Design and Implementation of Professional Development Seminars in Coordination with Research Experience for Teachers (RE
- PDF / 62,561 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 76 Downloads / 167 Views
1233-PP07-04
Design and Implementation of Professional Development Seminars in Coordination with Research Experience for Teachers (RET) and Focused on Professional Practices of Scientists and Engineers Chelsey Simmons1, Kaye Storm2, Gary Lichtenstein1 and Beth Pruitt1 1
Mechanical Engineering and 2Office of Science Outreach, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA. ABSTRACT Many programs promote professional development for teachers in laboratory settings. In fact, some research has shown these experiences can improve student achievement. However, it is unclear what aspect of the laboratory experience helps bring about this effect. In order to ensure all teachers participating in Stanford’s Research Experiences for Teachers program received maximum benefit from the laboratory experience, supplementary seminars were delivered that emphasized a variety of skills and tasks required of career scientists and engineers. Teacher feedback indicates that participants found these seminars valuable and that they would prefer additional time for peer interaction and curriculum development. INTRODUCTION National Science Education Standards established by the National Research Council in 1996 suggest that science teachers “encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science” [1]. Exposing students to this expansive representation of science is expected to improve their skills as technical workers and as thoughtful citizens. It is also thought to improve students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of science, though the mechanism of altering each may differ. Research suggests that teacher participation in laboratory-based professional development can help student achievement in a variety of measures [2],[3]. However, one comprehensive study suggests that teachers participating in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) may not actually be conducting hands-on research [4]. In order to ensure all teachers participating in Stanford University’s RET program were aware of the variety of skills and characteristics possessed by career scientists and engineers regardless of their laboratory assignment, we developed and delivered supplementary seminars that highlighted and reinforced professional practices. These seminars were thematically organized around the following professional practices of scientists and engineers: • Analyzing and synthesizing research literature, including planning experiments and writing proposals; • Collaboration, specifically the skills required to navigate diverse backgrounds, distributed tasks, and individual goals but shared resources; • Synthesizing data and communicating results, including formal and informal mechanisms. By creating approximations of these professional practices for teachers to engage in, we hope to create a more authentic experience for all teacher participants that can then be brought back to the classroom.
THEORY As mentioned above, national expec
Data Loading...