AAASMichigan State University Northwestern UniversityUniversity of Michigan

Center for Curriculum Materials in Science

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation (ES 0101780 and 0227557).

Any opinions, findings and recommendations expressed in the materials are those of the authors.

A Successful Professional Development Model for Preparing Teachers

to use Reform-Based Curriculum

EffectivelyLeeAnn Sutherland & Joe

Krajcik The University of Michigan

DRK-12 WorkshopNovember 10, 2009

Focal challenge:

How do you enact professional development to support teacher learning and have positive impacts on teacher knowledge, attitudes, and instructional practices?

What will we do today?Share PD successes & challenges as a group

Provide context for the project in which we work: IQWST

Enact a portion of one successful PD model

Consider future directions for improving PD enactment and PD research

In your own work:

What kinds of professional development

are you involved in?

In your own work:

What are some challenges

you face in conducting professional development?

In your own work:

What are some of your successes enacting

professional development?

Framing our Challenges

and SuccessesThe IQWST Project: Investigating and

Questioning our World through

Science and Technology

IQWST is a collaboration to improve the teaching and learning of science at the middle school level by developing the next generation of curriculum materials.

Leadership Team• Joe Krajcik & LeeAnn Sutherland: University of Michigan

• Brian Reiser: Northwestern University • David Fortus: Weizmann Institute of Science

Those who make IQWST happen

Talented faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and staff from:

• UM, NU, MSU, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel)

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign• Teachers College, Columbia University

Project Manager: Bridget Quinn MaldonadoProfessional Development Coordinator: Andrew Falk

Partners • Jo Ellen Roseman: Project 2061• Sean Smith: Horizon Research, Inc.

IQWST Funding

Supported through two NSF grants• Phase 1: 3½ years, 2 units• Phase 2: 5 years, remaining 10 units

• Through 2011

Why develop IQWST?Traditional science materials are Inadequate in that they:

• Cover many topics at a superficial level

• Focus on technical vocabulary• Fail to consider students’ prior knowledge

• Lack coherent explanations of real-world phenomena

• Provide students with few opportunities to develop explanations of phenomena

US failing to prepare youth for the world in which they will live.

Project Goals• Develop standards-based, coherent science curriculum that• encourages students to construct understanding within a lesson, across lessons, across units, and across grades 6-8

• integrates literacy practices within the context of learning science concepts & engaging in scientific practices

• incorporates students’ everyday life experiences

• addresses diverse learners’ needs • Provide professional development• Assess impact of the materials

Major Features of IQWST

• Project-based inquiry

• National standards-based

• Learning-goals driven

• Driving Questions

• Integrated literacy practices

• Experience Phenomena

• Scaffolded scientific practices

• Embedded formative assessments

• Supports for diverse learners

• Educative for teachers

• Coherent design

IQWST Scope and Sequence

Preparing Teachers: Professional Development

Our ChallengesDemanding science contentYear-long coherent curriculum (One unit each in biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science)

Teaching the curriculum’s underlying philosophy and key features (e.g., scientific practices, integrated literacy practices)

Not enough time to do everything!Attendance

What we did wrong on the first round

• Too much – we were rushing• Leadership not visible• Focus on activities rather than

generalized idea of practice• Teachers not involved• Did not make the underlying

philosophy visible

Professional Development Model

• Focus on key features of IQWST• Model teach so that teachers experience pedagogy, practices, design principles & philosophy in action

• Debrief model teaching to highlight critical features

• Emphasize one unit, introduce 2nd so as to illustrate coherence

• Maintain core leadership team • Actively involve teachers• Offer three, 2-day workshops during the school year

Professional Development Learning Goals

• Teachers demonstrate their understanding of a few key features of IQWST in the form of an artifact

• In debriefing sessions, teachers articulate developing understanding of pedagogy, practices, design principles & philosophy in the co-construction of the IQWST Pedagogies & Practices Board

• Teachers express confidence in their ability to teach using IQWST materials, including sufficient content knowledge and facility with scientific practices

PD WorkshopsSummer: 5 days

3 days focused on the 1st unit in grade-level sequence; 2 days addressing coherence Taught by experienced IQWST teachers & core team Teachers who taught previous grade levels share their experiencesModel teaching of individual lessons--followed by debriefing to frame IQWST pedagogy and practices

In-year PD: 2 days preceding each of the subsequent units (3 per year)Taught by experienced IQWST teachers & core team Teachers who taught previous grade levels share their experiencesAt each session, debrief “Successes” and “Challenges” teaching IQWST thus farIndividuals select foci for next unit (i.e., areas to address on the challenge list)

Experiencing the PD Model

We will model teach one lesson, as in PD

You participate as teachers doWhen we model teach, we ask

teachers to participate by asking questions they would expect their students to ask, etc.

