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Emerging issues and practices in science assessment. The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has provided professional development programs for science teachers for several years (Javonovic and King, 1998). Reston, VA: Association of Teacher Educators. Center for Education. It often consists mostly of one-day (or shorter) workshops focusing on how-to activities that are unlikely to challenge teachers beliefs about teaching and learning that support their current practice (DeSimone, Garet, Birman, Porter, and Yoon, 2003). This book looks at a range of questions about how laboratory experiences fit into U.S. high schools: With increased attention to the U.S. education system and student outcomes, no part of the high school curriculum should escape scrutiny. Maienschein, J. This timely book investigates factors that influence a high school laboratory experience, looking closely at what currently takes place and what the goals of those experiences are and should be. Lab's History Department, which is responsible for educating students in grades 9-12, seeks a teacher with expertise and experience teaching Modern Global or Modern World History coursework. What can they contribute to science learning? Sanders, W.L., and Rivers, J.C. (1996). (1995). After receiving his BEd and MEd degrees from the same university in 1985 and 1986 respectively he started his teaching career as Mathematics and Science teacher in 1989 at Windhoek High . Quantitative approach was used to investigate effects of teaching science subjects in absence of science laboratory and to. Available at: http://www.sedl.org/connections/research-syntheses.html [accessed May 2005]. Undergraduate science students, including preservice teachers, engage. Goldhaber, D.D., and Brewer, D.J. Even teachers who have majored in science may be limited in their ability to lead effective laboratory experiences, because their undergraduate science preparation provided only weak knowledge of science content and included only weak laboratory experiences. Meaning making in secondary science classrooms. This body of knowledge addressed the kind of laboratory instruction given to students, consideration of students with special needs, supportive teaching behaviors, models to engage students working in small groups, the sequencing of instruction, and modes of assessment (p. 121). Elementary School Journal, 97(4), 401-417. However, experts do not agree on which aspects of teacher qualitysuch as having an academic major in the subject taught, holding a state teaching certificate, having a certain number of years of teaching experience, or other unknown factorscontribute to their students academic achievement (Darling-Hammond, Berry, and Thoreson, 2001; Goldhaber and Brewer, 2001). These might include websites, instructional materials, readings, or other resources to use with students. In doing so, they showed teachers how laboratory experiences. Paper presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching meeting, March 23, Chicago, IL. These limits, in turn, could contribute to lower science achievement, especially among poor and minority students. Focusing laboratory experiences on clear learning goals requires that teachers understand assessment methods so they can measure and guide their students progress toward those goals. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 51-61. Available at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/June_3-4_2004_High_School_Labs_Meeting_Agenda.html [accessed May 2005]. In the ICAN program, teachers participate in science internships with working scientists as one element in a larger program of instruction that includes an initial orientation and monthly workshops. In D.G. Science teachers behavior in the classroom is influenced by the science curriculum, educational standards, and other factors, such as time constraints and the availability of facilities and supplies. We then present promising examples of approaches to enhancing teachers capacity to lead laboratory experiences. Science Education, 75, 121-133. The teaching communities that developed, with their new leaders, succeeded in obtaining additional resources (such as shared teacher planning time) from within the schools and districts (Gamoran et al., 2003) and also from outside of them. Hirsch, E., Koppich, J.E., and Knapp, M.S. The proper performance of these duties requires the undivided attention of the teaching assistant during each laboratory period. (2002). Administrators who take a more flexible approach can support effective laboratory teaching by providing teachers with adequate time and space for ongoing professional development and shared lesson planning. The poor quality of laboratory experiences of most high school students today results partly from the challenges that laboratory teaching and learning pose to school administrators. In reviewing the state of biology education in 1990, an NRC committee concluded that few teachers had the knowledge or skill to lead effective laboratory experiences and recommended that major new programs should be developed for providing in-service education on laboratory activities (National Research Council, 1990, p. 34). Assessing Laboratory Learning | UNSW Teaching Staff Gateway Available at: http://www.educationnext.org/20021/50.html [accessed Feb. 2005]. National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools. Do all student have access to laboratory experiences? (2004). Teacher and School Readiness for Laboratory Experiences Schulze (Eds. This chapter describes some of the factors contributing to the weakness of current laboratory experiences. The paraprofessional would help with setup, cleanup, community contacts, searching for resources, and other types of support (National Science Teachers Association, 1990). Discovery learning and discovery teaching. The teachers skills in posing questions and leading discussions also help students to effectively and accurately communicate their laboratory activities and the science sense they make from them, using appropriate language, scientific knowledge, mathematics, and other intellectual modes of communication associated with a particular science discipline. Second group of factors are the environmental factors. We then compare the desired skills and knowledge with information about the current skills and knowledge of high school science teachers. American Educational Research Journal 35(3), 477-496. Reporting on a post-institute survey, McComas and Colburn note that a surprising number of teachers felt that the safety sessions were most important (p. 121) (no numbers were reported). . Teacher and classroom context effects on student achievement: Implications for teacher evaluation. Williams, M., Linn, M.C., Ammon, P., and Gearhart, M. (2004). In a guided-inquiry laboratory (GIL), the teacher provides the students with a question, or set of questions, and the students design an experiment to address the question(s). Anderson, C., Sheldon, T., and Dubay, J. