Online and Blended Learning Approach on Instructional Multimedia Development Courses in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bicen, Hüseyin; Ozdamli, Fezile; Uzunboylu, Hüseyin

2014-01-01

In this study, an e-learning environment was designed for teacher candidates. Teacher candidates developed multimedia-based projects by means of multimedia tools. This research aims to determine the effects of online and blended learning approaches on the success level of multimedia projects and the teacher candidates' attitudes, opinions and…

The SUPERCOMET 2 Project: Teacher Seminar and Teacher Guide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engstrom, V.; Ireson, G.; Latal, H.; Mathelitsch, L.; Michelini, M.; Peeters, W.; Rath, G.

2008-05-01

The Leonardo da Vinci pilot projects SUPERCOMET (2001-2004) and SUPERCOMET 2 (2004-2007) developed and tested teacher training materials for active, minds-on learning of electromagnetism and superconductivity at the level of upper secondary school. New multimedia materials for the pupils supported the teacher materials, including a teacher seminar in 4 half-day modules detailing the scientific contents, teaching methods, using ICT in physics teaching and learning, online collaboration and further resources for exploring the selected topics. The aim of these projects were to improve the quality of physics teaching on a European level, involving a combined total of 45 partners in 16 countries, and conducting trials at 67 schools with approx. 230 teachers, 280 trainee teachers and 2200 pupils. New follow-up projects develop hands-on materials for carrying out the activities described in the teacher guide and seminars and additional teacher materials involving modelling, simulations and data logging.

The Impact of "Writing Project" Professional Development on Teachers' Self-Efficacy as Writers and Teachers of Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Terry; Whitehead, David; Dix, Stephanie

2013-01-01

This paper arises from a two-year project: "Teachers as writers: Transforming professional identity and classroom practice'" and draws on self-efficacy questionnaire data collected at the beginning and end of the project and interview data from five participating high-school teachers who were also co-researchers in the project.…

The Black Teacher Project: How Racial Affinity Professional Development Sustains Black Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosely, Micia

2018-01-01

The Black Teacher Project (BTP) is an organization that supports, develops and sustains Black teachers for schools in the United States. The organization is building a Black teaching force that reflects the diversity and excellence of Black people in the United States. In our pilot year, BTP offered racial affinity-based professional development…

SOAP in Practice: Learning Outcomes of a Cross-Institutional Innovation Project Conducted by Teachers, Student Teachers, and Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seezink, Audrey; Poell, Rob; Kirschner, Paul

2010-01-01

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross-institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates "S"chooling of teachers, "O"rganisational development of schools, "A"ction- and development-oriented research, and…

Professional development for design-based learning in engineering education: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez Puente, Sonia M.; van Eijck, Michiel; Jochems, Wim

2015-01-01

Design-based learning (DBL) is an educational approach in which students gather and apply theoretical knowledge to solve design problems. In this study, we examined how critical DBL dimensions (project characteristics, design elements, the teacher's role, assessment, and social context) are applied by teachers in the redesign of DBL projects. We conducted an intervention for the professional development of the DBL teachers in the Mechanical Engineering and the Electrical Engineering departments. We used the Experiential Learning Cycle as an educational model for the professionalisation programme. The findings show that the programme encouraged teachers to apply the DBL theoretical framework. However, there are some limitations with regard to specific project characteristics. Further research into supporting teachers to develop open-ended and multidisciplinary activities in the projects that support learning is recommended.

Pre-Service Teachers Undertaking Classroom Research: Developing Reflection and Enquiry Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

2014-01-01

This paper reports on the development of reflectiveness and research skills in eight pre-service teachers, through their participation in a funded research project to develop the handwriting of children with literacy problems. The project aimed to analyse the reflections of the trainee teachers participating in an authentic research study and to…

Mathematics Teachers' Take-Aways from Morning Math Problems in a Long-Term Professional Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevis, Serife; Cross, Dionne; Hudson, Rick

2017-01-01

Considering the role of mathematics-focused professional development programs in improving teachers' content knowledge and quality of teaching, we provided teachers opportunities for dealing with mathematics problems and positioning themselves as students in a large-scale long-term professional development (PD) project. In this proposal, we aimed…

Project NANO (nanoscience and nanotechnology outreach): a STEM training program that brings SEM's and stereoscopes into high-school and middle-school classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cady, Sherry L.; Blok, Mikel; Grosse, Keith; Wells, Jennifer

2014-09-01

The program Project NANO (Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Outreach) enables middle and high school students to discover and research submicroscopic phenomena in a new and exciting way with the use of optical and scanning electron microscopes in the familiar surroundings of their middle or high school classrooms. Project NANO provides secondary level professional development workshops, support for classroom instruction and teacher curriculum development, and the means to deliver Project NANO toolkits (SEM, stereoscope, computer, supplies) to classrooms with Project NANO trained teachers. Evaluation surveys document the impact of the program on student's attitudes toward science and technology and on the learning outcomes for secondary level teachers. Project NANO workshops (offered for professional development credit) enable teachers to gain familiarity using and teaching with the SEM. Teachers also learn to integrate new content knowledge and skills into topic-driven, standards-based units of instruction specifically designed to support the development of students' higher order thinking skills that include problem solving and evidence-based thinking. The Project NANO management team includes a former university science faculty, two high school science teachers, and an educational researcher. To date, over 7500 students have experienced the impact of the Project NANO program, which provides an exciting and effective model for engaging students in the discovery of nanoscale phenomena and concepts in a fun and engaging way.

Teachers' Reflections on an Education for Sustainable Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villanen, Heli

2014-01-01

Sustainable development includes controversial values and complex issues such as energy consumption contra natural resources. This paper discusses a school project involving teachers from pre-schools to upper secondary schools in Sweden. The project aimed to support the teaching of energy issues and more generally sustainable development. During…

Project-Based Learning and Design-Focused Projects to Motivate Secondary Mathematics Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Remijan, Kelly W.

2017-01-01

This article illustrates how mathematics teachers can develop design-focused projects, related to project-based learning, to motivate secondary mathematics students. With first-hand experience as a secondary mathematics teacher, I provide a series of steps related to the engineering design process, which are helpful to teachers in developing…

Oklahoma's Marshall Plan: Combining Professional Development and Summer Writing Camps in Low-Income Elementary Schools. National Writing Project at Work. Volume 1, Number 8

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Eileen

2004-01-01

Eileen Simmons, a veteran teacher-consultant from the Oklahoma State University Writing Project, describes collaboration among writing project teacher-consultants and site-based teachers to plan professional development before, during, and after a summer writing camp for students at their school. This model, which has been adapted in a variety of…

Investigation of the Effect of Training on the Development of High School Teachers' Attitudes towards Scientific Research and Project Competitions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akçöltekin, Alptürk

2016-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to develop positive attitudes in high school teachers towards scientific research and project competitions by training them in scientific research and project preparation subjects. The study group consists of 90 high school teachers. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found in favor of…

Views of School Managers and Teachers regarding the School Councils Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuksel, Sedat; Karadag, Engin

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine teachers' views regarding democracy education and the Project for School Councils which have been used in schools in Turkey. In the study, the researchers developed a perception scale for the project (PSPDA), which was administered to the teachers. Based on the results of this research, female teachers and…

An Examination of Oregon Writing Project Teachers: A Qualitative Study of Professional Development Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obery, Angela D.

2012-01-01

This qualitative study examined the influence of the 2011 Oregon Writing Project (OWP) Summer Institute (SI) on the professional development of six teachers in the following ways: 1. The development of case descriptions of teachers' personal and professional backgrounds relevant to their teaching of writing. 2. An examination of the effects of the…

Increasing Bellevue School District's elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science: Using ideas from contemporary learning theory to inform professional development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maury, Tracy Anne

This Capstone project examined how leaders in the Bellevue School District can increase elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science through the use of professional learning activities that are grounded in ideas from human learning theory. A framework for professional development was constructed and from that framework, a set of professional learning activities were developed as a means to support teacher learning while project participants piloted new curriculum called the Isopod Habitat Challenge. Teachers in the project increased their understanding of the learning theory principles of preconceptions and metacognition. Teachers did not increase their understanding of the principle of learning with understanding, although they did articulate the significance of engaging children in student-led inquiry cycles. Data from the curriculum revision and professional development project coupled with ideas from learning theory, cognition and policy implementation, and learning community literatures suggest Bellevue's leaders can encourage peer-to-peer interaction, link professional development to teachers' daily practice, and capitalize on technology as ways to increase elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science. These lessons also have significance for supporting teacher learning and efficacy in other subject areas and at other levels in the system.

K-4 Keepers Collection: A Service Learning Teacher Professional Development Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwerin, T. G.; Blaney, L.; Myers, R. J.

2011-12-01

This poster focuses on the K-4 Keepers Collection, a service-learning program developed for the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA). ESSEA is a NOAA-, NASA- and NSF-supported program of teacher professional development that increases teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of climate-related Earth system science. The ESSEA program -- whether used in formal higher education courses or frequented by individual teachers who look for classroom activities in the environmental sciences -- provides a full suite of activities, lessons and units for teachers' use. The ESSEA network consists of 45 universities and education centers addressing climate and environment issues. K-4 Keepers Collection - ESSEA K-4 module collections focus on five specific themes of content development: spheres, Polar Regions, oceans, climate and service learning. The K-4 Keepers collection provides the opportunity for teachers to explore topics and learning projects promoting stewardship of the Earth's land, water, air and living things. Examination of the impacts of usage and pollution on water, air, land and living things through service-learning projects allows students to become informed stewards. All of the modules include short-term sample projects that either educate or initiate action involving caring for the environment. The K-4 Keepers course requires teachers to develop similar short or long-term projects for implementation in their classrooms. Objectives include: 1. Increase elementary teachers' environmental literacy addressing ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, stewardship, weather and climate science standards and using NOAA and NASA resources. 2. Develop elementary teachers' efficacy in employing service learning projects focused on conserving and preserving Earth's land, air, water and living things. 3. Prepare college faculty to incorporate service learning and environmental literacy into their courses through professional development and modules on the ESSEA website.

Teachers' Journeys towards Critical Use of ICT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schibeci, Renato; MacCallum, Judith; Cumming-Potvin, Wendy; Durrant, Cal; Kissane, Barry; Miller, Erica-Jane

2008-01-01

Teachers have a central role in developing new learning models in schools. This paper describes a study that explored teachers' confidence and competence in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as they participated in an ICT development project conducted by an Australian education system in 12 primary schools. The project aimed…

Multiple Intelligences Theory, Action Research, and Teacher Professional Development: The Irish MI Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanafin, Joan

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings from an action research project that investigated the application of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in classrooms and schools. It shows how MI theory was used in the project as a basis for suggestions to generate classroom practices; how participating teachers evaluated the project; and how teachers responded to…

Side Streets: A Local History Project for Colorado Teachers. Final Performance Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downey, Matthew T.; Metcalf, Fay D.

This description of a project to help secondary school social studies classroom teachers incorporate local history into the curriculum focuses on objectives, project development and activities, and outcome data. The specific intent of this project was to help classroom teachers in Colorado overcome some of the obstacles to the use of local history…

Building Cultural Responsiveness in Rural, Preservice Teachers Using a Multicultural Children's Literature Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howrey, Shannon Tovey; Whelan-Kim, Kellie

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the qualities of preservice early childhood teacher response to a multicultural children's literature project, and to evaluate the project as a means for developing culturally responsive teaching practices in preservice early childhood teachers. Surveys and reflection papers on the project from two reading…

Promoting Student Engagement through Scholarship in a Teacher Preparation Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, Claudia; Olson-Pacheco, Ali; Grosso, Liliana; Hanley, Elizabeth

2008-01-01

A project entitled "Academic Presentations and Publications by Leaders in Education" (Project APPLE) was developed to offer pre-service teachers opportunities to grow professionally outside traditional coursework requirements. Project APPLE seeks to engage students in teacher education programs in two types of scholarly activities: professional…

Teachers Learning to Research Climate: Development of hybrid teacher professional development to support climate inquiry and research in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odell, M. R.; Charlevoix, D. J.; Kennedy, T.

2011-12-01

The GLOBE Program is an international science and education focused on connecting scientists, teachers and students around relevant, local environmental issues. GLOBE's focus during the next two years in on climate, global change and understanding climate from a scientific perspective. The GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign (SCRFC) will engage youth from around the world in understanding and researching climate through investigations of local climate challenges. GLOBE teachers are trained in implementation of inquiry in the classroom and the use of scientific data collection protocols to develop inquiry and research projects of the Earth System. In preparation for the SCRC, GLOBE teachers will need additional training in climate science, global change and communicating climate science in the classroom. GLOBE's reach to 111 countries around the world requires development of scalable models for training teachers. In June GLOBE held the first teacher professional development workshop (Learning to Research Summer Institute) in a hybrid format with two-thirds of the teachers participating face-to-face and the remaining teachers participating virtually using Adobe Connect. The week long workshop prepared teachers to integrate climate science inquiry and research projects in the classrooms in the 2011-12 academic year. GLOBE scientists and other climate science experts will work with teachers and their students throughout the year in designing and executing a climate science research project. Final projects and research results will be presented in May 2012 through a virtual conference. This presentation will provide the framework for hybrid teacher professional development in climate science research and inquiry projects as well as summarize the findings from this inaugural session. The GLOBE Program office, headquartered in Boulder, is funded through cooperative agreements with NASA and NOAA with additional support from NSF and the U.S. Department of State. GLOBE is supported in countries around the world through bi-lateral agreements between U.S. Department of state and national governments.

A Program to Train Apprentices to Lead Inservice Workshops for Secondary Teachers of Basic Skills. Developer/Demonstration Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stallings, Jane A.

The Development and Demonstration project has trained interns to lead Effective Use of Time inservice workshops for secondary school teachers of basic reading and mathematical skills. These interns then returned to their home bases and trained teachers who could in turn train other teachers to use the Stallings Effective Use of Time methods. The…

Motivating Teachers to Enact Free-Choice Project-Based Learning in Science and Technology (PBLSAT): Effects of a Professional Development Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fallik, Orna; Eylon, Bat-Sheva; Rosenfeld, Sherman

2008-01-01

We investigated the effects of a long-term, continuous professional development (CPD) model, designed to support teachers to enact Project-Based Learning (PBLSAT). How do novice PBLSAT teachers view their acquisition of PBLSAT skills and how do expert PBLSAT teachers, who enacted the program 5-7 years, perceive the program? Novice teachers…

Holistic Approach to Secondary Earth Science Teacher Professional Development: the Triad of Project-based Instruction, Earth Science Content, and GIS Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubino-Hare, L.; Sample, J. C.; Fredrickson, K.; Claesgens, J.; Bloom, N.; Henderson-Dahms, C.; Manone, M.

2011-12-01

We have provided two years of professional development for secondary and middle school teachers with a focus on project-based instruction (PBI) using GIS. The EYE-POD project (funded by NSF-ITEST) involved pairs of teachers from Arizona and the surrounding region in two-week institutes during Summer, 2010, and an advanced institute in Summer, 2011. The NAz-POD project (funded by Arizona Department of Education and administered by Science Foundation Arizona) provided similar PD experiences, but the institutes occurred during weekends in the academic year. The institutes were led by a team with expertise in Earth science content, professional development and pedagogy, and GIS. The teachers developed learning modules using the project based learning instructional model. Pedagogy, content, and GIS skills were combined throughout the professional development activities. Academic year follow up by NAU personnel included classroom observations and technical support. For assessing student work we provided a rubric, but learned that teachers were not prepared to assess GIS products in order to determine the level of student understanding. In year two of the project we incorporated strategies for assessment of student products into the professional development. Teacher-participants and their students completed several pre- and post- assessments. Teacher assessments included a geospatial performance assessment, classroom observations, and content tests. Student data collection included attitude and efficacy questionnaires, content tests, and authentic assessments including products using GIS. Content tests were the same for teachers and students and included spatial reasoning, data analysis, and Earth science content. Data was also collected on teacher perception of professional development delivery and self-reported confidence in teaching with PBI and geospatial technology. Student assessments show that improvement occurred in all areas on the content test. Possible factors resulting in this improvement will be shared, and placed in the context of other assessment results.

Pacific CRYSTAL Teacher Professional Development Models: Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Flier-Keller, E.; Yore, L.

2010-12-01

From 2005 to 2010 Pacific CRYSTAL (Centre for Research in Youth Science Teaching and Learning) has been engaged in community-based research fostering teacher leadership in innovative science education through a variety of approaches to teacher professional development. Pacific CRYSTAL is a University of Victoria based, NSERC funded project founded on a collaborative research model involving scentists, science educators and community members including schools, teachers, community groups and government. Pacific CRYSTAL professional development approaches embrace both in-service teachers and pre-service teachers, and include Lighthouse schools, workshops (ongoing as well as one-time), community-based partnerships in Pacific CRYSTAL research projects, teachers as researchers, and university science courses and workshops for pre-education and education students. A number of common themes, identified through these approaches, should be considered in the development and implementation of future science professional development initiatives. They include; teacher turnover, expanding and adding schools and participating teachers, teacher apprehension, building leadership capacity, further engagement of 'tourist' teachers, continuing professional support for teachers, as well as on-going mentoring.

K-12 Students, Teachers, Parents, Administrators and Higher Education Faculty: Partners Helping Rural Disadvantaged Students Stay on the Pathway to a Geoscience Career

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slattery, W.; Antonucci, C.; Myers, R. J.

2013-12-01

The National Science Foundation funded project K-12 Students, Teachers, Parents, Administrators and Higher Education Faculty: Partners Helping Rural Disadvantaged Students Stay on the Pathway to a Geoscience Career is a research-based proof of concept track 1 pilot project that tests the effectiveness of an innovative model for simultaneous K-12 teacher professional development, student learning and workforce development. The project builds a network of science experiences designed to keep eighth and ninth grade students from the Ripley, Union, Lewis, Huntington (RULH) Ohio school district on the path to a geoscience career. During each summer of the ongoing two-year project teams of RULH students, parents, teachers, administrators and college faculty traveled to the facilities of the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium at Sandy Hook, New Jersey to study science from an Earth system perspective. Teachers had the opportunity to engage in professional development alongside their students. Parents participated in the science activities alongside their children. Administrators interacted with students, parents and their teachers and saw them all learning science in an engaging, collaborative setting. During the first academic year of the project professional development was provided to RULH teachers by a team of university scientists and geoscience educators from the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA), a National Science Foundation funded project. Teachers selected for professional development were from science disciplines, mathematics, language arts and civics. The teachers selected, taught and assessed ESSEA Earth system science modules to all eighth and ninth grade students, not just those that were selected to go on the summer trips to New Jersey. In addition, all ninth grade RULH students had the opportunity to take a course that includes Earth system science concepts that will earn them both high school and college science credits. Professional development will continue through the 2013-2014 academic year. Formative assessment of the ongoing project indicates that students, teachers, parents and school administrators rank their experiences highly and that students are motivated to continue on the path to geoscience careers.

In-service and pre-service teacher education in IBSE: The ESTABLISH approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ješková, Zuzana; Kireš, Marián; McLoughlin, Eilish; Finlayson, Odilla; Ottander, Christina; Ekborg, Margareta

2016-05-01

One of the main goals of the ESTABLISH 7fp project (available on line at http://www.establish-fp7.eu/) was the development and implementation of the professional development teacher education programmes (TEP) to support teachers in adopting inquiry-based strategies in their teaching. Within the project there was a model for in-service and pre-service teacher training in IBSE designed and implemented across 12 participating countries. The programme is based on 4 core elements and 4 additional elements that are built around the IBSE teaching units developed within the project. As accepted by ESTABLISH partners, all teacher training programmes include the minimum of the four elements, i.e. introduction to IBSE, industrial content knowledge, teacher as implementer and teacher as developer of IBSE teaching materials. There are also four additional elements designed in detail, i.e. ICT for IBSE, argumentation in the classroom, research and design projects for students, assessment of IBSE. These can be added to the programme optionally with regard to the level of teachers' IBSE skills and current situation in education and teachers' professional development within the country. This ESTABLISH model of TEP was followed in participating countries in order to change teachers' attitudes from traditional ways of teaching towards adopting inquiry strategies and their successful implementation in the classroom. Within the face-to-face workshops teachers experienced and developed their inquiry based teaching strategies using specifically developed materials. In addition, the e-platform has been developed to provide on-line support. This platform provides educators and teachers with all the necessary materials for the training and IBSE teaching units and other teaching materials for teachers' ongoing help. The teacher training programme was successfully implemented in Slovakia. There were two runs of teacher training workshops on IBSE already carried out. Moreover, the additional element ICT in IBSE was developed more deeply designing a separate teacher training course for it. The contribution discusses in more details the success and problems of implementation in the context of Slovak educational environment.

Preparing Teachers to Support the Development of Climate Literate Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haddad, N.; Ledley, T. S.; Ellins, K. K.; Bardar, E. W.; Youngman, E.; Dunlap, C.; Lockwood, J.; Mote, A. S.; McNeal, K.; Libarkin, J. C.; Lynds, S. E.; Gold, A. U.

2014-12-01

The EarthLabs climate project includes curriculum development, teacher professional development, teacher leadership development, and research on student learning, all directed at increasing high school teachers' and students' understanding of the factors that shape our planet's climate. The project has developed four new modules which focus on climate literacy and which are part of the larger Web based EarthLabs collection of Earth science modules. Climate related themes highlighted in the new modules include the Earth system with its positive and negative feedback loops; the range of temporal and spatial scales at which climate, weather, and other Earth system processes occur; and the recurring question, "How do we know what we know about Earth's past and present climate?" which addresses proxy data and scientific instrumentation. EarthLabs climate modules use two central strategies to help students navigate the multiple challenges inherent in understanding climate science. The first is to actively engage students with the content by using a variety of learning modes, and by allowing students to pace themselves through interactive visualizations that address particularly challenging content. The second strategy, which is the focus of this presentation, is to support teachers in a subject area where few have substantive content knowledge or technical skills. Teachers who grasp the processes and interactions that give Earth its climate and the technical skills to engage with relevant data and visualizations are more likely to be successful in supporting students' understanding of climate's complexities. This presentation will briefly introduce the EarthLabs project and will describe the steps the project takes to prepare climate literate teachers, including Web based resources, teacher workshops, and the development of a cadre of teacher leaders who are prepared to continue leading the workshops after project funding ends.

Teaching, as Learning, as Inquiry: Moving beyond Activity in the Analysis of Teaching Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandoval, William A.; Deneroff, Victoria; Franke, Megan L.

This paper describes an ongoing high school science teacher professional development project, Beyond Final Form Science, that focuses on developing teachers' ideas of scientific inquiry and inquiry pedagogy. It analyzes the first several months of the project, highlighting analyses of teachers' interactions during monthly professional development…

Purposeful Action Research: Reconsidering Science and Technology Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

vanOostveen, Roland

2017-01-01

Initial plans for this project arose from a need to address issues of professional development of science and technology teachers that went beyond the norm available within school board settings. Two teams of 4 teachers responded to an invitation to participate in a collaborative action research project. Collaborative action research was chosen in…

What Makes Professional Development Coherent? Uncovering Teacher Perspectives on a Science Literacy Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohnen, Angela M.; Whitacre, Michelle P.

2017-01-01

In this study, the authors sought to uncover the characteristics of professional development (PD) that were identified by teacher-participants as being important to their implementation of project ideas. Using phenomenological interviewing, the authors talked with nine teacher-participants about changes to their teaching practices after they…

An in-depth study of a teacher engaged in an innovative primary science trial professional development project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watters, James J.; Ginns, Ian S.

1997-03-01

The implementation of effective science programmes in primary schools is of continuing interest and concern for professional developers. As part of the Australian Academy of science's approach to creating an awareness of Primary Investigations, a project team trialed a series of satellite television broadcasts of lessons related to two units of the curriculum for Year 3 and 4 children in 48 participating schools. The professional development project entitled Simply Science, included a focused component for the respective classroom teachers, which was also conducted by satellite. This paper reports the involvement of a Year 4 teacher in the project and describes her professional growth. Already an experienced and confident teacher, no quantitative changes in science teaching self efficacy were detected. However, her pedagogical content knowledge and confidence to teach science in the concept areas of matter and energy were enhanced. Changes in the teacher's views about the co-operative learning strategies espoused by Primary Investigations were also evident. Implications for the design of professional development programmes for primary science teachers are discussed.

Case-based Long-term Professional Development of Science Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dori, Yehudit J.; Herscovitz, Orit

2005-10-01

Reform efforts are often unsuccessful because they failed to understand that teachers play a key role in making educational reforms successful. This paper describes a long-term teacher professional development (PD) program aimed at educating and training teachers to teach interdisciplinary topics using case-based method in science. The research objective was to identify, follow and document the processes that science teachers went through as they assimilated the interdisciplinary, case-based science teaching approach. The research accompanied the PD program throughout its 3-year period. About 50 teachers, who took part in the PD program, were exposed to an interdisciplinary case-based teaching method. The research instruments included teacher portfolios, which contained projects and reflection questionnaires, classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student feedback questionnaires. The portfolios contained the projects that the teachers had carried out during the PD program, which included case studies and accompanying student activities. We found that the teachers gradually moved from exposure to new teaching methods and subject matter, through active learning and preparing case-based team projects, to interdisciplinary, active classroom teaching using the case studies they developed.

Building an Understanding: What Motivates Teachers to use Science in Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spuck, Karen M.

Science education reform documents call for instructional practices that include scientific equipment and materials. Often, these types of resources are inaccessible for schools, especially those which are rural and socio-economically challenged, due largely to budgetary considerations. Science outreach partnerships are able to bridge the gap between what is called for in science education reform documents and the realities of many schools. Science in Motion is a science outreach partnership project located in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania, supported by state funds, that provides equipment, curricular materials, and professional development free of charge for area science educators. Teacher participation in this project is completely voluntary. Not a grassroots initiative, nor a top down mandated project, why do teachers decide to use this project? This study examined the volitional use of the Science in Motion project at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Qualitative research methods were used to answer the following research question: what are the reasons for project use reported by teachers who use the project on a regular basis? Sub research questions were: what is it about the teacher that encouraged her/him to initiate Science in Motion services, and what is it about the teacher that encourages her/him to continue using Science in Motion services? Two focus group interviews as well as a paper/pencil questionnaire were used to collect data from teacher participants who use the project on a regular basis. A phenomenological lens was used to examine data. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze data. Research findings reveal teachers initiated use because: the project provided opportunities for teaching and learning that otherwise were inaccessible, the project was perceived as user friendly and easy to access, the project embedded professional development provided the support needed to encourage initial use, and the project resources were perceived as a means to facilitate teaching and learning goals and beliefs held by this group of teachers. Reasons for continued use included the project was found to be user friendly and the project maintained a variety of equipment, and updated labs and equipment on a regular basis. In addition, teachers were given an opportunity to have a voice in the project, selecting labs and materials as the project expanded over the years, which gave teachers a sense of ownership and empowerment. Assertions about this group of teachers were also developed. These teachers were found to be reflective about their teaching practices, and resourceful problem-solvers. They also maintain strong professional attitudes, and value life-long learning. The research participants believe maintaining a dynamic curriculum and continued professional growth keep the teaching processes exciting for themselves, which then sparks student interest excitement and motivation to learn.

Evaluation of a Mediated Program for Training Teachers of Exceptional Children in Instructional Development. Final Report 51.2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thiagarajan, Sivasailam; Stolovitch, Harold D.

The document describes a project to design, develop, and evaluate a set of audiovisual training modules to augment a sourcebook for special education teacher trainees and to assist trainers and curriculum developers in the design of teacher training materials. It is explained in Chapter I that the project involved the 4-D Model--Define, Design,…

Ten-College Conference on Implications of the Bureau of Research Teacher Education Project for Developing Institutions (July 11-12, 1969).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1969

This document reports an initial conference of ten small developing colleges which are contracted to study the feasibility of instituting all or parts of the nine teacher education program models developed in the Teacher Education Project of the U.S. Office of Education (USOE). Included in the report are summaries of prepared statements by each…

A Collaborative Model to Identify and Implement Applications of Research on Effective Teaching to Preservice/Inservice Teacher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponzio, Richard

Mills College (California) was one of three sites selected to participate in a project designed to apply and use research in elementary teacher education. The project trained student teachers and cooperating teachers to measure academic learning time and active teacher behaviors with instruments developed by recent research on teacher…

Language Teachers' Target Language Project: Language for Specific Purposes of Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korenev, Alexey; Westbrook, Carolyn; Merry, Yvonne; Ershova, Tatiana

2016-01-01

The Language Teachers' Target Language project (LTTL) aims to describe language teachers' target language use domain (Bachman & Palmer 2010) and to develop a language test for future teachers of English. The team comprises four researchers from Moscow State University (MSU) and Southampton Solent University.

Creative Productivity: Who Gets Involved? Who Benefits?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hebert, Thomas P.

1992-01-01

A project of the Talented and Gifted Program in Torrington, Connecticut, is described. The project involved classroom teachers, the gifted teacher, art teacher, and physical education teacher leading fourth-grade students in developing a life-size skeleton, a tape-recorded narration explaining the skeletal system, and a song. (JDD)

Positionings in an Immature Triad in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klemp, Torunn; Nilssen, Vivi

2017-01-01

This article presents and discusses experiences from an intervention project in Norwegian teacher education focusing on a triadic collaboration between student teachers, mentors and lecturers. The aim of the project was to establish a written, digital meeting place supporting the student teachers' professional development. The question explored in…

How Professional Development in Project Lead the Way: Changes High School STEM Teachers' Beliefs about Engineering Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nathan, Mitchell J.; Atwood, Amy K.; Prevost, Amy; Phelps, L. Allen; Tran, Natalie A.

2011-01-01

This quasi-experimental study measured the impact of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) instruction and professional development training on the views and expectations regarding engineering learning, instruction and career success of nascent pre college engineering teachers. PLTW teachers' initial and changing views were compared to the views exhibited…

Challenges in Mentoring Software Development Projects in the High School: Analysis According to Shulman's Teacher Knowledge Base Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meerbaum-Salant, Orni; Hazzan, Orit

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on challenges in mentoring software development projects in the high school and analyzes difficulties encountered by Computer Science teachers in the mentoring process according to Shulman's Teacher Knowledge Base Model. The main difficulties that emerged from the data analysis belong to the following knowledge sources of…

Identifying Professional Development Environment for Mentor Teachers at a Learning Centre

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, May May-hung; Yeung, Yau-Yuen

2010-01-01

This paper argues with evidence that conditions for teacher professional development can be enhanced for mentor teachers through a Learning Centre (LC) project which has been introduced in Hong Kong as a collaborative project between the government, a primary school, a secondary school, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The LC teachers…

Supporting Teachers' Use of a Project-Based Learning Environment in Ocean Science: Web-Based Educative Curriculum Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Ravit Golan; El-Moslimany, Hebbah; McDonnell, Janice; Lichtenwalner, Sage

2011-01-01

The development of inquiry and project-based materials is challenging in many ways, not the least of which is the design of supports for teachers implementing such materials. We report on the design of educative and just-in-time teacher supports for an online project-based unit in ocean science. The teacher supports were visible as tabs on the…

A Phenomenological Research Study of the Experience of Teachers in the Virgin Islands Teacher Enhancement in Mathematics and Science Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurland, Karen C.

2012-01-01

The purpose of conducting this study was to describe the experience of elementary teachers in a mathematics and science staff development project in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The focus of this study was to describe the meaning teachers attribute to their experience in this three year project, in which many of the national mathematics and science…

Education for sustainable development - Resources for physics and sciences teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miličić, Dragana; Jokić, Ljiljana; Blagdanić, Sanja; Jokić, Stevan

2016-03-01

With this article we would like to stress science teachers must doing practical work and communicate on the basis of scientific knowledge and developments, but also allow their students opportunity to discover knowledge through inquiry. During the last five years Serbian project Ruka u testu (semi-mirror of the French project La main á la pâte), as well as European FIBONACCI and SUSTAIN projects have offered to our teachers the wide-scale learning opportunities based on Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Our current efforts are based on pedagogical guidance, several modules and experimental kits, the website, exhibitions, and trainings and workshops for students and teachers.

TRUST: A Successful Formal-Informal Teacher Education Partnership Designed to Improve and Promote Urban Earth Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sloan, H.; Drantch, K.; Steenhuis, J.

2006-12-01

We present an NSF-funded collaborative formal-informal partnership for urban Earth science teacher preparation and professional development. This model brings together The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Brooklyn and Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) to address science-impoverished classrooms that lack highly qualified teachers by focusing on Earth science teacher certification. Project design was based on identified needs in the local communities and schools, careful analysis of content knowledge mastery required for Earth science teacher certification, and existing impediments to certification. The problem-based approach required partners to push policy envelopes and to invent new ways of articulating content and pedagogy at both intra- and inter-institutional levels. One key element of the project is involvement of the local board of education, teachers, and administrators in initial design and ongoing assessment. Project components include formal Earth systems science courses, a summer institute primarily led and delivered by AMNH scientists through an informal series of lectures coupled to workshops led by AMNH educators, a mechanism for assigning course credit for informal experiences, development of new teaching approaches that include teacher action plans and an external program of evaluation. The principal research strand of this project focuses on the resulting model for formal-informal teacher education partnership, the project's impact on participating teachers, policy issues surrounding the model and the changes required for its development and implementation, and its potential for Earth science education reform. As the grant funded portion of the project draws to a close we begin to analyze data collected over the past 3 years. Third-year findings of the project's external evaluation indicate that the problem-based approach has been highly successful, particularly its impact on participating teachers. In addition to presenting these results, participating teachers from the 2004 and 2006 cohorts discuss their TRUST experiences and the subsequent impact the program has had on their respective Earth science teaching practices and professional lives.

Supporting Teachers' Understandings of Function through Online Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Jason

2017-01-01

This article explores one segment of an extended research and development project that was conducted to better understand the ways online teacher professional development can support teachers' development of deep and connected mathematical understandings. In particular, this article discusses teachers' understandings of the concept of…

Combining Project-based Instruction, Earth Science Content, and GIS Technology in Teacher Professional Development: Is this Holistic Approach Sustainable?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubino-Hare, L.; Bloom, N.; Claesgens, J.; Fredrickson, K.; Henderson-Dahms, C.; Sample, J. C.