What do students know at this point?•Matter is composed of atoms & molecules in constant motion.•Substances can exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous states.•Substances have characteristic properties that help identify substances and distinguish them from one another.•Solubility, density, and melting point are properties of substances.•Both baking soda and road salt are soluble in water (determined in a previous investigation).

Discussion Questions(before the investigation)

What do you think might happen when you mix substances together with other substances?

How would you know whether new substances formed?

What happens when I mix substances together?

Activity Sheet 6• Read Purpose• Follow safety rules • Teacher demonstrates procedure• Students complete Activity Sheet 6

• Observe and Describe• Investigate• Discuss• Observe and Describe• Discuss

DISCUSSION

Conclusions:

Talk with your group about what you observed. How can you answer the question: What happens when I mix substances together?

Discussion Questions

–How do the substances that you ended up with compare to the substances that you started with?

–What do you notice about properties that might help you define a chemical reaction?

–What evidence do you have that new substances were made from the old substances?

Homework

Write a scientific explanation of whether a chemical reaction occurred.

L

Scientific ExplanationsAre critical to National Standards (NRC, 1996):

•Students are able to . . . develop…explanations… using evidence.

•Students are able to . . . think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanation.

•Students are able to communicate scientific . . . explanations.

Scientific Explanations in IQWST

Claim

Evidence

Reasoning

1. Claim

A statement a) of one’s understanding about a phenomenon, b) about the results of an investigation/ experiment, or c) that answers a question posed at the beginning of an investigation. • A claim may answer the question, “Based on what

you have read or have done, what can you conclude?”

• If an investigation has Dependent & Independent Variables, then the claim must state the relationship between them.

2. Evidence

Data used to support a claim.• Data may be collected by students or may be

reported from other sources.• Data may include either qualitative observation,

quantitative measurements, or both.• Raw data become evidence when they are used

in a manner that supports a claim.

3. Reasoning

The process of making explicit how particular evidence supports a claim, and how scientific principles apply in interpreting data and making a subsequent claim.• Reasoning typically requires relating scientific

principles--what we know in science--to what one is currently doing or learning.

• Reasoning requires justifying how it is that particular data count as evidence to support the claim one is making.

Write, Critique, Revise Cycle for Scientific Explanations

Homework: Read and writeIn-class follow up • Share explanations• Teacher may choose examples for

whole-class critique• Students may review peers’ work• Students revise their own• Teacher may choose to ask students to

submit their best work• Assessment opportunities inform

instruction and may be used for grading purposes

Teacher Background Knowledge

A chemical reaction occurs between sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and calcium chloride (road salt).

sodium + calcium sodium + calcium + carbon

bicarbonate(aq) chloride(aq) chloride(aq) carbonate(s) dioxide(g)

Sodium chloride in solution plus carbon dioxide gas plus solid calcium carbonate (chalk) forms.

The water that is added to the sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate is not involved in the chemical reaction but is necessary to dissolve the calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate so that they can react together.

Debrief IQWST Model Teaching

Professional Development Model

• Focus on key features of IQWST• Model teach so that teachers experience pedagogy, practices, design principles & philosophy in action

• Debrief model teaching to highlight critical features

• Emphasize one unit, introduce 2nd so as to illustrate coherence

• Maintain core leadership team • Actively involve teachers• Offer three, 2-day workshops during the school year

Discussion Questions

What future directions might we go in to improve PD enactment for NSF projects?

What are important areas for future PD research?

Joe Krajcikkrajcik@umich.edu

LeeAnn Sutherlandlsutherl@umich.edu

Questions?