Andrew Lumpe

Beliefs about Teaching Science: The relationship between elementary teachers’ participation in professional development and student achievement

Because of increasing calls for school accountability, an increased emphasis placed on the role of the teacher, and theoretical connections between teacher beliefs and classroom action, a critical need exists to examine teacher professional development programs to determine their impact on teacher belief systems, teaching practices, and student learning. The primary goal of this study was to assess elementary teachers’ science teaching efficacy as they participated in a large-scale professional development program and to determine the relationship of these beliefs with student learning. It was found that elementary teachers who participated in a long-term, intense (over 100 contact hours annually) science professional development program displayed significant gains in their science teaching self-efficacy. Several background variables were found to be predictive of teacher beliefs including how often teachers spend teaching science. Males tended to display more positive beliefs than their female counterparts. Although a small portion of the variance was explained, teacher beliefs and the number of hours participating in the research-based professional development program were significantly predictive of students’ science achievement. Other factors may be involved in teachers’ beliefs and their connection with student learning, including classroom practices, curriculum materials, support systems, and student background variables. These factors should be the target of future investigations.

Research-Based Professional Development: Teachers Engaged in Professional Learning Communities

One shot, workshop-based professional development is passé. It is common knowledge that teachers seldom apply what they learn during workshops in their classrooms. In spite of this fact, school districts and grant agencies pour millions of dollars into science teacher professional development programs that are primarily workshop based. Think of all the Eisenhower (currently Title IIa), National Science Foundation, and other funded projects that utilized a summer or after-school workshop model for science teachers. Teachers dutifully attended, received their stipends, and returned to the classroom with little support and scant application. The impact on students was hardly worth the millions of dollars. Many readers of this journal have facilitated or participated in such programs (I confess my guilt). Yet, workshop models of professional development remain prevalent because they are efficient. In the past few years, science educators have expanded their views of professional development by addressing such factors as school contexts, teacher belief systems, support systems, follow-up, classroom application, and leadership (e.g., Czerniak, Beltyukova, Struble, Haney, & Lumpe, 2006; Loucks-Horsley, Love, Stiles, Mundry, & Hewson, 2003). The application of these models has demonstrated some impact on student learning. But a strong line of recent research outside of traditional science education circles is beginning to be used to clarify an approach to professional development that is radically different. It is time for the science education community to apply these approaches.

The Influence of an Extensive Inquiry-Based Field Experience on Pre-Service Elementary Student Teachers' Science Teaching Beliefs.

This study examined the effects of an extensive inquiry-based field experience on pre service elementary teachers’ personal agency beliefs, a composite measure of context beliefs and capability beliefs related to teaching science. The research combined quantitative and qualitative approaches and included an experimental group that utilized the inquiry method and a control group that used traditional teaching methods. Pre- and post-test scores for the experimental and control groups were compared. The context beliefs of both groups showed no significant change as a result of the experience. However, the control group’s capability belief scores, lower than those of the experimental group to start with, declined significantly; the experimental group’s scores remained unchanged. Thus, the inquiry-based field experience led to an increase in personal agency beliefs. The qualitative data suggested a new hypothesis that there is a spiral relationship among teachers’ ability to establish communicative relationships with students, desire for personal growth and improvement, ability to implement multiple instructional strategies, and possession of substantive content knowledge. The study concludes that inquiry-based student teaching should be encouraged in the training of elementary school science teachers. However, the meaning and practice of the inquiry method should be clearly delineated to ensure its correct implementation in the classroom.

Measuring characteristics of teacher professional development

The primary purpose of the study was to create and psychometrically test an instrument which measured teachers’ perceptions of characteristics of professional development. The sample consisted of elementary teachers from five school districts in Washington State participating in a district improvement initiative. Results of exploratory factor analysis resulted in a five-component solution which provided evidence of construct validity. All components/subscales had moderate to strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The secondary purpose was to determine if characteristics of professional development predicted teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes, thus contributing to the predictive validity of the instrument. There was a slight, but significant, correlation between Active Learning in Classroom and teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, as measured by classroom observation scores. A small negative correlation emerged between Collective Participation and student learning, as measured by student scores on the state’s mathematics assessment. Potential uses of the instrument, called Characteristics of Teacher Professional Development (CTPD), are discussed.

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS

While school effectiveness recommendations address a litany of factors, it is becoming increasing clear that teachers are critically important to the success of education reforms since they play such a key role in directly impacting student learning (Borko, 2004; Nye, Konstantopoulos & Hedges, 2004; Fullan, Hill & Crevola, 2006). The Teaching Commission (2004) stated that teachers are “our nation’s most valuable profession” (p.12). In light of the increasing emphasis placed on the teacher and their professional actions, some reform efforts began to focus on improving teacher quality.

Electronic Portfolios as Pedagogy: Using bPortfolios for Authentic Assessment of Teacher Knowledge and Skills in the U.S.

Abstract Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogging, allow for locally developed, cost-effective, and holistic alternative portfolio assessment systems. By enhancing critical reflection and fostering social interaction, blogging portfolios or bPortfolios become integral formative and summative assessment tools for all teacher education students enrolled in a university program. Blogging platforms such as WordPress.com are free to use and are available worldwide allowing bPortfolios to be implemented at any institution where students have Internet access.