2012-12-01

From 2009-2011, with support from the National Science Foundation (ITEST, DRL-0929846) and Science Foundation Arizona (MSAG-0412-09), educators, geologists and geographers at Northern Arizona University (NAU) partnered to offer professional development for interdisciplinary teams of secondary and middle school teachers with a focus on project-based instruction (PBI) using geospatial technologies (GST). While participating in professional development teachers received support and were held accountable to NAU staff. They implemented activities and pedagogical strategies presented, increased knowledge, skills, and confidence teaching with project-based instruction integrating GST, and their students demonstrated learning gains. Changes in student understanding are only observed when teachers continue to implement change, so the question remained: did these changes in practice sustain after official project support ended? In order to determine what, if anything, teachers sustained from the professional development and the factors that promoted or hindered sustained use of teaching with GST and PBI, data were collected one to two years following the professional development. Research questions included a) what pedagogical practices did teachers sustain following the professional learning experiences? and b) what contexts were present in schools that supported or limited the use of geospatial technologies as a teaching and learning tool? Findings from this study indicate that teachers fall into three categories of sustaining implementation - reformed implementers, mechanical implementers and non-implementers. School context was less of a factor in level of implementation than teachers' beliefs and philosophy of teaching and teachers' understanding of technology integration (teaching with technology vs. teaching technology). Case studies of teacher experiences will be presented along with implications for future professional development.

A Teacher's Inquiry into Bringing in Biliteracy in a Fifth-Grade English-Only Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abraham, Stephanie Lynn

2017-01-01

This teacher inquiry project explored how I, a non-Spanish speaking teacher at the time, implemented critical, bilingual pedagogies to foster biliteracy development among my fifth-grade students. One, the project showed that students could further their biliteracy by incorporating their funds of knowledge through a family stories writing project.…

Moving beyond the Barriers: Supporting Meaningful Teacher Collaboration to Improve Secondary School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jao, Limin; McDougall, Doug

2016-01-01

The Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project was a professional development initiative that sought to improve the teaching and learning of Grade 9 Applied mathematics by encouraging teachers to work collaboratively. The project brought together Grade 9 Applied mathematics teachers from 11 schools across four neighboring public school boards in the…

How Do We Keep Teachers in Our Classrooms? The TNT Response.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzales, Frank; Sosa, Alicia Salinas

1993-01-01

This report outlines and evaluates a project, Teachers Need Teachers (TNT), developed by the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). TNT is a teacher induction program for first-year teachers who are certified in bilingual education and teach limited-English-proficient students. Beginning teachers are assigned to experienced…

Developing Intercultural Competence of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language through an International Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strugielska, Ariadna; Piatkowska, Katarzyna

2016-01-01

This paper reports an international project which took place at Nicolaus Copernicus University, where students and teachers from four European universities met for a two-week summer school. The main objective was to develop intercultural competence of teachers of English as a foreign language and their ability to demonstrate this skill during an…

Teachers and Game-Based Learning: Improving Understanding of How to Increase Efficacy of Adoption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ketelhut, Diane Jass; Schifter, Catherine C.

2011-01-01

Interest in game-based learning for K-12 is growing. Thus, helping teachers understand how to use these new pedagogies is important. This paper presents a cross-case study of the development of teacher professional development for the River City project, a games-based multi-user virtual environment science curriculum project for middle school…

BUNTEP: The Profile of a Teacher Education Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, D. A.; Loughton, A. J.

Describing and evaluating the development of the Brandon University Northern Teacher Education Project (BUNTEP) in Manitoba, Canada, this document presents the following sections: (1) Historical Overview; (2) Project Implementation Strategy (emphasis upon coordination with past projects); (3) The Students (the average BUNTEP student is probably…

A Completed Research and Development Work Project in School: The Teachers' Learning and Possibilities, Premises and Challenges for Further Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Postholm, May Britt

2011-01-01

The article is based on a follow-up study of a research and development work project with school leaders and teachers conducted in a Norwegian lower secondary school. The purpose is to present an understanding of "what the practitioners find they have learned" during the project and "how they experience the situation with regard to…

Designing Summer Research Experiences for Teachers and Students That Promote Classroom Science Inquiry Projects and Produce Research Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, L. A.; Parra, J.; Rao, M.; Offerman, L.

2007-12-01

Research experiences for science teachers are an important mechanism for increasing classroom teachers' science content knowledge and facility with "real world" research processes. We have developed and implemented a summer scientific research and education workshop model for high school teachers and students which promotes classroom science inquiry projects and produces important research results supporting our overarching scientific agenda. The summer training includes development of a scientific research framework, design and implementation of preliminary studies, extensive field research and training in and access to instruments, measurement techniques and statistical tools. The development and writing of scientific papers is used to reinforce the scientific research process. Using these skills, participants collaborate with scientists to produce research quality data and analysis. Following the summer experience, teachers report increased incorporation of research inquiry in their classrooms and student participation in science fair projects. This workshop format was developed for an NSF Biocomplexity Research program focused on the interaction of urban climates, air quality and human response and can be easily adapted for other scientific research projects.

Collaborative School Innovation Project as a Pivot for Teachers' Professional Development: The Case of Acharnes' Second Chance School in Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsarou, Eleni; Tsafos, Vassilis

2008-01-01

A collaborative school innovation project is explored as a pivot for the professional development of the teachers involved. The Second Chance School (SCS) of Acharnes in Greece constitutes such a collaborative innovative project, regarding the underlying theory of multiliteracies, its decentralised character, respect for student individuality, and…

Working with Teachers to Develop Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching. MET Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010

2010-01-01

In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to develop and test multiple measures of teacher effectiveness. The goal of the MET project is to improve the quality of information about teaching effectiveness available to education professionals within states and districts--information…

Relational Agency and Teacher Development: A CHAT Analysis of a Collaborative Professional Inquiry Project with Biology Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNicholl, Jane

2013-01-01

Teacher quality largely determines student outcomes and many argue for high quality teacher training and professional development (PD). Much PD has been heavily critiqued and what constitutes effective provision for teachers remains contested. Disenfranchisement of teachers, through neglect of prior expertise and failure to acknowledge teachers'…

Focusing on Teacher-Student Interactions Eliminates the Negative Impact of Students' Disruptive Behavior on Teacher Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hafen, Christopher A.; Ruzek, Erik A.; Gregory, Anne; Allen, Joseph P.; Mikami, Amori Yee

2015-01-01

This study tests the impact of a randomly assigned professional development coaching intervention (MyTeachingPartner-Secondary; MTP-S) on teacher projections of their students' educational attainment. Results indicate that students who report more behavior problems in the Fall of the academic year are projected by teachers to have lower future…

Science Teacher Efficacy and Extrinsic Factors Toward Professional Development Using Video Games in a Design-Based Research Model: The Next Generation of STEM Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Annetta, Leonard A.; Frazier, Wendy M.; Folta, Elizabeth; Holmes, Shawn; Lamb, Richard; Cheng, Meng-Tzu

2013-02-01

Designed-based research principles guided the study of 51 secondary-science teachers in the second year of a 3-year professional development project. The project entailed the creation of student-centered, inquiry-based, science, video games. A professional development model appropriate for infusing innovative technologies into standards-based curricula was employed to determine how science teacher's attitudes and efficacy where impacted while designing science-based video games. The study's mixed-method design ascertained teacher efficacy on five factors (General computer use, Science Learning, Inquiry Teaching and Learning, Synchronous chat/text, and Playing Video Games) related to technology and gaming using a web-based survey). Qualitative data in the form of online blog posts was gathered during the project to assist in the triangulation and assessment of teacher efficacy. Data analyses consisted of an Analysis of Variance and serial coding of teacher reflective responses. Results indicated participants who used computers daily have higher efficacy while using inquiry-based teaching methods and science teaching and learning. Additional emergent findings revealed possible motivating factors for efficacy. This professional development project was focused on inquiry as a pedagogical strategy, standard-based science learning as means to develop content knowledge, and creating video games as technological knowledge. The project was consistent with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) framework where overlapping circles of the three components indicates development of an integrated understanding of the suggested relationships. Findings provide suggestions for development of standards-based science education software, its integration into the curriculum and, strategies for implementing technology into teaching practices.

An Inquiry Safari

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomson, Norman; Chapman, Seri

2004-01-01

The Virtual Gorilla Modeling Project--a professional development project--is a collaboration of middle and high school inservice teachers, Zoo Atlanta primatologists, science and computer educators, and students. During a 10-day professional development summer workshop, middle and high school teachers explore the world of the gorilla through…

Negotiating the Inclusion of Nanoscience Content and Technology in Science Curriculum: An Examination of Secondary Teachers' Thinking in a Professional Development Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, Jennifer Gayle

The Next Generation Science Standards represent a significant challenge for K--12 school reform in the United States in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (NSTA, 2012). One important difference between the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) is the more extensive inclusion of nanoscale science and technology. Teacher PD is a key vehicle for implementing this STEM education reform effort (NRC, 2012; Smith, 2001). The context of this dissertation study is Project Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Outreach (NANO), a secondary level professional development program for teachers that provides a summer workshop, academic year coaching and the opportunity for teacher participants to borrow a table-top Phenom scanning electron microscope and a research grade optical microscope for use in their classrooms. This designed-based descriptive case study examined the thinking of secondary teachers in the 2012 Project NANO cohort as they negotiated the inclusion of novel science concepts and technology into secondary science curriculum. Teachers in the Project NANO 2012 summer workshop developed a two-week, inquiry-based unit of instruction drawing upon one or more of nine big ideas in nanoscale science and technology as defined by Stevens, Sutherland, and Krajcik (2011). This research examined teacher participants' metastrategic thinking (Zohar, 2006) which they used to inform their pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) by focusing on the content knowledge teachers chose to frame their lessons, their rationales for such choices as well as the teaching strategies that they chose to employ in their Project NANO unit of instruction. The study documents teachers various entry points on a learning progression as teachers negotiated the inclusion of nanoscale science and technology into the curriculum for the first time. Implications and recommendations for teacher professional development are offered.

Long-Term Engagement in Authentic Research with NASA (LEARN): Innovative Practices Suggested By a New Model for Teacher Research Experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pippin, M. R.; Joseph, J. D.; Yang, M. M.; Omar, A. H.; Crecelius, S.; Harte, T.; Lewis, P. M., Jr.; Taylor, J.; Bujosa, R.; Moulton, C.; Haggard, C. S.; Hyater-Adams, S.; Kollmeyer, R.; Weisman, A.

2014-12-01

NASA's LEARN Project is an innovative program that provides long-term immersion in the practice of atmospheric science for middle and high school in-service teachers. Working alongside NASA scientists and using authentic NASA Science Mission Directorate research data, teachers develop individual research topics of interest during two weeks in the summer while on-site at NASA Langley. With continued, intensive mentoring by NASA scientists, the teachers further develop their research throughout the academic year through virtual group meetings and data team meetings mirroring scientific collaborations. At the end of the first year, LEARN teachers present scientific posters. The LEARN experience has had such an impact that multiple teachers from the first two cohorts have elected to continue their research. The LEARN project evaluation has provided insights into particularly effective elements of this new approach. Findings indicate that teachers' perceptions of the scientific enterprise have changed, and that LEARN provided substantial resources to help them take real-world research to their students. This presentation will focus on key factors from LEARN's implementation that inform best practices for the incorporation of authentic scientific research into teacher professional development experiences. We suggest that these factors should be considered in the development of other such experiences, including: (1) The involvement of a single scientist as both the project leader/manager and the project scientist, to ensure that the project can meet teachers' needs. (2) An emphasis on framing and approaching scientific research questions, so that teachers can learn to evaluate the feasibility of studies based on scope, scale, and availability of data. (3) Long term, ongoing relationships where teachers and scientists work as collaborators, beyond the workshop "mold." (4) A focus on meeting the needs of individual teachers, whether their needs relate to elements of research and analysis, or to their tight professional schedules. (5) Above all, flexibility and patience. LEARN builds relationships with teachers slowly, over a long period of time. In the middle, life often intervenes. LEARN has emphasized that teachers' success is more important than deadlines or following a rigid protocol.

Training Teachers to be Professional Development Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leslie, Jessica B.

1982-01-01

A Teacher Corps project conducted by the Edgewood Independent School District and Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) is described. A classroom teacher at each participating school is trained to lead professional development activities at his or her school. Teacher involvement in designing professional development at each school is emphasized.…

Which Way Is Better for Teacher Evaluation? The Discourse on Teacher Evaluation in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Juei-Hsin; Chen, Yen-Ting

2016-01-01

There are no summative evaluations for compulsory and basic education in Taiwan. This research discusses and analyzes present teacher evaluation implementation. The implementation of policy nowadays means "Teacher evaluation for professional development". Teacher evaluation for professional development is a voluntary growing project of…

INTERACT: Building a Virtual Community of Practice to Enhance Teachers' Intercultural Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hajisoteriou, Christina; Karousiou, Christiana; Angelides, Panayiotis

2018-01-01

This project focuses on the design and implementation of an online professional development platform tailored to teachers' needs to improve and promote their intercultural knowledge. Drawing upon the framework of virtual communities of practice, the project escapes from traditional professional development programmes. Although a total of 103…

Professional Development of Teacher Educators: A Cross Border Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laws, Kevin; Harbon, Lesley; Nguyen, Nam; Trinh, Lap

2009-01-01

This paper presents the results of a collaborative project between the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia, and the School of Education at Can Tho University, Vietnam. The project aimed to develop a model for the professional development of teacher educators in the context of educational innovations in…

School-Based Multidisciplinary Teacher Team-Building Combining On-Line Professional Development (ESSEA) and Field-Based Environmental Monitoring (GLOBE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.

2003-12-01

The multidisciplinary nature of Earth system science provides a strong foundation for integrated science teaching at the K-12 level. In a Minneapolis-St. Paul based project, urban middle school teaching teams composed of language arts and math specialists as well as physical, Earth, and biological science teachers participate in the NASA Earth system science course (ESSEA) and in the international GLOBE environmental monitoring project. For students, the goal is to integrate science throughout the curriculum as well as involve classes from different subjects in a high-interest school science project. For teachers, the project provides greatly-needed classroom support and teacher team building, as well as professional development. The on-line course provides continuity and communication between the different team members. Face-to-face meetings with the instructors on site are conducted every 4 weeks. The problem-based learning approach to environmental issues developed in the ESSEA course lends itself to application to local environmental issues. New ESSEA modules developed for the project highlight environmental problems associated with flooding, introduced species, and eutrofication of lakes and rivers located near the participating schools. In addition, ESSEA participants are certified as GLOBE teachers, and assist their students in monitoring water quality. The synergistic partnership of ESSEA and GLOBE provides an attractive package upon which long-term school-based environmental monitoring projects can be based.

Teacher Collaborative Inquiry as a Professional Development Intervention: Benefits and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deni, Ann Rosnida Md.; Malakolunthu, Suseela

2013-01-01

The paper reports on a collaborative learning project coded as the teacher inquiry community that was carried out over a year in a private higher education institution to improve the professional capability of language-based subject teachers. Nine teachers completed the project all of whom were females and shared work experience of 2-29 years. Six…

Teaching the Teachers To Understand and Teach Indigenous Australian Studies: New Models, Teaching Strategies and Resources To Empower and Educate a Nation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craven, Rhonda G.; Mooney, Janet

This review presents a rationale for teaching Australian teachers to understand and teach Aboriginal Studies, describing the structure and development of the Teaching the Teachers: Indigenous Australian Studies Project of National Significance. The project was designed in response to a government recommendation that all teacher training programs…

The Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution: A Model for the Delivery of Earth Science Professional Development to Minority-Serving Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellins, K. K.; Snow, E.; Olson, H. C.; Stocks, E.; Willis, M.; Olson, J.; Odell, M. R.

2013-01-01

The Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution was a 5-y teacher professional development project that aimed to increase teachers' content knowledge in Earth science and preparing them to teach a 12th-grade capstone Earth and Space Science course, which is new to the Texas curriculum. The National Science Foundation-supported project was…

What Research Says about Effective Teaching for Promoting Achievement and Positive Attitudes in Students. An Instructional Module Prepared for Undergraduate Teacher Education in the RAFT Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handley, Herbert M., Ed.

This module, developed by the Research Applications for Teaching (RAFT) project, was written to introduce the preservice teacher to the research base for effective teaching. Particular attention was given to the characteristics of teachers and teaching found in research literature to be associated with achievement and the development of positive…

Transforming Teacher Behaviour to Increase Student Participation in Classroom Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sedova, Klara

2017-01-01

This article draws on data from an action research project carried out in a lower secondary school environment in the Czech Republic. The project involved the implementation of a teacher professional development programme aimed at transforming teacher-student communication and reinforcing opportunities for student participation in classroom…

Using Action Research to Explore the Role of the International Academic Consultant: Drawing on Participants' Perceptions in a Teacher Development Project in Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hargreaves, Eleanore

2018-01-01

This paper problematises the involvement of the UK academic consultant in professional development projects among teachers in a developing, low-income nation. The context for this exploration was a four-year project in Pakistan in which I gave input as a UK consultant. My over-arching research question was: "What was the value of my work as…

Evaluating RITES, a Statewide Math and Science Partnership Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, D. P.; Caulkins, J. L.; Burns, A. L.; de Oliveira, G.; Dooley, H.; Brand, S.; Veeger, A.

2013-12-01

The Rhode Island Technology-Enhanced Science project (RITES) is a NSF-MSP Program that seeks to improve science education by providing professional development to science teachers at the 5th through 12th grade levels. At it's heart, RITES is a complex, multifaceted project that is challenging to evaluate because of the nature of its goal: the development of a large, statewide partnership between higher education and K12 public school districts during a time when science education strategies and leadership are in flux. As a result, these difficulties often require flexibility and creativity regarding evaluation, study design and data collection. In addition, the research agenda of the project often overlaps with the evaluator's agenda, making collaboration and communication a crucial component of the project's success. In it's 5th year, RITES and it's evaluators have developed a large number of instruments, both qualitative and quantitative, to provide direction and feedback on the effectiveness of the project's activities. RITES personnel work closely with evaluators and researchers to obtain a measure of how RITES' 'theory-of-action' affects both student outcomes and teacher practice. Here we discuss measures of teacher and student content gains, student inquiry gains, and teacher implementation surveys. Using content questions based on AAAS and MOSART databases, teachers in the short courses and students in classrooms showed significant normalized learning gains with averages generally above 0.3. Students of RITES-trained teachers also outperformed their non-RITES peers on the inquiry-section of the NECAP test, and The results show, after controlling for race and economic status, a small but statistically significant increase in test scores for RITES students. Technology use in the classroom significantly increased for teachers who were 'expected implementers' where 'expected implementers' are those teachers who implemented RITES as the project was designed. This result suggests that RITES teachers, when implementing RITES as designed, used significantly more technology in their classroom after one year of participation than prior to project participation. In addition, the majority of teachers reported retrospectively that RITES participation increased the level of inquiry in their instructional practice in the development and delivery of lessons, and within student assessments. Teachers also reported that RITES increased their collaboration with colleagues and with higher education faculty members. Most telling, teachers noted that RITES rejuvenated their excitement for science and improved their ability to teach the science standards. Teachers noted that the RITES summer short courses, investigations, and technology resources were key program components to supporting their inquiry practices.

Steps Forward and Back in Adult Numeracy Teacher Professional Development: A Reflection on a Teacher Workshop Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saliga, Linda Marie; Daviso, Al; Stuart, Denise; Pachnowski, Lynne

2015-01-01

In this project, a university team of teacher education and mathematics professors conducted eight professional development sessions for General Educational Development (GED) teachers in the area of mathematics teaching. Topics included concretely modeling mathematics concepts in algebra, number sense, geometry, and differentiating instruction in…

A Pedagogical Framework for Developing Innovative Science Teachers with ICT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Laurence; Twidle, John

2013-01-01

Background: The authors have conducted a number of research projects into the use of ICT in science teaching and most recently have collaborated with five European partners in teacher education to develop resources to assist teacher trainers in delivering courses for the professional development of science teachers. Purpose: 1. To describe the…

Developing Capacity for Social and Emotional Growth: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doveston, Mary

2007-01-01

This article reports an action research project in which children, their teacher and the author, and an advisory teacher from a Local Authority collaborated as co-researchers in a project to improve working relationships in the classroom. Both appreciative enquiry and emancipatory research informed the project. This article focuses on one aspect…

Learning to Design and Implement Educational Web Sites within Pre-Service Training: a Project-Based Learning Environment and its Impact on Student Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastergiou, Marina

2005-01-01

This paper reports on a project-based learning (PBL) environment targeted towards introducing student teachers to the design and development of educational web sites. The participants were 46 student teachers who constructed 16 web sites for primary school. A survey of their views, before and after the projects, and an evaluation of the web sites…

Learning to Design and Implement Educational Web Sites within Pre-Service Training: A Project-Based Learning Environment and Its Impact on Student Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastergiou, Marina

2005-01-01

This paper reports on a project-based learning (PBL) environment targeted towards introducing student teachers to the design and development of educational web sites. The participants were 46 student teachers who constructed 16 web sites for primary school. A survey of their views, before and after the projects, and an evaluation of the web sites…

Using the Communication in Science Inquiry Project Professional Development Model to Facilitate Learning Middle School Genetics Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Dale R.; Lewis, Elizabeth B.; Uysal, Sibel; Purzer, Senay; Lang, Michael; Baker, Perry

2011-01-01

This study describes the effect of embedding content in the Communication in Inquiry Science Project professional development model for science and language arts teachers. The model uses four components of successful professional development (content focus, active learning, extended duration, participation by teams of teachers from the same school…

Transfer of training through a science education professional development program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sowards, Alan Bosworth

Educational research substantiates that effective professional development models must be developed in order for reform-based teaching strategies to be implemented in classrooms. This study examined the effectiveness of an established reform-based science education professional development program, Project LIFE. The study investigated what impact Project LIFE had on participants implementation of reform-based instruction in their classroom three years after participation in the science inservice program. Participants in the case studies described use of reform-based instruction and program factors that influenced transfer of training to their classrooms. Subjects of the study were 5th--10th grade teachers who participated in the 1997--98 Project LIFE professional development program. The study employed a mixed design including both qualitative and quantitative methodology. The qualitative data was collected from multiple sources which included: an open-ended survey, classroom observations, structured interviews, and artifacts. Three purposeful selection of teachers for case studies were made with teacher approval and authorization from building principals. Interview responses from the three case studies were further analyzed qualitatively using the microcomputer software NUD*IST. Tables and figures generated from NUD*IST graphically represented the case study teachers response and case comparison to six established categories: (1) continued implementation of reform-based instruction, (2) use of reform-based instruction, (3) program factors supporting transfer of training, (4) professional development, (5) goals of Project LIFE, and (6) critical issues in science education. Paired t-tests were used to analysis the quantitative data collected from the Survey of Attitudes Toward Science and Science Teaching. The study concluded the 1997--98 Project LIFE participants continued to implement reform-based instruction in their classrooms three years later. According to the teachers the program factors having the most influence on transferring training to their classroom were the positive responses from students; reflections with other teachers regarding instructional activities and strategies; modeling of activities and strategies they received from Project LIFE staff while participating in the program; and teachers commitment to reform-based instruction. These findings are important in enhancing national science reform goals. In order for teachers to be able to implement science-reform-based instruction in their classrooms they must experience effective professional development models. Designers of professional development programs must understand which factors in staff development programs most contribute to transfer of training.

Educational Reform, Enquiry-Based Learning and the Re-Professionalisation of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, Ben; Morgan, John

2009-01-01

This article explores the implications for teacher education and continuous professional development (CPD) of enquiry-based learning, by drawing specifically on data collected during a four-year curriculum development and research project, Enquiring Minds (2005-9). Within the partnership approach to curriculum design endorsed by the project,…

Career Education Curriculum Development Project: Instructional Objectives. Technical Paper No. 339-1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergan, John R.; And Others

Part of the AIR Career Education Curriculum Development Project, the paper is directed to assisting teachers with a step-by-step procedure in preparing instructional objectives for career education programs. Clearly defined objectives are useful in providing: direction for teacher and learner, opportunity for questioning traditional educational…

Research Report for the Organizing for Diversity Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Betsinger, Alicia M.; Garcia, Shernaz B.; Guerra, Patricia L.

This report describes the Organizing for Diversity Project, which generated professional development modules to prepare teachers to work more effectively with diverse students. Prototype modules were developed in collaboration with teacher volunteers, then field tested. The final 11 modules, which included 33 hours of training, were designed for…

Developing Thoughtful Practitioners through School/University Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Mary Gendernalik; Morey, Ann I.

This paper discusses the New Teacher Retention Project, a collaborative partnership between San Diego State University and the San Diego Unified School District, California. The purposes of this project are to develop a practical model of support and assistance to new teachers, particularly those working with students from culturally diverse…

Supporting Action Research in a Field-Based Professional Development School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menchaca, Velma D.; Peterson, Cynthia L.; Nicholson, Sheila

A collaborative project between a Professional Development School (PDS) and a public school supported teachers' action research and initiated preservice teachers into action research. This paper describes one team's action research project in an inclusive high school classroom that shared the duties of teaching, assisting, modifying instruction,…

The First Generation of the Implementation of Teachers Teaching Teachers, An Indiana Staff Development Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Edward T.; And Others

This study evaluated the success of Teachers Teaching Teachers, an Indiana staff development model in its first implementation. The project consisted of a cadre of teachers from one school system who trained teachers from four other school systems. Participants were evaluated on nine Likert-type pre- and post-measures at each of the four training…

A Position Paper on Teacher Competencies for Cultural Diversity in Connection with the AACTE Multicultural Education/Competency-Based Teacher Education Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wynn, Cordell

The objective of teacher education programs should be to assist prospective teachers in developing competencies needed to intervene successfully in the development of youth from diverse cultural backgrounds. This objective has a number of implications for teacher education programs and for school curriculum at all levels. Teacher education…

Physics Teachers' Professional Development in the Project "physics in Context"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikelskis-Seifert, Silke; Duit, Reinders

2013-06-01

Developing teachers' ways of thinking about "good" instruction as well as their views of the teaching and learning process is generally seen as essential for improving teaching behaviour and implementation of more efficient teaching and learning settings. Major deficiencies of German physics instruction as revealed by a nationwide video-study on the practice of physics instruction are addressed. Teachers participating in the project are made familiar with recent views of efficient instruction on the one hand and develop context-based instructional settings on the other. The evaluation resulted in partly encouraging findings. However, it also turned out that a number of teachers' ways of thinking about good instruction did only develop to a somewhat limited degree. The most impressive changes occurred for teachers who enjoyed the most intensive coaching.

Physics Teachers' Professional Development in the Project "physics in Context"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikelskis-Seifert, Silke; Duit, Reinders

2012-12-01

Developing teachers' ways of thinking about "good" instruction as well as their views of the teaching and learning process is generally seen as essential for improving teaching behaviour and implementation of more efficient teaching and learning settings. Major deficiencies of German physics instruction as revealed by a nationwide video-study on the practice of physics instruction are addressed. Teachers participating in the project are made familiar with recent views of efficient instruction on the one hand and develop context-based instructional settings on the other. The evaluation resulted in partly encouraging findings. However, it also turned out that a number of teachers' ways of thinking about good instruction did only develop to a somewhat limited degree. The most impressive changes occurred for teachers who enjoyed the most intensive coaching.

Exploring teachers' beliefs and knowledge about scientific inquiry and the nature of science: A collaborative action research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazio, Xavier Eric

Science curriculum reform goals espouse the need to foster and support the development of scientific literacy in students. Two critical goals of scientific literacy are students' engagement in, and developing more realistic conceptions about scientific inquiry (SI) and the nature of science (NOS). In order to promote the learning of these curriculum emphases, teachers themselves must possess beliefs and knowledge supportive of them. Collaborative action research is a viable form of curriculum and teacher development that can be used to support teachers in developing the requisite beliefs and knowledge that can promote these scientific literacy goals. This research study used a collective case study methodology to describe and interpret the views and actions of four teachers participating in a collaborative action research project. I explored the teachers' SI and NOS views throughout the project as they investigated ideas and theories, critically examined their current curricular practice, and implemented and reflected on these modified curricular practices. By the end of the research study, all participants had uniquely augmented their understanding of SI and NOS. The participants were better able to provide explanatory depth to some SI and NOS ideas; however, specific belief revision with respect to SI and NOS ideas was nominal. Furthermore, their idealized action research plans were not implemented to the extent that they were planned. Explanations for these findings include: impact of significant past educational experiences, prior understanding of SI and NOS, depth of content and pedagogical content knowledge of the discipline, and institutional and instructional constraints. Nonetheless, through participation in the collaborative action research process, the teachers developed professionally, personally, and socially. They identified many positive outcomes from participating in a collaborative action research project; however, they espoused constraints to implementing innovative actions. Indeed, local school cultures were barriers to the participants' development. A model of teacher development embracing all the developmental areas is presented---an integration of social, personal, and professional development. Implications and recommendations for future research on teachers' beliefs and knowledge, as well as the viability of collaborative action research to facilitate teacher and curriculum development are presented.

Pre-Service Teacher Training in Malawi: Findings of a Pilot Study on the Viability of Media Players for Teacher Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrier, Carol; Finholt-Daniel, Matt; Sales, Gregory C.

2012-01-01

As part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support project, a sub-task was the piloting of an alternative technology that could be used for improving the quality and consistency of teacher continued professional development (CPD). The pilot, which included 26 open and…

Research Says/Does Teacher Collaboration Promote Teacher Growth?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, Bryan

2016-01-01

A report from TNTP (formerly The New Teacher Project) raised eyebrows recently when it concluded that much of the professional development teachers receive does little to improve teaching quality. The report, provocatively titled "The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Professional Development," examined the…

Effective teaching in the contexts of Internet science projects: American and Russian teachers' perspectives of best practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mumma, Brian

Statement of the problem. Science education literature had agreed that an important goal in students' learning is the development of scientific and technological literacy. One effort that teachers have integrated into their practices for addressing this goal has been teaching within the contexts of Internet Science Projects. Greater awareness of teachers' perspectives of their best practices and their beliefs and reasons for these practices in the contexts of Internet Science Projects can improve the quality of science education programs. Methods. A series of pilot interviews was conducted during the 2000--2001 school year to develop the guiding questions for inquiring into teachers' perspectives of their best practices within the contexts of Internet Science Projects. This series of interviews resulted in the understanding of the need to select teachers with experiences with Internet Science Projects and to conduct in-depth phenomenological interviews for learning from their voices. Two teachers were purposefully selected as the participant-informants for this study, one an American elementary teacher from Walker County, Georgia, and one a Russian teacher from St. Petersburg, Russia. The study was conducted from October through December 2001. The data collected for this qualitative study consisted of a series of in-depth phenomenological interviews, classroom observations, and the collection and analysis of various artifacts including teacher journals, student products, and e-mail/bulletin board transcripts. The interview structure was based upon a modification of expanding Seidman's (1998) three interview series into multiple interviews concluded upon the determination of saturation of the topic. The series of interviews were composed of (1) life history focus; (2) the details of the experience of teaching within the contexts of Internet Science Projects; and (3) reflection on the meanings. The data analysis consisted of applying Strauss & Corbin's (1990) open coding structure. Results. The results of this study revealed that these teachers carried their best practices from traditional teaching into their practices in the contexts of Internet Science Projects. The teachers created student-centered learning environments by focusing upon their classroom structure over that of the Internet Science Project. The teachers created strong local learning experiences inside an outside of their classroom environments where students were able to build strong understandings of the topic area before becoming engaged in virtual collaborations and Internet communications. This engagement allowed success in the face of any contingencies that might prevent or limit the ability for the teachers' classrooms to actively collaborate across the Internet. The teachers built their practices in Internet Science Projects upon questions prompted by their students' real world experiences, developed local understandings before progressing into exchanges for global collaborations, and built worldview perspectives.

K-12 Professional Development at the Harvard Forest LTER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, K.

2012-12-01

As part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts seeks to train the next generation of researchers, by involving K-12 grade students and their teachers in hands-on, field-based, ecological research in their own schoolyard and community. Students learn to collect data on important long-term ecological issues and processes. Student data are then shared on the Harvard Forest website. To prepare teachers for project protocols, teachers are given direct access to Harvard ecologists with professional development workshops and on-line resources. With the Harvard Forest Schoolyard LTER program, students can participate in three different research projects focusing on phenology, invasive insects, and vernal pools. Teachers attend the Summer Institute for Teachers to learn project content and methods. They return in fall to participate in one of three levels of data workshops to learn how to input, manage, and analyze project data. In the spring, teachers again meet with the Harvard ecologists about project protocols, and to share, through a series of teacher presentations, the ways these project themes are being integrated into class curricula. These professional development opportunities result in long term collaborative partnerships with local schools and the Harvard Forest LTER. In addition to the LTER Schoolyard Ecology Program, the Harvard Forest has supported a successful Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program for the last six years. Throughout the summer, teachers work on research projects alongside Harvard Forest and affiliated scientists, post-docs, graduate students, and REU's (Research Experience for Undergraduates). The RET program provides teachers with the opportunity to build scientific knowledge, develop an understanding of research methods, and translate their new knowledge and experiences into cutting edge classroom lessons. The past two summers I have worked with Dr. Andrew Richardson's Phenocam project, a network of near remote sensing digital phenology cameras that send images of forest, shrub, and grassland vegetation cover at more than 130 diverse sites in North America to the digital archives at the University of New Hampshire. Our school district is now part of this network providing a digital image every half hour of the mixed deciduous/ coniferous forest canopy due north from Overlook Middle School in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. As a part of the Phenocam network, students at the K-12 level have expanded the scope of phenological monitoring that is part of the Harvard Forest LTER Schoolyard Ecology Program protocol, Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming. I have developed a series of lessons comparing student data to phenology data derived from Phenocam network images and Modis satellites. The Phenocam Project and the RET program is supported by NASA.

A Phenomenological Research Study of the Experience of Teachers in the Virgin Islands Teacher Enhancement in Mathematics and Science Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurland, Karen C.

The purpose of conducting this study was to describe the experience of elementary teachers in a mathematics and science staff development project in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The focus of this study was to describe the meaning teachers attribute to their experience in this three year project, in which many of the national mathematics and science reform efforts were implemented. A phenomenological approach was used in order to develop a complete picture of the teachers' experiences. Data collection consisted of interviews with seven elementary teachers. The data were subjective descriptions of the teachers pertaining to the initial summer institute, the follow-up sessions, and the new innovative methods. The transcendental phenomenological model was used. The textural and structural themes included enhanced learning and changes in teaching practice, and interactions with colleagues. From these themes, individual and composite textual descriptions of the experience of the teacher participants were developed. The synthesis of those descriptions illuminated the meanings and essence of their lived experience. The findings indicate that the essence of the experience was the development of a positive attitude towards the teaching of math and science. The teachers gained confidence in their ability to motivate students with the inquiry method and taught more math and science. The implications for the Virgin Islands Department of Education include establishing a partnership with the local university to offer staff development training in mathematics and science and to conduct evaluations of its training efforts.

Teaching of students technology early professional orientation of schoolchildren

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilmanshina, S. I.; Sagitova, R. N.; Gilmanshin, I. R.; Kamaleeva, A. R.