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 11(1), 57-67. For example, Western science promotes a critical and questioning stance, and these values and attitudes may be discontinuous with the norms of cultures that favor cooperation, social and emotional support, consensus building, and acceptance of the authority (p. 470). Journal of the Learning Sciences, 6(2), 227-269. Teachers College Record, 105(3), 465-489. The Chemistry Department of City College (City University of New York) places undergraduate science and engineering majors in middle school classrooms to assist teachers during laboratory activities and learn classroom management from the teachers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 6(2), 120-124. 61-74). PDF The Role of the Teacher and Methods of Teaching Science in - AASCIT Perhaps this is because, among scientists, decisions about the kinds of questions to be asked and the kinds of answers to be sought are often developed by the scientific community rather than by an isolated individual (Millar, 2004). thus expanding the teaching or training role; sometimes they are excluded purposely, such as in the case of France, where teachers are only responsible for the actual instruction and the remainder of . They must address the challenge of helping students to simultaneously develop scientific reasoning, master science subject matter and progress toward the other goals of laboratory experiences. Review of Educational Research, 52 (2), 201-217. Science Teacher, September, 38-41. In an ideal world, administrators would provide adequate laboratory space and time to allow students to continue investigations over several weeks or months, and they would also provide time for students to work outside regular school hours. In B.J. ), Internet environments for science education. During the school year, teachers may access kits of materials supporting laboratory experiences that use biomedical research tools. take place in a school laboratory, but could also occur in an out-of-school setting, such as the student's home or in the field (e.g. More than 90 percent of the class indicated that the experiment was highly effective in demonstrating the difficulty of scientific investigations and the possibility of failure in science (Glagovich and Swierczynski, 2004). It is important for the teacher to be a good learner so as to keep up with the changes. Teachers who had engaged in even more intensive professional development, lasting at least 160 hours, were most likely to employ several teaching strategies aligned with the design principles for effective laboratory experiences identified in the research. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. On the basis of a review of the available research, Lunetta (1998, p. 253) suggests that, for students, time should be provided for engaging students in driving questions, for team planning, for feedback about the nature and meaning of data, and for discussion of the implications of findings, and laboratory journals should provide opportunities for individual students to reflect upon and clarify their own observations, hypotheses, conceptions.. How do teachers work and learnspecifically related to labs. And, among teachers who left because of job dissatisfaction, mathematics and science teachers reported more frequently than other teachers that they left because of poor administrative support (Ingersoll, 2003, p. 7). Science Teacher Job Description - Betterteam Gamoran and others studied six sites where teachers and educational researchers collaborated to reform science and mathematics teaching, focusing on teaching for understanding. Science Teacher Responsibilities: Designing, developing, and delivering quality lesson plans and curricula that adhere to national and school guidelines. Weiss, I.R., Pasley, J.D., Smith, P.S., Banilower, E.R., and Heck, D.J. (2002). They also face uncertainty about how many variables students should struggle with and how much to narrow the context and procedures of the investigation. Loucks-Horsley, Love, Stiles, Mundry, and Hewson (2003) provide a detailed design framework for professional development and descriptions of case studies, identifying strategies for improving science teaching that may be applicable to improving laboratory teaching. Collaborator. Linn, E.A. when studying aspects of biology . Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free? Liability of Science Educators for Laboratory Safety | NSTA The organization and structure of most high schools impede teachers and administrators ongoing learning about science instruction and the implementation of quality laboratory experiences. This is a culminating project for a Forensics course or unit. Requirements for professional development of in-service science teachers differ widely from state to state. