Jennifer L. Maeng

Beyond Understanding: Process Skills as a Context for Nature of Science Instruction

Effective nature of science (NOS) instruction is explicit and should be situated in a meaningful context that encourages students to reflect on the scientific enterprise. This approach to NOS instruction aligns with situated learning theory, which espouses that learning cannot be disconnected from the content to which it applies. The process skills-based approach is emerging as an effective way to contextualize NOS instruction. This approach explicitly links familiar inquiry skills such as observation, inference, and experimental design to the more abstract and esoteric NOS concepts (Bell, 2008). Preliminary research suggests that the process skills-based approach is effective in improving learners’ views of NOS and teachers’ abilities to teach NOS. Preservice teachers have shown substantial improvements in their NOS understanding (Matkins & Bell, 2007) and evidence supports that these teachers go on to use the approach to teach their own students about NOS (Bell, Binns, Schnittka, & Toti, 2006). In addition, the process skills-based approach has been linked to increased student achievement when science teachers implemented the approach in their classrooms (Binns, Schnittka, Toti, & Bell, 2007).

Outcomes of nature of science instruction along a context continuum: preservice secondary science teachers’ conceptions and instructional intentions

ABSTRACT This investigation examined outcomes associated with nature of science (NOS) instruction along a science-content context continuum on the development of secondary preservice science teachers’ conceptions of and plans to teach NOS, moving beyond the common dichotomy of contextualized versus noncontextualized instruction. Participants comprised six teacher cohorts (n = 70) enrolled in a two-year Master of Teaching program. Participants were explicitly taught current NOS conceptions using activities that incorporated varied degrees of contextualization and were informed by conceptual change principles during the first program year. Participants’ pre- and post-instruction conceptions were assessed using VNOS-C questionnaire written responses and follow-up interviews. Participants’ views were classified by degree of alignment (non, partially, or fully aligned) with current NOS conceptions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using analytic induction to verify/refine VNOS responses and to identify patterns in NOS instructional plans and rationales. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were run to assess possible statistical significance of pre- to post-instruction changes. Participants’ responses shifted markedly toward more aligned NOS conceptions post-instruction, with substantial and statistically significant gains for each assessed tenet (all p-values <.001). All participants planned future NOS instruction and most expressed a sophisticated rationale for this choice, including that NOS supported the teaching of key concepts such as evolution. These results indicate that teaching and scaffolding NOS lessons along a context continuum can be effective in eliciting desired changes in preservice teachers’ NOS conceptions and instructional intentions within the confines of the science methods course. Future research will examine post-methods course and post-program NOS instruction.

Student Threat Assessment as a Standard School Safety Practice: Results from a Statewide Implementation Study.

Threat assessment has been widely endorsed as a school safety practice, but there is little research on its implementation. In 2013, Virginia became the first state to mandate student threat assessment in its public schools. The purpose of this study was to examine the statewide implementation of threat assessment and to identify how threat assessment teams distinguish serious from nonserious threats. The sample consisted of 1,865 threat assessment cases reported by 785 elementary, middle, and high schools. Students ranged from pre-K to Grade 12, including 74.4% male, 34.6% receiving special education services, 51.2% White, 30.2% Black, 6.8% Hispanic, and 2.7% Asian. Survey data were collected from school-based teams to measure student demographics, threat characteristics, and assessment results. Logistic regression indicated that threat assessment teams were more likely to identify a threat as serious if it was made by a student above the elementary grades (odds ratio 0.57; 95% lower and upper bound 0.42–0.78), a student receiving special education services (1.27; 1.00–1.60), involved battery (1.61; 1.20–2.15), homicide (1.40; 1.07–1.82), or weapon possession (4.41; 2.80–6.96), or targeted an administrator (3.55; 1.73–7.30). Student race and gender were not significantly associated with a serious threat determination. The odds ratio that a student would attempt to carry out a threat classified as serious was 12.48 (5.15–30.22). These results provide new information on the nature and prevalence of threats in schools using threat assessment that can guide further work to develop this emerging school safety practice.

Racial/Ethnic Parity in Disciplinary Consequences Using Student Threat Assessment

Abstract School psychologists are frequently called upon to assess students who have made verbal or behavioral threats of violence against others, a practice commonly known as threat assessment. One critical issue is whether the outcomes of a threat assessment generate the kind of racial disparities widely observed in school disciplinary practices. In 2013, Virginia became the first state to mandate threat assessment teams in all public schools. This study examined the disciplinary consequences for 1,836 students who received a threat assessment in 779 Virginia elementary, middle, and high schools during the 2014–2015 school year. Multilevel logistic regression models found no disparities among Black, Hispanic, and White students in out-of-school suspensions, school transfers, or legal actions. The most consistent predictors of disciplinary consequences were the students possession of a weapon and the team classification of the threat as serious. We discuss possible explanations for the absence of racial/ethnic disparities in threat assessment outcomes and cautiously suggest that the threat assessment process may reflect a generalizable pathway for achieving parity in school discipline.

The Science ELF: Assessing the Enquiry Levels Framework as a Heuristic for Professional Development.