2017-09-01

The necessity of early professional orientation of schoolchildren on the engineering profession and a new type of teacher was proved. Theoretically substantiated and experimentally tested pedagogical conditions of training of students - future teachers of technology early professional orientation of schoolchildren in the system of university preparation of teacher of a new type. This development of courses of special disciplines, aimed at developing of future teachers of readiness for early career guidance activities; development of interactive group projects for schoolchildren of different age groups (including primary school), expanding their understanding of the world of professions; practical testing of career guidance projects dealing with children’s audience.

75 FR 26945 - International Education Programs Service-Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-13

... higher education, and (2) projects that propose 50 percent or greater participation of K-12 teachers, K... area studies as part of a teacher education curriculum developed through collaboration between colleges... these schools and/or departments of education to prepare future teachers with the skills required to...

Using the Integrative Research Project Approach to Facilitate Early Childhood Teacher Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nell, Marcia

2009-01-01

One way to help preservice teachers to articulate and advocate their teaching stance is by developing their knowledge, skills, and confidence in their ability to carefully, didactically, and strategically plan for instruction. The Integrative Research Project (IRP) is a planning process that enables the preservice teacher to incorporate not only…

The Professional Development of College Science Professors as Science Teacher Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedock, Patricia M.; And Others

Teacher training projects have used university research scientists to conduct workshops for teachers, but because of faculty time constraints and university reward systems, it is unlikely this type of program will be used extensively. This project utilized community college professors whose main focus is teaching science and working with the…

A Structured Professional Development Approach to Unit Study: The Experiences of 200 Teachers in a National Teacher Development Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McColskey, Wendy; Parke, Helen; Furtak, Erin; Butler, Susan

This article addresses what was learned through the National Computational Science Leadership Program about involving teachers in planning high quality units of instruction around computational science investigations. Two cohorts of roughly 25 teacher teams nationwide were given opportunities to develop "replacement units." The goal was to support…

Appropriating and Enacting Literacy Teaching Practices in the Context of the Pathway Project Professional Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Huy Quoc

2015-01-01

Given that teacher professional development is a part of teachers' professional lives and given that billions of dollars have been invested in teacher professional development, this dissertation advocates for research that studies teacher learning and the conditions under which they learn, as an equally important component of studying the impact…

Teacher Evaluation Project. The Beginning Teacher Program, Intellectual Skills Development, Validity Studies of the Evaluation System, Special Instrument Development. Report for 1984-1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida Coalition for the Development of a Performance Measurement System, Tallahassee.

Reports, summaries, and recommendations are presented on the following research studies: (1) Beginning Teacher Studies; (2) Instructional Skills for Teaching Higher Order Thinking; (3) Development of the Conferential Observation Instrument; (4) Predictive Validity Studies Conducted to Test the Relationship Between Teacher Performance as Measured…

Research in the Classroom. Ninth Annual Report of Research Projects Conducted by Educators in Their Classrooms, 1994-1995.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver. Special Education Services Unit.

The report summarizes five Colorado teacher research projects in teaching students with disabilities. The five projects described demonstrate that teacher initiated classroom based research allows educators to develop innovative approaches to instruction and to analyze their results in an objective way. The following projects are presented: (1)…

Programa de fortalecimiento de capacidades: reflections on a case study of community-based teacher education set in rural northern Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsop, Steve; Ames, Patricia; Arroyo, Graciela Cordero; Dippo, Don

2010-12-01

This article explores distinctive features of a 5-year international education development project set in rural northern Peru (PROMEB, the Proyecto de Mejoramiento de la Educación Básica). Grounded within a partnership between teacher educators from Peru, Mexico and Canada, and rural Peruvian teachers, students and their communities, we offer reflections on a teacher education initiative which sought to support action-orientated inquiries as a mechanism for school/community development. Set against a background of poverty, hunger, isolation and an "educational crisis", we outline our pedagogy and describe two projects. We then reflect on the influences of our engagements and on associated tensions and ambiguities in our methods. We hope that such discussions might offer insights for others involved in international school/community development projects of this type.

Development of the Teachers Supporting Teachers in Urban Schools Program: What Iterative Research Designs Can Teach Us

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shernoff, Elisa S.; Frazier, Stacy L.; Marinez-Lora, Ane; Atkins, Marc S.; Keel, Joanna

2011-01-01

The "Teachers Supporting Teachers in Urban Schools Project" is a 3-year study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (Development and Innovation Study) and designed to enhance new teachers' effectiveness around the two strongest empirical predictors of attrition--classroom management and engaging learners--and connectedness to…

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Teacher-Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bechtel, Patricia L.

2011-01-01

Teachers who choose to participate in professional development to acquire new instructional methods or enhance their content knowledge are teacher-learners. For this study, data consisted of the reflective writings of 19 secondary mathematics and science teacher-learners in an 11-month professional development project. These writings provided a…

Designing Pedagogical Innovation for Collaborating Teacher Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weitze, Charlotte Laerke

2017-01-01

In this design-based research project, teachers co-created and used a new learning design model, the "IT-Pedagogical Think Tank Model for Teacher Teams." This continuous-competence-development method enabled teachers to collaborate and develop innovative-learning designs for students in a new hybrid synchronous video-mediated learning…

[Subtainable health promotion via organisational development--a model project for teachers in professional training schools].

PubMed

Schumacher, L; Nieskens, B; Bräuer, H; Sieland, B

2005-02-01

The goal of this project is the development, implementation and evaluation of a concept designed for sustainable health promotion among occupational and trade school teachers. We assume that for sustainable health promotion -- along with a behavioral prevention program -- a change is necessary in the structure, as well as, the working and communication processes within schools. The realization of early teacher participation and self regulated cooperative groups initiates comprehensive and goal-oriented developmental processes in the project schools. The organizational development process was accomplished in the following way: At the beginning we conducted a diagnosis of school-specific and individual health risks and the resources available to the project schools. The results were reported for both the individual and for the teacher group. This was intended to clarify the potential for improvement and, thus, strengthen the teachers' motivation toward processes of change. Following the diagnosis, the teachers chose areas of stress-related strain and then worked in groups to develop and implement behaviour and working condition-oriented intervention strategies for health promotion. The diagnosis results confirm the necessity of school-specific health promotion: the schools demonstrate very different demand and resource profiles. Furthermore, is has become evident that the central success factor for health promotion in schools is the teachers' willingness for change. The individual and group reports of the diagnosis results seem to have made clear how essential individual and organisational changes are.

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 19. A Report Developed from the 1980-81 Entries in the International Paper Company Foundation Awards Program for the Teaching of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.; Suglia, Anthony F., Ed.

Twenty-five award winning teacher developed projects and courses in economics are described. The projects are designed for use in primary, intermediate, junior high, and senior high schools. Descriptions indicate grade level, project background, time allotment, objectives, activities, and evaluation. The publication consists of five chapters.…

Teachers' Perceptions of the Educational Platform--Is There a Connection between School Improvement and Regional Educational Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boström, Lena; Dalin, Rolf

2016-01-01

This research examined teachers' attitudes in a school development project, The best regional educational system in the world which focuses on regional development and school improvement. The project was performed in counties in Mid Sweden, which have a lower educational level and school achievements and a competence escape compare with other…

Evaluation of a Web-Based Professional Development Program (Project ACE) for Teachers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rakap, Salih; Jones, Hazel A.; Emery, Alice Kaye

2015-01-01

This article describes the development, implementation, and second-year evaluation of Project Autism Competencies for Endorsement (ACE), a web-based professional development (PD) program that is designed to train teachers currently working in the field to meet the unique and diverse needs of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). A…

Improving Vocabulary of English Language Learners through Direct Vocabulary Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Meghan; Feng, Jay

2016-01-01

This is a report of a professional development project. The purpose of the project was to provide professional development to teachers in vocabulary instructional strategies and to examine vocabulary acquisition of English language learners. The participants were 8 second grade ELL students and 6 second grade teachers. The eight second grade…

The Development of Future Technology Teachers' Artistic-Projective Abilities: Foreign Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurach, Mykola

2016-01-01

The necessity to form and develop future technology teachers' creative abilities has been stressed in the article. The psychologic-pedagogical researches of the leading specialists from Europe, the USA and Japan in the field of creative work and creativity have been analyzed. The main problems of the creative artistic-projective abilities…

Teacher Development Program for ATP 2000. Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutphin, Dean; And Others

Agri Tech Prep 2000 (ATP 2000) is a 4-year tech prep program linking high school and postsecondary curricula designed to prepare New York students for careers in agriculture or acceptance into a college program in agriculture. Because teacher development was designated an integral project component for fiscal year 1991-1992, a weeklong teacher…

Managerial Skills in Vocational Education Curriculum Development Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clayton, Dean; Park, Ok

A project was conducted to develop, field test, and disseminate a curriculum guide for vocational education teachers to use in teaching managerial skills to vocational education students on the secondary level. After a cadre of 20 Arkansas secondary vocational education teachers who were either directly involved or interested in establishing a…

Authentic Project-Based Design of Professional Development for Teachers Studying Online and Blended Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dabner, Nicki; Davis, Niki; Zaka, Pinelopi

2012-01-01

Online learning and teaching is rapidly increasing in many countries, including high schools in the USA and teacher education worldwide. Online and blended approaches to professional and organizational development are, therefore, becoming essential to enable effective and equitable education. Authentic project-based learning to support the…

Fostering Teacher Development to a Tetrahedral Orientation in the Teaching of Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewthwaite, Brian; Wiebe, Rick

2011-01-01

This paper reports on the initial outcomes from the end of the fourth year of a 5 year research and professional development project to improve chemistry teaching among three cohorts of chemistry teachers in Manitoba, Canada. The project responds to a new curriculum introduction advocating a tetrahedral orientation (Mahaffy, "Journal of…

Enrichment of Teacher and Counselor Competencies in Career Education: K-6. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Marla; And Others

The purpose of the Enrichment of Teacher and Counselor Competencies in Career Education Project (ETC Project) was to develop, evaluate, and disseminate: (1) Career Education Curriculum guides which result in the integration of positive values and attitudes toward work, self-awareness, and development of decision making skills; and awareness of…

Hands-On Elementary Science Project. Leader's Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.

This manual is designed to provide support for workshop leaders--science supervisors, staff developers, principals, school change agents, and university instructors--who work with preservice and inservice teachers. The goal of the project was to develop a series of workshops that could support teachers of grades four to six as they shift to an…

Student Teachers' Collaborative Research: Small-Scale Research Projects during Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobber, Marjolein; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Verloop, Nico; Vermunt, Jan D.

2012-01-01

Teacher research is increasingly described as an important aspect of professional development. In response, teacher education programs incorporate teacher research in their curricula. We report on the collaborative research processes of two groups of student teachers in a university teacher education program, focussing on elaboration and decision…

Project ALERT: Forging New Partnerships to Improve Earth System Science Education for Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metzger, E. P.; Ambos, E. L.; Ng, E. W.; Skiles, J.; Simila, G.; Garfield, N.

2002-05-01

Project ALERT (Augmented Learning Environment and Renewable Teaching) was founded in 1998, with funding from NASA and the California State University (CSU), to improve earth system science education for pre-service teachers. Project ALERT has formed linkages between ten campuses of the CSU, which prepares about 60 percent of California's teachers, and two NASA centers, Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ALERT has also fostered alliances between earth science and science education faculty. The combined expertise of Project ALERT's diverse partners has led to a wide array of activities and products, including: 1) incorporation in university classrooms of NASA-developed imagery, data, and educational resources; 2) creation and/or enhancement of several courses that bring earth systems science to pre-service teachers; 3) fellowships for CSU faculty to participate in collaborative research and education projects at the NASA Centers; 4) development of teaching modules on such varied topics as volcanoes, landslides, and paleoclimate; and 5) a central web site that highlights resources for teaching introductory Earth system science. An outgrowth of Project ALERT is the increased interest on the part of CSU earth scientists in education issues. This has catalyzed their participation in other projects, including NASA's Project NOVA, Earth System Science Education Alliance, and Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum, the Digital Library for Earth System Science Education, and the California Science Project. Project ALERT has also expanded to provide professional development opportunities for in-service teachers, as exemplified by its support of the Bay Area Earth Science Institute (BAESI) at San Jose State University. Each year, BAESI offers 10-15 full-day workshops that supply teachers and teachers-to-be with a blend of science concepts and classroom activities, free instructional materials, and the opportunity to earn inexpensive university credit. These workshops have been enriched by the incorporation of earth and space science information and curricular materials from NASA. In addition, visits to Ames Research Center have given BAESI participants an opportunity to explore the Educator Resource Center, learn about NASA's programs for teachers and students, and experience presentations by NASA scientists engaged in cutting edge research about the earth system. Project ALERT demonstrates the power of a state-based partnership that unites scientists and educators with diverse perspectives and strengths in a synergistic effort to improve science education.

Project-Based Teaching: Helping Students Make Project Connections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Heather Jo Pusich

Project-based curriculum materials are designed to support students in engaging with scientific content and practices in meaningful ways, with the goal of improving students' science learning. However, students need to understand the connections between what they are doing on a day-to-day basis with respect to the goals of the overall project for students to get the motivational and cognitive benefits of a project-based approach. In this dissertation, I looked at the challenges that four ninth grade science teachers faced as they helped students to make these connections using a project-based environmental science curriculum. The analysis revealed that in general when the curriculum materials made connections explicit, teachers were better able to articulate the relationship between the lesson and the project during enactment. However, whether the connections were explicit or implicit in the materials, enactments of the same lesson across teachers revealed that teachers leveraged different aspects of the project context in different ways depending on their knowledge, beliefs, and goals about project-based teaching. The quantitative analysis of student data indicated that when teacher enactments supported project goals explicitly, students made stronger connections between a lesson and the project goal. Therefore, a teacher's ability to make clear connections during classroom instruction is essential. Furthermore, when students made connections between each lesson and the larger project goals their attitudes toward the lesson were more positive and they performed better on the final assessment. These findings suggest that connections between individual lessons and the goals of the project are critical to the effectiveness of project-based learning. This study highlights that while some teachers were able to forge these connections successfully as a result of leveraging cognitive resources, teachers' beliefs, knowledge and goals about project-based teaching are variable. As such, teachers adopting project-based curriculum materials need more support - through educative curriculum materials, coaching, or ongoing professional development - to help them support project connections consistently and explicitly in their teaching practice.

An Earth System Scientist Network for Student and Scientist Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.

2001-05-01

Successful student and scientist partnerships require that there is a mutual benefit from the partnership. This means that the scientist needs to be able to see the advantage of having students work on his/her project, and the students and teachers need to see that the students contribute to the project and develop the skills in inquiry and the content knowledge in the geosciences that are desired. Through the Earth System Scientist Network (ESSN) for Student and Scientist Partnerships project we are working toward developing scientific research projects for the participation of high school students. When these research projects are developed they will be posted on the ESSN web site that will appear in the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). In DLESE teachers and students who are interested in participating in a research program will be able to examine the criteria for each project and select the one that matches their needs and situation. In this paper we will report on how the various ESSN research projects are currently being developed to assure that both the scientist and the students benefit from the partnership. The ESSN scientists are working with a team of scientists and educators to 1) completely define the research question that the students will be addressing, 2) determine what role the students will have in the project, 3) identify the data that the students and teachers will work with, 4) map out the scientific protocols that the students will follow, and 5) determine the background and support materials needed to facilitate students successfully participating in the project. Other issues that the team is addressing include 1) identifying the selection criteria for the schools, 2) identifying rewards and recognition for the students and teacher by the scientist, and 3) identifying issues in Earth system science, relevant to the scientists data, that the students and teachers could use as a guide help develop students investigative skills and content knowledge in the geosciences. The importance of fully developing each of these aspects of the ESSN research projects and how they can differ between projects will be discussed.

Teacher change in implementing a research-developed representation construction pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubber, Peter; Chittleborough, Gail

2016-05-01

The Representations in Learning Science (RiLS) project developed a representation construction approach to teaching and learning in science, which has successfully demonstrated enhanced student learning through sustained engagement with ideas, and enhancement of teachers' pedagogical knowledge and understandings of how knowledge in science is developed and communicated. The current Constructing Representations in Science Pedagogy (CRISP) project aims at wider scale implementation of the representation construction approach. This paper explores a range of issues that confronted four Year-8 teachers in implementing this research-developed approach, such as: preparedness of the teacher in terms of epistemological positioning and positioning as a learner, significant support for planning and modelling by the university expert, and a team ethos where teachers share ideas and plan jointly. The Year-8 teachers implemented a representation construction approach to the teaching of the topic of astronomy. The Interconnected Model of Teacher Growth (IMTG) (Clarke and Hollingworth, Teach. Educ., 18 (2001) 947) was used to analyse the teachers' experience in planning and delivering the teaching sequence. This model was found to be flexible in identifying the experiences of teachers in different situations and useful in identifying issues for implementation of a research-developed pedagogy.

Using sunshine for elementary space science education: A model for IHY scientist teacher partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moldwin, M. B.; Fiello, D.; Harter, E.; Holman, G.; Nagumo, N.; Pryharski, A.; Takunaga, C.

2008-12-01

An elementary science education professional development partnership between Culver City Unified School District teachers and UCLA has been formed. The project was designed to assist teachers to comfortably present introductory space science concepts, to support them in their efforts, and to aid them in encouraging their students to develop inquiry skills related to space sciences. The project encourages teacher use of observational science techniques in their classrooms, the use of NASA solar mission images and enhanced use of astronomical observation to facilitate discovery learning. The integrated approach of the project has fostered collegial learning activities among the participating teachers and offered them opportunities for continued renewal and professional development of teacher competencies in astronomy and space science. The activities used in the classroom were developed by others, classroom tested, and specifically address National Science Education and California Science Content Standards. These activities have been sustained through on-going collaboration between the scientist and the teachers, a summer Research Experience for Teachers program, and on-going, grade-specific, district-sponsored workshops. Assessment of the value of the program is done by the school district and is used to continuously improve each workshop and program component. Culver City (California) Unified School District is a small urban school district located on the Westside of Los Angeles. This paper describes the program and the plans for incorporating IHY-themed science into the classroom.

Examining Teachers' Understanding of the Mathematical Learning Progression through Vertical Articulation during Lesson Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suh, Jennifer; Seshaiyer, Padmanabhan

2015-01-01

This study examines elementary- and middle-grade teachers' understanding of the mathematical learning progression as they participated in a 6-month professional learning project. Teachers participated in a professional development project that consisted of a 1-week summer content-focused institute with school-based follow-up Lesson Study cycles in…

Transforming ESL Teachers' Perspective on Media Literacy: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez Sanchez, Doralis

2017-01-01

Transforming ESL teachers' perspective on media literacy: An action research project was carried out at a Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) public high school in the Metropolitan area. The participants of the study were five ESL teachers. Professional development was the intervention used in this study. The participants were introduced to…

Tutor and Teacher Timescapes: Lessons from a Home-School Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coco, Angela; Goos, Merrilyn; Kostogriz, Alex

2007-01-01

A partnership project was developed in which parents volunteered to support teachers in training years 1-3 children in computer skills at a primary school in a small, low socio-economic community. This article identifies the ways teachers and the "tutors" (as the volunteers were called) understood the value of the project. "Being a…

Developing Teachers' Computational Thinking Beliefs and Engineering Practices through Game Design and Robotics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Jacqueline; Barnes-Johnson, Joy; Mitchell, Monica; Unertl, Adrienne; Stubbe, Christopher R.; Ingraham, Latanya

2017-01-01

This research report presents the final year results of a three-year research project on computational thinking (CT). The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, involved training teachers in grades four through six to implement Scalable Game Design and LEGO® EV3 robotics during afterschool clubs. Thirty teachers and 531 students took…

Supporting On-Site Teacher-Consultants: New York City Writing Project's Community of Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osterman, Ed

2008-01-01

This monograph describes and analyzes the particular processes and structures that the New York City Writing Project (NYCWP) directors and on-site teacher-consultants have developed that enable them to support and learn from each other and to reflect critically upon the work they do with teachers, students, and administrators. Over time the…

Teachers' Views on Performance-Based Assessments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Bruce

1991-01-01

Provides personal perspectives from teachers about the prospects and problems illuminated by Stanford University's Teacher Assessment Project. Teacher remarks address the portfolio development process, assessment centers, implications for national board certification for teachers, personal thoughts and perspectives on teaching, and the future of…

Developing a Modular Teacher Education Program for an R&D Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Guy N.; Clark, Michal C.

The R&D Center in Teacher Education at the University of Texas is attempting to make significant contributions to teacher education through the development of teacher education modules. In order to make the most of their effort, a shift in focus from project to program is needed. This paper describes the development of a conceptual focus and a…

Use of a Numerical Strategy Framework in the Professional Development of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laxman, Kumar; Hughes, Peter

2015-01-01

Derived initially from a strategic analysis of children's methods of counting, the New Zealand Numeracy Projects used, as a starting point for the professional development of teachers, a strategy framework that traces children's development in number reasoning. A pilot study indicated the usefulness of professional development where teachers use…

The Impact of a Professional Development Program on Teachers' Understandings about Watersheds, Water Quality, and Stream Monitoring.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepardson, Daniel P.; Harbor, Jon; Cooper, Barbara; McDonald, Jim

2002-01-01

Professional development programs should provide teachers with experiences that develop their knowledge and skills to integrate environmental field studies into their school curriculum. Reports on a professional development model that engaged teachers in designing and conducting local environmental science research projects. (Author/YDS)

Using Disciplinary Literacy to Develop Coherence in History Teacher Education: The Clinical Rounds Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bain, Robert B.

2012-01-01

Since 2005, the author and Elizabeth Moje have been engaged in a project to create a more coherent and cohesive program to prepare secondary teachers at the University of Michigan, a project they call the Clinical Rounds Project. Central to this effort has been their use of "disciplinary literacy" to build connections and enhance…

Professional Development for Rural and Remote Teachers Using Video Conferencing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maher, Damian; Prescott, Anne

2017-01-01

Teachers in rural and remote schools face many challenges including those relating to distance, isolation and lack of professional development opportunities. This article examines a project where mathematics and science teachers were provided with professional development opportunities via video conferencing to help them use syllabus documents to…

Using Blackboard and Skype for Mentoring Beginning Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suk Hwang, Young; Vrongistinos, Konstantinos

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of the Blackboard and Skype-based electronic mentoring system for beginning teachers. The Quality Teachers for Quality Students project developed an electronic mentoring system between beginning teachers and experienced teachers to support beginning teachers' instructional and classroom…

Teacher Research as Professional Development for P-12 Music Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Colleen; Edgar, Scott; Hansen, Erin; Palmer, C. Michael

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of seven music educators who conducted teacher research in their classrooms and to document whether the teachers and the local school district considered the project as professional development. Research questions included: (1) How do these music educators describe the experience of planning…

Using Prompted Praxis to Improve Teacher Professional Development in Culturally Diverse Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Alberto J.; Zozakiewicz, Cathy; Yerrick, Randy

2005-01-01

Recent science and teacher education reports continue to stress the need for radical changes in the way teachers are prepared to teach science to diverse learners. In response, a three-year intervention project was developed to help teachers in culturally diverse schools transform their science teaching practices using learning technologies. Many…

UTEP: Urban Teacher Education Program. Final Report to the Lilly Endowment On Program Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandoval, Pamela A.

The Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP) is a project of Indiana University Northwest (IUN) and three urban school districts (Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond, Indiana) to develop novice teachers, continue professional development among experienced professionals, and provide a forum for research on teacher education. Following discussion of the…

Teacher Education Students: Their Experience of Mathematics Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Amy M.

2014-01-01

This dissertation adds to the teacher education literature by exploring the experiences education students have of mathematics anxiety and self-efficacy for teaching and learning mathematics. Further, the utility of a specific in-service teacher professional development project, focused on improving rational number instruction, in pre-service…

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 17. A Report Developed from the 1978-79 Entries in the International Paper Company Foundation Awards Program for the Teaching of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.; Suglia, Anthony F., Ed.

Sixteen award-winning teacher-developed programs, projects, courses, and materials in economics education are presented. The projects are designed for use in primary, intermediate, junior high, and senior high schools and are organized into four chapters. Chapter I suggests ways to teach economic concepts in grades K-3. Projects include an auction…

Implementing Project Approach in Hong Kong. Preschool.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Rose

The primary objective of this action research was to shift the teaching method used by preschool teachers in Hong Kong from a teacher-directed mode by training them to use the project approach. The secondary objective was to measure children's achievement while using the project approach, focusing on their language ability, social development, and…

There's Trouble in Paradise: Problems with Educational Metadata Encountered during the MALTED Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monthienvichienchai, Rachada; Sasse, M. Angela; Wheeldon, Richard

This paper investigates the usability of educational metadata schemas with respect to the case of the MALTED (Multimedia Authoring Language Teachers and Educational Developers) project at University College London (UCL). The project aims to facilitate authoring of multimedia materials for language learning by allowing teachers to share multimedia…

Massachusetts Study of Teacher Supply and Demand: Trends and Projections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Jesse; Berg-Jacobson, Alex; Atchison, Drew; Lee, Katelyn; Vontsolos, Emily

2015-01-01

In April 2015, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) commissioned American Institutes for Research (AIR) to develop a comprehensive set of 10-year projections of teacher supply and demand in order to inform planning for future workforce needs. This included state-level projections both in the aggregate, as well…

Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning: An Online Wiki Experience in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biasutti, Michele; EL-Deghaidy, Heba

2015-01-01

In the current research study the use of Wikis as an online didactic tool to apply project-based learning in higher education was reported. The study was conducted in university teacher education programmes. During the online activities, participants developed interdisciplinary projects for the primary school working collaboratively in small…

Using Sociotransformative Constructivism to Create Multicultural and Gender-Inclusive Classrooms: An Intervention Project for Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zozakiewicz, Cathy; Rodriguez, Alberto J.

2007-01-01

Maxima was an intervention project that focused on assisting teachers to establish more inquiry-based, gender-inclusive, and culturally relevant learning environments. The authors grounded the project by using sociotransformative constructivism as a theoretical framework to steer the implementation of three guiding concepts for professional…

Developing a Theoretical Framework to Inform the Design of a Teacher Professional Development Program to Enable Foundation to Year 2 Teachers of Mathematics to Build on Indigenous and Low-SES Students' Cultural Capital

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Robyn; Stütz, Alexander; Cooper, Tom; Nason, Rod

2017-01-01

This paper reports on the early stages of the conceptualisation and implementation of the Accelerated Inclusive Mathematics-Early Understandings (AIM EU) project, a project whose major goals are to advance theory and practice in the improvement of Foundation to Year 2 (F-2) teachers' capacity to teach mathematics and through this to enhance F-2…

Science Teacher Efficacy and Extrinsic Factors toward Professional Development Using Video Games in a Design-Based Research Model: The Next Generation of STEM Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annetta, Leonard A.; Frazier, Wendy M.; Folta, Elizabeth; Holmes, Shawn; Lamb, Richard; Cheng, Meng-Tzu

2013-01-01

Designed-based research principles guided the study of 51 secondary-science teachers in the second year of a 3-year professional development project. The project entailed the creation of student-centered, inquiry-based, science, video games. A professional development model appropriate for infusing innovative technologies into standards-based…

The perceptions of pre-service and in-service teachers regarding a project-based STEM approach to teaching science.

PubMed

Siew, Nyet Moi; Amir, Nazir; Chong, Chin Lu

2015-01-01

Whilst much attention has focused on project-based approaches to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, little has been reported on the views of South-East Asian science teachers on project-based STEM approaches. Such knowledge could provide relevant information for education training institutions on how to influence innovative teaching of STEM subjects in schools. This article reports on a study that investigated the perceptions of 25 pre-service and 21 in-service Malaysian science teachers in adopting an interdisciplinary project-based STEM approach to teaching science. The teachers undertook an eight hour workshop which exposed them to different science-based STEM projects suitable for presenting science content in the Malaysian high school science syllabus. Data on teachers' perceptions were captured through surveys, interviews, open-ended questions and classroom discussion before and at the end of the workshop. Study findings showed that STEM professional development workshops can provide insights into the support required for teachers to adopt innovative, effective, project-based STEM approaches to teaching science in their schools.

Collaborative Action Research Approach Promoting Professional Development for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairment in Assistive Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Argyropoulos, Vassilios; Nikolaraizi, Magda; Tsiakali, Thomai; Kountrias, Polychronis; Koutsogiorgou, Sofia-Marina; Martos, Aineias

2014-01-01

This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research project which aimed to facilitate the adoption of assistive technology devices and specialized software by teachers of students with visual impairment via a digital educational game, developed specifically for this project. The persons involved in this…

Chapter 2: Navigating the Mentoring Process in a Research-Based Teacher Development Project: A Situated Learning Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patton, Kevin; Griffin, Linda L.; Sheehy, Deborah; Henninger, Mary L.; Arnold, Ruth; Pagnano, Karen; Gallo, Anne Marie; Dodds, Patt; James, Alisa

2005-01-01

The authors examine the various communities of practice that were formed throughout a teacher development project that included a formal mentoring component. The authors describe a theoretical approach to understanding learning in communities of practice and present an approach for analyzing professional learning resulting from social interactions…

A System for Providing Relevant Metrics Education for Vocational Teachers in Kentucky. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crosby, Richard K.

A project conducted in four vocational regions of Kentucky developed a system for providing vocational teachers with relevant metrics education and developed and identified materials to support and enhance the system. Ten occupational training areas selected as a focus of the project were air conditioning, auto body, auto mechanics, diesel…

A Practice-Centered Approach to Professional Development: Teacher-Librarian Collaboration in Capstone Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harada, Violet H.

2016-01-01

This paper reports on a professional development initiative that targeted teams of teachers and librarians working with high school students on strengthening an inquiry approach to capstone projects. While much has been written about student-focused models for information search and use, little has been reported on how training for the…

Many Treasure Soup: A School-Based Project for Pre-Service Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godinho, Sally; White, Julie; Hay, Trevor; St. Leger, Pamela

2007-01-01

This paper narrates the development of a project developed by four researchers with differing approaches to qualitative research. The aim of the study was to examine the value of a school-based approach to pedagogy and curriculum subjects for pre-service teachers. What emerged from our collaboration was the accommodation of significant differences…

Teacher Professional Development through a Collaborative Curriculum Project--An Example of TPACK in Maine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Walter C.; Erickson, Jeryl L.; Brookhouse, Phil; Johnson, Judith L.

2010-01-01

Maine's one-to-one laptop program provides an ideal opportunity to explore conditions that optimize teacher integration of technology-focused curriculum into the classroom. EcoScienceWorks (ESW) is an ecology curriculum that includes targeted simulations and a code block programming challenge developed through an NSF-ITEST grant. The project was…

Successful Education Research: Guidelines for Getting Going, Getting Funded and Getting Published

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deacon, Roger; Parker, Ben

2009-01-01

As part of the Teacher Education Research and Development Programme (TEP), a project focusing on "Stimulation of practice-based teacher education research", was undertaken by Dr. Roger Deacon and Dr. Ben Parker, in conjunction with the Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD). As part of the project, a set of research guidelines…

Evaluating the Fatih Project Applications in the Turkish Educational System According to Teachers' Viewpoints (Turkey)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sozen, Erol; Coskun, Mücahit

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' perspectives on the usage of smart boards and Tablet PCs in the Fatih Project using some variables (gender, branches, school types, educational status etc). The measurement scale of the study was developed and applied with the high school teachers in Düzce. Quantitative research methods were used…

Cameras in the Curriculum. A Challenge to Teacher Creativity. Volume 1, 1982/83. An NEA/KODAK Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Faye, Ed.

This book describes 119 award-winning projects from a program which established a national teachers' competition to select and disseminate superior teacher-planned and developed programs which use photography as an integral part of the K-12 school curriculum. All subject areas, grade levels, and states are represented in summaries of projects that…

UCLA's outreach program of science education in the Los Angeles schools.

PubMed

Palacio-Cayetano, J; Kanowith-Klein, S; Stevens, R

1999-04-01

The UCLA School of Medicine's Interactive Multi-media Exercises (IMMEX) Project began its outreach into pre-college education in the Los Angeles area in 1993. The project provides a model in which software and technology are effectively intertwined with teaching, learning, and assessment (of both students' and teachers' performances) in the classroom. The project has evolved into a special collaboration between the medical school and Los Angeles teachers. UCLA faculty and staff work with science teachers and administrators from elementary, middle, and high schools. The program benefits ethnically and racially diverse groups of students in schools ranging from the inner city to the suburbs. The project's primary goal is to use technology to increase students' achievement and interest in science, including medicine, and thus move more students into the medical school pipeline. Evaluations from outside project evaluators (West Ed) as well as from teachers and IMMEX staff show that the project has already had a significant effect on teachers' professional development, classroom practice, and students' achievement in the Los Angeles area.

Research Based Science Education: Bringing Authentic Scientific Research into the Secondary Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sayers, J.

2003-12-01

Teachers and students at Northview High School in Brazil, Indiana have the opportunity to engage in authentic scientific research through our participation in two national projects, TLRBSE and PEPP. Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE) is a teacher professional development and retention program coupled with authentic scientific research projects in astronomy. Teacher-Leaders are trained in research-based pedagogy and serve as mentors to less experienced colleagues and work with students to develop science research methods and research projects for the classroom. Astronomical data collected at Kitt Peak by astronomers and teachers is made available on CD for classroom use. Northview is in its second year as a TLRBSE school. The Princeton Earth Physics Project (PEPP) trains mentor teachers in fundamentals of research in seismology. Teachers and students then gain hands on experience in science research through operation of a research quality seismic station sited at the high school. Data from the Northview seismometer are stored locally and also transmitted over the Internet to a database at Indiana University. Students have access to local data as well as seismic databases accessible through the Internet to use for research projects. The Northview Seismic Station has been in operation since 1998. In this presentation, I will describe how these projects have been incorporated into the physics and earth science programs at Northview High School. I will discus how our teachers and students have benefited from the opportunity to take part in hands-on scientific research under the guidance of university faculty. In particular, I will describe our participation in a regional seismic network through seismic data acquisition, data analysis using seismological software, and students' experiences in a university-based student research symposium. I reflect on the some of the successes and barriers to high-school teachers' and students' involvement in scientific research programs. I conclude with a discussion of a successful student seismology project that was a finalist in the 2003 INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 21. A Report Developed by the Joint Council on Economic Education from the 1982-83 Entries in the International Paper Company Foundation Awards Program for the Teaching of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.; Suglia, Anthony F., Ed.

Designed for use in grades K-12, award winning teacher-developed projects and courses in economics are described. Descriptions indicate grade level, project background, time allotment, objectives, activities, and evaluation. Arranged into 5 chapters, chapter 1 suggests ways to teach economic concepts to grades K-3. Projects include a lesson on…

Professional Development Strategically Connecting Mathematics and Science: The Impact on Teachers' Confidence and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baxter, Juliet A.; Ruzicka, Angie; Beghetto, Ronald A.; Livelybrooks, Dean

2014-01-01

The press to integrate mathematics and science comes from researchers, business leaders, and educators, yet research that examines ways to support teachers in relating these disciplines is scant. Using research on science and mathematics professional development, we designed a professional development project to help elementary teachers improve…

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS OF ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE IN THE MIDWESTERN SECTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HEMP, PAUL E.

A RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, DESIGNED TO RETRAIN TEACHERS, DEVELOP ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE CURRICULUM MATERIALS, AND STIMULATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOCATIONAL ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE PROGRAMS IN THE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES, INCLUDED TRAINING, SERVICE, AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES. THIRTY TEACHERS SELECTED FROM 75 APPLICANTS ATTENDED A SUMMER…

Participatory Staff Development: Lessons from Peers. Special Demonstration Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lutheran Social Mission Society, Philadelphia, PA. Lutheran Settlement House.

Staff development workshops for teachers, tutors, and supervisors were conducted at the Lutheran Settlement House Women's Program. Staff and teachers were surveyed to ascertain staff development needs. Workshops were unique in that they were presented by peer teachers and supervisory staff of the program and invited all participants to share ideas…

Effects of a Long-Term Participatory Action Research Project on Science Teachers' Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilks, Ingo; Markic, Silvija

2011-01-01

This paper describes the potential of long-term co-operation between science educators and science teachers concerning the teachers' continuous professional development, based on Participatory Action Research in science education. The discussion is based on a six-year case study observing a group of about ten German chemistry teachers by chemistry…

Developing Intercultural Teachers: The Mumbai Global Experience Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Richard

2009-01-01

Interculturalism is a major theme that needs to inform the teaching and learning of all subjects in teacher education courses. Moreover, the practicum is an area where there needs to be more attention given to developing the attributes of an intercultural teacher. In 2008 I took a group of thirteen teacher education students on a three-week…

Development of an Automated System for Evaluation of Student Teacher Effectiveness. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chissom, Brad S.; Morris, John E.

The primary purpose of this project was to develop a system for the evaluation of student teachers employing automated data processing as an integral part of the system. This system employed data gathered from four sources: (1) Public School Pupils, Grades 7-12; (2) Student Teachers; (3) Supervising Teachers; (4) College Supervisors. The emphasis…

How do we interest students in science?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, L.

2016-02-01

In today's world science literacy is now, more than ever, critical to society. However, today's technically savvy student tends to be bored by "cook-book" laboratory exercises and dated lecture style, which typifies the way that most science courses are taught. To enhance student interest in and understanding of the sciences, we developed two unique programs, in which teachers were provided with the tools and hands-on experience that enabled them to implement research- and inquiry-based projects with their students. The approach was based a framework that is student driven and enables active participation and innovation in the study of the environment. The framework involved selection of a theme and an activity that captured the interest of the participants, participant development of research or investigative questions based on the theme, experimentation to address the research questions, formulation of conclusions, and communication of these results. The projects consisted of two parts: a professional development institute for teachers and the classroom implementation of student research projects, both of which incorporated the framework process. The institutes focused on modeling the framework process, with teachers actively developing questions, researching the question, formulating results and conclusions. This method empowered teachers to be confident in the implementation of the process with their students. With support from project staff, teachers followed up by incorporating the method of teaching with their students. Evaluation results from the programs concluded that projects such as these can increase student interest in and understanding of the scientific process.

Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project TPACK Survey: Summary of the Key Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finger, Glenn; Jamieson-Proctor, Romina; Cavanagh, Rob; Albion, Peter; Grimbeek, Peter; Bond, Trevor; Fitzgerald, Robert; Romeo, Geoff; Lloyd, Margaret

2013-01-01

This paper presents a summary of the key findings of the TTF TPACK Survey developed and administered for the Teaching the Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project implemented in 2011. The TTF Project, funded by an Australian Government ICT Innovation Fund grant, involved all 39 Australian Higher Education Institutions which provide initial teacher…

Project MET. A Trainer's Guide. Management for Effective Teaching, A Title IV-C Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fairfax County Public Schools, VA. Dept. of Instructional Services.

This guide provides trainers with a format and process for conducting inservice education programs for elementary school teachers on the use of the Management for Effective Teaching (MET) support kit. Project MET is a program developed to aid teachers in the Fairfax County (Virginia) public schools in implementing the school district curriculum,…

Penn State's Comprehensive Bilingual Early Childhood Teacher Training Project. Results of Three Project Years, 1987-1990. Volume 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soto, Lourdes Diaz; Negron, Lillian

The results of a bilingual teacher training project developed to serve the needs of young limited-English-proficient children are presented. The report contains a program description, a rationale for program implementation, and program goals. Particular attention is focused on the following: demographic information, goal setting, course work,…

Negotiating the Rub between Cultures: Teacher Talk and Sustained Shifts in Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meth, Jessica Matthews; Azano, Amy

2012-01-01

This article examines the outcomes of an eight-month professional development initiative, designed to support six Writing Project teachers' classroom inquiry projects, each focused on improving an aspect of student writing. We begin by introducing the genesis of these classroom research projects as well as the structure and content of the support…

The development of pedagogical content knowledge in science teachers: New opportunities through technology-mediated reflection and peer-exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madeira, M. Cheryl-Ann

This design-based research study investigates the development of pedagogical content knowledge among nine teacher-participants (N = 9) in three design phases. PCK is a particular type of teacher knowledge that addresses not only the teacher's understanding of the content to be instructed, but also ways of how to teach that content effectively. This knowledge has been well documented over several decades, and is seen as central to teacher expertise. However, its actual development has been difficult for researchers to investigate. This study offers a detailed perspective on how teachers developed PCK with their engagement in lesson planning and enactment of a project-based technology-enhanced lesson. The study includes two specific interventions designed to enhance teachers' development of PCK: (1) scaffolded reflection that occurs throughout the practices; and (2) peer-exchange of lesson plans, enactment ideas, and completed reflections. The findings demonstrate that teachers improve their planning and enactment of project-based technology-enhanced lessons with scaffolded reflection and peer exchange. Positive correlations were seen between teachers' engagement in the reflections and the quality of their lesson planning. Teachers who participated more deeply in the scaffolded reflections were able to understand how their lesson plans and enactment patterns fostered student understanding of relevant science concepts. Positive correlations were also seen between community influence and teacher lesson plans and enactment. Additionally, positive correlations were confirmed between teachers' level of participation in the peer exchange activities and the quality of their lesson planning and enactments. Teachers who contributed more deeply within the online and face-to-face peer community meetings benefited from the different perspectives of their peers about student learning and the best ways to succeed with project-based instruction. This study allowed some insight into how PCK develops as a result of teachers' engagement in the complex set of activities that constitute the practices of lesson planning and enactment. The primary implication of this study is that engaging teachers in scaffolded reflections and peer exchange can be a valuable in-service professional development activity. A methodological strength is derived from an approach to coding teachers' lesson planning and enactment according to an activity systems perspective, drawing on a spectrum of data sources (e.g., wiki-based reflections, planning artefacts, videotaped classroom enactments). Teacher learning---particularly the development of PCK---is recognized as critical in promoting student understanding of science concepts. This dissertation lays out a possible foundation for professional development models that promote effective teacher learning.

ScienceFEST: Preservice Teachers link Math and Science in Astronomy Lessons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeMuth, N. H.; Kasabian, J.

2005-05-01

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Science FEST (Science for Future Elementary School Teachers) aims to develop the science content and pedagogy for project participants by connecting their college coursework to the science they will eventually teach. Working individually and in pairs, future elementary and middle school teachers design a comprehensive module in astronomy that is inquiry-based and reflects the national and state science standards. Project participants then teach their modules in local elementary or middle school classrooms. Science FEST project participants report gaining a deep understanding of the science they are teaching, learning to engage all students to explore science concepts, and reflecting on their teaching and how it can be improved. The session presenters will share some of the instructional materials developed by the college students and how their experiences in Science FEST have enhanced their pre-professional development. The project's website can be found at www.science-fest.org.

Improving 6th Grade Climate Literacy using New Media (CLINM) and Teacher Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, G.; Schmidt, C.; Metzger, E. P.; Cordero, E. C.

2012-12-01

The NASA-funded project, Improving 6th Grade Climate Literacy using New Media (CLINM), is designed to improve the climate literacy of California's 450,000 6th-grade students through teacher professional development that presents climate change as an engaging context for teaching earth science standards. The project fosters experience-based interaction among learners and encourages expressive creativity and idea-exchange via the web and social media. The heart of the CLINM project is the development of an online educator-friendly experience that provides content expert-reviewed, teacher-tested, standards-based educational resources, classroom activities and lessons that make meaningful connections to NASA data and images as well as new media tools (videos, web, and phone applications) based on the Green Ninja, a climate-action superhero who fights global warming by inspiring personal action (www.greenninja.info). In this session, we will discuss this approach to professional development and share a collection of teacher-tested CLINM resources. CLINM resources are grounded in earth system science; classroom activities and lessons engage students in exploration of connections between natural systems and human systems with a particular focus on how climate change relates to everyone's need for food, water, and energy. CLINM uses a team-based approach to resource development, and partners faculty in San José State University's (SJSU) colleges of Science, Education, and Humanities and the Arts with 6th-grade teachers from local school districts, a scientist from NASA Ames Research Center and climate change education projects at Stanford University, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and the University of Idaho. Climate scientists and other content experts identify relevant concepts and work with science educators to develop and/or refine classroom activities to elucidate those concepts; activities are piloted in pre-service science methods courses at SJSU and in teacher professional development workshops offered through the Bay Area Earth Science Institute (BAESI); workshop attendees frame the activities as lessons appropriate for their 6th grade students; participants who use the lessons and resources in their classrooms provide iterative feedback, which is used to improve the resources for other teachers involved in the project.

Management of Teacher Scientific-Methodical Work in Vocational Educational Institutions on the Basis of Project-Target Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakuto, Elena A.; Dorozhkin, Evgenij M.; Kozlova, Anastasia A.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the subject under analysis is determined by the lack of theoretical development of the problem of management of teacher scientific-methodical work in vocational educational institutions based upon innovative approaches in the framework of project paradigm. The purpose of the article is to develop and test a science-based…

Indian/Metis Project. Project Canada West.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Curriculum Project on Canada Studies, Edmonton (Alberta).

The second part of a curriculum development program is reported in this progress report; Part A (A Teacher's Source Book) was reported in ED 055 016. In Part B, a teacher's guide, a curriculum unit and multi-media kit has been developed for students, aged 10-13, to study the Metis/Indian peoples. Intended to cover four to six weeks, the materials…

Mathematical Problem Solving Project Technical Report III: Module Development and Formative Evaluation. Appendix B - "Organizing Lists" Quizzes and Data.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indiana Univ., Bloomington. Mathematics Education Development Center.

This appendix to the Mathematical Problem Solving Project "Module Development and Formative Evaluation" contains trials 1 and 2 of the Organizing Lists quiz. Editorial feedback from teachers on the Organizing Lists booklet is given for trials 1 and 2. Editorial feedback from teachers on the Organizing Lists problem deck is given for…

The Adult Basic Education (ABE) Teacher Development Project (July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000). Evaluation Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zane, Lawrence

This paper presents an evaluation of the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Teacher Development project. The ABE program was designed by the Hawaii Department of Education to meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged adults. Hawaii's community schools serve approximately 40,000 adults annually in the ABE program. Many of them are also enrolled in…

Connecting Changes in Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge to Their Experiences in a Professional Development Workshop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boston, Melissa D.

2013-01-01

This investigation describes secondary mathematics teachers' learning and instructional change following their participation in a professional development workshop, the Enhancing Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation Project (ESP) (2004-2005), specifically focused on the selection and implementation of cognitively challenging mathematical…

The NEED (National Energy Education Development) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hogan, D.; Spruill, M.

2012-04-01

The NEED (National Energy Education Development) Project is a non-profit organization which provides a wide range of K-12 curriculum on energy education topics. The curriculum is specific for primary, elementary, intermediate and secondary levels with age appropriate activities and reading levels. The NEED Project covers a wide range of topics from wind energy, nuclear energy, solar energy, hydropower, hydrogen, fossil fuels, energy conservation, energy efficiency and much more. One of the major strengths of this organization is its Teacher Advisory Board. The curriculum is routinely revised and updated by master classroom teachers who use the lessons and serve on the advisory board. This ensures it is of the highest quality and a useful resource. The NEED Project through a variety of sponsors including businesses, utility companies and government agencies conducts hundreds of teacher professional development workshops each year throughout the United States and have even done some workshops internationally. These workshops are run by trained NEED facilitators. At the workshops, teachers gain background understanding of the energy topics and have time to complete the hands on activities which make up the curriculum. The teachers are then sent a kit of equipment after successfully completing the workshop. This allows them to teach the curriculum and have their students perform the hands on labs and activities in the classroom. The NEED Project is the largest provider of energy education related curriculum in the United States. Their efforts are educating teachers about energy topics and in turn educating students in the hope of developing citizens who are energy literate. Many of the hands on activities used to teach about various energy sources will be described and demonstrated.

The Value of eJournals to Support ePortfolio Development for Assessment in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crichton, Susan; Kopp, Gail

2008-01-01

This paper presents findings from a two-­year pilot project into the use of ePortfolios as a tool for assessment in a two year, field-­oriented, inquiry-­based teacher preparation program. Participants consisted of five cohorts of pre­service student teachers and five instructors; interviews, focus groups, artifacts, and project meetings provided…

Interactive Peer Coaching/Mentoring Project for Preparing Teachers of Students with Severe Behavioral Disorders Final Report. Volume 1: Project Narrative and Briefing Papers [and] Volume 2: Appendices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities, Minot.

This final report discusses the activities and outcomes of the Interactive Peer Coaching/Mentoring (IPCM) Project, a program designed to prepare teachers of students with severe behavioral disorders (SED) residing in a rural, remote area in North Dakota. The IPCM project was conducted from July 1997 through July 2000 and developed an…

The ERESE project: Bridging the gap between Digital Science Libraries and Education through Professional Development of Teachers and Database Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staudigel, H.; Helly, M.; Helly, J.; Koppers, A.; Massel-Symons, C.; Miller, S.

2004-12-01

The ERESE (Enduring Resources in Earth Science Education) project involves a close collaboration between teachers, librarians, educators, data archive managers and scientists in Earth sciences and information technology, to create a digital library environment for Earth science education. We report here on an ongoing (NSF-NSDL) project involving teachers' professional development in the pedagogy of plate tectonics in middle and high schools. This work included efforts in scientific database development in terms of contents and search tools, the development of an inquiry based learning approach, a two week professional development workshop attended by 15 teachers from across the nation, a classroom implementation of lesson plans developed by the teachers at the workshop and an evaluation/validation process for the success of their pedagogic approaches. This ERESE project offers a novel path for both science teaching and professional outreach for scientists, and includes four key components: (1) A true, long-term research partnership between educators and scientists, guiding each other with respect to the authenticity of the science taught and the educational soundness of a scientists' elaborations on science concepts. (2) Expansion of existing scientific databases through the use of metadata that tie scientific materials to a particular expert level and teaching goal. (3) The design of interfaces that make data accessible to the educational community. (4) The use of an inquiry based teaching approach that integrates the scientist-educator collaboration and the data base developments. Our pedagogic approach includes the development of a central hypotheses by the student in response to an initial general orientation and presentation of a well chosen central provocative phenomenon by the teacher. Then, the student develops a research plan that is devoted to address this hypothesis through the use of the materials provided by a scientific database allowing a students prove or disprove their hypothesis and to explore the limits of the (current) understanding of a particular science question. Our first experience with this ERESE project involved a steep learning curve, but the initial results are very promising, providing true professional development for educators as well as for the scientists, whereby the former learn about new ways of teaching science and the latter learn to communicate with teachers.

For the Teacher and by the Teacher: Development of Exemplar Technology Learning Activities in Taiwan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Lung-Sheng Steven

In Taiwan, revised curriculum standards for junior and senior high school technology education were developed to take effect in the 1997 and 1998 school years. A project was undertaken to develop a set of exemplar technology learning activities (TLAs) to assist teachers in developing their school-based course of study for the living technology…

Early Career Teachers' Emotion and Emerging Teacher Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichols, Sharon L.; Schutz, Paul A.; Rodgers, Kelly; Bilica, Kimberly

2017-01-01

The goal of our project was to develop an understanding of the connections among emotional episodes and emerging professional teacher identities of first year teachers. We interviewed eight first year mathematics and science teachers. We asked them to reflect on emotional episodes and talk about how those emotions informed their teaching…

Teachers Know Best: Making Data Work for Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2015

2015-01-01

As part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's broader efforts to improve educational opportunities for all students, the "Teachers Know Best" research project seeks to encourage innovation in K-12 education by helping product developers and those who procure resources for teachers better understand teachers' views. The original…

Increasing Secondary Teachers' Capacity to Integrate the Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richard, Byron; Treichel, Christa J.

2013-01-01

Examples from a team of collaborating secondary teachers--one visual arts teacher and one science teacher--highlight key aspects of this professional development project in arts integration. The article traces a regional network designed to build teacher capacity with implications for the design, effectiveness, and sustainability of professional…

The Teacher-Scholar Project: how to help faculty groups develop scholarly skills.

PubMed

Heinrich, Kathleen T; Hurst, Helen; Leigh, Gwen; Oberleitner, Melinda Granger; Poirrier, Gail P

2009-01-01

Nursing education's challenge in the new millennium is to prepare all nurses as scholars. With many nurse educators feeling like impostors when it comes to scholarship, this is no small task. Turning the millenial challenge into an opportunity, this article describes how a collaborative faculty development initiative is turning a National League for Nursing Center of Excellence school's "scholar-impostors" into teacher-scholars. This Teacher-Scholar Project will interest those in teaching intensive schools of nursing or in teaching tracks in research-intensive institutions.

Exposing the Impact of Opp(reg)ressive Policies on Teacher Development and on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Alberto J.

2010-01-01

This case study draws attention to Pedro's story, a Grade 6 Latino teacher who, along with other grade 4-6 teachers, participated in a three-year professional development research project. By using data analyzed from multiple ethnographic interviews with teachers and students, and by drawing from the quantitative analyzes of concept map unit…

Studying Teachers' Degree of Classroom Implementation, Teachers' Implementation Practices, and Students' Learning as Outcomes of K-12 STEM Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Peiyi

2013-01-01

With a growing demand for an enhanced K-12 education for strengthening students' conceptual learning, interest, and career awareness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, teacher professional development projects have been viewed as an efficient approach. However, a variety of external and teacher factors may prevent such projects…

Activities for Teaching the Gifted Across the Curriculum. 1985 Summer Institute.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1985

The document presents a collection of projects developed by teachers enrolled in a 3-week summer institute on teaching various curriculum areas to gifted students. Outlines of 11 projects begin with brief descriptive information on project title, developer(s), grade level, curriculum area, and project duration. The following projects are…

Teachers, Technology, and Policy: What Have We Learned?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, N. A.; Nichols, P.

This paper summarizes Technology Integration Project efforts in four urban elementary schools that were involved in Professional Development Schools (PDSs). Project activities centered on: supporting the rooting of technology integration into school culture and teachers' efforts to integrate technology into their classrooms and strengthening the…

A School-Based Project in Five Kindergartens: The Case of Teacher Development and School Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling Li, Yuen

2004-01-01

Kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong are blamed for not putting child-initiated learning theory into practice. Their competence is challenged. An earlier study ( Li, 2003 ) suggested that the professional development of kindergarten teachers was limited by their inability to extend thinking beyond their own personal concerns so that the needs of the…

The Influence of Mathematics Professional Development, School-Level, and Teacher-Level Variables on Primary Students' Mathematics Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polly, Drew; Wang, Chuang; Martin, Christie; Lambert, Richard; Pugalee, David; Middleton, Catherina

2018-01-01

This study examined the influence of a professional development project about an internet-based mathematics formative assessment tool and related pedagogies on primary teachers' instruction and student achievement. Teachers participated in 72 h of professional development during the year. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of…

Developing a Learning-Teaching Styles Scheme to Improve Teaching Behaviors of College Child Development Student Interns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Beverly Barber

Implemented in an urban community college's child development teacher training program, this practicum project addressed the problem of discrepancies between training and work environments. General goals of the practicum were: (1) to design a learning styles training format for preschool teachers; (2) to provide teachers with factual information…

Dual-Mode Teacher Professional Development: Challenges and Re-Visioning Future TPD in Indonesia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Widodo, Ari; Riandi

2013-01-01

This paper presents the results of a two-year research project aimed at developing a teacher professional development (TPD) model in Indonesia. New government policies in this nation, its archipelagic nature, vast numbers of teachers and scarcity of support resources present a unique challenge to TPD. A needs assessment was conducted to identify…

Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners: Discursive Norms, Learning Processes, and Professional Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molle, Daniella

2010-01-01

The lack of empirical scholarship on professional development initiatives for teachers of English language learners (ELLs) in US schools has been repeatedly documented in educational research. The present dissertation project examines a professional development course specifically designed for K-12 teachers of ELLs. The course aims to foster the…

The School-Based Activities Model: A Promising Alternative to Professional Development Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lachance, Andrea M.; Benton, Cynthia J.; Klein, Beth Shiner

2007-01-01

Partnerships, especially the Professional Development School (PDS) model, between institutions of higher education (IHE) and public schools (PS), have become, if not commonplace, a successful model for teacher education. PDS teacher education projects in which preservice teachers and higher education faculty participate in school-based instruction…

Teacher Perceptions towards ICT Integration: Professional Development through Blended Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qasem, Arwa Ahmed Abdo; Viswanathappa, G.

2016-01-01

Integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into teaching and learning is a growing area that has attracted many educators' attention in recent years. Teachers need to be involved in collaborative projects and development of intervention change strategies, which include teaching partnerships with ICT as a tool. Teacher perceptions…

A Narrative Analysis of a Teacher Educator's Professional Learning Journey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanassche, Eline; Kelchtermans, Geert

2016-01-01

This article reports on a narrative analysis of one teacher educator's learning journey in a two-year professional development project. Professional development is conceived of as the complex learning processes resulting from the meaningful interactions between the individual teacher educator and his/her working context. Our analysis indicates…

Conceptualising Self-Generating Online Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prestridge, Sarah

2017-01-01

In 2012, a research project was implemented to investigate the possibility and effectiveness of instituting a personalised and virtually networked mode of professional development to promote teacher confidence and competence with information and communications technology and its use as a key component of teachers' pedagogy. The aim of the project…

Primary teachers conducting inquiry projects: effects on attitudes towards teaching science and conducting inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Aalderen-Smeets, Sandra I.; Walma van der Molen, Juliette H.; van Hest, Erna G. W. C. M.; Poortman, Cindy

2017-01-01

This study used an experimental, pretest-posttest control group design to investigate whether participation in a large-scale inquiry project would improve primary teachers' attitudes towards teaching science and towards conducting inquiry. The inquiry project positively affected several elements of teachers' attitudes. Teachers felt less anxious about teaching science and felt less dependent on contextual factors compared to the control group. With regard to attitude towards conducting inquiry, teachers felt less anxious and more able to conduct an inquiry project. There were no effects on other attitude components, such as self-efficacy beliefs or relevance beliefs, or on self-reported science teaching behaviour. These results indicate that practitioner research may have a partially positive effect on teachers' attitudes, but that it may not be sufficient to fully change primary teachers' attitudes and their actual science teaching behaviour. In comparison, a previous study showed that attitude-focused professional development in science education has a more profound impact on primary teachers' attitudes and science teaching behaviour. In our view, future interventions aiming to stimulate science teaching should combine both approaches, an explicit focus on attitude change together with familiarisation with inquiry, in order to improve primary teachers' attitudes and classroom practices.

From Freshman Student to Upper-Secondary School Teacher in Chemistry: A New Approach with Projects and Group Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Josephsen, Jens

1985-01-01

A special five and one-half year program for training upper secondary school chemistry teachers has been developed and tested over the past decade at Roskilde University near Copenhagen. The program (which emphasizes project work) and a student project on epoxy glue are described. Program graduates are generally problem-oriented and…

Supporting Indigenous Students' Understanding of the Numeration System of Their First Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cortina, Jose Luis

2013-01-01

Results from a project conducted in Mexico are discussed, in which a group of 17 indigenous teachers analyzed the numeration systems of their first language. The main goal of the project is to develop resources that help teachers in supporting students' understanding of the systems. In the first phase of the project, the central organizing ideas…

A study to define and verify a model of interactive-constructive elementary school science teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henriques, Laura

This study took place within a four year systemic reform effort collaboratively undertaken by the Science Education Center at the University of Iowa and a local school district. Key features of the inservice project included the use of children's literature as a springboard into inquiry based science investigations, activities to increase parents' involvement in children's science learning and extensive inservice opportunities for elementary teachers to increase content knowledge and content-pedagogical knowledge. The overarching goal of this elementary science teacher enhancement project was to move teachers towards an interactive-constructivist model of teaching and learning. This study had three components. The first was the definition of the prototype teacher indicated by the project's goals and supported by science education research. The second involved the generation of a model to show relationships between teacher-generated products, demographics and their subsequent teaching behaviors. The third involved the verification of the hypothesized model using data collected on 15 original participants. Demographic information, survey responses, interview and written responses to scenarios were among the data collected as source variables. These were scored using a rubric designed to measure constructivist practices in science teaching. Videotapes of science teaching and revised science curricula were collected as downstream variables and scored using an the ESTEEM observational rubric and a rubric developed for the project. Results indicate that newer teachers were more likely to implement features of the project. Those teachers who were philosophically aligned with project goals before project involvement were also more likely to implement features of the project. Other associations between reported beliefs, planning and classroom implementations were not confirmed by these data. Data show that teachers reported higher levels of implementation than their classroom teaching indicated. Qualitative analysis indicated teachers who were more likely to implement the goals of this project were flexible, spontaneous, and able to give students more choices and responsibilities for their own learning. These teachers routinely used children's ideas and interests to guide instruction. Recommendations for future inservice are included. Discussion centers around elements of time, teacher input, teacher reflection, teachers as leaders and leaders' modeling of advocated practices.

Tales from the Dark Side: Teacher Professional Development , Support , Activities, Student Research & Presentations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, C. E.; Pompea, S. M.

2013-12-01

In a partnership last Spring with Arizona Public Service, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) created the 'Dark-Skies Energy Education Program: Energy Awareness for a Sustainable Future'. In this program, experienced science and technology education specialists from NOAO led 2 one-day professional development workshops for thirteen 6th grade teachers on dark skies and energy education. The workshops focused on three foundational, scaffolding activities and a final student research project. This in turn culminated in a Family Science Night where students presented their projects. In between these events, our NOAO team provided support for teachers through real-time video conferencing using FaceTime. In addition to the professional development, each teacher received a kit full of resource materials to perform the activities and research project. The kit was at no cost to the teacher, school, or district. Each kit contained the latest version of a tablet, which was used to facilitate communication and support for the teachers, as well as provide all the program's written teaching materials. The activities are in accordance with state, Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Our NOAO instructors gave firsthand experiences on how best to use these materials in a classroom or public setting. They also discussed opportunities on how they can incorporate, adapt and expand upon the activities and research projects in the classroom. Evaluation reports from the program's independent evaluator showed that the students enjoyed learning from the three foundational activities and research projects. The project presentations by the Yuma students were outstanding in their creativity, level of effort, and scientific accuracy. To summarize the evaluations, significant changes in knowledge and attitude were made with the teachers and students (from one-on-one interviews and surveys), but behavioral changes (albeit only over a semester) seemed minimal. The AGU ED session presentation will focus on the program logistics and outcomes as well as lessons learned. The Dark Skies and Energy Education Kit

Teacher Self-Knowledge: The Deeper Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Peggy

2015-01-01

The National Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Project on Inclusive Curriculum is the nation's largest peer-led leadership development project. It engages public and private school teachers, college faculty, parents, and community leaders from all subject areas, grade levels, and geographic locations to create gender fair,…

Learning through Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Mary Henri, Ed.; And Others

Presented are summaries of 11 selected projects in the areas of language arts, instructional media, simulation, and the valuing process developed during the 1974 summer session of the Teacher Training Institute of the Governor's School (North Carolina) by institute teachers and gifted students. Outlined are language arts projects on the history of…

Inspiring Climate Education Excellence(ICEE): Developing Elearning professional development modules - secondary science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellagher, E.; Buhr, S. M.; Lynds, S. E.; McCaffrey, M. S.; Cires Education Outreach

2011-12-01

Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) is a NASA-funded project to develop content knowledge and knowledge of effective teaching strategies in climate education among secondary science teachers. ICEE resources are aligned with the Essential Principles of Climate Science. Building upon a needs assessment and face to face workshop, ICEE resources include iTunesU videos, an ICEE 101 resource site with videos and peer-reviewed learning activities, and a moderated online forum. Self-directed modules and an online course are being developed around concepts and topics in which teachers express the most interest and need for instruction. ICEE resources include attention to effective teaching strategies, such as awareness of student misconceptions, strategies for forestalling controversy and advice from master teachers on implementation and curriculum development. The resources are being developed in partnership with GLOBE, and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and are informed by the work of the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) project. ICEE will help to meet the professional development needs of teachers, including those participating in the GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign.

Fidelity of test development process within a national science grant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brumfield, Teresa E.

In 2002, a math-science partnership (MSP) program was initiated by a national science grant. The purpose of the MSP program was to promote the development, implementation, and sustainability of promising partnerships among institutions of higher education, K-12 schools and school systems, as well as other important stakeholders. One of the funded projects included a teacher-scientist collaborative that instituted a professional development system to prepare teachers to use inquiry-based instructional modules. The MSP program mandated evaluations of its funded projects. One of the teacher-scientist collaborative project's outcomes specifically focused on teacher and student science content and process skills. In order to provide annual evidence of progress and to measure the impact of the project's efforts, and because no appropriate science tests were available to measure improvements in content knowledge of participating teachers and their students, the project contracted for the development of science tests. This dissertation focused on the process of test development within an evaluation and examined planned (i.e., expected) and actual (i.e., observed) test development, specifically concentrating on the factors that affected the actual test development process. Planned test development was defined as the process of creating tests according to the well-established test development procedures recommended by the AERA/APA/NCME 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Actual test development was defined as the process of creating tests as it actually took place. Because case study provides an in-depth, longitudinal examination of an event (i.e., case) in a naturalistic setting, it was selected as the appropriate methodology to examine the difference between planned and actual test development. The case (or unit of analysis) was the test development task, a task that was bounded by the context in which it occurred---and over which this researcher had no control---and by time. The purpose for studying the case was to gain a more in-depth, holistic understanding of the real-life test development task that took place within a project evaluation context. In particular, this case study investigated how the actual test development process was affected by: (1) the national and state (i.e., NC) science standards, (2) the NSF's definition of "evidence" in a project evaluation, (3) the MSP project's understanding of the role of the to-be-developed tests in their project evaluation, (4) the MSP project's understanding of the test development process, and (5) the MSP project's participants (e.g., teacher item-writers and scientists). From an investigation of this case, it was concluded that: (a) constructing psychometrically sound tests within an evaluation is not easy, (b) sufficient time and resources to construct such measures properly are seldom provided, and (c) test construction---at least within an evaluation---is not routine and unproblematic. Based upon the results from this case study, it was recommended that stakeholders (i.e., program managers, project directors, and evaluators) be familiar with the steps and standards used to develop psychometrically sound tests. Additionally, it was recommended that, for future research, a meta-analysis that examines only the test development process be conducted of all other MSP projects. A second suggested future research area was to establish a protocol that provides a systematic means by which to examine an existing or proposed MSP project for alignment with state science standards. Such a protocol would be cost-effective in that demonstrated alignment with state science standards would enable projects to use existing state science assessments, which must be in place, according to NCLB, by the 2007-2008 school year, to demonstrate student achievement. In this way, project directors and evaluators, typically with limited familiarity with the steps and standards by which psychometrically sound assessments are created, would not be placed in the role of test developer.

Composing with New Technology: Teacher Reflections on Learning Digital Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruce, David L.; Chiu, Ming Ming

2015-01-01

This study explores teachers' reflections on their learning to compose with new technologies in the context of teacher education and/or teacher professional development. English language arts (ELA) teachers (n = 240) in 15 courses learned to use digital video (DV), completed at least one DV group project, and responded to open-ended survey…

Evaluating Student-Teacher Linkage Data in Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Sites: Acquisition, Verification, and System Development. The Harvesting Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Jeffery; Witham, Peter; St. Louis, Timothy

2010-01-01

The U.S. Department of Education Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) seeks to transform education compensation systems so that principal and teacher performance (measured through classroom productivity measures) connects to compensation. Classroom-level productivity measures require robust student-teacher linkage data. Organizations such as the…

Two-year colleges, Physics, and Teacher Preparation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clay, Keith

2002-05-01

In the midst of a teacher shortage no field suffers more than physics. Half of our secondary physics teachers have less than a minor in physics. Meanwhile half of our future teachers start out at two-year colleges with physicists on staff. The opportunity for community colleges to have an impact on K-12 teaching is tremendous. Project TEACH has been honored as an outstanding teacher preparation program. It is a collaboration of colleges and K-12 schools dedicated to the improvement of teacher preparation, especially in science and math. Based at Green River Community College, Project TEACH unites certification institutions, community colleges, and K-12 school districts in the pre-service and in-service training of teachers. Activities of Project TEACH include recruitment and advising of future teachers, field experience for education students, creation of pre-teaching and para-educator degrees, tutoring from elementary school through college, in-service courses for current teachers, and special math and science courses aimed at future teachers. The yearlong interdisciplinary science sequence blends chemistry, physics, geology, and biology in a hands-on inquiry-based environment. The yearlong math sequence covers arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and probability with inquiry-based pedagogy. The programs developed by Project TEACH are being disseminated to colleges across Washington State and beyond.

Difference as a Creative and Critical Force in Teacher Education: Reflective Partners Teaching in and out of the Wheelchair

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Østern, Tone Pernille; Øyen, Elen

2014-01-01

This study reflects on a research and development project between two dance practitioners, one of them a wheelchair user, working together to develop pedagogical design within teacher education at a university in Norway. The aim of the authors is to encourage student teachers toward becoming inclusive and brave teachers who define diversity among…

Preparing Teachers to Use GIS: The Impact of a Hybrid Professional Development Program on Teachers' Use of GIS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Steven; Haviland, Don; Moore, William; Tran, Michael

2016-01-01

This article reports the findings of a 3-year study of a hybrid professional development program designed to prepare science and mathematics teachers to implement GIS in their classrooms. The study was conducted as part of the CoastLines Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers project funded by the National Science Foundation.…

Observatório da Educação: An Investigation of Teacher Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia Silva, Angélica F.; Campos, Tania Maria M.; Pietropaolo, Ruy Cesar

2014-01-01

This paper aims to present the results of an investigation regarding the professional development of teachers who worked in the early years of basic education. The qualitative research involved teachers who participated in the "Observatório da Educação" project (MEC/CAPES). Because of the data amount, we choose to present the data…

PROGRAM PLANNING FOR HOME ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MINNESOTA, GRADES 7-12, A RESOURCE UNIT IN FOODS AND NUTRITION. CURRICULUM BULLETIN NO. 12 A.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota State Dept. of Education, St. Paul.