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Is there a shortage among mathematics and science teachers? Over the course of a years worth of pedagogical preparation and field experiences, the new teachers began to reorganize their knowledge of biology according to how they thought it should be taught. At this time, however, some educators have begun to question seriously the effectiveness and the role of laboratory work, and the case for laboratory . The program was designed in part to address weakness in science teachers understanding of the nature of science, which was documented in earlier research (Khalic and Lederman, 2000; Schwartz and Lederman, 2002). As students analyze observations from the laboratory in search of patterns or explanations, develop and revise conjectures, and build lines of reasoning about why their proposed claims or explanations are or are not true, the teacher supports their learning by conducting sense-making discussions (Mortimer and Scott, 2003; van Zee and Minstrell, 1997; Hammer, 1997; Windschitl, 2004; Bell, 2004; Brown and Campione, 1998; Bruner, 1996; Linn, 1995; Lunetta, 1998; Clark, Clough, and Berg, 2000; Millar and Driver, 1987). The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, a science curriculum development organization, has long been engaged in the preservice education of science teachers and also offers professional development for inservice teachers. Slotta, J.D. Research conducted in teacher education programs provides some evidence of the quality of preservice science education (Windschitl, 2004). However, compared with other types of professionals, a higher proportion of teachers leave their positions each year. Available at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/March_29-30_2004_High_School_Labs_Meeting_Agenda.html [accessed Oct. 2005]. Strategies for Effective Teaching in the Laboratory Class | CRLT ), Proceedings of the Conference on K-12 Outreach from University Science Departments. The guidelines also call on administrators to schedule no more than 125 students per teacher per day, if the teacher is teaching only physics (the same laboratory activity taught several times may not require preparation) and no more than 100 students per teacher per day if the. Many schools schedule eight 40- to 55-minute class periods, so that following the AAPT guidelines would allow physics teachers two preparation periods. 7082.) This is knowledge drawn from learning theory and research that helps to explain how students develop understanding of scientific ideas. They found that a heat-flow model was better able to connect to middle school students knowledge about heat and temperature than a molecular-kinetic model (Linn, Davis, and Bell, 2004). Resource Provider. A teachers academic science preparation appears to affect student science achievement generally. The teachers ability to use sophisticated questioning techniques to bring about productive student-student and student-teacher discussions in all phases of the laboratory activity is a key factor in the extent to which the activity attains its goals (Minstrell and Van Zee, 2003). It examined the role of laboratory method of teaching in improving the quality of education, strategies for effective use of laboratory method and the problems facing the effective use of laboratory method in teaching science. University researchers inchoate critiques of science teaching: Implications for the content of pre-service science teacher education. Committee on Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standards, J.M. Ferguson, R. (1998). The functions of the laboratory teaching assistant are to provide instruction, supervision, and assistance, as required, to the students in his/her section. Coffey, Everyday assessment in the science classroom (pp. Science Education, 88, 28-54. Development of certified Medical Laboratory Scientists to assume a role as a member of the interprofessional health care team requires additional education to acquire advanced knowledge and skills. Duration (total contact hours, span of time). The literature provides an overview of a range of factors motivating and demotivating pre-service and in-service teachers, and the role teacher motivation plays in possible links with other areas. One study illustrates undergraduate students lack of exposure to the full range of scientists activities, and the potential benefits of engaging them in a broader range of experiences. Available at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/June_3-4_2004_High_School_Labs_Meeting_Agenda.html [accessed May 2005]. Hegarty-Hazel, E. (1990). Modifying cookbook labs. In 2000, according to a nationally representative survey of science teachers, most school administrators provided inadequate time for shared planning and reflection to improve instruction. 1071 Palmer Commons McComas and Colburn (1995) established an inservice program called Laboratory Learning: An Inservice Institute, which incorporated some of the design elements that support student learning in laboratory experiences. Ten Roles for Teacher Leaders - ASCD Glagovich, N., and Swierczynski, A. Sanders, M. (1993). Program faculty report that many teachers tend to dwell on hands-on activities with their students at the expense of linking them with the nature of science and with abilities associated with scientific inquiry. Maduabum (1992) sees a laboratory as a place where scientific exercises are conducted by the science teachers for the benefit of the students (learners). Further research is needed to evaluate these and other efforts to link scientists with K-12 education. The limited evidence available indicates that some undergraduate science programs do not help future teachers develop full mastery of science subject matter. 4.01 Responsibilities of Teachers and Learners Clearly, their preservice experiences do not provide the skills and knowledge needed to select and effectively carry out laboratory experiences that are appropriate for reaching specific science learning goals for a given group of students. Rethinking laboratories. It was implemented over four day-long Saturday sessions spread over a semester. on specific instructional practices increased teachers use of these practices in the classroom. