Professional Development Institute for Science Teachers in New York State

Professional Development Institute for Science Teachers in New York State

Comprehensive Assessment

The New York State Science Teachers Consortium (Table I) represents close to 20,000 science teachers in New York State. During the summer of 2002, the Consortium met invited members of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and related stakeholders to discuss the needs and mechanisms for professional development of science in New York State public and non-public schools (Appendix VIII). This proposal is the culmination of methodical analysis of student and teacher needs in the State. Professional development is an essential componentin preparing teachers to meet the educational needs of all students in the State.

The Consortium assessed teacher quality and professional development needs in a standards-based learning environment over the course of three stages of meetings in 2002-2004. The findings of that assessment have defined the focus of the proposed grant for the Professional Development Institute for Science Teachers.

Stage I: The Science Consortium held its third Science Summit over two days in August of 2002. During that meeting the Consortium detailed problems and solutions facing science educators as they implement the New York State Learning Standards. Participants were asked, “What knowledge, skills and attitudes concerning curriculum, instruction, and assessment do K-12 science educators need in order to become effective and reflective practitioners?” Table 2 is a summary from that discussion (Appendix VIII).

Stage II: Representatives from the Consortium, University at Albany and SUNY Central met monthly in late 2003 and through the winter of 2004 to design the architecture of an NSF-MSP Professional Development Institute for the 21st Century. During this stage, certain goals of the Institute were identified. Each goal identified during Stage I was grounded in a need that had been explicitly identified:

•Increase the number of students who meet State and National Standards

•Bridge the Achievement Gap. Address strategies to increase achievement levels for all students regardless of socio-economic levels or ethnicity.

•Increase student enrollment from diverse backgrounds in advanced science classes

•Develop challenging, engaging curriculum that is articulated to the State Standards

•Attract more teachers into teaching of science including less represented groups.

•Retention of teachers in education. According to Susan Moore Johnson in her book, Finders and Keepers (2004), the new crop “Women and people of color have so many more job options than in the 60’s and 70’s”

•Improve scientific literacy

•Increase understanding of the nature of science using inquiry strategies

•Improve conceptual understanding among elementary and secondary teachers

•Provide opportunities for teachers to learn cutting edge science and develop activities that can be used in the classroom that reflect this new science

•Help higher education faculty become better teachers through improved pedagogy

•Improve science teaching at the elementary level by having the secondary teachers who attend the Institute working with the elementary teachers

•Address the content gap issues facing the elementary science teacher

•Develop strategies to form a dynamic partnership between higher education and K-12 education

•Address needs indigenous to participating school districts.

•Improve the quality of in-service for teachers

•Address misconceptions in science

•Provide models for new teacher induction programs

During this stage two important document were generated:

-Project summary of Architecture of Institute (Appendix I)

-K-12 Prospectus to invite K-12 institutions (Appendix II)

Stage III: All partners for this NCLB/MSP grant first met in the spring of 2004 (Appendix IX). These partners were recruited using the documents in Appendix I & II. A needs assessment rubric was developed using an adaptation of the Wiggins and McTighe instructional model called “Backward Design, (Wiggins).

The following guide questions were provided:

•What is the need and what is the evidence for each need?

•What goal/s will address the need/s (intended outcome/s)?

•What strategy/strategies will be employed to address the needs?

•What outcome/s are expected?

•How will these outcomes be evaluated or measured?

This exercise was initiated at this meeting and continued electronically for several weeks. The results of this exercise are summarized in the chart called Needs Assessment of Participating Institutions within Appendix I. Some of the major needs identified by this partnership are as follows:

•Inquiry-centered curriculum and instruction

•Raise the achievement level of all students

•Close the achievement gap between less represented groups and their white cohorts

•Formative and summative standards-based assessment strategies

•Improve inservice programs

•Strategies that will attract and retain science teachers

•Improve content knowledge of teachers

•Provide professional development and support to elementary science teachers

•Opportunities to bring cutting-edge science into the classroom (Table III)