CURRICULUM MATERIALS TO HELP TEACHERS IN DEVELOPING SPECIFIC PLANS FOR TEACHING FOODS AND NUTRITION IN GRADES 7 THROUGH 12 ARE PRESENTED. CLASSROOM TEACHERS, SUPERVISORS, TEACHER EDUCATORS, AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT STUDENTS CONTRIBUTED TO THE STATEWIDE CURRICULUM PROJECT WHICH DEVELOPED THE MATERIALS. MAJOR CONCEPTS INCORPORATED INTO THE UNITS…

The Development and Validation of an Inservice Program for Vocational Teachers of the Disadvantaged. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehresman, Norman D.; And Others

The major objective of the research project was to develop and implement an inservice education program designed to improve teaching effectiveness of vocational teachers of disadvantaged students in vocational programs. In addition, the authors sought to determine the effects of the inservice program on teachers and their students and to develop a…

Evidence-Based Professional Development of Science Teachers in Two Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Christine; Hofstein, Avi; Eylon, Bat-Sheva; Simon, Shirley

2008-01-01

The focus of this collaborative research project of King's College London, and the Weizmann Institute, Israel is on investigating the ways in which teachers can demonstrate accomplished teaching in a specific domain of science and on the teacher learning that is generated through continuing professional development (CPD) programmes that lead…

Math Autobiographies: A Window into Teachers' Identities as Mathematics Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCulloch, Allison W.; Marshall, Patricia L.; DeCuir-Gunby, Jessica T.; Caldwell, Ticola S.

2013-01-01

Mathematics autobiographies have the potential to help teachers reflect on their identities as mathematics learners and to understand their role in the development of their students' mathematics identities. This paper reports on a professional development project for K-2 teachers (n = 41), in which participants were asked to write mathematics…

Canadian Environmental Concerns: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Progress Report. Project Canada West.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Curriculum Project on Canada Studies, Edmonton (Alberta).

Part I of this progress report places emphasis on curriculum development from the standpoint of the teacher-developer. The role is defined and factors such as teacher selection, release time, administrative cooperation, work schedules, assigned work space, and benefits to the school division and to the teacher are discussed. Recommendations deal…

Mediating Artifact in Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Svendsen, Bodil

2015-01-01

This article focuses on teacher professional development (TPD) in natural science through the 5E model as mediating artifact. The study was conducted in an upper secondary school, grounded in a school-based intervention research project. My contribution to the field of research on TPD is founded on the hypothesis that teachers would be best…

An Assessment of Turkish Elementary Teachers in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagdic, Ali; Sahin, Elvan

2016-01-01

The purpose of the current study is to describe beliefs, perceived barriers and teaching strategy preference of elementary teachers with respect to education for sustainable development. The sample of research survey consisted of 211 elementary teachers who are also participant of projects on environmental education entitled Green Pack and…

The Power of Time: Teachers' Working Day--Negotiating Autonomy and Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steen-Olsen, Tove; Eikseth, Astrid Grude

2010-01-01

This article focuses on teachers' repeated complaints of lack of time. The theme is explored within data material collected in a research and development project in a Norwegian primary school (2006-09), including observations from development work together with a teacher team, and interviews with their principal, a representative of the teacher…

Exploring Quadrilaterals to Reveal Teachers' Use of Definitions: Results and Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salinas, Tracie McLemore; Lynch-Davis, Kathleen; Mawhinney, Katherine J.; Crocker, Deborah A.

2014-01-01

About 80 middle and secondary school teachers participated in the professional development sequence as a part of a larger professional development project. Sessions provided participants with half-day experiences in an inquiry-oriented classroom taught by a master teacher, in which they experienced examples of inquiry lessons as both student and…

Practitioner Research as Part of Professional Development in Initial Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maaranen, Katriina

2009-01-01

The purpose of this research is to seek the connection between professional development and an MA thesis research project, which is conducted as part of initial teacher education in Finland. This article examines the experiences of teachers with work experience, but without an official qualification, who recently completed their MA thesis. The…

Developing and Piloting a Form for Student Assessment of Faculty Professionalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todhunter, Sarah; Cruess, Sylvia R.; Cruess, Richard L.; Young, Meredith; Steinert, Yvonne

2011-01-01

One of the impediments to teaching professionalism is unprofessional behavior amongst clinical teachers. No method of reliably assessing the professional behavior of clinical teachers has yet been reported. The aim of this project was to develop and pilot such a tool. Thirty-four desirable professional behaviors in clinical teachers were…

Professional Development through Lesson Study: Teaching the Derivative Using Geogebra

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verhoef, Nellie C.; Coenders, Fer; Pieters, Jules M.; van Smaalen, Daan; Tall, David O.

2015-01-01

This study focuses on mathematics teachers' professional development through elements of Japanese lesson study. The teachers designed a research lesson with regard to sense-making of the derivative using the integration of GeoGebra. In the second year of the four-year lesson study project, seven secondary school teachers--from different Dutch…

Building a Community among Teachers, Researchers and University Students. A Blended Approach to Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cesareni, Donatella; Martini, Francesca; Mancini, Ilaria

2011-01-01

In this paper we present a case study about a community of practice's foundation and development among Italian teachers, researchers and university students who participated in a European project aimed at developing and testing innovative pedagogical models and technologies for collaborative knowledge building. Forty-five people (34 teachers, five…

Assessing Teacher and Student Effects of the Research Goes to School Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kararo, Alex T.

2017-01-01

There have been calls by the Federal government and policymakers for improvements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education through the development of excellent teachers with the content knowledge and skills to teach and motivate students. A shared goal among teacher professional development (PD) programs is to improve…

Training Early Childhood Teachers for Sustainability: Towards a "Learning Experience of a Different Kind"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feriver, Sebnem; Teksöz, Gaye; Olgan, Refika; Reid, Alan

2016-01-01

In this study, we discuss findings from a small-scale project evaluating an in-service teacher training programme focused on "perspective transformation" in early childhood education and education for sustainability (EfS). A bespoke professional development programme was developed for Turkish early childhood teachers, based on a variety…

Lesson Study and History Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halvorsen, Anne-Lise; Kesler Lund, Alisa

2013-01-01

This article examines the experiences of a group of fifth-grade teachers who used lesson study, a teacher-driven form of professional development, to teach history in a project supported by a Teaching American History Grant. The project addressed the following questions: What does a lesson study cycle for history education look like? What…

Project Drive Teacher's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zook, Doris; And Others

This Project Drive Teacher's Manual complements eight booklets designed for intermediate-level English-as-a-second-language students and low-level adult basic education/basic reading students. The goal of the booklets is to aid the student in developing the oral and sight vocabulary necessary for a basic driver training program. The guide begins…

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 30.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.

This book describes award-winning teacher-developed projects and courses in economics. The reports are condensed versions of the original projects and are divided into grade levels. Primary Level includes: "Peanut Economics" (Janet Lancaster; Dena L. Meade); "Consumer Education Circus" (Pearl Eloshway; Linda McGeehan); "Critter Cards" (Joyce G.…

Technology, Teachers, and Training: Combining Theory with Macedonia's Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosman, Laura; Cvetanoska, Maja

2013-01-01

Numerous developing countries are currently planning or executing projects that introduce technology into their educational systems. This article asserts that such projects will have limited long-term success or impact until they are reconceptualized to incorporate three transformative concepts: teachers play the key role in determining the…

Supporting Academic Literacies: University Teachers in Collaboration for Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Lotta

2016-01-01

This article deals with an action research project, where a group of university teachers from different disciplines reflected on and gradually extended their knowledge about how to support students' academic literacy development. The project was conducted within a "research circle" [Bergman, L. 2014. "The Research Circle as a…

Strategizing Teacher Professional Development for Classroom Uses of Geospatial Data and Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zalles, Daniel R.; Manitakos, James

2016-01-01

Studying Topography, Orographic Rainfall, and Ecosystems with Geospatial Information Technology (STORE), a 4.5-year National Science Foundation funded project, explored the strategies that stimulate teacher commitment to the project's driving innovation: having students use geospatial information technology (GIT) to learn about weather, climate,…

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 31.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.

This book describes award-winning teacher-developed projects and courses in economics. The reports are condensed versions of the original projects and are divided into grade levels. Primary Level includes: "Primary Pickle People Packed a Peck of Pickle Economics" (Karen L. Cragg; Katherine J. Van Horn); "Fabulous Economics" (Elizabeth B.…

Oral History Project: Bringing Students Together

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swerdlow, Linda Kantor

2005-01-01

This article describes the Veteran's Oral History Project, a collaboration between students at Isaac Young Middle School and pre-service teachers enrolled in the author's middle school education class at the College of New Rochelle. The pre-service teachers developed and taught an integrated interdisciplinary unit on the Vietnam era, culminating…

Anglican Schools Partnership: Effective Feedback. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorard, Stephen; See, Beng Huat; Siddiqui, Nadia

2014-01-01

This pilot project focused on improving teachers' understanding and use of effective feedback. Participating teachers tried to incorporate feedback into their lessons to help pupils understand their learning goals and become able to develop strategies to reach them. The project employed a cyclical action research design, through which teachers…

Employing Retired Military Personnel as Vocational Education Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chase, Shirley A.; Tennant, John E.

A project was undertaken to facilitate the employment of retired military personnel as vocational education teachers. The specific objectives of the project were as follows: update the issues, barriers, and incentives involved in employing retired military personnel to fill teaching positions in civilian vocational education, develop a model for…

In Defense of Youth: Youth Advocacy in Action. Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lougheed, Jacqueline, Ed.; And Others

The accomplishments and impact of 10 Youth Advocacy Teacher Corps projects in 1978-79 are highlighted in this publication. Section 1 presents an overview of the Teacher Corps from 1965 to 1982 and reviews the development, since 1976, of the 10 Youth Advocacy Projects (YAP). The objectives of the projects (to promote effective educational responses…

Math "Rules" Prompt Reflection on Teachers' Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yagi, Seanyelle; Venenciano, Linda

2017-01-01

In their ongoing professional development project, the authors had an opportunity to work with a group of teachers who were particularly insightful. These teachers shared written reflections about their thinking, prior experiences, and changing self-awareness of their mathematics practice. In one session, teachers were provided the…

Short-Term International Experiences and Teacher Language Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harbon, Lesley

2007-01-01

This research study had as its focus the impact of a short-term international experience on teacher language awareness (TLA). In-country intensive immersion experiences were considered beneficial for language teacher professional development. This project examined the Australian teachers' perceptions of their teaching and home-stay experiences…

Geography and the Environment: International Perspectives. Teacher's Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lang, Edward, Ed.; White, Caryn, Ed.

This document is the second curriculum development project of the Connecticut Geographic Alliance. The Alliance focuses on equipping teachers for more effective geographic instruction by providing leadership training so teachers can conduct workshops in local districts, and offering institutes for teachers that focus on important geographic…

The Reflective Teacher Leader: An Action Research Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furtado, Leena; Anderson, Dawnette

2012-01-01

This study presents four teacher reflections from action research projects ranging from kindergarten to adult school improvements. A teacher leadership matrix guided participants to connect teaching and learning theory to best practices by exploring uncharted territory within an iterative cycle of research and action. Teachers developed the…

A pedagogical framework for developing innovative science teachers with ICT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, Laurence; Twidle, John

2013-11-01

Background: The authors have conducted a number of research projects into the use of ICT in science teaching and most recently have collaborated with five European partners in teacher education to develop resources to assist teacher trainers in delivering courses for the professional development of science teachers. Purpose: 1. To describe the main aspects of pedagogy which are relevant to the use of ICT tools which serve practical science teaching. 2. To discuss approaches to teacher education which aim to emphasise the pedagogical aspects of using those ICT tools. Sources of evidence: 1. A review of the research literature on the effectiveness of using ICT in education with a particular focus on pedagogical knowledge and its interaction with associated technical knowledge. 2. Authors' experience as teacher trainers and as researchers in methods of employing ICT in science education. 3. Studies conducted by partners in the ICT for Innovative Science Teachers Project and training materials developed by the project. Main argument: Starting from the premise that it is the pedagogical actions of the teacher which determine successful learning outcomes of using ICT in science lessons, the paper describes the main components of pedagogical knowledge and understanding required by teachers. It examines the role of an understanding of affordances in helping teachers to deploy software tools appropriately and defines some of the skills for exploiting them to benefit learning. Innovation is successful when ICT activities are incorporated in ways that complement non-ICT activities and serve science learning objectives. When teachers are alert to adapt their pedagogical skills, they evolve new ways of working and interacting with students. Training courses need to provide means of helping teachers to examine the professional beliefs which underpin their pedagogical approaches. This is most effectively achieved when a course blends personal hands-on experience with discourse with other professionals and when there is iteration between the training experience with activity in the classroom. Conclusions: The most significant products of professional development are the integration of ICT in the curriculum and a change in a teacher's pedagogy towards teaching approaches which empower students to work more independently and reflectively.

The ASSISTments Ecosystem: Building a Platform That Brings Scientists and Teachers Together for Minimally Invasive Research on Human Learning and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heffernan, Neil T.; Heffernan, Cristina Lindquist

2014-01-01

The ASSISTments project is an ecosystem of a few hundred teachers, a platform, and researchers working together. Development professionals help train teachers and get teachers to participate in studies. The platform and these teachers help researchers (sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly) simply by using content the teacher selects. The…

Energy Project professional development: Promoting positive attitudes about science among K-12 teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, Amy D.; Daane, Abigail R.

2017-12-01

Promoting positive attitudes about science among teachers has important implications for teachers' classroom practice and for their relationship to science as a discipline. In this paper, we report positive shifts in teachers' attitudes about science, as measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science (CLASS) survey, over the course of their participation in a professional development course that emphasized the flexible use of energy representations to understand real world scenarios. Our work contributes to the larger effort to make the case that professional development matters for teacher learning and attitudes.

Teachers' Assessments of Professional Development Quality, Value, and Benefits: Results from Seven Annual Surveys of Participants in National Writing Project Summer Institutes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stokes, Laura; St. John, Mark

2008-01-01

The National Writing Project (NWP) is the nation's premier professional development network dedicated to improving the teaching of writing. The NWP network comprises nearly 200 local sites in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. This report presents the results of a seven-year survey study of teachers participating in NWP summer…

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers, Volume 15. A Report Developed from the 1976-77 Entries in the International Paper Company Foundation Awards Program for the Teaching of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, George G., Ed.

Twenty award winning, teacher-developed programs, projects, courses, and materials in economic education are presented. These case study projects are designed to be used with kindergarten through college students. The case studies are organized by grade level into five chapters. Chapter I suggests ways to teach economic concepts to educable…

Big Outcrops and Big Ideas in Earth Science K-8 Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldwin, K. A.; Cooper, C. M.; Cavagnetto, A.; Morrison, J.; Adesope, O.

2014-12-01

Washington State has recently adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and state leaders are now working toward supporting teachers' implementation of the new standards and the pedagogical practices that support them. This poster encompasses one of one such professional development (PD) effort. The Enhancing Understanding of Concepts and Processes of Science (EUCAPS) project serves 31 K-8 in-service teachers in two southeast Washington school districts. In year two of this three year PD project, in-service teachers explored the Earth sciences and pedagogical approaches such as the Science Writing Heuristic, concept mapping, and activities which emphasized the epistemic nature of science. The goals of the EUCAPS PD project are to increase in-service teachers' big ideas in science and to provide support to in-service teachers as they transition to the NGSS. Teachers used concepts maps to document their knowledge of Earth science processes before and after visiting a local field site in Lewiston, Idaho. In the context of immersive inquiries, teachers collected field-based evidence to support their claims about the geological history of the field site. Teachers presented their claims and evidence to their peers in the form a story about the local geologic history. This poster will present an overview of the PD as well as provide examples of teacher's work and alignment with the NGSS.

When Theory Meets Practice: Applying Cambourne's Conditions for Learning to Professional Development for Elementary School EFL Teachers (Cuando la teoría y la práctica se encuentran: implementación de las condiciones de aprendizaje de Cambourne en el desarrollo profesional de docentes de inglés de la básica primaria)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cadavid Múnera, Isabel Cristina; Díaz Mosquera, Claudia Patricia; Quinchía Ortiz, Diana Isabel

2011-01-01

This article presents a reflection on an action research project carried out by a group of teachers and students at Universidad de Antioquia. The action research project aimed at determining the impact of a professional development proposal for elementary school English teachers in Medellin, Colombia. In the first section, the article describes…

Professional development in photonics: the advanced technology education projects of the New England Board of Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnelly, Judith; Hanes, Fenna; Massa, Nicholas

2007-09-01

Since 1995, the New England Board of Education (NEBHE) has been providing curriculum and professional development as well as laboratory improvement in optics/photonics to middle school and high school teachers and college faculty across the United States. With funding from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technology Education program, NEBHE's optics/photonics education projects have created a national network of educational and industry alliances resulting in opportunities in optics and photonics for students at participating schools and colleges. The cornerstone of NEBHE projects is collaboration among educational levels, career counselors and teachers/faculty, and industry and academia. In such a rich atmosphere of cooperation, participants have been encouraged to create their own regional projects and activities involving students from middle school through four-year universities. In this paper we will describe the evolution of teacher/faculty professional development from a traditional week-long summer workshop to a collaborative distance learning laboratory course based on adult learning principles and supported by a national network of industry mentors.

Toward Self-Authoring a Civic Teacher Identity: Service-Learning in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, Lorna R.; Truong-White, Hoa H.

2016-01-01

Previous scholarship has examined how teachers' civic knowledge and conceptions of citizenship influence their goals, pedagogical practices, and confidence in teaching citizenship, but few studies have probed how teacher candidates develop identities as civic educators through community service-learning projects. This case study draws upon Baxter…

Project Method in Preparation of Future Preschool Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anisimova, Ellina; Ibatullin, Rinat

2018-01-01

This article covers the issue of formation of information competence of future preschool teachers. Efficiency of using information technologies in educational process depends on the level of information competence of a teacher. A modern teacher has to use information technologies reasonably, that contribute to enriching of development of cognitive…

Assessing Minimum Competencies of Beginning Teachers: Instrumentation, Measurement Issues, Legal Concerns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellett, Chad D.

An overview is presented of a performance-based assessment system, Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments (TPAI), developed by the Teacher Assessment Project at the University of Georgia to measure competencies of beginning teachers for initial professional certification. To clearly separate the preparation and certification functions within…

The Mathematics Teacher Development with Peer Tutoring Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duffie, William B.; Guida, Frank V.

This project addresses the problem of inadequate mathematics high school teacher staffing and the shortage of mathematics specialists in the elementary school. Regular elementary school teachers interested in becoming certified as high school mathematics teachers, and who had taken at least three college-level mathematics courses, were invited to…

Pre-Service Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Implications for Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshman, Margaret; Porter, Glorianne

2013-01-01

Effective teachers have good pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Pedagogical content knowledge is the intersection of discipline specific content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. How effectively are pre-service teachers helped to develop good PCK? In this project we asked our pre-service teachers how they would respond to a particular student…

Re-Conceptualizing Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Post-Soviet Latvia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silova, Iveta; Moyer, Amy; Webster, Colin; McAllister, Suzanne

2010-01-01

During the first decade of post-socialist transformation in Eastern Europe, the majority of education reform projects focused on in-service teacher education. Governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations prioritized various in-service teacher education programs to help teachers deal with rapid changes in schools. This has…

A Theory of Teacher Change Developed from Teachers of Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Billie M.

A study was conducted to determine if and how teachers changed as a result of participating in a National Writing Project summer institute. The study investigated the process of change as based on reports of 16 elementary through college level teacher-consultants who attended the institute. The decision-making operation process of the teachers to…

Effectiveness of an Alternative Certification Program for the Preparation of Elementary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Follo, Eric J.; Rivard, James J.

2009-01-01

This study focuses on the effectiveness of the alternative elementary teacher certification program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. The program was developed in response to the projected teacher shortage, the need for teachers in subjects such as mathematics and science, the need for teachers in urban schools, and the need for…

Developing Knowledgeable Teachers: A Framework for Standards-Based Teacher Education Supported by Institutional Collaboration. The STEP Reports.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garvin, Patty, Ed.

This collection of papers describes the process of creating a standards-based teacher education program through strong collaboration among arts and science, education, and P-12 faculty members and administrators. The Standards-based Teacher Education Project (STEP) was designed to help teacher education programs ensure that their graduates know…

Teacher Evaluation Processes in Lebanon's Catholic Schools: A Problem-Based Learning Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wakim, Antonio Joseph

2013-01-01

Teacher effectiveness has been on the decline in Catholic schools in Lebanon due to many factors, including, the lack of efficiency and competency of teachers and the lack of professional development opportunities. Much of this is due to the absence of an effective teacher evaluation system. As a result, many unqualified teachers are becoming…

Collaboration Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harlow, Danielle; Otero, Valerie K.

2005-01-01

What happens when university curriculum developers are mixed with motivated elementary teachers? ? An awesome learning collaboration that benefits researchers, teachers, and students! That's what the authors discovered when they--university researchers involved in the Physics for Elementary Teachers (PET) project--teamed up with local elementary…

Implementing Digital Individual Development Planning in Teacher Education: The Challenges of Communication in Relation to the Development of ICT-Supported Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granberg, Carina

2009-01-01

This paper presents a study of the experiences of a group of teacher educators during the 2006-2007 academic year, when they participated in a project to try out and implement digital individual development planning (which in Swedish is digital "Individuella Utvecklings-Planer" or IUP) in a teacher education faculty at a Swedish…

Developing a User Guide to Integrating New Technologies in Science Teaching and Learning: Teachers' and Pupils' Perceptions of Their Affordances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Winter, James; Winterbottom, Mark; Wilson, Elaine

2010-01-01

This paper reports outcomes of a project in which five teachers developed a web-based user guide to integrating new technologies in secondary science teaching. The guide aimed to support the initial education of trainee teachers, and the professional development of mentors, in working with, and understanding the affordances of, new technologies.…

The Filipino Family, Teacher's Guide. A Unit of the Bay Area Filipino Culture Education Project, Revised Edition 1977 [And] Student Booklet [And] Teenagers in the Philippines and the Filipino Teenager: USA, Teacher's Guide. [And] Appendix: Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

San Francisco Univ., CA. Dept. of Education.

Three units of one to three weeks duration each comprise this Filipino Culture Education Project package developed for students in grades 6-8. Objectives are to help students recognize the cultural heritage of Filipino Americans, to develop bicultural identities, and to help non-Filipino students develop appreciation for the cultural diversity…

Astronomical Network for Teachers in Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kramer Hutawarakorn, Busaba; Soonthornthum, Boonraksar; Poshyachinda, Saran

We report the latest development of a pilot project in establishing the astronomical network for teachers in Thailand. The project has been recently granted by the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology Thailand and operated by Sirindhorn Observatory Chiangmai University. The objectives of the project are (1) to establish a16-inch semi-robotic telescope which can be accessed from schools nationwide; and (2) to establish an educational website in Thai language which contains electronic textbook of astronomy online encyclopedia of astronomy observing projects astronomical database and links to other educational websites worldwide. The network will play important role in the development of teaching and learning astronomy in Thailand.

Students' and teachers' perceptions: initial achievements of a Project-Based Engineering School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terrón-López, María-José; Velasco-Quintana, Paloma-Julia; García-García, María-José; Ocampo, Jared R.

2017-11-01

A unified academic model based on the project-based learning (PBL) methodology was implemented, in the 2012-2013 period, in the School of Engineering at Universidad Europea de Madrid. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether teachers and students participating in the capstone projects feel that the objectives for which this methodology was designed for are being achieved. The data were collected through interviews to participants at the end of the PBL experience. The results are encouraging, as students seem to be more motivated, and they say that they are experiencing deeper learning, and have developed key competitive skills required for their professional lives. Findings also suggest that teachers face positively the PBL as a learning approach since they perceive that students obtain a deeper learning, develop transversal skills with the projects and are more engaged with their studies. Implications and recommendations for the future of the model are also discussed.

Explore-create-share study: An evaluation of teachers as curriculum innovators in engineering education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berry, Ayora

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a curriculum design-based (CDB) professional development model on K-12 teachers' capacity to integrate engineering education in the classroom. This teacher professional development approach differs from other training programs where teachers learn how to use a standard curriculum and adopt it in their classrooms. In a CDB professional development model teachers actively design lessons, student resources, and assessments for their classroom instruction. In other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, CDB professional development has been reported to (a) position teachers as architects of change, (b) provide a professional learning vehicle for educators to reflect on instructional practices and develop content knowledge, (c) inspire a sense of ownership in curriculum decision-making among teachers, and (d) use an instructional approach that is coherent with teachers' interests and professional goals. The CDB professional development program in this study used the Explore-Create-Share (ECS) framework as an instructional model to support teacher-led curriculum design and implementation. To evaluate the impact of the CDB professional development and associated ECS instructional model, three research studies were conducted. In each study, the participants completed a six-month CDB professional development program, the PTC STEM Certificate Program, that included sixty-two instructional contact hours. Participants learned about industry and education engineering concepts, tested engineering curricula, collaborated with K-12 educators and industry professionals, and developed project-based engineering curricula using the ECS framework. The first study evaluated the impact of the CDB professional development program on teachers' engineering knowledge, self-efficacy in designing engineering curriculum, and instructional practice in developing project-based engineering units. The study included twenty-six teachers and data was collected pre-, mid-, and post-program using teacher surveys and a curriculum analysis instrument. The second study evaluated teachers' perceptions of the ECS model as a curriculum authoring tool and the quality of the curriculum units they developed. The study included sixty-two participants and data was collected post-program using teacher surveys and a curriculum analysis instrument. The third study evaluated teachers' experiences implementing ECS units in the classroom with a focus on identifying the benefits, challenges and solutions associated with project-based engineering in the classroom. The study included thirty-one participants and data was collected using an open-ended survey instrument after teachers completed implementation of the ECS curriculum unit. Results of these three studies indicate that teachers can be prepared to integrate engineering in the classroom using a CDB professional development model. Teachers reported an increase in engineering content knowledge, improved their self-efficacy in curriculum planning, and developed high quality instructional units that were aligned to engineering design practices and STEM educational standards. The ECS instructional model was acknowledged as a valuable tool for developing and implementing engineering education in the classroom. Teachers reported that ECS curriculum design aligned with their teaching goals, provided a framework to integrate engineering with other subject-area concepts, and incorporated innovative teaching strategies. After implementing ECS units in the classroom, teachers reported that the ECS model engaged students in engineering design challenges that were situated in a real world context and required the application of interdisciplinary content knowledge and skills. Teachers also reported a number of challenges related to scheduling, content alignment, and access to resources. In the face of these obstacles, teachers presented a number of solutions that included optimization of one's teaching practice, being resource savvy, and adopting a growth mindset.

Using Mixed Methods to Analyze Video Data: A Mathematics Teacher Professional Development Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeCuir-Gunby, Jessica T.; Marshall, Patricia L.; McCulloch, Allison W.

2012-01-01

This article uses data from 65 teachers participating in a K-2 mathematics professional development research project as an example of how to analyze video recordings of teachers' classroom lessons using mixed methods. Through their discussion, the authors demonstrate how using a mixed methods approach to classroom video analysis allows researchers…

Development of a Scale to Assess the Demand for Specific Competences in Teachers after Graduation from University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landmann, Mareike

2013-01-01

Universities in Germany show an increasing need for specific information on professional demands encountered and addressed by graduates training to become teachers. To provide information on demands and abilities in teaching graduates, a specialised teacher module was developed in the framework of the German Cooperation Project for Graduate Tracer…

Two Large-Scale Professional Development Programs for Mathematics Teachers and Their Impact on Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindvall, Jannika

2017-01-01

This article reports on two professional development programs for mathematics teachers and their effects on student achievement. The projects' design and their implementation within a larger municipality in Sweden, working together with over 90 teachers and 5000 students in elementary school, are described by using a set of core critical features…

Module Cluster: RTE-001.00 (GSC) Advanced Teaching of Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Estelle

Several module clusters were developed at Glassboro State College as the result of involvement in the Camden Teacher Corps project. The clusters are the primary mode of instruction in this competency-based teacher education program. Many of these modules are based on a list of teacher competencies developed by members of the Elementary Education…

Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in Schools: Learning from Teachers' Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNaughton, Marie Jeanne

2012-01-01

In recent years, in the UK, there has been a significant focus on research in Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship Education (ESD/GCE) in initial teacher education and on projects and initiatives used with pupils in schools. However, there has been less specific focus on the "voices" of teachers who have undertaken…

Project: Informal Learning Program (ILP). Final Report for November 1, 1977 to May 31, 1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, David L., Jr.; And Others

This final report describes the development and field evaluation of teacher training materials (for inservice workshops) and elementary school language arts materials. The basic goal of the training materials, called Teacher Development Packages (TDPs), was to provide teachers with the information and skills needed to utilize games and informal…

Developing a Play-Based Communication Assessment through Collaborative Action Research with Teachers in Northern Canadian Indigenous Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stagg Peterson, Shelley

2017-01-01

With the goal of developing culturally appropriate approaches for assessing and supporting children's language use, teachers of 4-to 6-year-old children in northern Canadian rural and Indigenous communities are involved in a 6-year collaborative action research project. Teachers video record children's interactions during dramatic and construction…

Enhancing Literacy Practices in Science Classrooms through a Professional Development Program for Canadian Minority-Language Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivard, Léonard P.; Gueye, Ndeye R.

2016-01-01

'Literacy in the Science Classroom Project" was a three-year professional development (PD) program supporting minority-language secondary teachers' use of effective language-based instructional strategies for teaching science. Our primary objective was to determine how teacher beliefs and practices changed over time and how these were enacted…

Supporting Staff to Develop a Shared Understanding of Science Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sampey, Carol

2018-01-01

Assessment is not something that stands alone and teachers need support to develop their understanding of both assessment practices and the subject being assessed. Teachers at Shaw Primary School were fortunate to take part in the Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) project and, in this article, the outlines how science and assessment can…

Towards an "International Forum for Teacher Educator Development": An Agenda for Research and Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelchtermans, Geert; Smith, Kari; Vanderlinde, Ruben

2018-01-01

The outcomes of an international collaborative project are presented, involving experienced teacher educators and researchers from eight different countries, who engaged in a series of structured discussions on the professional development of teacher educators. We start with an overview of the needs in practice and policy, as well as the research…

Teacher Transformation: An Exploration of Science Teachers' Changing Professional Identities, Knowledge, and Classroom Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitacre, Michelle Phillips

This qualitative, multiple case study examines five teachers' experiences with a National Science Foundation-funded professional development (PD) program focused on science literacy. Using a three dimensional conceptual framework combining transformative learning theory, communities of practice, and sociocultural conceptions of identity it explores: the ways the "Science Literacy through Science Journalism" (SciJourn) project built professional community and influenced teacher learning; the influence of the project on participating science teachers' professional identities, knowledge, and classroom practices; and the ways teachers were or were not transformed by participation in the project. To this end, data from surveys and phenomenological interviews were analyzed through qualitative textual analysis and narrative analysis. Four of the teachers experienced a change in their stories to live by, aka, an identity shift. Three predominant themes emerged across these cases. These included a changed conceptualization of science literacy, the importance of student engagement and authenticity, and the value of SciJourn's professional development and community. The changed conceptualization of science literacy was particularly salient as it challenged these teachers' assumptions, led them to rethink how they teach science literacy, and also influenced them to re-evaluate their teaching priorities beyond the PD. Consequently, this study concludes that PD efforts should focus as much, or more, on influencing teachers' ideas regarding what and how they teach and less on teaching strategies. A close comparison between two teachers' diverging experiences with the program showed that student engagement played a significant role in teachers' perceptions of the value of project, suggesting that whether or not teachers sustain a new practice is closely tied to their students' feedback. Additionally, this analysis showed that a teacher's individualized needs and sense of efficacy in implementing a specific reform effort are of consequence. Thus, in order to be influential, PD must somehow speak to a teacher's individualized needs, whether or not these needs are specifically stated at the program's onset. Aside from wanting to implement a project, a teacher also needs to believe that he or she is capable of successfully doing so. In considering transformative learning theory as a conceptual framework, the research presented here gives evidence that certain phases of transformation may be more significant than others, and phase two (self-examination with feelings of fear, anger, guilt, or shame) should be expanded to include a wider range of emotions.

Report of an Urban Education Reform Experiment: Problems and Promises. Section II: Project Evaluation. Supplement to the Final Report of the 5th Cycle Teacher Corps Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rippey, Robert M.

This document recounts the efforts of an urban college of education (the one at the University of Illinois/Chicago Circle) to develop a cooperative program in urban teacher education. It deals with the origin of the project, operational problems encountered, solutions attempted, critical functions of systematic evaluation. Also included are…

Exploring Teacher Professional Learning for Future-Oriented Schooling: Working Paper 1 from the Back to the Future Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Jane; Bull, Ally

2014-01-01

This working paper sets out some of the early findings from a pilot project to explore the qualities that future-oriented teachers might need and how those qualities might be developed. The work began under a New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) project called Back to the Future and is now part of a Teaching & Learning Research…

Conflict in Staff Development Implementation: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponticell, Judith A.; Thomas, Julie A.; Cooper, Sandra B.

2006-01-01

Staff development is aimed at changing practice. Change creates conflict. Little work has been done to gain insight into the conflict that teachers experience in the implementation of staff development. This study examines conflict in a staff development project aimed at increasing teachers' knowledge and implementation of problem-based integrated…

Progression in Physical Education Teachers' Career-Long Professional Learning: Conceptual and Practical Concerns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armour, Kathleen; Makopoulou, Kyriaki; Chambers, Fiona

2012-01-01

This paper considers the issue of learning "progression" in pedagogy for physical education (PE) teachers in their career-long professional development (CPD). This issue arose from an analysis of findings from three research projects in which the authors were involved. The projects were undertaken in different national contexts (Ireland,…

Instructional Materials Center, Project Director's Report: 1969-70.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trockman, Mitchell D.

The Instructional Materials Center (IMC) originated in association with the development of a course to train teachers in specific techniques for teaching reading and the use of a wide range of multisensory reading materials. The major objective of the IMC project was to supply teachers with a wide variety of useful instructional materials for…

The Systems Analysis Approach to Satellite Education in Brazil.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cusack, Mary Ann

The SACI project in Brazil has as a main target the country's primary teachers. The SACI Project objectives are: (1) to test the efficiency of an educational program using audiovisual media (particularly television, radio, and slow scan) at the primary level; (2) to develop television production techniques; (3) to train teachers in the utilization…

75 FR 59049 - International Education Programs Service; Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-24

... higher education, and (2) in which at least 50 percent of participants are K-12 teachers, K-12... area studies as part of a teacher education curriculum developed through collaboration between colleges... education or within a consortium of higher education institutions, propose short-term projects abroad that...