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book. One study found that schools that provide more support to new teachers, including such professional development activities as induction and mentoring, have lower turnover rates (Ingersoll, 2003, p. 8). Committee on Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation, Center for Education. Bayer facts of science education 2004: Are the nations colleges adequately preparing elementary schoolteachers of tomorrow to teach science? Laboratory Learning: An Inservice Institute. At the same time, teachers must address logistical and practical concerns, such as obtaining and storing supplies and maintaining laboratory safety. Studies focusing specifically on science teacher quality and student achievement are somewhat more conclusive. They are relevant for new lab instructors in a wide range of disciplines. Pre-service biology teachers knowledge structures as a function of professional teacher education: A year-long assessment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(1), 79-86. The teachers participated in and analyzed practical laboratory activities, studied theoretical underpinnings of the science education they were receiving, and learned about safety issues during hands-on activity. Project ICAN includes an intensive three-day summer orientation for science teachers followed by full-day monthly workshops from September through June, focusing on the nature of science and scientific inquiry. It was also clear that teachers enhanced their understanding of science subject matter specific to the lab they experienced. Atkin and J.E. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Formative assessment, that is, continually assessing student progress in order to guide further instruction, appears to enhance student attainment of the goals of laboratory education. Professional Development Partnerships with the Scientific Community. (1997). location_onUniversity of Michigan The committee identified a limited portfolio of examples of promising approaches to professional development that may support teachers in leading laboratory experiences designed with clear learning outcomes in mind, thoughtfully sequenced into the flow of classroom science instruction, integrating the learning of science content and process, and incorporating ongoing student reflection and discussion. (2004). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Physics Department. NSTA position statement: Laboratory science. As East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research in Teacher Education. Lunetta, V.N. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, April, St. Louis, MO. Available at: http://www.bayerus.com/msms/news/facts.cfm?mode=detailandid-survey04 [accessed Dec. 2004]. (1986). They surveyed a sample of 207 teachers in 30 schools, 10 districts, and 5 states to examine features of professional development and its effects on teaching practice from 1996 to 1999 (DeSimone et al., 2002). (2002). Science Education, 77(1), 25-46. Clark, R.L., Clough, M.P., and Berg, C.A. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Statistical analysis report. Teachers may help children become more confident and proficient readers by breaking down the reading comprehension process into discrete subtasks and offering targeted teaching and feedback on each one. Laboratory Instructors are responsible for maintaining the routine preventative maintenance of all laboratory equipment. Pre-service education and in-service professional development for science teachers rarely address laboratory experiences and do not provide teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to lead laboratory experiences. Using questioning to guide student thinking. Enforcing laboratory rules . Does teacher certification matter? The Role of Laboratory in Science Teaching and Learning What changes need to be made to improve laboratory experiences for high school students? As we have discussed, teachers face an ongoing tension between allowing students greater autonomy in the laboratory and guiding them toward accepted scientific knowledge. The laboratory science teacher professional development program. Goldhaber, D.D., Brewer, D.J., and Anderson, D. (1999). Catley (2004) reports that having gone through the process of frustration, false starts and the elation of completion, [the teachers] came away with a deeper understanding of how inquiry works and a sense of empowerment. It appears that the uneven quality of current high school laboratory experiences is due in part to the preparation of science teachers to lead these experiences. Washington, DC: Author. ), Faculty development for improving teacher preparation (pp. Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. After completion of the course, teachers classroom behaviors were videotaped and analyzed against traditional and reformed instructional strategies. This is not a simple task (National Research Council, 2001b, p. 79): To accurately gauge student understanding requires that teachers engage in questioning and listen carefully to student responses. ), International handbook of science education (pp. 6. Other studies have also found that most teachers do not experience sustained professional development and that they view it as ineffective (Windschitl, 2004). A professor engaged upper level chemistry majors in trying to create a foolproof laboratory activity to illustrate the chemistry of amines for introductory students. The main role of a teaching assistant is to provide support to the course instructor to ensure the effective delivery of the required materials and to foster a positive learning environment. In reviewing the state of biology education in 1990, an NRC committee concluded that few teachers had the knowledge or skill to lead effective laboratory experiences and recommended that "major new programs should be developed for providing in-service education on laboratory activities" (National Research Council, 1990, p. 34). (1991). van Zee, E., and Minstrell, J. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2), 81-112. (1994). goals of laboratory experiences. 791-810). London, England: Routledge. Ready to take your reading offline? Deng, Z. They also spend a week doing laboratory research with a scientist mentor at the Fred Hutchinson Center or one of several other participating public and private research institutions in Seattle.