Situating Teacher Learning in the Practice of Science and Mathematics Teaching

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Situating Teacher Learning in the Practice of
Science and Mathematics Teaching

• Monica Hartman
• University of Michigan

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Problem

• New learning goals
• What students need to know has changed
• Teachers need to learn new approaches to teaching
• Professional development is a patchwork of
  incoherent activities
• New approaches for professional development are
  needed

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What Teachers Need to Know

• Subject matter
• Meanings and connections, not just procedures and
  information
• Students
• Capable of thinking and reasoning
• Not differentiating expectations of students
• Pedagogy
• Include classroom culture
• Learning
• Re-examine longstanding beliefs and assumptions

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Questions

• How does a collaborative professional development
  experience, situated in teachers own practice,
  help elementary public school teachers develop
  their knowledge of teaching?

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Sub Questions

• What are the characteristics of these teachers
  engagement in a collaborative examination of
  practice?
• Why do some teachers stay and other teachers
  leave?
• What skills for inquiry into their practice do
  these teachers appear to develop?
• What do these participating teachers appear to
  learn about their teaching?
• What do they learn about content?
• What do they learn about pedagogy?
• What do they appear to learn about their
  students?

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Context

• Small suburb of large urban Midwestern city
• Mathematics Fifth Grade
• Greenfield (n2)
• Forest Hills (n4)
• Science Group Fourth Grade
• Greenfield (n2)
• Forest Hills (n3)

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Method

• Qualitative analysis
• Constant comparison process
• Researchers role Participant-observer
• Analysis Tool Hyper Research

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Data Sources

• Audio tapes of planning and feedback sessions
• Video tapes of lesson implementations
• Audio tapes of pre and post interviews
• Direct observations, field notes and journal
  entries

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Characteristics of these teachers engagement

• Three themes developed during analysis of these
  data
• Time
• Talk
• Individualism

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Why did some teachers leave?

• Substitute problems
• Didnt have time to be out of the classroom
  because already used many CTO days
• Already out of classroom for other professional
  development
• Didnt know where this program was going in the
  district
• Having a more experienced teacher watch you teach
  was intimidating

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Why did other teachers stay?

• Dissatisfaction with learning outcomes of
  students
• Collegial atmosphere
• Trust in relationship with facilitator
• Teacher talk between sessions was positive and
  supportive
• Were not assigned role of teacher too soon

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Subject matter knowledge

• Multiplication of fractions
• Could not give real world example of fraction
  times a fraction
• Wanted to postpone that topic to sixth grade
• Thought it was division
• Forces and motion
• Admitted they never ask their students to draw a
  conclusion during their science lesson
• Didnt know what was an appropriate conclusion
  for the lesson
• Used physics textbook and ideas from Annenberg
  video as references in the planning of the lesson

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What did they learn about teaching?

• Students need time to discuss concepts so dont
  feel like you are wasting time when giving
  students that extra time
• Journals allowed for you to see student thinking
  and how it develops through the lesson
• Use of manipulatives
• How did students use them?
• Need multiple representations for fraction
  concepts

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What did they learn about their students?

• Collaborative skills
• Group talk was more productive than it sounds
• Leaders developed within their groups
• Students had good discussions in their group
• Student learning
• Students who were otherwise failing were leading
  their groups in understanding concepts in science
• Students were having a difficult time in finding
  fractions of a set
• What teachers saw in the classroom did not match
  their expectations
• Students were on task, noise was productive
• Teachers talk in lunchroom painted a different
  picture of what was really happening in the
  classroom

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Conclusion

• Groups that are more collegial have a better
  chance of succeeding in this type of professional
  development.
• Teachers who are dissatisfied with the learning
  outcomes of their students are more inclined to
  see a need to learn something new.
• The group leader needs to establish credibility
  and trusting relationships among the members.

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Conclusion

• Structures are present in this type of
  professional development that allow teachers
  opportunities to learn.
• Many rich opportunities for further teacher
  learning were missed because the program ended.
  This demonstrates the need for coherence and
  sustained professional development within
  teachers own practice.
• Participation in a collaborative examination of
  process can provide opportunities to learn
  content and pedagogy and deepen collegiality
  among the members.

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Time

• Too much to teach, too little time
• Control what they do with their time
• Need time to construct meaning and process new
  learning
• Influence of cultural perspective of what
  teachers should be doing with their time
• Taking time to collaborate was expressed as a
  major benefit

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Talk

• Small talk developed into more meaningful
  conversations during the planning sessions
• Teachers thought they would have no problem
  offering critical feedback, but found it
  difficult
• Teachers with more content knowledge were more
  critical during feedback session

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Individualism

• Lortie (1975) describes culture of teaching as
  individualistic, present-oriented and
  conservative
• Individualism versus role orientation
• Role carries obligations to help students learn
• Conform to standards of the profession
• (Buchmann)