TY - JOUR
T1 - Supporting Science Teachers in Alignment with State Curriculum Standards through Professional Development
T2 - Teachers' Preparedness, Expectations and Their Fulfillment
AU - Paik, Sunhee
AU - Zhang, Meilan
AU - Lundeberg, Mary A.
AU - Eberhardt, Jan
AU - Shin, Tae Seob
AU - Zhang, Tianyi
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation, under special project number ESI–0353406 as part of the Teacher Professional Continuum program. Any opinion, finding, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the supporting institutions.
PY - 2011/8
Y1 - 2011/8
N2 - Since A Nation at Risk was released in the 1980s, standards-based reform has been the most dominant trend in American educational policy, and the No Child Left Behind Act pushed the trend further by requiring states to develop rigorous curriculum standards. Though much has been said about these new standards, less has been said about whether or how well professional development helps teachers link their instruction to these standards. This study examined the impact of a professional development program for K-12 science teachers in helping teachers meet state curriculum standards. Seventy-five science teachers in Michigan participated in a 2-week summer workshop that used Problem-Based Learning for improving teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Researchers surveyed participating teachers about the change of teachers' preparedness for standards-based teaching, their expectations to meet state curriculum standards, and whether their expectations were met. In addition, the usefulness of workshop activities was examined. Data analysis showed that to align teaching with state curriculum standards, participating teachers expected to learn instructional strategies and enhance science content knowledge through professional development, and by and large their expectations were well met. Collaboration with colleagues and facilitators helped teachers achieve their goals in terms of teaching within state curriculum standards. These findings have important implications for designing professional development to help teachers align instruction with curriculum standards.
AB - Since A Nation at Risk was released in the 1980s, standards-based reform has been the most dominant trend in American educational policy, and the No Child Left Behind Act pushed the trend further by requiring states to develop rigorous curriculum standards. Though much has been said about these new standards, less has been said about whether or how well professional development helps teachers link their instruction to these standards. This study examined the impact of a professional development program for K-12 science teachers in helping teachers meet state curriculum standards. Seventy-five science teachers in Michigan participated in a 2-week summer workshop that used Problem-Based Learning for improving teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Researchers surveyed participating teachers about the change of teachers' preparedness for standards-based teaching, their expectations to meet state curriculum standards, and whether their expectations were met. In addition, the usefulness of workshop activities was examined. Data analysis showed that to align teaching with state curriculum standards, participating teachers expected to learn instructional strategies and enhance science content knowledge through professional development, and by and large their expectations were well met. Collaboration with colleagues and facilitators helped teachers achieve their goals in terms of teaching within state curriculum standards. These findings have important implications for designing professional development to help teachers align instruction with curriculum standards.
KW - Curriculum alignment
KW - Problem-based learning
KW - Professional development
KW - Science teacher education
KW - Standards-based reform
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960650256&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10956-011-9308-1
DO - 10.1007/s10956-011-9308-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960650256
SN - 1059-0145
VL - 20
SP - 422
EP - 434
JO - Journal of Science Education and Technology
JF - Journal of Science Education and Technology
IS - 4
ER -