Validity in Teachers' Summative Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Paul; Harrison, Christine; Hodgen, Jeremy; Marshall, Bethan; Serret, Natasha

2010-01-01

This paper describes some of the findings of a project which set out to explore and develop teachers' understanding and practices in their summative assessments. The focus was on those summative assessments that are used on a regular basis within schools for guiding the progress of pupils and for internal accountability. The project combined both…

Using Educative Assessments to Support Science Teaching for Middle School English-Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buxton, Cory A.; Allexsaht-Snider, Martha; Suriel, Regina; Kayumova, Shakhnoza; Choi, Youn-jeng; Bouton, Bobette; Baker, Melissa

2013-01-01

Grounded in Hallidayan perspectives on academic language, we report on our development of an educative science assessment as one component of the language-rich inquiry science for English-language learners teacher professional learning project for middle school science teachers. The project emphasizes the role of content-area writing to support…

The Action--Reflection--Modelling (ARM) Pedagogical Approach for Teacher Education: A Malaysia-UK Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarvis, Joy; Dickerson, Claire; Thomas, Kit; Graham, Sally

2014-01-01

This article presents the Action--Reflection--Modelling (ARM) pedagogical approach for teacher education developed during a Malaysia-UK collaborative project to construct a Bachelor of Education (Honours) degree programme in Primary Mathematics, with English and Health and Physical Education as minor subjects. The degree programme was written…

Vertical Whiteboarding: Riding the Wave of Student Activity in a Mathematics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forrester, Tricia; Sandison, Carolyn E.; Denny, Sue

2017-01-01

In 2014 we commenced working on the Inspiring Mathematics and Science in Teacher Education (IMSITE) project, aimed at improving mathematics and science education in Australia by improving the recruitment, development, and retention of mathematics and science teachers. In this project we undertook a range of activities, the most exciting of which…

Promoting the Geosciences for Minority Students in the Urban Coastal Environment of New York City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liou-Mark, J.; Blake, R.

2013-12-01

The 'Creating and Sustaining Diversity in the Geo-Sciences among Students and Teachers in the Urban Coastal Environment of New York City' project was awarded to New York City College of Technology (City Tech) by the National Science Foundation to promote the geosciences for students in middle and high schools and for undergraduates, especially for those who are underrepresented minorities in STEM. For the undergraduate students at City Tech, this project: 1) created and introduced geoscience knowledge and opportunities to its diverse undergraduate student population where geoscience is not currently taught at City Tech; and 2) created geoscience articulation agreements. For the middle and high schools, this project: 1) provided inquiry-oriented geoscience experiences (pedagogical and research) for students; 2) provided standards-based professional development (pedagogical and research) in Earth Science for teachers; 3) developed teachers' inquiry-oriented instructional techniques through the GLOBE program; 4) increased teacher content knowledge and confidence in the geosciences; 5) engaged and intrigued students in the application of geoscience activities in a virtual environment; 6) provided students and teachers exposure in the geosciences through trip visitations and seminars; and 7) created community-based geoscience outreach activities. Results from this program have shown significant increases in the students (grades 6-16) understanding, participation, appreciation, and awareness of the geosciences. Geoscience modules have been created and new geosciences courses have been offered. Additionally, students and teachers were engaged in state-of-the-art geoscience research projects, and they were involved in many geoscience events and initiatives. In summary, the activities combined geoscience research experiences with a robust learning community that have produced holistic and engaging stimuli for the scientific and academic growth and development of grades 6 - 12 student and teacher participants and undergraduates. (This program is supported by NSF OEDG grant #1108281.)

Economic Education Experiences of Enterprising Teachers. Volume 16. A Report Developed from the 1977-78 Entries in the International Paper Company Foundation Awards Program for the Teaching of Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nappi, Andrew T., Ed.; Suglia, Anthony F., Ed.

Eighteen award winning, teacher-developed programs, projects, courses, and materials in economic education are presented in condensed versions. The case study projects are designed to be used in primary, intermediate, junior high, senior high, and college, and are organized into five chapters by grade level. Chapter I suggests ways to teach…

The Enduring Communities Project of Japanese American Experiences in New Mexico during World War II and Beyond: A Teacher's Journey in Creating Meaningful Curriculum for the Secondary Social Studies Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ball, Diane Leslie

2010-01-01

In 2006, the Japanese American National Museum funded a three year curriculum development project entitled "Enduring Communities: Japanese Americans in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah." As a member of the team of teachers from New Mexico, I used this experience to study my process of developing meaningful content and…

Project Based Learning in Literature: The Teacher's New Role and the Development of Student's Social Skills in Upper Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Styla, Despoina; Michalopoulou, Aikaterini

2016-01-01

The present research examines the project method, as it is met at the new curriculum of literature in the first Grade of Greek high schools and the effectiveness of it and of the teacher's role at the development of social skills, of students with low level. At first it is made an effort to measure that level at the beginning of the literature…

Adapting to Teach Climate Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkening, B.; Schwartz, K. L.

2017-12-01

Adaptation is a key strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, and it can also be a key strategy in teaching climate literacy. Adapting curriculum to include utilizing new instructional practices, modifying existing lessons, evaluating evidence and engaging students in real-world projects are strategies employed in Recharge the Rain. Arizona Project WET and Watershed Management Group developed the Recharge the Rain project, through a NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant, to build community resiliency to hazards associated with increased temperatures, drought and flooding in Arizona. Sixth through twelfth grade teachers, students and the public will move through a continuum from awareness, to knowledge gain, to conceptual understanding, to action. During the first year of the project, through professional development and ongoing guidance, teachers developed a climate literacy curriculum to use in their classrooms. Using systems thinking language and structure from the Cabrera Research Labs, teachers and students gain the thinking tools necessary to increase understanding of Earth's climate system. Lessons and resources for teaching about climate change are abundant and many, such as those on the Climate Literacy Education Awareness Network (CLEAN), have gone through an extensive review process. By cataloguing online resources and sharing these with teachers through a social bookmarking tool, wakelet.com, teachers are easily able to find appropriate teaching material. Engaging students in evaluating evidence requires the data to be relevant to their everyday lives. Online data resources are readily available from NOAA and other sources at both the global and local levels. When teachers, students and the public contribute to the data collection process in citizen science projects such as CoCoRaHS, iSeeChange, and USA National Phenology Network, the data empowers them to act in ways to mitigate the climate threats in their community. Adapting to teach climate literacy can create a community of teachers, students and the public who are moving forward with making responsible decisions that affect the climate.

Project HITE (health individualization and teacher education): a health curriculum for 3-, 4- and 5-year olds.

PubMed

Davis, A P

1983-09-01

South Carolina has been a national leader in such health problems as cardiovascular disease, syphillis and gonorrhea. Since many of the problems could be attributed to poor health habits, education of the state's residents seemed in order. The education/re-education of inaccessible adults with firmly established health habits--poor or otherwise--was not feasible, but the education of impressionable, readily accessible three-, four- and five-year olds was possible. Through a grant from the federal government, an individualized health curriculum that could accommodate the differences of the learners and include vital health content was developed. This project of developing and distributing the health curriculum to teachers of young children was called Project HITE (Health Individualization and Teacher Education).

Hampshire College Center for Science Education. Final Report on Activities Supported by the Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-06ER64256

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stillings, Neil; Wenk, Laura

Hampshire College's Center for Science Education (Center) focuses on teacher professional development, curriculum development, and student enrichment programs. The Center also maintains research programs on teacher change, student learning and instructional effectiveness. The Center's work promotes learning that persists over time and transfers to new situations in and out of school. The projects develop the implications of the increasing agreement among teachers and researchers that effective learning involves active concept mastery and consistent practice with inquiry and critical thinking. The Center's objective is to help strengthen the pipeline of U.S. students pursuing postsecondary study in STEM fields. The Center achievesmore » this by fostering an educational environment in which science is taught as an active, directly experienced endeavor across the K-16 continuum. Too often, young people are dissuaded from pursuing science because they do not see its relevance, instead experiencing it as dry, rote, technical. In contrast, when science is taught as a hands-on, inquiry-driven process, students are encouraged to ask questions grounded in their own curiosity and seek experimental solutions accordingly. In this way, they quickly discover both the profound relevance of science to their daily lives and its accessibility to them. Essentially, they learn to think and act like real scientists. The Center’s approach is multi-faceted: it includes direct inquiry-based science instruction to secondary and postsecondary students, educating the next generation of teachers, and providing new educational opportunities for teachers already working in the schools. Funding from the Department of Energy focused on the last population, enabling in-service teachers to explore and experience the pedagogy of inquiry-based science for themselves, and to take it back to their classrooms and students. The Center has demonstrated that the inquiry-based approach to science learning is compatible with existing state curriculum frameworks and produces students who understand and are positively inclined toward science. Funds from this Department of Energy grant supported three projects that involved K-16 science outreach: 1. Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE). TIEE a peer-reviewed online journal and curriculum resource for postsecondary science teachers. 2. The Collaboration for Excellence in Science Education (CESE). CESE is a partnership with the Amherst, Massachusetts school system to foster the professional development of science teachers, and to perform research on student learning in the sciences and on teacher change. The project draws on Hampshire's long experience with inquiry-oriented and interdisciplinary education, as well as on its unique strengths in cognitive science. The project is run as design research, working with teachers to improve their practices and studying student and/or teacher outcomes. 3. Day in the Lab. Grant funds partially supported the expansion of the ongoing science outreach activities of the School of Natural Science. These activities are focused on local districts with large minority enrollments, including the Amherst, Holyoke and Springfield Public School Districts, and the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School (PVPA). Each of the three projects supported by the grant met or exceeded its goals. In part, the successes we met were due to continuity and communication among the staff of the programs. At the beginning of the CESE project, a science outreach coordinator was recruited. He worked throughout the grant period along with a senior researcher and the project's curriculum director. Additionally, the director and an undergraduate student conducted research on teacher change. The science outreach coordinator acted as a liaison among Hampshire College, the school districts, and a number of local businesses and agencies, providing organizational support, discussion facilitation, classroom support for teachers, and materials purchase. His presence in the schools kept teachers engaged and supported. He also brought the PVPA Charter School into the project. He worked closely with the educational outreach coordinator at Hampshire who oversaw the Day in the Lab program. Together, they have ensured the continuity of support to the schools through the use and placement of student interns. Finally, the director and coordinators worked with the Hitchock Center for the Environment to bring the two science professional development efforts in Amherst together. The joint development of workshops for elementary teachers was extremely successful. A major reason for the successes of the CESE program was the strength of the teacher outreach team and the sheer number of hours spent building relationships, talking about teaching and learning, planning projects, developing curriculum, and working with experts throughout the Pioneer Valley.« less

DLESE Teaching Box Pilot Project: Developing a Replicable Model for Collaboratively Creating Innovative Instructional Sequences Using Exemplary Resources in the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weingroff, M.

2004-12-01

Before the advent of digital libraries, it was difficult for teachers to find suitable high-quality resources to use in their teaching. Digital libraries such as DLESE have eased the task by making high quality resources more easily accessible and providing search mechanisms that allow teachers to 'fine tune' the criteria over which they search. Searches tend to return lists of resources with some contextualizing information. However, teachers who are teaching 'out of discipline' or who have minimal training in science often need additional support to know how to use and sequence them. The Teaching Box Pilot Project was developed to address these concerns, bringing together educators, scientists, and instructional designers in a partnership to build an online framework to fully support innovative units of instruction about the Earth system. Each box integrates DLESE resources and activities, teaching tips, standards, concepts, teaching outcomes, reviews, and assessment information. Online templates and best practice guidelines are being developed that will enable teachers to create their own boxes or customize existing ones. Two boxes have been developed so far, one on weather for high school students, and one on the evidence for plate tectonics for middle schoolers. The project has met with significant enthusiasm and interest, and we hope to expand it by involving individual teachers, school systems, pre-service programs, and universities in the development and use of teaching boxes. A key ingredient in the project's success has been the close collaboration between the partners, each of whom has brought unique experiences, perspectives, knowledge, and skills to the project. This first effort involved teachers in the San Francisco Bay area, the University of California Museum of Paleontology, San Francisco State University, U.S. Geological Survey, and DLESE. This poster will allow participants to explore one of the teaching boxes. We will discuss how the boxes were developed, the conditions that engendered successful collaboration and high-quality results, lessons learned, and potential adaptations for networks of user communities, for example, in ocean education or seismology.

Teachers as Researchers: A Discovery of Their Emerging Role and Impact through a School-University Collaborative Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chow, Ken Chi Kin; Chu, Samuel Kai Wah; Tavares, Nicole; Lee, Celina Wing Yi

2015-01-01

This study explored the impact of the role of teacher-researchers on in-service teachers' professional development, as well as the reasons behind the lack of a teacher-as-researcher ethos in schools. In the study, teachers from four Hong Kong primary schools participated in a school-university collaborative research project that promotes…

A Mentoring Program Drills down on the Common Core

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Emily; Sinclair, Steve; Gschwend, Laura

2015-01-01

The Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project--under the aegis of the New Teacher Center--devised a program to train teacher mentors to help new teachers incorporate the Common Core standards into their teaching. The three-year program yielded five critical lessons: Mentors need ongoing support to develop their readiness and willingness to…

1977 Teacher Intern Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Resnick, Harold S.

A need for better understanding between industry and education prompted development of a program to employ eight teachers in industry on a full-time basis during the summer to broaden the teachers' understanding of the nature and scope of the industrial process. Weekly seminars were held in which the teachers shared their experiences with each…

Opportunities and Challenges for Teacher Professional Development: A Case of Collaborative Learning Community in South Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Minjeong; So, Kyunghee

2014-01-01

This study investigates how characteristics of a collaborative professional learning activity support and hinder teacher learning and growth by examining the experiences of three Korean secondary teachers who participated in a school-initiated collaborative teacher learning project. The findings demonstrated that this learning opportunity…

The Slippery Slope to Efficiency? An Australian Perspective on School/University Partnerships for Teacher Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mockler, Nicole

2013-01-01

Large-scale school/university partnerships for the enhancement of teacher professionalism and teacher professional learning have been part of the teacher development landscape in Australia for the past two decades. This paper takes a historical perspective on Australian school/university partnerships through detailing three national projects over…

Research-Based Insights on Initial Teacher Education in Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sancho-Gil, Juana M.; Sánchez-Valero, Joan-Anton; Domingo-Coscollola, Maria

2017-01-01

This paper builds on two research projects on initial and in-service education of teachers, their professional experience, and the pathways they travelled to become teachers. The policy documents analysed and the teachers' professional histories, the micro-ethnographies and the discussion groups developed, allowed us to draw a broad picture of the…

Telling Tales: The Value of Storytelling for Early Career Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allard, Andrea C.; Doecke, Brenton

2017-01-01

This article examines how early career teachers, participants in a research project, make sense of their experiences through storytelling. The teachers' stories provide a significant counterpoint to the way standards-based reforms construct their professional development, prompting us as teacher educators to think again about what it means for our…

Improving the Quality of Education by Identifying Effective Television Teachers. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Lawrence, Jr.

A project designed to develop a television teacher rating instrument, and to study relationships between ratings of teachers, measures of student personality, and student reports of mood associated with instruction utilized over 2,300 undergraduates: 618 of them described an ideal teacher on an adjectival rating scale and the remainder rated…

Robert Frost: Democracy, Teaching, and Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Jeffery M.

2010-01-01

The goal of this dissertation is to develop a connection between poetry and teacher education. I am motivated to undertake this project because poetry is an underappreciated resource, one that has a good deal to teach teachers. Specifically, I believe that poetry can teach teachers about how to creatively and democratically respond to problems of…

Energy Project Professional Development: Promoting Positive Attitudes about Science among K-12 Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, Amy D.; Daane, Abigail R.

2017-01-01

Promoting positive attitudes about science among teachers has important implications for teachers' classroom practice and for their relationship to science as a discipline. In this paper, we report positive shifts in teachers' attitudes about science, as measured by the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science (CLASS) survey, over the course of…

Environment and health: Probes and sensors for environment digital control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schettini, Chiara

2014-05-01

The idea of studying the environment using New Technologies (NT) came from a MIUR (Ministry of Education of the Italian Government) notice that allocated funds for the realization of innovative school science projects. The "Environment and Health" project uses probes and sensors for digital control of environment (water, air and soil). The working group was composed of 4 Science teachers from 'Liceo Statale G. Mazzini ', under the coordination of teacher Chiara Schettini. The Didactic Section of Naples City of Sciences helped the teachers in developing the project and it organized a refresher course for them on the utilization of digital control sensors. The project connects Environment and Technology because the study of the natural aspects and the analysis of the chemical-physical parameters give students and teachers skills for studying the environment based on the utilization of NT in computing data elaboration. During the practical project, samples of air, water and soil are gathered in different contexts. Sample analysis was done in the school's scientific laboratory with digitally controlled sensors. The data are elaborated with specific software and the results have been written in a booklet and in a computing database. During the first year, the project involved 6 school classes (age of the students 14—15 years), under the coordination of Science teachers. The project aims are: 1) making students more aware about environmental matters 2) achieving basic skills for evaluating air, water and soil quality. 3) achieving strong skills for the utilization of digitally controlled sensors. 4) achieving computing skills for elaborating and presenting data. The project aims to develop a large environmental conscience and the need of a ' good ' environment for defending our health. Moreover it would increase the importance of NT as an instrument of knowledge.

Teacher Professional Development to Foster Authentic Student Research Experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conn, K.; Iyengar, E.

2004-12-01

This presentation reports on a new teacher workshop design that encourages teachers to initiate and support long-term student-directed research projects in the classroom setting. Teachers were recruited and engaged in an intensive marine ecology learning experience at Shoals Marine Laboratory, Appledore Island, Maine. Part of the weeklong summer workshop was spent in field work, part in laboratory work, and part in learning experimental design and basic statistical analysis of experimental results. Teachers were presented with strategies to adapt their workshop learnings to formulate plans for initiating and managing authentic student research projects in their classrooms. The authors will report on the different considerations and constraints facing the teachers in their home school settings and teachers' progress in implementing their plans. Suggestions for replicating the workshop will be offered.

The Effect Teaching Experience Has on Perceived Effectiveness of Interactive Television as a Distance Education Model for Elementary School Science Teacher's Professional Development: Another Digital Divide?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annetta, Leonard A.; Minogue, James

2004-01-01

The first year of a 5 year professional development project for elementary teachers in two mid-western states integrated a bridge of two distinctly different distance education networks (T-1 and fiber optics) to provide science professional development for elementary school teachers in rural communities. "Interactive television" (ITV), the title…

The LEONARDO-DA-VINCI pilot project "e-learning-assistant" - Situation-based learning in nursing education.

PubMed

Pfefferle, Petra Ina; Van den Stock, Etienne; Nauerth, Annette

2010-07-01

E-learning will play an important role in the training portfolio of students in higher and vocational education. Within the LEONARDO-DA-VINCI action programme transnational pilot projects were funded by the European Union, which aimed to improve the usage and quality of e-learning tools in education and professional training. The overall aim of the LEONARDO-DA-VINCI pilot project "e-learning-assistant" was to create new didactical and technical e-learning tools for Europe-wide use in nursing education. Based on a new situation-oriented learning approach, nursing teachers enrolled in the project were instructed to adapt, develop and implement e- and blended learning units. According to the training contents nursing modules were developed by teachers from partner institutions, implemented in the project centers and evaluated by students. The user-package "e-learning-assistant" as a product of the project includes two teacher training units, the authoring tool "synapse" to create situation-based e-learning units, a student's learning platform containing blended learning modules in nursing and an open sourced web-based communication centre. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Project CLIMB.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeLucca, Adolph

1982-01-01

As a state and national model for a basic skills curriculum for Kindergarten through grade 12 students, Coordination Learning Integration--Middlesex Basics (Project CLIMB) is described. The unified system was developed by teachers with administrative support to accomodate all students' reading and mathematics needs. Project CLIMB's development and…

PHOTON2: A web-based professional development model for photonics technology education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massa, Nicholas M.; Washburn, Barbara A.; Kehrhahn, Marijke; Donnelly, Judith F.; Hanes, Fenna D.

2004-10-01

In this paper, we present a web-based teacher professional development model for photonics technology education funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program. In response to the rapidly growing demand for skilled photonics technicians, the PHOTON2 project will increase the number of high school teachers and community college faculty across the US proficient in teaching photonics technology at their own institutions. The project will also focus on building the capacity of educators to engage in lifelong learning through web-based professional development. Unlike the traditional professional development model whereby educators receive training through intensive short-term workshops, the PHOTON2 project team has developed a pedagogical framework designed specifically for adult learners in which technical content, curriculum development, and learner self-regulatory development are integrated into an active, collaborative, and sustained online learning environment. In Spring 2004, two cohorts of science and technology educators, career/guidance counselors, and industry mentors from eleven states including California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona, Hawaii, and the six New England states commenced participation in the three-year project. Qualitative and quantitative research, focused on individual and environmental factors related to web-based learning, will examine the viability of web-based teacher/faculty professional development in engineering technology education.

Teacher training

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-06-14

Mississippi educators participated in a variety of hands-on activities, including rocketry, robotics, and NASA's BEST (Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology) during a pair of during a pair of professional development workshops conducted by Stennis Space Center educators in June. On June 14, Stennis educators presented workshops to 96 kindergarten-through-12th-grade science teachers and eight Jackson State University faculty, as part of JSU's Project MAST (Mississippi Academy for Science Teaching) Project. On June 21, educators presented workshops in Starkville to 43 fourth-through-eighth-grade science teachers as part of Mississippi State University's Advancing Teachers of Middle School Science initiative.

Report of an Urban Education Reform Experiment: Problems and Promise. Part I Project Development. Supplement to Final Report of the 5th Cycle Teacher Corps Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monroe, George E.

The Fifth Cycle Teacher Corps Project was undertaken by the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle to a) fulfill a stated mission of a university especially created to help resolve urban problems, b) find effective ways to help an inner-city community utilize its own resources, and c) conduct research on the effective uses of evaluation in…

Closing the Gap between Professors and Teachers: "Uncoverage" as a Model of Professional Development for History Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Timothy D.; Scott, Renay

2007-01-01

The aim of the Central Michigan University Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Teaching American History (TAH) Project has been to forge a model of professional development that would not merely improve teachers' knowledge of events, people, and dates, but to go beyond this to strengthen the understanding of the nature and practice of historical thinking,…

Chemistry Teachers' Emerging Expertise in Inquiry Teaching: The Effect of a Professional Development Model on Beliefs and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rushton, Gregory T.; Lotter, Christine; Singer, Jonathan

2011-01-01

This study investigates the beliefs and practices of seven high school chemistry teachers as a result of their participation in a year-long inquiry professional development (PD) project. An analysis of oral interviews, written reflections, and in-class observations were used to determine the extent to which the PD affected the teachers' beliefs…

The Use of the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth for Understanding the Development of Science Teachers' Knowledge on Models and Modelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Justi, Rosaria; van Driel, Jan

2006-01-01

Models play an important role in science education. However, previous research has revealed that science teachers' content knowledge, curricular knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge on models and modelling are often incomplete or inadequate. From this perspective, a research project was designed which aimed at the development of beginning…

Hands-On Professional Development: Middle School Teachers' Experiences with a Curriculum Intervention Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Jennifer D.; Gonzalez, Eileen M.; López-Velásquez, Angela M.; Howard, Elizabeth R.

2013-01-01

The importance of professional development (PD) is clearly understood; however, little is known about how the most effective PD influences teachers' learning and how teachers perceive PD that goes beyond the typical two-hour session on an aspect of instruction. In this article, the authors present the response of a group of middle school teachers…

Increasing Science Achievement and Student Development as Related to Practicing Teachers' Self-Efficacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sottile, James M., Jr.; Carter, William; Watson, George

The purpose of this research was to describe how self-efficacy affects the development and science achievement of practicing teachers after their participation in a half day long hands-on science lesson provided by the Science on Wheels project. The 42 practicing K-8 teachers were from eight different counties located in a rural mid-eastern state.…

Adaptive Capacity in the Pacific Region: A Study of Continuous Professional Development for In-Service Teachers in Kiribati

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Tess; Thomson, Ian

2018-01-01

This study of I-Kiribati secondary school teachers used a project-based approach to investigate the notions of school-based and collaborative learning as a suitable model for in-service teacher continuous professional development (CPD). The design and methodology adopted by the study framed the argument that since collaborative behavior is…

Developing Teachers' Work for Improving Teaching and Learning of Children with Visual Impairment Accommodated in Ordinary Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mnyanyi, Cosmas B. F.

2009-01-01

The study investigated how to facilitate teachers in developing their work in improving the teaching and learning of children with visual impairment (CVI) accommodated in ordinary classrooms. The study takes the form of collaborative action research where the researcher works in collaboration with the teachers. The project is being conducted in…

Development and Exemplification of a Model for Teacher Assessment in Primary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, D. J.; Earle, S.; McMahon, K.; Howe, A.; Collier, C.

2017-01-01

The Teacher Assessment in Primary Science project is funded by the Primary Science Teaching Trust and based at Bath Spa University. The study aims to develop a whole-school model of valid, reliable and manageable teacher assessment to inform practice and make a positive impact on primary-aged children's learning in science. The model is based on a…

Guidelines for the Statement and Assessment of Student Competencies. Teacher Education Forum Series. Vol. 1, No. 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock, Terry; And Others

This paper, prepared by the Division of Teacher Education Evaluation Team at Indiana University, presents a set of proposed student competencies and ways to assess them. It also contains the guidelines developed by the evaluation team to help teacher education projects and programs in developing competencies and measurement procedures, as well as…

A Guide for Teaching Regional Environmental Planning. Final Report of Project - Inservice Personnel Development: Regional Environmental Planning Workshops for Tri-County Secondary School Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, James Joseph, Ed.

This guide is designed for teachers, administrators, inservice leaders, and teacher educators. Its purpose is to provide an organizational framework, material, and resources for the development of instructional plans and strategies for incorporating regional environmental planning in the secondary school curriculum. The guide is divided into three…

Bringing the Field to the Supervisor: Innovation in Distance Supervision for Field-Based Experiences Using Mobile Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Matthew; Gage, Ashley MacSuga; Gage, Nicholas; Cox, Penny; McLeskey, James

2015-01-01

This paper provides a summary of the design, development, and evaluation of a mobile distance supervision system for teacher interns in their field-based teaching experiences. Developed as part of the University of Florida's Restructuring and Improving Teacher Education 325T grant project, the prototype system streams video of teachers in rural…

One Science Teacher's Professional Development Experience: A Case Study Exploring Changes in Students' Perceptions of Their Fluency with Innovative Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebenezer, Jazlin; Columbus, Russell; Kaya, Osman Nafiz; Zhang, Lin; Ebenezer, Devairakkam Luke

2012-01-01

The purpose of this case-study is to narrate a secondary science teacher's experience of his professional development (PD) education and training in innovative technologies (IT) in the context of engaging students in environmental research projects. The sources from which the narrative is derived include (1) the science teacher's reflective…

Teacher Reactions to Classroom Responses of Male and Female Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadker, David; And Others

The 3-year research and development project described in this paper was conducted (1) to develop new knowledge about sex equity in classroom interactions, and (2) to develop successful techniques for reducing or eliminating sex-biased interaction. Two interventions were developed to train teachers in more equitable instructional behaviors. In the…

Professional Development for Design-Based Learning in Engineering Education: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gómez Puente, Sonia M.; van Eijck, Michiel; Jochems, Wim

2015-01-01

Design-based learning (DBL) is an educational approach in which students gather and apply theoretical knowledge to solve design problems. In this study, we examined how critical DBL dimensions (project characteristics, design elements, the teacher's role, assessment, and social context) are applied by teachers in the redesign of DBL projects.…

Changing Teachers' Practices through Exploratory Talk in Mathematics: A Discursive Pedagogical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Carol

2015-01-01

This paper presents data collected as part of an intervention research project to develop exploratory talk and collaborative group work with six and seven year-old students in mathematics. A discursive approach was used to analyse and interpret variations in the way that three case-study teachers, involved in the project, managed the group work…

Curriculum Weaving: Developing Creative Curricular Opportunities for Pre-Service Teachers and Elementary Students through Project-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuBois, Alison Lynn; Keller, Tina Marie

2016-01-01

Curriculum Weaving uses multi-layered goal planning designed to activate the students' prior knowledge, connect the student to student competencies and encourage them to engage in professionally-based, project management activities that will cultivate effective professional in the field classroom teacher. The focus of weaving these elements…

Sociodramatic Play as Opportunity for Literacy Development: The Teacher's Role.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korat, Ofra; Bahar, Etti; Snapir, Miriam

2003-01-01

Reports on an educational project that focused on the nature of the support one teacher gave to the children in her kindergarten class while engaging with them in literacy play. Contends that the project revealed that young children have their own assumptions about and knowledge of the written language, which they actively use in their play. (PM)

Eisenhower Pre-Service Teacher Education Project, Higher Education Consortium Region III. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wozniak, Jacci

The Eisenhower Pre-Service Teacher Education Project was developed by the University of Central Florida, the five community colleges in Region III of the Higher Education Consortium, and the private college and universities in the same region to design curriculum changes to improve the preparation of elementary and secondary math and science…

"Cascading Participation" and the Role of Teachers in a Collaborative HIV and Aids Curriculum Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Duncan; Cooper, Adam; Swartz, Sharlene

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings of four Grade 6 teachers' involvement as facilitators of a participatory action research (PAR) project conducted in three South African primary schools. Based on the results of Phase One research which indicated that Grade 6s learn about sexuality, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency…

Tensions and Trade-Offs in Voluntary Involvement: Evaluating the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenseid, Lija O.; Lawrenz, Frances

2011-01-01

A team at the University of Minnesota conducted the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) core evaluation between 1999 and 2004. The purpose of the CETP core evaluation was to achieve consensus among CETP project leaders and project evaluators on evaluation questions; to develop, pilot, and field test evaluation instruments…

Collaborative Research Methodology for Investigating Teaching and Learning: The Use of Interactive Whiteboard Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Victoria; Barnes, Sally; Sutherland, Rosamund; Curran, Sarah; Mills, Simon; Thompson, Ian

2005-01-01

This paper discusses the results of a research project which aimed to capture, analyse and communicate the complex interactions between students, teachers and technology that occur in the classroom. Teachers and researchers used an innovative research design developed through the InterActive Education Project (Sutherland et al., 2003). Video case…

Teacher's Guide to Animal Camouflage: The MATCH Box Project; Prototype Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Standring, Gillian; Bernath, Robert

The Materials and Activities for Teachers and Children (MATCH Box) project was developed in 1965 to provide for the relatively intensive treatment of a subject over a short period through materials geared to the elementary school level. Each MATCH Box contains materials, equipment, and activities that work together to foster the teaching/learning…

ICT Training of University Teachers in a Personal Learning Environment. Project DIPRO 2.0.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabero Almenara, Julio; Marín Díaz, Verónica

2012-01-01

Developing an information and knowledge society involves the incorporation of technological tools into education. This can only happen if teachers are properly qualified to include such tools into the classroom dynamics. The present article brings to the forefront a training proposal framed within an R&D project funded by the Spanish Ministry…

Improving Social Skills through the Use of Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dollman, Lucinda; Morgan, Catherine; Pergler, Jennifer; Russell, William; Watts, Jennifer

2007-01-01

The purpose of this action research project is to improve student social skills through the use of cooperative learning, in order to develop a positive classroom environment that is conducive to learning. The action research project will involve approximately 95 students, 95 parents, and 200 teachers. It is the intent of the teacher researchers to…

Multiliteracies, Pedagogy and Identities: Teacher and Student Voices from a Toronto Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giampapa, Frances

2010-01-01

In this article, I draw on an ethnographic case study of one Toronto elementary school, as part of a Canada-wide action research project: Multiliteracy Project (www.multiliteracies.ca). I have explored how Perminder, a grade-4 teacher, developed a multiliteracies pedagogy, drawing on her own and her students' identities and linguistic and cultural…

Observing Some Life Cycles. Teacher's Guide. Unit E3. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chitepo, Thoko; And Others

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide contains instructional…

Creating Leaders through the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearce, Kyle

2015-01-01

Leadership is a skill that can be learned through professional development, mentoring, and leadership development programs. In Ontario, the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) helps educators develop their leadership skills through a Ministry of Education--funded project that addresses student learning needs in their classrooms. This…

Empowering Teachers to Author Multimedia Learning Resources That Support Students' Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holley, Debbie; Boyle, Tom

2012-01-01

Students studying Marketing, Fashion, Public Relations, Advertising and similar subjects need to develop a "critical eye" in relation to images, media and digital technologies. This project aims to empower teachers to develop multimedia learning resources that would support students engaging in this essential activity. Developing such…

The development of mini project interactive media on junior statistical materials (developmental research in junior high school)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauziah, D.; Mardiyana; Saputro, D. R. S.

2018-05-01

Assessment is an integral part in the learning process. The process and the result should be in line, regarding to measure the ability of learners. Authentic assessment refers to a form of assessment that measures the competence of attitudes, knowledge, and skills. In fact, many teachers including mathematics teachers who have implemented curriculum based teaching 2013 feel confuse and difficult in mastering the use of authentic assessment instruments. Therefore, it is necessary to design an authentic assessment instrument with an interactive mini media project where teacher can adopt it in the assessment. The type of this research is developmental research. The developmental research refers to the 4D models development, which consist of four stages: define, design, develop and disseminate. The research purpose is to create a valid mini project interactive media on statistical materials in junior high school. The retrieved valid instrument based on expert judgment are 3,1 for eligibility constructions aspect, and 3,2 for eligibility presentation aspect, 3,25 for eligibility contents aspect, and 2,9 for eligibility didactic aspect. The research results obtained interactive mini media projects on statistical materials using Adobe Flash so it can help teachers and students in achieving learning objectives.

Energy: options for the future. Curriculum development project for high school teachers. Final report. [Packet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carroll, T.O.