This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to explore randomly assigned treatment and control participants’ frequency of inquiry instruction in secondary science classrooms. Eleven treatment participants received professional development (PD) that emphasized a structured approach to inquiry instruction, while 10 control participants received no PD. Two representative treatment participants were interviewed and observed to provide an in-depth understanding of inquiry instruction and factors affecting implementation. Paired t-tests were used to analyze quantitative data from observation forms, and a constant comparative approach was used to analyze qualitative data from surveys, interviews, purposeful observations and artifacts. Results indicated that treatment participants implemented inquiry significantly more frequently than control participants (p < .01). Two treatment participants’ instruction revealed that both used a similar structure of inquiry but employed different types of interactions and emphasized different scientific practices. These differences may be explained by the participants’ understandings of and beliefs about inquiry and structuring inquiry. The present study has the potential to inform how methods of structuring inquiry instruction and teaching scientific practices are addressed in teacher preparation.

Supporting the Supporters: Professional Development for Science Coordinators

ABSTRACT We investigated changes in district science coordinators’ understandings and practices following their participation in a statewide professional development (PD). Participants included 13 male and 34 female science coordinators from 42 different school districts in Virginia. Data included presurvey, postsurvey, and delayed postsurvey responses; follow-up interviews; and observations of the PD and of science coordinators at work in their district. Results indicated that science coordinator understandings about pedagogy and job responsibilities changed following the PD and were aligned with the goals of PD. However, coordinators’ practices following PD did not fully reflect their understandings about pedagogy. Results suggest that PD aligned with a situated learning framework, specifically the components of collaboration and authentic context, supports coordinators in changing their understandings and some of their practices.

Instructional support and implementation structure during elementary teachers’ science education simulation use

ABSTRACT This investigation sought to identify patterns in elementary science teachers’ computer simulation use, particularly implementation structures and instructional supports commonly employed by teachers. Data included video-recorded science lessons of 96 elementary teachers who used computer simulations in one or more science lessons. Results indicated teachers used a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio most often either during class-wide individual computer use or during a rotating station structure. Worksheets, general support, and peer collaboration were the most common forms of instructional support. The least common instructional support forms included lesson pacing, initial play, and a closure discussion. Students’ simulation use was supported in the fewest ways during a rotating station structure. Results suggest that simulation professional development with elementary teachers needs to explicitly focus on implementation structures and instructional support to enhance participants’ pedagogical knowledge and improve instructional simulation use. In addition, research is needed to provide theoretical explanations for the observed patterns that should subsequently be addressed in supporting teachers’ instructional simulation use during professional development or in teacher preparation programs.

Supporting elementary teachers’ enactment of nature of science instruction: a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT This embedded mixed method study used a randomised controlled⁠ trial design to examine two cohorts of upper (grades 4–6) elementary teachers’ classroom implementation of nature of science (NOS) instruction following their participation in a statewide professional development (PD). The treatment group (n = 145) was compared to a control group (n = 90), which received no PD. The PD included a summer institute that situated explicit NOS instruction within the context of problem-based learning (PBL). Data sources included videotaped classroom observations across four time points and teacher-generated descriptions of lessons preceding and following the observed lesson including learning objectives. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics and analysed qualitatively for trends in participants’ explicit NOS instruction. Results indicated the majority of treatment teachers (n = 97; 66.9%) accurately taught explicit NOS during the academic year following the summer institute compared to control teachers (n = 2; 2.2%). Participants most often taught about the empirical (69%) and social (63%) aspects of science. Participants’ strategies for integrating NOS varied in temporal placement within the lesson, connectedness to lesson activities, and extent of student-centeredness. These results demonstrate that situated PD that contextualises explicit NOS instruction within PBL facilitated teachers’ explicit NOS instruction compared to teachers who did not receive such instruction.

Elementary science teachers’ integration of engineering design into science instruction: results from a randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT This randomised controlled trial used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the frequency and how elementary teachers integrated engineering design (ED) principles into their science instruction following professional development (PD). The ED components of the PD were aligned with Cunningham and Carlsen’s [(2014). Teaching engineering practices. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25, 197–210] guidelines for ED PD and promoted inclusion of ED within science teaching. The treatment group included 219 teachers from 83 schools. Participants in the control group included 145 teachers from 60 schools in a mid-Atlantic state. Data sources, including lesson overviews and videotaped classroom observations, were analysed quantitatively to determine the frequency of ED integration and qualitatively to describe how teachers incorporated ED into instruction after attending the PD. Results indicated more participants who attended the PD (55%) incorporated ED into instruction compared with the control participants (24%), χ2(1, n = 401) = 33.225, p < .001,  = 0.308. Treatment and control teachers taught similar science content (p’s > .05) through ED lessons. In ED lessons, students typically conducted research and created and tested initial designs. The results suggest the PD supported teachers in implementing ED into their science instruction and support the efficacy of using Cunningham and Carlsen’s (2014) guidelines to inform ED PD design.

Situating Computer Simulation Professional Development: Does It Promote Inquiry-Based Simulation Use?

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study sought to identify professional development implementation variables that may influence participant (a) adoption of simulations, and (b) use for inquiry-based science instruction. Two groups (Cohort 1, N = 52; Cohort 2, N = 104) received different professional development. Cohort 1 was focused on Web site use mechanics. Cohort 2 was situated in nature and provided three additional elements: (a) modeling simulation use within inquiry-based instruction; (b) collaboration; and (c) provision of content-relevant lesson planning time. There was no difference in the extent of simulation use between cohorts, χ2(1) = 0.878, p = .349, φ = −0.075. Results were inconclusive for a difference in observed inquiry instruction as Fishers Exact Test was insignificant but had a medium effect size, p = .228, φ = 0.283. Computer-based standardized tests emerged as a novel technology integration barrier. These findings have implications for school policy, professional development, and future research.