Virginia Mathematics Teacher Fall 2016

institute each summer that consists of integrated science and science pedagogy coursework, 2) four follow-up PD days across the academic year, 3) in- classroom coach support during the school year, 4) completed PBL unit plans and assessments for use in their own classroom, 5) use of NSTA Learning Center , and 6) opportunities for reflection and feedback from peers, coaches, and instructors. These components are integrated throughout the PD with the goal of improving elementary teach­ ers’ science content knowledge and capacity to in­ tegrate science and literacy instruction. The model also includes principals and facilitates the building of school-wide instructional supports for the inte­ grated approach. During the first summer institute, content experts led sessions specifically designed to build teachers’ content knowledge around matter and en­ ergy concepts. Teachers were also introduced to pedagogical strategies related to inquiry, nature of science, hands-on, PBL, and literacy by engaging them in model life, physical, and earth/space sci­ ence lessons related to matter and energy that used these strategies. In these lessons, teachers acted as the students so they experience the lessons as their students would. While not a primary project goal, mathematics was integrated into the science experi­ ences and highlighted throughout the PD. For ex­ ample, during model lessons teachers collected da­ ta and created data tables and graphs, made quanti­ tative measurements, and performed calculations while analyzing data. Teachers then selected from a number of model PBL unit overviews aligned with their grade level standards and matter and energy. They modified these PBL units and developed dai­ ly lesson plans that included each of the strategies. During the academic year, they received feedback from instructional coaches as they implemented the unit. They also participated in follow up PD to sup­ port integration of other literacy and science peda­ gogies (e.g. discourse circles). During the second summer, returning teach­ ers (cohort 1) will refine their initial PBL unit and develop a new PBL unit for their grade level based on the crosscutting concept of cause and effect. The teachers will also begin exploring authentic assessment and create an authentic assessment for their PBLs. Teachers new to the PD (cohort 2) will complete summer one activities, described above. During the final summer, teachers from both co­ horts will work as school teams to develop a schoolwide PBL unit focused around a single crosscutting concept (i.e. matter and energy, cause and effect, patterns). They will also experience and learn about other types of authentic assessment and embed multiple pedagogical strategies learned

across the previous summers in their culminating schoolwide PBL unit. Research Design The VISTA ELIS PD is being evaluated overall through a quasi-experimental approach de­ signed to assess changes in teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge and students’ science achievement compared to a control group as well as teachers’ overall perception of the quality of the PD. At the conclusion of the final year, treatment teachers and students outcomes (e.g. content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge) will be com­ pared to control teachers and students outcomes. The present study, which includes only data from the first cohort of teachers, reports changes in teacher confidence and understandings as well as participant perceptions of the PD. The following research questions guided the present investigation:  How does teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge change following participation in the PD?  What content do teachers choose to teach through a PBL approach following the PD? To answer these questions, teachers’ were assessed pre- and post-summer institute on their understandings of and confidence in incorporating PBL, inquiry, NOS, and literacy instruction, their content knowledge, and their perceptions of the summer component of the PD. Thus, in this quasi- experiment pre-/post-test design, teachers served as their own control. Data were analyzed using de­ scriptive and inferential statistics and systematic data analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Below, we discuss changes in Cohort 1 treatment teachers’ science content and pedagogi­ cal knowledge following the summer institute, the content topics and pedagogical strategies embed­ ded in PBL units developed, and teachers’ percep­ tions of the effectiveness of VISTA ELIS PD. The first cohort included 21 teachers from 10 schools in one district, 9 teachers from two schools in another district, and 9 teachers from one school in a third district (Table 1). Results indicated teacher confidence of the targeted pedagogical strategies increased as a result of the summer institute. However, their content knowledge related to matter and energy did not change following the summer institute. Teachers developed PBL units that addressed a variety of elementary and middle school science content and  What are teachers’ perceptions of the PD? Results

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