Acadia learning science and inquiry education Professional Partnership and Praxis An innovative approach to supporting teachers through the professional

acadia learningscience and inquiry

education

Professional Partnership and PraxisAn innovative approach to supporting teachers

through the professional development cycle

www.acadiapartners.org2/11/2008 1

Bill ZoellickAcadia Partners for Science and Learning

Winter Harbor, Maine(207) 288-1328

[email protected]


educationKey Objectives

• professional development to help teachers improve inquiry-based learning

• develop mechanisms to support collaboration of working scientists and teachers

• identify impediments to more use of guided research by students

• bring students into closer contact with Acadia National Park and with resource issues in the park



educationImplementation

• worked with science and math teachers from 3 high schools and 2 career and tech ed schools

• recruited scientists familiar with• watershed and forest issues• ponds and coastal issues• zoology and mercury toxicology

• used Moodle to provide courseware• used Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol

(RTOP) to monitor use of inquiry-based instruction



educationAssumptions

• Inquiry-based instruction is a valuable skill for science and math teachers.

• Impediments to more use of inquiry are primarily related to subject knowledge.



educationHypotheses

• Access to working scientists could help overcome this impediment.

• An off-the-shelf, open source CMS such as Moodle could support much of the required interaction.



educationAnother Thing We Wanted to Test

using the structure of professional scientific investigations to organize student work– background study– literature review– proposal– data collection and analysis– publication



educationOther Intended Outcomes

• increase in teacher skill/comfort with inquiry-based methods

• engagement of more teachers with student field research• give students a better idea of what scientists do• create a "community of practice" in which teachers work

together to extend inquiry-based teaching skills• knowledge useful in engaging more working scientists, and

other National Parks, in supporting training in inquiry-based instruction



educationWhat We Learned (Big Things)

There is broad acceptance of the value of inquiry based-instruction among science and math teachers.




BUT we need to modify an assumption: Yes lack of subject matter expertise is a barrier to use of inquiry-based instructional methods -- BUT there are also more basic problems– habits– beliefs/experience– know-how (helping students frame good

questions)




• Involving working scientists in the classroom (even if only virtually) expands possibilities.– technical know-how– approach to inquiry

• (But, without teachers who are more practiced in use of inquiry, it is not scalable.)




Free, open source tools are completely capable of supporting this kind of activity, with good flexibility.

(see the course site atwww.acadialearning.org)



education

2/11/2008 www.acadiapartners.org 13





educationOther Potential Important Outcomes

• The interaction with the scientists has shown at least some of the teachers what’s possible.

• There are teachers who want to run these research projects again next year.

• They feel that they can provide at least some of the inquiry support to the students that the scientists have provided.

• (We suspect that some summer institutes will help.)

(still collecting and analyzing evidence)



educationOther Interesting Things …

• The "proposal" stage is where engagement and learning happens.

• Literature review and getting a good background need to be worked in AFTER the initial proposal work starts.

• Projects with sustained observation seem harder to pull off than ones where the field experience is more of an "event“.

• Summer workshops in advance are really helpful.



educationOther Interesting Things …

• Working scientists, if supported, can have fun with this.

• Overall, conventional course structure can make significant student research difficult.

• Support throughout the department and the administrative structure is important.

• Association with an external entity, such as Acadia National Park (or a laboratory, etc.) seems to bring important visibility and validity.



educationNext Steps

• research to understand dynamics/needs of teacher "communities of practice" in support of inquiry-based instruction

• development/testing of self-assessment tools that teachers can use to improve skills

• work toward a scalable support system



educationDisclaimer

2/11/2008 21www.acadiapartners.org

The instructional practices and assessments discussed or shown in this presentation are not intended as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.

Documents

Acadia learning science and inquiry education Professional Partnership and Praxis An innovative approach to supporting teachers through the professional