondary school teachers. The recommended strategies for promoting the professional development of teachers are: (1) establishment of teacher professional standards and pre-service teacher professional literacy, (2) use of international surveys as a guide, (3) strengthening the effectiveness of educational leadership and (4) implementation of the Teacher Professional Development Support System.

Despite the affordances of professional development (PD) in teaching and learning in facilitating quality teaching and contributing to students’ learning outcomes, there is merit in exploring educators’ needs by enabling conditions to further develop their existing knowledge and practices. In fact, it is vital that PD in teaching and learning in higher education (HE) actively engages and meets instructor individual needs. This paper explores PD within the HE context and identifies corresponding categories common and in relation to quality teaching. Based on the review, most PD in teaching and learning could be identified within one of four categories that contribute to quality teaching: (1) assessment approaches; (2) instructional approaches; (3) communication and delivery approaches; and (4) affective responses. Equally important, instructor agency should be supported by encouraging instructors to identify and manage their PD needs via validated measures, which this review found lacking within the literature. With the expectation that such a measure would provide insights into the refinements of current PD in teaching and learning provisions, and enable HE institutions to facilitate PD in teaching and learning to better meet and fulfil instructor individual needs, it is recommended that such a measure be developed and deployed to identify instructors’ needs.

Purpose. The article is devoted to the topic of the influence of international trends on the continuous professional development of higher education teachers, including sports universities, which is significant in modern geopolitical conditions. The subject of analysis is the process of continuous professional development of teachers. The author aims to determine and justify models of professional development, which are designed to ensure greater individualization of the process of professional growth of teachers. This goal required the solution of the following task: to identify and present some international trends that very visibly affect the professional development of teachers, including in sports universities. Method or methodology of the work. The study is based on methods such as analysis, synthesis, grouping, comparative analysis using elements of benchmarking technology, which allows identifying the best practices in this area. The author analyzed open data posted on the websites of sports universities and educational portals. The priority research method is a comparative analysis of teachers’ professional development in modern universities. The results of the work consist in the fact that the article updates the importance of discussions in the Russian pedagogical community about the prospects for modernizing the domestic system of higher education, including the system of professional development of teachers, after Russia’ exit from the unified educational area of Europe and the emergence of new opportunities for the development in the context of global challenges. The author proposed three models of teachers’ professional development (professional- pedagogical model, socio-pedagogical model, and personal-oriented model), which could serve as a guide for designing their own models for improving the professional skills of teachers in a particular university. The author assumes that the international trends, outlined in the article (internationalization, people’s diplomacy, digitalization, academic mobility), constructively affect the content of advanced training programs, as well as the choice of priority areas for the professional development of higher education teachers. Practical implementations. The results of the study can be applied in the field of higher education, as well as in the system of teachers’ advanced training in sport profile universities.

Teaching methods can help learners to develop problem-solving skills and enhance their achievement in stoichiometry. Process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is one of the teaching methods that promote problem-solving skills because it provides opportunities for learners to work with many formulae through many steps in solving problems such as stoichiometric calculations of number of moles and concentration of solutions. To understand how POGIL can improve learners’ achievement and develop problem-solving skills, four grade 11 physical sciences classes of mixed gender and multicultural black learners were purposefully and conventional sampled from four different township schools in Pretoria, South Africa. Through pre- and post-test case study and lesson observations, two different independent groups (POGIL group and lecture group) were included in the study. POGIL group constituted 48 students, while lecture group 62 students taught by their respective teachers at their schools for three weeks using English second language. The results from the pre-test suggest that learners in all the four classes lacked problem-solving competencies in solving both the low-order and the high-order stoichiometry questions. According to the research interpretation, lesson observations of POGIL were active learning while lecture method was passive learning. The post-test results indicate statistically significant greater problem-solving competencies in POGIL group than in the lecture group. The study recommends the use of POGIL in teaching stoichiometry.

This study examined the relationships between research culture, organizational learning, and the professional development of teachers at Dologon National High School. This study aimed to resolve the following questions: 1) Determine the level of professional development of the secondary teachers in terms of trainings and seminars, self-efficacy, and advanced degree; 2) Determine the level of research culture of the secondary teachers in terms of infrastructure, capability, funding, collaboration, and interest; and 3) Ascertain the level of organizational learning of the secondary teachers in terms of managerial commitment and empowerment, experimentation, and professional development opportunities. 4) evaluate the relationship between overall professional development and organizational learning and research culture of secondary teachers; and 5) identify the variable, singly or in combination, that best predicts overall professional development of secondary teachers. During the 2022–23 school year, the investigation was conducted with 70 secondary teachers. The instrument measured teachers' perceptions of organizational learning, research culture, and professional development based on their responses to a Likert scale.The findings revealed that teachers' perceptions of professional development and the organizational learning they received from their institutions were both extremely high. However, in terms of research culture, teachers were uncertain as to whether they had the skills and motivation to conduct action research studies at the classroom level. In addition, there was no correlation between professional development and the independent variable research culture. Despite this, a significant relationship existed between organizational learning and professional development. Lastly, professional development is predicted by five sub-variables of organizational learning: managerial commitment and empowerment, experimentation, risk-taking, openness and interaction with the external environment, and knowledge transfer and integration. This research concludes that organizational learning is necessary for the sustained professional development of teachers. According to this definition, "perceived organizational learning" refers to "an employee's perception that the organization values his or her contributions and cares about his or her welfare."

The use of makerspaces in education has exploded around the world over the past decade (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014); however, their employment in professional development for teachers has only recently emerged within the literature. Previous studies have found that makerspaces have the potential to radically transform how professional development is delivered to teachers by fostering nurturing opportunities to collaboratively engage in professional learning (see Girvan et al., 2016; Kjällander et al., 2017; Panganelli et al., 2017). Despite its emergence in the literature, the study of makerspaces in teacher professional development is limited to those studies inspired by STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). Consequently, little knowledge exists about their use in professional development for second language teachers. While presenting data gathered from reflective feedback questionnaires of teacher participants taking part in makerspace workshops, this paper contributes to the conversation in the literature by exploring the utility and application of makerspaces as professional development for second language teaching. The goal of the study was to explore in what ways this type of experiential professional development might enhance professional learning and reflective practice and contribute to professional growth and development among early career second language teachers. Findings strongly indicate that makerspace professional development sessions offer second language teachers a positive and supportive space in which to reflect and expand on their professional knowledge of best practices in second language teaching by directly engaging with learning activities meant to support students in their acquisition of the target language.

in cross-cultural communication teaching process, professional development of Chinese foreign language teachers seems especially important. This paper first presents basic connotation of professional development of foreign language teachers, then carefully analyzes current situation and various problems of professional development of Chinese foreign language teachers and finally proposes some effective approaches to promote professional development of foreign language teachers in combination of actual situations of Chinese foreign language teachers in cross-cultural communication teaching so as to make foreign language teachers really own, coordinate and share precious professional development experience.