Recent state and regional energy crises demonstrate the delicate balance between energy systems, the environment, and the economy. Indeed, the interaction between these three elements of society is very complex. This project develops curriculum materials that would better provide students with an understanding and awareness of fundamental principles of energy supply, conversion processes, and utilization now and in the future. The project had two specific objectives: to transfer knowledge of energy systems, analysis techniques, and advanced technologies from the energy analyst community to the teacher participants; and to involve teachers in the preparation of modular case studies on energy issuesmore » for use within the classroom. These curriculum modules are intended to enhance the teacher's ability to provide energy-related education to students within his or her own academic setting. The project is organized as a three-week summer program, as noted in the flyer (Appendix A). Mornings are spent in seminars with energy and environmental specialists (their handout lecture notes are included as Appendix B); afternoons are devoted to high school curriculum development based on the seminar discussions. The curriculum development is limited to five areas: conservation, electricity demand scheduling, energy in the food system, new technologies (solar, wind, biomass), and environment. Appendix C consists of one-day lession plans in these areas.« less

Teacher's experiences in PBL: implications for practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alves, Anabela C.; Sousa, Rui M.; Fernandes, Sandra; Cardoso, Elisabete; Carvalho, Maria Alice; Figueiredo, Jorge; Pereira, Rui M. S.

2016-03-01

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been implemented in the first year of the Industrial Engineering and Management programme at the University of Minho, Portugal, since 2004/2005. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss teachers' experiences in PBL in this programme and to explore its implications for student learning and for teaching practices in higher education. For data collection, the research method used was written narratives to these teachers, at the end of the PBL semester. Findings suggest that teachers express a positive view of PBL as a learning approach. They identify student motivation and engagement, along with a better understanding of the application of concepts in real-life situations, as important outcomes of the project for students. Besides this, teachers also highlight the importance of the development of transversal skills by students throughout the project. Recommendations for future work and implications for practice will also be discussed.

Collaborative Inquiry and the Professional Development of Science Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erickson, Gaalen L.

1991-01-01

Argues that the nature and meaning of collaborative relationships depend upon their particular, practical context. Describes an ongoing collaborative research project, the Students' Intuitions and Science Instruction Group (University of British Columbia), detailing its research agenda, postulates pertaining to teacher development, collaborative…

Effective Collaboration in Teacher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Roger V.; And Others

1992-01-01

Describes the collaboration between Bowling Green city schools and Bowling Green State University. Higher education faculty and K-12 teachers work in each other's classrooms to improve instruction, facilitate curriculum development, and enhance faculty development. The article describes partnership projects, elaborates one case study, and…

ICT Competency Standards for Teachers: Competency Standards Modules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2008

2008-01-01

Both professional development programs for teachers currently in the classroom and programs for preparing future teachers should provide technology-rich experiences throughout all aspects of the training. Standards and resources within the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s project "Information and…

Enhancing Teacher and Student Engagement and Understanding of Marine Science Through Classroom Citizen Science Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodale, T. A.

2016-02-01

Overview This paper presentation shares findings from a granted funded project that sought to expand teacher content knowledge and pedagogy within the fields of marine science and coastal resource management through the implementation of classroom citizen science projects. A secondary goal was to increase middle and high school student interest and participation in marine science and natural resources research. Background A local science & engineering fair has seen a rapid decline in secondary student participants in the past four years. Research has demonstrated that when students are a part of a system of knowledge production (citizen science) they become much more aware, involved and conscious of scientific concepts compared to traditional school laboratory and nature of science activities. This project's primary objectives were to: (a) enhance teacher content expertise in marine science, (b) enrich teacher professional learning, (c) support citizen science classroom projects and inspire student activism and marine science engagement. Methods Project goals were addressed through classroom and meaningful outdoor educational experiences that put content knowledge into field based practices. Teachers learned to apply thier expanded content knowlege through classroom citizen science projects that focus on marine resource conservation issues such as fisheries management, water quality, turtle nesting and biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. These projects would eventually become potential topics of citizen science research topics for their students to pursue. Upon completion of their professional development, participants were urged to establish student Marine Science clubs with the goal of mentoring student submissions into the local science fair. Supplemental awards were possible for the students of project participants. Findings Based on project measures participants significantly increased their knowledge and awareness of presented material marine science and coastal resources. 11/14 teacher participants established citizen science clubs that focused on marine related issues. Science fair participation increased by 42% and of those students whose mentor teacher was a project participant 90% stated they would likely pursue a marine science related major in college.

Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE): Developing self-directed professional development modules for secondary science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buhr, S. M.; Lynds, S. E.; McCaffrey, M. S.; Morton, E.

2010-12-01

Inspiring Climate Education Excellence (ICEE) is a NASA-funded project to develop online course modules and self-directed learning resources aligned with the Essential Principles of Climate Science. Following a national needs assessment survey and a face to face workshop to pilot test topics, a suite of online modules is being developed suitable for self-directed learning by secondary science teachers. Modules are designed around concepts and topics in which teachers express the most interest and need for instruction. Module design also includes attention to effective teaching strategies, such as awareness of student misconceptions, strategies for forestalling controversy and advice from master teachers on implementation and curriculum development. The resources are being developed in partnership with GLOBE, and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and is informed by the work of the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) project. ICEE will help to meet the professional development needs of teachers, including those participating in the GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign. Modules and self-directed learning resources will be developed and disseminated in partnership with the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). This presentation introduces the needs assessment and pilot workshop data upon which the modules are based, and describes the modules that are available and in development.

The Seeds Left in Italy by the E&O Program of the Andrill Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cattadori, M.

2010-12-01

One of the main purposes of the ARISE program, the educational initiative by the ANDRILL research, was to “integrate polar geoscience content into a range of learning environments”. In the range of this program, an Italian science teacher created and developed through 2006 and 2007 a specific project called progettosmilla.it (www.progettosmilla.it). With the services consequently created, this initiative managed to involve more then 2000 students and 100 teachers across the Italian territory. Though, what is left of that experience four years later? This contribution focuses on the description of the long-term effects of that event on the earth system science education in Italy. It offers the chance to analyze some of the most significant educational projects rooted in the network of (local and national) institutions which supported the progettosmilla.it-ANDRILL program. Among these: - the Ortles project: an E&O initiative developed in the range of an international paleoclimatic research on the biggest ice-cap of the Eastern Alps (by Italian and U.S. universities and centers of research); - the I-CLEEN (Inquiring on Climate & ENergy) project: an information gateway collecting educational resources, which promotes an enquiry-based approach and is managed by science teachers (by the Natural Science Museum of Trento- Italy); - the SPEs (Summer Polar School for Teachers): a summer class where research, researchers and teachers illustrate polar themes and lectures to be introduced in scholastic programs (by the National Museum of Antarctica- Italy); - the first European edition of IESO (International Earth Science Olympiad), initiative to be held in Italy in 2011 (by University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Italy). Through the analysis of these projects it will be possible to gain useful clues and answer more complex questions, such as: Which are the key factors for the success of such a project, aimed to the cooperation between scientists and teachers? Why an Educational & Outreach program of a scientific research should invest on science teachers?

Texas Teacher Center Activities and Networking with Special Attention to School-Based Teacher Educator (SBTE) Activities: Part II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loucks, Susan F.; Hall, Gene E.

This document is the second in a series of evaluation reports by the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin, assessing the state of teacher centering in Texas and the effects of the University of Houston's Project on School-Based Teacher Educators (SBTE), initiated to create a network of teacher…

The Acadia Learning Project: Lessons Learned from Engaging High School Teachers and Students in Citizen Science Supporting National Parks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, S. J.; Zoellick, B.; Davis, Y.; Lindsey, E.

2009-12-01

In 2007 the authors initiated a citizen science research project, supported with funding from the Maine Department of Education, designed to extend research at Acadia National Park to a broader geographic area while also providing high school students and teachers with an opportunity to engage in authentic research in cooperation with working scientists. The scientific focus of the work has been on providing information about the mercury burden of organisms at different trophic levels across different geographic and environmental settings. The pedagogical focus has been on providing students with immersion in a substantial, field-based project, including background research, hypothesis formulation, data collection and analysis, and presentation of research findings. Starting work with 6 teachers in two schools the first year, the project expanded to involve more than 20 teachers and 350 students in a dozen schools in its second year. In coming years, with support from NOAA and cooperation from other National Parks in the region, the project will expand to include work in other states along the coast of the Gulf of Maine. In this paper the authors describe evolution in the use of the Internet over the first two years of the project, a sharpened focus on professional development for teachers, survey results regarding student views of the nature of science, the importance of focusing on rigorous, useful data collection from an educational perspective, success in establishing that samples collected by students are useful in research, the disjuncture between scientific and pedagogical outcomes, an assessment of the value of student poster presentations, and lessons learned about preparation and use of curriculum support materials. The authors also describe future directions, which include an increased focus on professional development and student work with graphs, a narrower focus in sample collection, and increased use of the Internet to provide participating teachers and students with a picture of how their fieldwork contributes to overall objectives. The authors describe the expected course of research supported by this citizen science project and the work, now underway, on developing learning progressions to support such research.

Improving Science and Literacy Learning for English Language Learners: Evidence from a Pre-service Teacher Preparation Intervention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaw, Jerome M.; Lyon, Edward G.; Stoddart, Trish; Mosqueda, Eduardo; Menon, Preetha

2014-08-01

This paper present findings from a pre-service teacher development project that prepared novice teachers to promote English language and literacy development with inquiry-based science through a modified elementary science methods course and professional development for cooperating teachers. To study the project's impact on student learning, we administered a pre and post assessment to students (N = 191) of nine first year elementary teachers (grades 3 through 6) who experienced the intervention and who taught a common science unit. Preliminary results indicate that (1) student learning improved across all categories (science concepts, writing, and vocabulary)—although the effect varied by category, and (2) English Language Learner (ELL) learning gains were on par with non-ELLs, with differences across proficiency levels for vocabulary gain scores. These results warrant further analyses to understand the extent to which the intervention improved teacher practice and student learning. This study confirms the findings of previous research that the integration of science language and literacy practices can improve ELL achievement in science concepts, writing and vocabulary. In addition, the study indicates that it is possible to begin to link the practices taught in pre-service teacher preparation to novice teacher practice and student learning outcomes.

Scenarios for Dutch Teacher Education. A Trip to Rome: Coach Bus Company or Travel Agency?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snoek, Marco

2003-01-01

Stimulated by severe teacher shortages, teacher education in the Netherlands is changing toward competence-based, work- based-, and market-oriented programs. A Dutch scenario project was developed in which four scenarios for the future of teacher education emerged. These scenarios were structured by the freedom of schools to define the type of…

Supporting Primary-Level Mathematics Teachers' Collaboration in Designing and Using Technology-Based Scenarios

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misfeldt, Morten; Zacho, Lis

2016-01-01

In this article, we address how the design of educational scenarios can support teachers' adoption of both technology and open-ended projects indorsing creativity and innovation. We do that by describing how groups of teachers develop digital learning environments supporting using a combination of GeoGebra and Google sites. Both teachers and…

Biodiversity and Education for Sustainable Development in Teacher Education Programmes of Four Jamaican Educational Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins-Figueroa, Marceline

2012-01-01

This article presents an account of biodiversity education in a national teacher education project in Jamaica. Four case studies are examined here. Document analyses and interviews of educators and student teachers are used to explore how biodiversity was addressed in teacher education curricula, the processes and outcomes of learning in education…

Investigating the Impact of Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction on Iranian English Teachers' Job Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afshar, Hassan Soodmand; Doosti, Mehdi

2016-01-01

As part of a large-scale project, this study investigated the differences between satisfied and dissatisfied Iranian junior secondary school English teachers in terms of their job performance. To this end, 64 Iranian English teachers and 1774 of their students completed a validated questionnaire specifically developed to investigate EFL teachers'…

The ECCO Logo Project: Materials for Classroom Teachers and Teacher Trainers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tempel, Michael; And Others

In the fall of 1985, the Educational Computer Consortium of Ohio (ECCO) presented an extensive series of workshops on Logo. The workshops were divided into two categories: those for teacher-trainers and those for classroom teachers. This booklet presents materials developed by a core of five participants in the workshops for trainers using Logo…

Preservice Teachers' Reflections of Their Involvement in a Home-School Connection Project in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amaro-Jiménez, Carla

2016-01-01

Many future teachers have had little guidance on how to develop and foster home-school connections, especially when working with culturally and linguistically diverse families. This qualitative action research study aimed to identify what two different groups of preservice teachers enrolled in methods for teaching English learners courses (104…

Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge for Teaching Algebra for Equity in the Middle Grades: A Preliminary Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Irving A.; Davis, Trina J.; Kulm, Gerald

2011-01-01

This article presents our plans and initial work to explore how mathematics teacher education programs can prepare teachers for diverse middle grades classrooms. It describes the start-up of a five-year National Science Foundation project to design, develop, and test technology-enriched teacher preparation strategies to address equity in algebra…

Teacher Aptitudes, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Cognitive Style as Predictors of Teaching Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekstrom, Ruth B.

The Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study, Phase II, was a research project on effective teaching behavior--what teachers do that significantly affects what and how pupils learn. The purposes of Phase II were to (1) develop an assessment system for measuring teacher and student behaviors and other factors which could influence each of them and their…

Teachers Are the Center of Education: Writing, Learning and Leading in the Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Writing Project (NJ1), 2010

2010-01-01

This series of reports, "Teachers Are the Center of Education," was developed to highlight the importance of teachers and the quality of their work. This specific report, a partnership among the College Board, the National Writing Project and Phi Delta Kappa International, shines the spotlight on one aspect of teacher work: the…

Writing for the Public: Teacher Editorializing as a Pathway to Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perrillo, Jonna

2010-01-01

Teacher-written editorial columns in local newspapers can challenge the broad, simplistic conceptions of the profession that have been encouraged by contemporary politics and that obscure the real work of teachers. The publication of such columns written by a diverse group of teachers in the West Texas Writing Project has proved an important tool…

The Day-to-Day Work of Primary School Teachers: A Source of Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambler, Trudy Belinda

2016-01-01

Teachers are an important influence on students' learning, and therefore the opportunity for teachers to learn and develop is something of interest to educators internationally. This article reports on a research project involving six primary school teachers who participated in one-on-one and small group interviews to explore the opportunities for…

Exploring Transitions in Notions of Identity as Perceived by Beginning Post-Compulsory Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Victoria; Loughlin, Theresa; Hall, Val

2018-01-01

This paper reports on Phase Two of a small-scale qualitative research project. Phase One (2015-2016) focused on pre-service student teachers' perceptions of observation and feedback in relation to their developing identity as teachers. In Phase Two, two previous participants reflected on the research findings as qualified and beginning teachers.…

"From Worse to Better": How Kenyan Student-Teachers Can Use Participatory Action Research in Health Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahl, Kari Kragh Blume

2014-01-01

This study focuses on Kenyan student-teachers' professional learning and development in health education in a participatory action research project conducted in one Kenyan teacher training college. The aim was to explore the potential of participatory action research to instigate change in student-teachers' health education practices in a…

Improving Teacher Quality 2007 Grant Awards. Commission Report 07-23

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California Postsecondary Education Commission, 2007

2007-01-01

The Improving Teacher Quality Program recently concluded its 2007 competition to select grantees who will provide high-quality teacher professional development over the next several years. Teachers in grades K-2 were the focus of this year's Request for Proposals (RFP). As required in the last two rounds of competition, the selected projects must…

What Schoolchildren Should Be Taught about Medicines: Combined Opinions of Children and Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hameen-Anttila, Katri; Juvonen, Mirja; Ahonen, Riita; Bush, Patricia J.; Airaksinen, Marja

2005-01-01

Purpose: This study is part of a larger project, which aims to develop medicine education materials for teachers. The aim of the present study was to discover children's interests in medicines and teachers' opinions on what should be taught about medicines to children of different ages. Furthermore, teachers' opinions were assessed about the…

The TXESS Revolution: A Partnership to Advance Earth and Space Science in Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellins, K. K.; Olson, H. C.; Willis, M.

2007-12-01

The Texas State Board of Education voted in 2006 to require a fourth year of science for graduation from high school and to authorize the creation of a new senior level Earth Systems and Space Science course as an option to fulfill that requirement. The new Earth Systems and Space Science course will be a capstone course for which three required science courses(biology, chemistry and physics)are prerequisites. Here, we summarize the collective efforts of business leaders, scientists and educators who worked collaboratively for almost a decade to successfully reinstate Earth science as part of Texas' standard high school curriculum and describe a new project, the Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution, a 5-year professional development program for 8th -12th grade minority and minority-serving science teachers and teacher mentors in Texas to help prepare them to teach the new capstone course. At the heart of TXESS Revolution is an extraordinary partnership, involving (1) two UT-Austin academic units, the Jackson School of Geosciences and the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering; (2) TERC, a not-for-profit educational enterprise in Massachusetts with 30 years experience in designing science curriculum; (3) the University of South Florida; and (4) the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, a statewide network of teacher mentors and science teachers. With guidance from the Texas Education Agency, the state agency charged with overseeing education, the TXESS Revolution project will provide teachers with access to high quality materials and instruction aligned with the Texas educational standards for the new capstone course through: a program of eight different 3-day professional development academies offered to both teachers and teachers mentors; immersive summer institutes, field experiences, and a Petroleum Science and Technology Institute; training on how to implement Earth Science by Design, a teacher professional development program developed by TERC and the American Geological Institute with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding; and an online learning forum designed to keep teachers and teacher mentors in contact with facilitators and fellow project-participants between and after training, as well as share best practices and new information. The new capstone course promises to be a rigorous and dynamic change to the way Earth and Space Science has been presented previously anywhere in the U.S. and will provide many opportunities for professional development and the dissemination of suitable Earth and Space Science curriculum. The TXESS Revolution project welcomes opportunities to collaborate with geoscience consortia, programs, organizations and geoscience educators to advance Earth and Space Science in Texas. NSF's Opportunities to Enhance Diversity in the Geosciences program, the Shell Oil Company and the Jackson School of Geosciences are together funding the TXESS Revolution project.

Barriers and facilitators for integrating digital narratives in secondary school science instruction: A media specialist's action research study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Midland, Susan

Media specialists are increasingly assuming professional development roles as they collaborate with teachers to design instruction that combines content with technology. I am a media specialist in an independent school, and collaborated with two science teachers over a three-year period to integrate technology with their instruction. This action study explored integration of a digital narrative project in three eighth-grade earth science units and one ninth-grade physics unit with each unit serving as a cycle of research. Students produced short digital documentaries that combined still images with an accompanying narration. Students participating in the project wrote scripts based on selected science topics. The completed scripts served as the basis for the narratives. These projects were compared with a more traditional science writing project. Barriers and facilitators for implementation of this type of media project in a science classroom were identified. Lack of adequate access to computers proved to be a significant mechanical barrier. Acquisition of a laptop cart reduced but did not eliminate the technology access issues. The complexity of the project increased implementation time in comparison with traditional alternatives. Evaluation of the completed media projects presented problems. Scores by outside evaluators reflected evaluator unfamiliarity with assessing multimedia projects rather than student performance. Despite several revisions of the assessment rubric, low inter-rater reliability remained a concern even in the last cycle. This suggests that evaluation of media could present issues for teachers who attempt projects of this kind. A writing frame was developed to facilitate production of scripts. This reduced the time required to produce the scripts, but produced writing that was formulaic in the teacher's estimate. A graphic organizer was adopted in the final cycle to address this concern. New insights emerged as the study progressed through the four cycles of the study. At the conclusion of the study, the two teachers and I had a better understanding of barriers that can prevent smooth integration of a technology-based project.

High School Teachers and Students Knowledge and Views about Climate Change, a Nice NASA Example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleicher, R. E.; Lambert, J. L.

2014-12-01

One factor for some Americans being confused about climate change is their lack of understanding its underlying science concepts (Somerville & Hassol, 2011). In spite of this, climate change has been under-emphasized in school curricula (Bardsley & Bardsley, 2007). This is an important challenge for science educators, especially given the increasing public awareness of climate change impacts in their everyday lives (NCADAC, 2013).One way to address this challenge is to involve teachers in professional learning projects with the expectation that their enhanced content and pedagogical knowledge about climate change will transfer into more effective instruction resulting in increased student learning. For teacher educators, this translates into providing vibrant professional learning activities that energize and engage science teachers to develop interesting lessons that stimulate their students to learn important science concepts and develop positive attitudes to science. This study examined content knowledge and views about climate change of 33 high school science teachers and their1050 students who participated in lessons developed in a NASA-funded professional learning project. The teachers participated in a seven-day climate change summer institute and received in-classroom follow-up support throughout the school year. Teacher data sources included a background survey (undergraduate majors, number of years teaching science), science teaching self-efficacy (STEBI-A) scores, Climate Science Inventory of Knowledge (CSIK), and Six-America's Views on Climate Change. Student data included journal entries, and pre-post measures using the CSIK and Six-Americas instruments. T-tests and ANOVA showed that both students and their teachers increased in climate science knowledge. Teachers' views about climate change were more aligned to climate scientists' views. Teachers also increased in their science teaching self-efficacy and those with higher self-efficacy demonstrated higher climate change science knowledge. In addition to these data, the professional learning model and examples of the hands-on activities utilized by teachers will be shared in this presentation. The Logic Model is included below to provide an overall picture of the project.

READINGS IN DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION--THE PROJECT PLAN OF INSTRUCTION AND RELATED TEACHER EDUCATION, SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE NATIONAL SEMINAR IN DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION (MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, 1967). PROJECT REPORT NO. 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HAINES, PETER G.; AND OTHERS

THE PURPOSE OF THE SEMINAR WAS TO ASSIST TEACHER EDUCATION STAFFS TO IDENTIFY, EVALUATE, AND RESPOND TO THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE VOCATIONAL ACT OF 1963 FROM WHICH SPRANG THE CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT PLAN OF INSTRUCTION. PAPERS DEVELOPED BY PRACTITIONERS AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS IN THE FIELD OF MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION ARE PRESENTED--(1) "AN…

Coyotes, Skunks, and Bears in the Sky --- A Multicultural Approach to Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebofsky, N. R.; Lebofsky, L. A.; Canizo, T.

1994-12-01

Staff and teacher/facilitators from the ARTIST (Astronomy-Related Teacher Inservice Training) and ACCESS! (All Children Can Explore the Solar System!) PROJECTS use myths, legends, creative writing, and related activities to augment astronomy lessons. In both elementary and middle school classrooms teachers use an integrated curriculum approach to extend the science lesson into language arts, social studies, fine arts, and math. Reading, writing, storytelling, and art projects blend easily with lessons on constellations, planets, Sun, Moon, and sky. Including myths and legends from a variety of cultures and time periods underscores the universal appeal of both sky-watching and creativity. Through a variety of inservice programs and materials development, the authors provide scientific background and classroom activities for teachers in grades K--8. Project facilitators report marked improvement in primary grade reading and writing skills and improved language acquisition for bilingual students when a high interest topic such as astronomy is introduced and integrated with language arts lessons. Facilitators have used astronomy to empower special education students to share both their knowledge and appreciation of the universe with the general school population. A slide-and-music presentation and samples of student work will highlight activities developed through PROJECT ARTIST. PROJECT ARTIST is funded by the National Science Foundation. PROJECT ACCESS! is funded by the Arizona Board of Regents (Eisenhower Math and Science Program).

Using Models to Teach Electricity--The CASTLE Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinberg, Melvin S.; Wainwright, Camille L.

1993-01-01

Describes the Capacitor-Aided System for Teaching and Learning Electricity (CASTLE) project which is a high school electricity curriculum developed by high school and college physics teachers. The project is motivated by research on students' conceptual difficulties in electricity. The instructional materials developed allow students to challenge…

Towards a Theoretical Framework for Understanding PGCE Student Teacher Learning in the Wild Coast Rural Schools' Partnership Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennefather, Jane

2016-01-01

This article focuses on a theoretical model that I am developing in order to understand student teacher learning in a rural context and the enabling conditions that can support this learning. The question of whether a supervised teaching practice in a rural context can contribute to the development of student teacher professional learning and…

Mediation of a Teacher's Development of Spreadsheets as an Instrument to Support Pupils' Inquiry in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuglestad, Anne Berit

2013-01-01

This paper presents a case of collaboration with three teachers and a didactician on task development within a developmental research project based on ideas of inquiry and learning community. The teachers' goal was to utilise a spreadsheet to orchestrate the pupils' investigations and build a library of tasks for the classroom. The focus is on one…

North-South Collaborations: Learning from a Decade of Intercultural Experiences for Teachers and Faculty in One Mexican and US University Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas-Ruzic, Maria; Prudencio, Fatima Encinas

2015-01-01

This paper focuses on an ongoing international collaboration between two large public universities, one in the US and one in Mexico, through projects in program development, faculty exchange, graduate student/teacher field experiences, student mentoring and joint research in the area of a foreign/second language teaching and teacher development.…

Developing Classroom Interactions Which Signal Effective Teaching. A Module for Undergraduate Instruction in Teacher Education in the RAFT Program at Mississippi State University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handley, Herbert M., Ed.

In this module, developed by the Research Applications for Teaching (RAFT) project, preservice teachers study the major types of classroom interactions which occur between teachers and students and review the research findings showing how these interactions are related to effective teaching. Much effort is spent on describing procedures for…

A Primary Teacher's Developing Understanding of Mathematical Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loong, Esther Yook-Kin

2014-01-01

To support teachers in their quest to incorporate reasoning as a mathematical proficiency as espoused in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, a professional learning research project using demonstration lessons was carried out. This paper reports on the impact of demonstration lessons on one participating teacher's pedagogical knowledge about…

Scientists' and Teachers' Perspectives about Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munson, Bruce H.; Martz, Marti Ann; Shimek, Sarah

2013-01-01

The emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is resulting in more opportunities for scientists and teachers to collaborate. The relationships can result in failed collaborations or success. We recently completed a 6-year regional project that used several approaches to develop scientist-teacher relationships.…

The Ethics of Information Use: A Guide for Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Libraries in Canada, 2001

2001-01-01

Presents a resource on the ethics of the use of information developed by the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians Association which supplements the Information and Communication Technology Integration Project for teachers of grades 6-9. Highlights include plagiarism; resources sheets; citing references; Internet privacy; Internet communication; and…

Developing Preservice Teachers' Global Understanding through Computer-Mediated Communication Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zong, Guichun

2009-01-01

This study examines preservice teachers' conceptual understanding of global education subsequent to participation in an asynchronous web-based multinational project to discuss issues related to cultural diversity and global challenges. Data included 59 preservice teachers' online messages and reflective essays. Six perspectives emerged from this…

PHYS-MA-TECH. An Integrated Partnership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarborough, Jule Dee

This document contains 45 integrated physics, mathematics, and technology curriculum modules developed by teachers at 5 Illinois schools. An introduction discusses the collaborative project, in which teams of one mathematics, physics, and technology teacher from each school developed innovative instructional delivery models that enabled the three…

Applying a Cognitive-Affective Model of Conceptual Change to Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebert, Ellen K.; Crippen, Kent J.

2010-04-01

This study evaluated Gregoire’s (2003) Cognitive-Affective Conceptual Change model (CAMCC) for predicting and assessing conceptual change in science teachers engaged in a long-term professional development project set in a large school district in the southwestern United States. A multiple case study method with data from three teacher participants was used to understand the process of integrating and applying a reform message of inquiry based science teaching. Data sources included: responses to example teaching scenarios, reflective essays, lesson plans, classroom observations, and action research projects. Findings show that the CAMCC functioned well in predicting how these teachers made decisions that impacted how they processed the reform message. When the reform message was communicated in such a way as to initiate stress appraisal, conceptual change occurred, producing changes in classroom practice. If the reform message did not initiate stress appraisal, teachers rejected the professional development message and developed heuristic responses. In order to further research and improve practice, propositions for assessments related to the CAMCC are provided.

Guiding science expeditions: The design of a learning environment for project-based science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polman, Joseph Louis

Project-based pedagogy has been revived recently as a teaching strategy for promoting students' active engagement in learning science by doing science. Numerous reform efforts have encouraged project-based teaching in high schools, along with a range of supports for its implementation, often including computers and the Internet. History has shown, however, that academic research and new technologies are not enough to effect real change in classrooms. Ultimately, teachers accomplish activity with their students daily in classrooms. Putting the idea of project-based teaching into practice depends on many particulars of teachers' situated work with students. To better understand the complexity of project-based science teaching in schools, I conducted an interpretive case study of one exceptional teacher's work. The teacher devotes all class time after the beginning of the year to open-ended, student-designed Earth Science research projects. Over four years of involvement with the Learning through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) reform effort, this teacher has developed, implemented, and refined strategies for supporting and guiding students in conducting open-ended inquiry. Through a close examination of the teacher's work supporting student projects, I explore the design issues involved in such an endeavor, including affordances, constraints, and tradeoffs. In particular, I show how time constrains both student and teacher action, how the traditional school culture and grading create stumbling blocks for change, and how conflicting beliefs about teaching and learning undermine the accomplishment of guided inquiry. I also show how Internet tools including Usenet news, email, and the World Wide Web afford students an opportunity to gather and make use of distributed expertise and scientific data resources; how an activity structure, combined with a corresponding structure to the artifact of the final written product, supports student accomplishment of unfamiliar practices; and how the teacher guides students in real time through mutually transformative communication. I synthesize the important design elements into a framework for conducting project-based science, especially in settings where such pedagogy is relatively new. This study will inform teachers and reformers of the practical and complex work of implementing project-based teaching in schools.

What Makes Things Happen? Teacher's Guide. Unit B. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dube, Peter

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Training Regular Education Personnel To Be Special Education Consultants to Other Regular Education Personnel in Rural Settings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntosh, Dean K.; Raymond, Gail I.

The Program for Exceptional Children of the University of South Carolina developed a project to address the need for an improved service delivery model for handicapped students in rural South Carolina. The project trained regular elementary teachers at the master's degree level to function as consultants to other regular classroom teachers with…

Atoms and Molecules. 'O' Level. Teacher's Guide. Unit 2. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandizha, George

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the third year of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be used in…

Forces. 'O' Level Teacher's Guide. Unit 1. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Udwin, Martin

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the third year of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Sense from Senses. Teacher's Guide. Unit J. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simango, Sam

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Energy for Living. Teacher's Guide. Unit G1. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosking, Bunty

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

The Arithmetic Project Course for Teachers - 8. Topic: Lower Brackets and Upper Brackets. Supplement: Arithmetic With Frames.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Development Center, Inc., Newton, MA.

This is one of a series of 20 booklets designed for participants in an in-service course for teachers of elementary mathematics. The course, developed by the University of Illinois Arithmetic Project, is designed to be conducted by local school personnel. In addition to these booklets, a course package includes films showing mathematics being…

Reproducing by Flowers and Seeds. Teacher's Guide. Unit E2. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zesaguli, Josie

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Our Planet Earth. Teacher's Guide. Unit F1. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stocklmayer, Sue

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This ZIM-SCI study guide presents activities,…

Using Electricity. Teacher's Guide. Unit I2. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chidume, Kwashira

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be used in…

Understanding Electricity. Teacher's Guide. Unit I1. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project. Year 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chidume, Kwashira

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

An Evaluation of Project Learning Tree in British Columbia. Appendices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conry, Robert F.; And Others

The volume contains seven appendices (A-G) which accompany the first volume. Appendix A provides a list of project personnel and of teachers who participated in the unit development workshop. Appendix B, composed of six sections, includes the unit lesson plans and teachers' guides used in the field study for grades 3, 5, and 7. The grade materials…

Curriculum Review: Standing Tall. Teaching Guides for Kindergarten to Grade 12 from the Giraffe Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhmerker, Lisa

1994-01-01

Describes the development and content of teacher guides from The Giraffe Project, a social values and community service program. States that the teacher guides are available for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Maintains that the materials would be appropriate for schools integrating a service component into the curriculum. (CFR)

Creating a Galilean Leadership Shift: Project Shakes up Old Attitudes and Develops a New Generation of Leaders for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childs, Lauren C.

2005-01-01

A suburban Detroit consortium of superintendents created a leadership academy for teachers to learn the value of their own knowledge and improve their skills. The Galileo Leadership project challenges established beliefs and helps teachers engage collaboratively in the work of active leadership. From mini-retreats to active research, teachers…

Looking at Life. Teacher's Guide. Unit A2. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosking, Bunty

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Individualized In-Service Teacher Education. (Project IN-STEP). Evaluation Report, Phase II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurber, John C.

Phase 2 of Project IN-STEP was conducted to revise, refine, and conduct further field testing of a new inservice teacher education model. The method developed (in Phase 1--see ED 003 905 for report) is an individualized, multi-media approach. Revision activities, based on feedback provided for Phase 1, include the remaking of six videotape…

The Contribution of Graduation Research to School Development: Graduation Research as a Boundary Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snoek, Marco; Bekebrede, Judith; Hanna, Fadie; Creton, Theun; Edzes, Hester

2017-01-01

When teaching is considered as a collaborative activity, the aim of research projects in schools needs to exceed the individual and personal levels and aim to contribute to research-informed reflection of a team of teachers. Within this multiple case study, we adapted the graduation research project within a primary teacher education programme,…

An Experimental Project on Energy Education for Rural Women, Primary School Children and Teachers Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pathak, Yogini; Mankodi, Hina

One of the University of Baroda's (India) Rural/Tribal Block Placement Program's major aims during the year 1988-89 was to develop energy consciousness in women, primary school children and teachers. An experimental project was designed for a rural Indian village. The objectives were to obtain information on rural energy resources; assess the role…

Particles in Action. Teacher's Guide. Unit C2. ZIM-SCI, Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stocklmayer, Sue

The Zimbabwe Secondary School Science Project (ZIM-SCI) developed student study guides, corresponding teaching guides, and science kits for a low-cost science course which could be taught during the first 2 years of secondary school without the aid of qualified teachers and conventional laboratories. This teaching guide, designed to be read in…

Priority Fields of Teachers' Professional Development in Terms of Open Education Worldwide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avshenyuk, Nataliya

2016-01-01

The article is devoted to the problem of teachers' professional development within the concept of "open educational resources". The author analyzes the project "Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOC) as one of the modern achievements in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) for the development of adult…

Regional Resilience: Pre-Service Teacher Preparation to Teach in the Bush

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trinidad, Sue; Broadley, Tania; Terry, Emmy; Boyd, Don; Lock, Graeme; Sharplin, Elaine; Ledger, Sue

2013-01-01

This paper reports on the outcomes of a two year ALTC Competitive Research and Development Project that aimed to "Develop Strategies at the Pre-Service Level to Address Critical Teacher Attraction and Retention Issues in Australian Rural, Regional and Remote Schools". As well as developing a "training framework" and teaching…

Mobile Learning and Teacher Education: Researching MLEARN Pilot Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passey, Don; Zozimo, Joana

2015-01-01

MLEARN, a European Union (EU)-funded project, is exploring and promoting teacher development of mobile learning practices in four member states--the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) (England), Greece and Italy. This paper details the ways research findings have both fed into and been elicited from this pilot, supporting development and…

Staff Development Workshops for High School Science Teachers of Limited English Proficient Students 1988-89.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berney, Tomi D.; Cantalupo, Denise

The staff development workshops for high school science teachers of Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students program are described. The project provided services which involved: creating a resource library, collecting videotaped records of the staff development workshops for future training sessions, disseminating information and materials, and…

Early Career Teachers' Research Literacy: What Does It Look Like and What Elements Support Its Development in Practice?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Carol

2017-01-01

This article reviews the effectiveness of two projects: "NQT and Beyond; Developing Resilience in Learning and Teaching," and the underpinning conceptual framework (PLSP) in supporting early career teachers' (ECTs') development of their research literacy. Evidence of effective integration of research into practice is illustrated through…

Teachers' tendencies to promote student-led science projects: Associations with their views about science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bencze, J. Lawrence; Bowen, G. Michael; Alsop, Steve

2006-05-01

School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects. For various possible reasons, however, students tend not to be engaged in such inquiries. Among factors that may limit their opportunities to engage in open-ended inquiries of their design are teachers' conceptions about science. To explore possible relationships between teachers' conceptions about science and the types of inquiry activities in which they engage students, instrumental case studies of five secondary science teachers were developed, using field notes, repertory grids, samples of lesson plans and student activities, and semistructured interviews. Based on constructivist grounded theory analysis, participating teachers' tendencies to promote student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects seemed to correspond with positions about the nature of science to which they indicated adherence. A tendency to encourage and enable students to carry out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects appeared to be associated with adherence to social constructivist views about science. Teachers who opposed social constructivist views tended to prefer tight control of student knowledge building procedures and conclusions. We suggest that these results can be explained with reference to human psychological factors, including those associated with teachers' self-esteem and their relationships with knowledge-building processes in the discipline of their teaching.

Development, Testing, and Dissemination of Nonaversive Techniques for Working with Children with Autism: Demonstration of a "Best Practices" Model for Parents and Teachers. The A-B-C-D Model for Supporting Students with Autism (Antecedents, Behaviors, Consequences, Data). Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikeda, Martin J.; Tucker, Richard; Rankin, Barbara

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally funded project that was designed to develop, validate, and disseminate a training program for teachers of students with autism. The strategies taught to teachers were those that have been accepted as best practice in autism literature. Since 1996 more than 500 teachers,…

Staff Development for Vocational Education Teachers at the Mario Umana Harbor School of Science and Technology. Project STEP.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge.

A staff development project to create closer integration and mutual support between specialized science and technology curricula and vocational education courses is described. Project activities are listed, and a statement of underlying assumptions is provided. A list of guidelines for coordinating shop and academic projects follows. Guidelines…

Geology at Our Doorstep: Building a Partnership for Standards-Based Curriculum and Professional Development in Middle School Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laursen, S.; Lester, A.; Cannon, E.; Forrest, A.; Bencivengo, B.; Hunter, K.

2003-12-01

Geology at Our Doorstep is a collaboration between a science outreach program (CIRES Outreach), students and faculty in a university geology department (U. Colorado at Boulder), and a local school district (St. Vrain Valley) to develop locally relevant geology classroom resources for use by the district's middle-school teachers. The project grew out of direct conversations with teachers about their ideas and needs and was explicitly based on district and state standards in Earth science and scientific thinking, drawing on close work with the district on standards implementation and assessment over the past two years. We intended to draw on existing curriculum resources and substitute local geologic examples to construct a "place-based" teaching resource. However, we found that generic, national-level curricula did not effectively match the rich geologic resources of our area, and instead developed a rather more substantial set of original materials, including classroom collections of regional rocks, reference materials on local geology, classroom activities, and media resources, all shared with teachers at a series of professional development workshops. While the original project was small in scale, a number of spin-off projects have evolved. This project models several important features in the development of university-K12 partnerships: consultation with districts, piloting of small projects, and the role of outreach programs in facilitating participation of university faculty and students.

University/School District Reflection in Teacher Education: A Collaborative Inquiry Approach. (The Portland State University/East Multnomah County Project: "Classroom As Families" Teacher Education Program).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Driscoll, Amy; Nagel, Nancy

This study describes two phases of the planning of a professional development center for teaching and teacher education, utilizing a reflective and collaborative inquiry approach. Two themes guided the study: (1) the dissonance between teacher education and teaching; and (2) preparation of teachers to respond to the changing population of children…

Understanding Diversity and the Teacher's Role in Supporting Learning in Diverse Classrooms: Scaffolding Early Childhood Preservice Teacher's Growth in Initial Placements with Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solvie, Pamela A.

2013-01-01

This research project sought to examine the ways in which early childhood preservice teachers develop an understanding of diversity and the teacher's role in supporting learning in diverse classrooms. Preservice teachers in their initial foundations course and in their initial placements in early childhood settings were participants in the…

Teachers and Technology Use in Secondary Science Classrooms: Investigating the Experiences of Middle School Science Teachers Implementing the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulz, Rachel Corinne

This study investigated the intended teacher use of a technology-enhanced learning tool, Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE), and the first experiences of teachers new to using it and untrained in its use. The purpose of the study was to learn more about the factors embedded into the design of the technology that enabled it or hindered it from being used as intended. The qualitative research design applied grounded theory methods. Using theoretical sampling and a constant comparative analysis, a document review of WISE website led to a model of intended teacher use. The experiences of four middle school science teachers as they enacted WISE for the first time were investigated through ethnographic field observations, surveys and interviews using thematic analysis to construct narratives of each teachers use. These narratives were compared to the model of intended teacher use of WISE. This study found two levels of intended teacher uses for WISE. A basic intended use involved having student running the project to completion while the teacher provides feedback and assesses student learning. A more optimal description of intended use involved the supplementing the core curriculum with WISE as well as enhancing the core scope and sequence of instruction and aligning assessment with the goals of instruction through WISE. Moreover, WISE projects were optimally intended to be facilitated through student-centered teaching practices and inquiry-based instruction in a collaborative learning environment. It is also optimally intended for these projects to be shared with other colleagues for feedback and iterative development towards improving the Knowledge Integration of students. Of the four teachers who participated in this study, only one demonstrated the use of WISE as intended in the most basic way. This teacher also demonstrated the use of WISE in a number of optimal ways. Teacher confusion with certain tools available within WISE suggests that there may be a way to develop the user experience through these touch points and help teachers learn how to use the technology as they are selecting and setting up a project run. Further research may study whether improving these touch points can improve the teachers' use of WISE as intended both basically and optimally. It may also study whether or not teacher in basic and optimal ways directly impact student learning results.

Laser Focus on Content Strengthens Teacher Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slavit, David; Nelson, Tamara Holmlund; Kennedy, Anne

2010-01-01

The Partnership for Reform in Secondary Science and Mathematics (PRiSSM) is a three-year project that targeted mathematics and science teachers in middle and high schools from six districts in southwest Washington. Consistent with NSDC (2009) recommendations for professional development, PRiSSM involved collaborative teacher teams in reflecting on…

Transparency Masters for Crop and Weed Identification. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Dwane G.; And Others

Instructional aids produced from these transparency masters and the accompanying narrative may be used by vocational agriculture teachers in presenting courses in plant science. They were developed by subject matter specialists and teacher educators as part of a project designed to test effects of involving vocational agriculture teachers in…

Physics Teachers' Perceptions of the Difficulty of Teaching Electricity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunstone, Richard; Mulhall, Pamela; McKittrick, Brian

2009-01-01

As part of a project concerned with developing a better understanding of the detail of appropriate teaching of direct current (DC) electricity concepts, extensive individual interviews were conducted with a number of experienced senior high school physics teachers. These interviews explored teachers' perceptions of difficulties in student learning…

Teacher Training for High Technology. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goettmann, Thomas L.

The objective of this project was to develop computer literacy and a working knowledge of microprocessor applications and digital circuits for teachers in selected vocational subject areas. Twenty-four vocational trade and industry teachers completed 16 hours of training in microprocessor skills for computerized instruction and curriculum update.…

Capability Building in Educational Technology for Teachers in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jun, Han; Zhuzhu, Wang

2010-01-01

This paper gives a brief introduction to the project called Education Technology Capacity Building Plan for All Primary and Secondary Teachers now being implemented in China. Because information and communication technology skills training cannot match the demand of teachers' professional development, the Chinese Ministry of Education established…

Cybermentoring: Evolving High-End Video Conferencing Practices to Support Preservice Teacher Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Todd E.; Maring, Gerald H.; Doty, John H.; Fickle, Michelle

2006-01-01

This article is a descriptive study of an evolving cybermentoring videoconferencing practice and tool developed to support preservice teacher training. Cybermentoring projects are synchronous distance learning collaborations using high-end video conferencing to foster interactive learning and tutoring among preservice teachers and K-12 students,…

Legitimating Multilingual Teacher Identities in the Mainstream Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, Christina; Ponte, Eva

2017-01-01

This article explores the identities of a group of elementary teachers who participated in a professional development (PD) project on multilingual language learners. We study how the participating teachers drew on different aspects of their identities to respond to encouragement to increase their attention to students' diverse multilingual…

Teacher Education for the Future. New Directions and New Developments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tempero, Howard E., Ed.

This booklet contains four addresses: (1) "Toward the Year 2000: Teacher Education" by William Van Til, Coffman Distinguished Professor in Education, Indiana State University. It includes projections regarding American society, American education, and teacher education for the next third century. (This address is available separately as ED 028…

Using Technology to Engage Preservice Elementary Teachers in Learning about Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Loretta L.; MacArthur, James R.; Akaygün, Sevil

2011-01-01

Elementary teachers are often required to teach inquiry in their classrooms despite having had little exposure to inquiry learning themselves. In a capstone undergraduate science course preservice elementary teachers experience scientific inquiry through the completion of group projects, activities, readings and discussion, in order to develop a…

Learning about Professional Growth through Listening to Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Phil

2017-01-01

This article explores teacher learning and development, drawing on insights gained during two study visits and an international collaborative project. The article also charts a phase in the author's own learning, reflecting a growing recognition of the complexities of professional growth, gained through listening to teachers. A tentative process…

Classroom Teachers and Classroom Research. JALT Applied Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffee, Dale T., Ed.; Nunan, David, Ed.

This collection of papers leads classroom language teachers through the process of developing and completing a classroom research project. Arranged in four sections, they include: "Language Teaching and Research" (David Nunan); "Where Are We Now? Trends, Teachers, and Classroom Research" (Dale T. Griffee); "First Things First: Writing the Research…

Technological Literacy for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hasse, Cathrine

2017-01-01

Ongoing developments in educational technologies place increasing demands on teachers who have to make decisions on a daily basis concerning how, when, and where to make use of technologies in classrooms. Building on results from the Danish project Technucation, this paper argues that there is a marked need for a teacher-specific version of the…

Teacher Corps Networking: Purpose and Potential.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Paul; And Others

An overview is presented of the objectives of the Far West Teacher Corps Network. A description is given of the development of the network and achievements in the areas of community involvement, inservice teacher education, exceptional child programs, management information systems, and project management and evaluation. Chapters are included on…

Graduate Teacher Preparation for Rural Schools in Victoria and Queensland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kline, Jodie; Walker-Gibbs, Bernadette

2015-01-01

Graduate teachers' preparedness for working in rural settings are mediated by the development of pedagogical expertise, professional engagement with parents and the community, and broader notions of preparation to teach in rural contexts. The Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (SETE) project is a four-year longitudinal study tracking…

Promoting Sustainable Development through Whole School Approaches: An International, Intercultural Teacher Education Research and Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shallcross, Tony; Loubser, Callie; Le Roux, Cheryl; O'Donoghue, Rob; Lupele, Justin

2006-01-01

This paper focuses on a British Council funded Higher Education Link project involving three institutions--Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the UK and two South African institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Rhodes University. The link is a research and development project that has three main research strands:…

The EarthLabs Approach to Curriculum and Professional Development: Earth Science Education in the 21st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mote, A. S.; Ellins, K. K.; Haddad, N.

2011-12-01

Humans are modifying planet Earth at an alarming rate without fully understanding how our actions will affect the atmosphere, hydrosphere, or biosphere. Recognizing the value of educating people to become citizens who can make informed decisions about Earth's resources and challenges, Texas currently offers Earth and Space Science as a rigorous high school capstone course. The new course has created a need for high quality instructional resources and professional development to equip teachers with the most up to date content knowledge, pedagogical approaches, and technological skills to be able to teach a rigorous Earth and Space Science course. As a participant in the NSF-sponsored Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution teacher professional development program, I was selected to participate in a curriculum development project led by TERC to create Earth System Science and climate change resources for the EarthLabs collection. To this end, I am involved in multiple phases of the EarthLabs project, including reviewing the lab-based units during the development phase, pilot teaching the units with my students, participating in research, and ultimately delivering professional development to other teachers to turn them on to the new modules. My partnership with the EarthLabs project has strengthened my teaching practice by increasing my involvement with curriculum development and collaboration and interaction with other Earth science educators. Critically evaluating the lab modules prior to delivering the lessons to my students has prepared me to more effectively teach the EarthLabs modules in my classroom and present the material to other teachers during professional development workshops. The workshop was also strengthened by planning meetings held with EarthLabs partner teachers in which we engaged in lively discussions regarding misconceptions in Earth science, held by both students and adults, and pedagogical approaches to uncover these misconceptions. Collaboration and discussion among members of the EarthLabs team and partner teachers was instrumental to improving the quality of the EarthLabs modules and the professional development workshop. Furthermore, leading the workshop alongside other partner teachers gave me the confidence and experience to deliver professional development to my colleagues and introduce the newly developed EarthLabs modules to other teachers. In this session I will share my experiences and report on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from being a part of the EarthLabs curriculum and professional development process.

Developing Career and Employability Skills: A US Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinser, Richard

2003-01-01

Western Michigan University's technical teacher education program developed a course on teaching career and employability skills using state standards and benchmarks as a framework. Preservice teachers complete five projects: job shadowing, professional portfolio, written lesson plan, videotape and self-critique of lesson plan, and an application…

Professional Development Models That Promote Teacher Change and Impact Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Dawn

2017-01-01

To capture participants' perspectives regarding their experiences in South Carolina's Upstate Writing Project professional development, a series of in-depth, qualitative interviews was conducted with four teachers and two curriculum coaches from participating districts. Data provided insight into participant's perceptions of how their experiences…

Final Report on Activities Supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63397, 2002-August 31, 2005

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Madelaine Marquez; Neil Stillings

The grant supported four projects that involved professional development for teachers and enrichment programs for students from under-funded and under-served school districts. The projects involved long-term partnerships between Hampshire College and the districts. All projects were concerned with the effective implementation of inquiry-based science learning and its alignment with state and national curriculum and assessment standards. One project, The Collaboration for Excellence in Science Education (CESE), was designed to support research on the development of concepts in the physical sciences, specifically energy and waves. Extensive data from student interviews and written essays supported the neo-Piagetian hierarchical complexity theory of thismore » area of conceptual development. New assessment techniques that can be used by teachers were also developed. The final report includes a full presentation of the methods and results of the research.« less

The Improvement of Student Teaching Through a Consortium of Greater Cleveland Schools and Colleges. Vol. 1-3. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morford, John A.; Swegan, Donald B.

This three-volume report describes a research project which had the following objectives: 1) to improve the orientation programs for cooperating teachers who work with student teachers; 2) to improve procedures for selection and utilization of cooperating teachers in schools which accept student teachers; and 3) to develop experimental, innovative…

Partnerships with Cultural Organisations: A Case for Partnerships Developed by Teacher Educators for Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemon, Narelle; Weller, Jacolyn

2015-01-01

New ways of working in teacher education are currently being highlighted, especially in relation to partnerships. One type of partnership that is under utilised is that with cultural organisations. This paper reports on two projects where the authors work with preservice teachers in partnership with a wildlife sanctuary and a national gallery.…

Utah Teacher Evaluation Project: The Park City Career Ladder Design. Final Report: Secretary's Discretionary Program, Planning Grant to Develop Teacher Incentive Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Ken; And Others

The Park City School District (Utah) career ladder design provides a system in which teachers are positioned and paid according to successful performance and differentiation of responsibilities. It includes an evaluation system to differentiate among teachers. The career ladder design presents a number of innovations; for example, excellent…

Pre-Service Training Model for TESOL/ABE Teachers and Teacher-Aides.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southwestern Cooperative Educational Lab., Albuquerque, NM.

Developed by the Proteus Adult Education Team of Visalia, Calif., this preservice training model, the result of a project for teachers and teacher-aides of Mexican American adult students, recommends a structure of 30 hours intensive training conducted over a period of 2 weeks (to be followed by weekly 2 1/2-hour inservice sessions). This booklet…

Pedagogical Content Knowledge for World History Teachers: What Is It? How Might Prospective Teachers Develop It?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Lauren McArthur; Bain, Robert B.

2011-01-01

This article takes up the question of world history teachers' pedagogical content knowledge by reporting on two separate but related projects. In the first, we briefly discuss an empirical investigation one of the authors conducted into the ways that pre- and in-service world history teachers think about, organize, and make meaning of separate and…

Effective Professional Development for Teacher Leaders: Lessons Learned from K-6 Mathematics Teacher Enhancement Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friel, Susan N.; Bright, George W.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has supported a wide variety of teacher enhancement projects in order to identify and explore strategies that are effective in bringing genuine, long-term teacher change, and, ultimately, long-term systemic change in schools. In November 1994, with funding provided from NSF (Grant Number ESI-9452859), a small,…

An Alternative Model of Continuing Professional Development for Teachers: Giving Teachers Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haydn, Terry; Barton, Roy; Oliver, Ann

2008-01-01

The paper reports on the outcomes of a Department of Culture, Museums and Sport (DCMS) funded project which provided resources for three groups of teachers in different subjects and age phases to have some time where they were freed from their teaching responsibilities, and also given time to meet together with other teachers to share ideas. The…

Learning to Become a Teacher in the 21st Century: ICT Integration in Initial Teacher Education in Chile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brun, Mario; Hinostroza, J. Enrique

2014-01-01

This paper presents the most relevant results from a national study about the availability and use of ICT in 46 Initial Teacher Education institutions in Chile, implemented during 2009 as part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) international project "ICT in Initial Teacher Training." Main findings show an…

Sharing our successes II: Changing the face of science and mathematics education through teacher-focused partnerships

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME) in the San Francisco Bay Area planned and convened the second national conference for representatives of scientific work experience programs for K-12 teachers (SWEPs) at Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley October 13-14, 1994. The goal of this conference was to further strengthen the growing community of SWEP managers and teacher participants by providing an opportunity for sharing expertise and strategies about the following: (1) How SWEPs can complement and stimulate systemic education reform efforts; (2) Assessment strategies piloted by the ambitious multi-site evaluation project funded by the U.S.more » Department of Energy (DOE) as well as smaller evaluation projects piloted by other SWEPs; (3) Expanding and strengthening the base of teachers served by SWEPs; (4) Ensuring that SWEPs adequately support teachers in affecting classroom transfer and offer {open_quotes}more than just a summerjob{close_quotes}; (5) Sustaining and expanding new programs. A special teacher strand focused on leadership development supporting teachers to become effective change agents in their classrooms and schools, and developing strong teacher communities.« less

Projects in Technology Education and Fostering Learning: The Potential and Its Realization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barak, Moshe; Shachar, Ahron

2008-06-01

The current study aimed at examining the efficacy of technological projects as learning tools by exploring the following questions: the extent to which projects in technology develop students as independent learners; the types of knowledge the students deal with in working on their projects; the role of problem-solving in technological projects; and how projects integrate into traditional schooling. The subjects were 53 high school (12th grade) students who prepared graduating projects in technology under the supervision of nine teachers. Data were collected by observing the students in the laboratory, administrating two questionnaires to both the students and the teachers, and analyzing 25 portfolios prepared by the students of their projects. The findings indicate that projects in technology provide a good opportunity to engage students in challenging tasks that enhance their learning skills. To maximize this potential, it is necessary to employ the project method from the early stages of learning technology. It is especially important that teachers having a strong engineering orientation also acquire pedagogical knowledge on issues such as fostering independent learning, creativity, peer learning and reflective practice in the technological classroom.

Web-based Tools for Educators: Outreach Activities of the Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements (PRISM) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braaten, D. A.; Holvoet, J. F.; Gogineni, S.

2003-12-01

The Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Kansas (KU) has implemented extensive outreach activities focusing on Polar Regions as part of the Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements (PRISM) project. The PRISM project is developing advanced intelligent remote sensing technology that involves radar systems, an autonomous rover, and communications systems to measure detailed ice sheet characteristics, and to determine bed conditions (frozen or wet) below active ice sheets in both Greenland and Antarctica. These measurements will provide a better understanding of the response of polar ice sheets to global climate change and the resulting impact the ice sheets will have on sea level rise. Many of the research and technological development aspects of the PRISM project, such as robotics, radar systems, climate change and exploration of harsh environments, can kindle an excitement and interest in students about science and technology. These topics form the core of our K-12 education and training outreach initiatives, which are designed to capture the imagination of young students, and prompt them to consider an educational path that will lead them to scientific or engineering careers. The K-12 PRISM outreach initiatives are being developed and implemented in a collaboration with the Advanced Learning Technology Program (ALTec) of the High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium (HPR*TEC). ALTec is associated with the KU School of Education, and is a well-established educational research center that develops and hosts web tools to enable teachers nationwide to network, collaborate, and share resources with other teachers. An example of an innovative and successful web interface developed by ALTec is called TrackStar. Teachers can use TrackStar over the Web to develop interactive, resource-based lessons (called tracks) on-line for their students. Once developed, tracks are added to the TrackStar database and can be accessed and modified (if necessary) by teachers everywhere. The PRISM project has added a search engine for polar related tracks, and has developed numerous new tracks on robotics, polar exploration, and climate change under the guidance of a K-12 teacher advisory group. The PRISM project is also developing and hosting several other web-based lesson design tools and resources for K-12 educators and students on the PRISM project web page (http://www.ku-prism.org). These tools and resources include: i) "Polar Scientists and Explorers, Past and Present" covering the travels and/or unknown fate of polar explorers and scientists; ii) "Polar News" providing links to current news articles related to polar regions; iii) "Letter of Global Concern", which is a tool to help students draft a letter to a politician, government official, or business leader; iv) "Graphic Sleuth", which is an online utility that allows teachers to make lessons for student use; v) "Bears on Ice" for students in grades K - 6 that can follow the adventures of two stuffed bears that travel with scientists into polar regions; and vi) "K-12 Polar Resources," which provides teachers with images, information, TrackStar lessons, and a search engine designed to identify polar related lessons. In our presentation, we will describe and show examples of these tools and resources, and provide an assessment of their popularity with teachers nationwide.

Me, My Self, and Eye: The Teacher as Producer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Special Education Technology, 1982

1982-01-01

A video production model designed to help teachers produce individualized instructional video/programs for severely handicapped students is described. The project's development, equipment design, and field verification approaches are reviewed. (CL)

Scopes for Schools: What do students know about light and mirrors?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stassun, K.; Fabian, D.; Brissenden, G.; Lattis, J.

2002-05-01

The 'Scopes for Schools Project is an inquiry- and standards-based program that unites K-12 teachers, students, and professional astronomers to conduct outreach, curriculum development, and teacher professional development in astronomy. The main activities of S4S ('Scopes for Schools) are a teacher professional development workshop to increase teachers' astronomy content and pedagogical content knowledge, provide modeled curriculum activities, and the physical materials needed for doing astronomy in the classroom. We then build low-cost, high-quaility Dobsonian telescopes in the classroom with the students supplemented with fun, collaborative, inquiry-based astronomy activities. Finally, we help support the new teacher partners by assisting with star parties and astronomy club development. Previously, the curriculum development aspects of S4S have focused on post-telescope building activities, but in an attempt to provide a clear understanding of the optical properties of a telescope, we have developed an activity that explores how light interacts with a bare mirror. By grades 6-8, we have observed strongly held alternative conceptions about sight, the nature of light, and its interaction with reflective surfaces. We specifically and rigorously address this problem and the Benchmark ``Something can be "seen" when light waves emitted or reflected by it enter the eye-just as something can be "heard" when sound waves from it enter the ear.'' (Project 2061) with an activity that encourages students to manipulate a mirror and a light source to discover how images are formed. Students also gain experience with multiple variables in an experiment and the idea that it may not be possible to prevent outside factors from influencing the experiment. We discuss how this ``mirror activity'' relates to the cognitive development of students, the standards, and the greater S4S project. The 'Scopes for Schools Project has recieved funding from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium and a Chandra EPO grant.

Science FEST: Preservice Teachers link Math and Science in Astronomy Lessons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeMuth, N. H.; Kasabian, J.; Hacking, P. B.

2005-12-01

Funded by the National Science Foundation and corporate sponsored by Northrop Grumman, Science FEST (Science for Future Elementary School Teachers) aims to develop the science content and pedagogy for project participants by connecting their college coursework to the science they will eventually teach. Working individually and in pairs, future elementary and secondary school teachers design a comprehensive module in astronomy that is inquiry-based and reflects national and state science standards. Project participants then teach their module in local elementary or middle school classrooms. Science FEST project participants report gaining a deep understanding of the science they are teaching, learning to engage all students to explore science concepts, and reflecting on their teaching and how it can be improved. The project's website can be found at www.science-fest.org.

Chemistry Teachers' Emerging Expertise in Inquiry Teaching: The Effect of a Professional Development Model on Beliefs and Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rushton, Gregory T.; Lotter, Christine; Singer, Jonathan

2011-02-01

This study investigates the beliefs and practices of seven high school chemistry teachers as a result of their participation in a year-long inquiry professional development (PD) project. An analysis of oral interviews, written reflections, and in-class observations were used to determine the extent to which the PD affected the teachers' beliefs and practice. The data indicated that the teachers developed more complete conceptions of classroom inquiry, valued a "phenomena first" approach to scientific investigations, and viewed inquiry approaches as helpful for facilitating improved student thinking. Analysis of classroom observations with the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol indicated that features of the PD were observed in the teachers' practice during the academic year follow-up. Implications for effective science teacher professional development models are discussed.

Bench to Bedside: The Effectiveness of a Professional Development Program Focused on Biomedical Sciences and Action Research

PubMed Central

Barnes, Marianne B.; Barnes, Lehman W.; Cooper, Lou Ann; Bokor, Julie R.; Koroly, Mary Jo

2017-01-01

A three-year, National Institutes of Health-funded residential project at a southeastern research university immersed 83 secondary science teachers in a summer institute called “Bench to Bedside.” Teachers were provided with knowledge, skills, experiences, and incentives to improve their science teaching and increase their awareness of scientific processes, technologies, and careers by examining the translational medicine continuum of basic to clinical research. This was done with the help of medical school researchers, clinical personnel, biotechnology entrepreneurs, program mentors, and prior year participants. A critical component of the institute was the preparation and implementation of an action research project that reflected teachers’ newly acquired knowledge and skills. Action research proposals were critiqued by project team members and feedback provided prior to action research implementation in schools during the following year. Teachers shared their action research with colleagues and project team at a symposium and online as a critical step in networking the teachers. Results of a mixed methods program evaluation strategy indicate that the program produced significant gains in teachers’ confidence to explain advanced biosciences topics, development of action research skills, and formation of a statewide biosciences network of key stakeholders. Constraints of time, variation in teacher content and action research background, technology availability, and school-related variables, among others, are discussed. PMID:29733086

Chapter 3: Design of the Saber-Tooth Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, Phillip

1999-01-01

Used data from interviews, surveys, and document analysis to describe the methods and reform processes of the Saber Tooth Project, examining selection of sites; demographics (school sites, teachers, data sources, and project assumptions); and project phases (development, planning, implementation, and support). The project's method of reform was…

An Eclectic Professional Development Proposal for English Language Teachers (Una propuesta ecléctica de formación docente para profesores de inglés)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaves, Orlando; Guapacha, Maria Eugenia

2016-01-01

This article reports a mixed-method research project aimed at improving the practices of public sector English teachers in Cali (Colombia) through a professional development program. At the diagnostic stage surveys, documentary analysis, and a focus group yielded the teachers' profile and professional needs. The action phase measured the program's…

Examining teacher self-efficacy about best practices in science during a professional development series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menez, Jessica L.

Using extant data that were collected as part of a larger project, the current study examined teacher self-efficacy and the teachers' intentions to implement workshop content throughout the course of a six-week professional development workshop focused on enhancing science motivation for students through the adoption of specific instructional strategies. There were a total of 20 middle and high school teacher participants. Results indicated teacher self-efficacy changed significantly from pre to post. Teachers showed higher teacher self-efficacy after the professional development, in particular for influencing student engagement. In addition, we found a moderate correlation between the level of confidence after the implementation of a strategy and teachers intention of trying the strategy again. Finally, new direction for future research topics made possible by this study are presented.

Self regulated learning trough project base learning on the prospective math teacher

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laelasari

2018-03-01

Development of planning, strategy, and learning activities is strongly influenced by metacognition ability, knowledge of learning strategy, and understanding of context is the most important thing to be mastered by a prospective teacher. Self-regulation owned by the individual can control behavior, and manipulate a behavior by using the ability of his mind so that individuals can react to their environment. Self-regulation is the basis of the socialization process as it relates to the entire domain of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. This research is a qualitative research with research subject of the fourth-semester student of class A, at one of a university in Cirebon City, West Java. In this research, the lecture material discussed is The Development of Teaching Materials, which is the subject matter that must be mastered by prospective teachers, especially teachers of mathematics education. The instrument used is the questionnaire. The results showed that through project based learning, can grow student’s self-regulated learning especially the prospective math teacher, and can be used as an alternative to the delivery of lecture materials.

Integration of Engineering Education by High School Teachers to Meet Standards in the Physics Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kersten, Jennifer Anna

In recent years there has been increasing interest in engineering education at the K-12 level, which has resulted in states adopting engineering standards as a part of their academic science standards. From a national perspective, the basis for research into engineering education at the K-12 level is the belief that it is of benefit to student learning, including to "improve student learning and achievement in science and mathematics; increase awareness of engineering and the work of engineers; boost youth interest in pursuing engineering as a career; and increase the technological literacy of all students" (National Research Council, 2009a, p. 1). The above has led to a need to understand how teachers are currently implementing engineering education in their classrooms. High school physics teachers have a history of implementing engineering design projects in their classrooms, thus providing an appropriate setting to look for evidence of quality engineering education at the high school level. Understanding the characteristics of quality engineering integration can inform curricular and professional development efforts for teachers asked to implement engineering in their classrooms. Thus, the question that guided this study is: How, and to what extent, do physics teachers represent quality engineering in a physics unit focused on engineering? A case study research design was implemented for this project. Three high school physics teachers were participants in this study focused on the integration of engineering education into the physics classroom. The data collected included observations, interviews, and classroom documents that were analyzed using the Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education (Moore, Glancy et al., 2013). The results provided information about the areas of the K-12 engineering framework addressed during these engineering design projects, and detailed the quality of these lesson components. The results indicate that all of the design projects contained components of the indicators central to engineering education, although with varied degrees of success. In addition, each design project contained aspects important to the development of students' understanding of engineering and that promote important professional skills used by engineers. The implications of this work are discussed at the teacher, school, professional development, and policy levels.

Fostering Special Education Certification through Professional Development, Learning Communities and Mentorship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trahan, Mitzi P.; Olivier, Dianne F.; Wadsworth, Donna E.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this article is to present mixed methodology evaluation data regarding a professional development initiative designed to offer non-certified special education teachers specialized classroom and teacher certification support. The project was grounded in evidence-based strategies that resulted in direct implications for teacher…

Interrupting Situated Practices: Critical Incidents in International Partnerships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flint, Amy Seely; Albers, Peggy; Matthews, Mona

2018-01-01

This paper examines the initial steps of an internationally funded project focused on enhancing teachers' conceptual and pedagogical knowledge of literacy development in the Western Cape of South Africa. We asked what are the tensions and breakthroughs when engaged in international teacher professional development? Four lines of inquiry support…

Art for the Handicapped, 1978-1979.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Frances E.; And Others

The document reports on a project to develop increased communication between art and special education teachers about common problems in educating handicapped children in art, to expand knowledge via "hands on" art experiences, to develop ways to utilize art to assist learning in other academic areas, and to familiarize art teachers with current…

A Program for Reading and Language Development. An Adopter's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Nancy Hay

"Project SAILS" (Symbolic and Innovative Language Systems) is a special program developed by the Portland, Oregon, public schools for training teachers to work with children who have learning and reading difficulties. Teachers are instructed in the use of the Monterey Reading and Language Programs, highly structured and highly…

Being Influenced or Being an Influence: New Teachers' Induction Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keay, Jeanne

2009-01-01

This article draws on and develops the outcomes of previous research which concluded that school subject departments provide the setting for influential professional development and that experienced teachers strongly influence their newly qualified colleagues. The findings of two subsequent research projects, which used this as a starting point,…

Live, Online Short-Courses: A Case Study of Innovative Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marrero, Meghan E.; Woodruff, Karen A.; Schuster, Glen S.; Riccio, Jessica Fitzsimons

2010-01-01

Teachers are searching for new venues through which they may meet stringent professional development requirements. Under competitive funding from NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Office of Education and the NASA Explorer Schools Project, U.S. Satellite Laboratory, Inc. created a series of live, online, interactive…

Personal Accountability in Education: Measure Development and Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblatt, Zehava

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper, three-study research project, is to establish and validate a two-dimensional scale to measure teachers' and school administrators' accountability disposition. Design/methodology/approach: The scale items were developed in focus groups, and the final measure was tested on various samples of Israeli teachers and…

Persistent Teaching Practices after Geospatial Technology Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubino-Hare, Lori A.; Whitworth, Brooke A.; Bloom, Nena E.; Claesgens, Jennifer M.; Fredrickson, Kristi M.; Sample, James C.

2016-01-01

This case study described teachers with varying technology skills who were implementing the use of geospatial technology (GST) within project-based instruction (PBI) at varying grade levels and contexts 1 to 2 years following professional development. The sample consisted of 10 fifth- to ninth-grade teachers. Data sources included artifacts,…

Decay and Renewal. Teacher Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trautmann, Nancy M.; Krasny, Marianne E.; Carlsen, William S.; Cunningham, Christine M.; Canning, Harry; Carroll, Patricia; Johnson, Mark; Khandar, Alpa; Olynciw, Elaina; Kottler, Bennett; Penningroth, Stephen; Welman, Adam

This teacher guide is part of the Environmental Inquiry (EI) curriculum series developed at Cornell University to enable high school students to conduct authentic environmental science research. The goals of EI are for students to: (1) develop research skills; (2) use their newly acquired skills to conduct research projects of their own design,…

Shifting the Role of the Arts in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Merryl; Bossenmeyer, Melinda

1998-01-01

SUAVE (Socios Unidos para Artes Via Educacion--United Community for Arts in Education) is an arts-integrated approach to teaching in multicultural and multilingual settings. A unique professional development project for San Diego-area teachers, SUAVE helps teachers develop ways to integrate the arts into mathematics, science, language arts, and…