•Curriculum mapping in elementary and middle school

•Highly qualified science teachers in every classroom

•Integration of math and technology

•Increase number of students in advanced science classes

A study conducted by the Council of Chief State School Officers from 1990-2002 summarizes a number of trends in science education. Across the country, enrollments in advanced placement courses are small. Though New York State is slightly above the average, only 7% taken biology, 3% chemistry and 5% physics. Enrollments by minorities are fractions of that percentage smaller (

Many teachers lack an understanding of the nature of science. Those teachers are focused more on having their students memorize factoids than teaching major concepts through inquiry. They are teaching a course curriculum rather than the MST Standards. The content knowledge of teachers also requires attention. Many misconceptions in science are held not only by students, but also by many teachers (Misconceptions). These misconceptions are often perpetuated in textbooks. Elementary teachers, who are not usually certified in a science discipline, are deficient in both content knowledge and pedagogy content knowledge (NSTA Standards). Add to this the demands of reading and math; science often becomes the “stepchild subject” of teachers at the elementary level. Furthermore, since 5th and 6th grades are part of the Intermediate Standards, Middle Schools have teachers who have not majored in science and so are struggling to meet the demands of the Intermediate Core Curriculum.

Introducing cutting-edge science to the classroom adds relevance and opportunities to develop engaging inquiry-based activities. It is also a vehicle by which teachers and scientists can interact with one another. Teachers improve their content knowledge, while scientists learn pedagogical strategies.

All of the goals outlined in this project are measurable. The Evaluation Team will develop the instruments needed to carry out the evaluation, as discussed in Evaluation and Accountability Section of this proposal. All participating K-12 institutions will facilitate the evaluation of the goals by providing necessary data and/or control groups, as needed, in order to determine the effectiveness of certain strategies. The formative assessments carried out by the Institute’s Evaluation Team will provide the “stoplights” for this project. Needs assessments and evaluations will act as the compass by which the Institute navigates and delivers professional development. The higher education institutions will provide research-active faculty to work with teachers on topics of interest at the cutting-edge science (Table 3) to improve theircontent base knowledge. In addition, the proposed Institute will use research on misconceptions in science to help science teachers improve their content knowledge (Appendix V).

Considerable research supports Best Practices in science education (Table IV). While well-grounded in solid research, according to our needs assessment, many of these practices are often poorly understood by teachers and not used in the classroom (Appendix IV). The Institute’s pedagogy experts will be provided through the Science Teachers Consortium, Board Certified Teachers identified by Union University and faculty from participating schools of education.

Scientifically-Based Research

There has been a paradigm shift in education from syllabus-based curricula to a standards-based learning environment. There is a need for high quality professional development to help educators make the transition. The National Standards in Science Education promotes the concept of “less is more” (NSTA Standards). Science is a process, rather than a static collection of factoids. Its body of knowledge is dynamic, and thereby a product of ever-improving ways of describing the natural world. Inquiry and the Nature of Science is considered so essential to effective science education that it has been given the status of a separate Standard within the National Science Learning Standards, the Benchmarks for Science Literacy and New York State MST Standards. However, many teachers currently lack an understanding of the nature of science and/or how to create an inquiry-based learning environment in their classrooms.

Research has shown that student understanding of major science concepts correlates closely to both the knowledge base and pedagogical skills and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of the teacher (National Congress on Science Education 2004). Since many teachers are inadequately prepared, they are struggling to prepare students for success in standards-based assessments. A large achievement gap exists between minority groups and their white cohorts (Denbo). This problem is so pervasive in the United States that it was the subject of a Focus Group, called Equity and Assessment at the 2004 National Congress on Science Education. In New York State, 45% of students are classified as belonging to minority groups. Of that population, 38.9% are classified as African-American, Hispanic or American Indians (Council of Chief State School Officers from 1990-2002).

NYSED has developed core curricula for elementary-, intermediate- and commencement- level science education that emphasize science content, skills and attitudes that should be used to address the science literacy needs of all the science students in New York State. The program in this proposed Professional Development Institute has been designed to (a) engage and guide science teachers in learning processes unique to science education that will then be used in the classroom to (b) engage and guide students through their science learning processes. Long term, comprehensive, inquiry-based professional development is an absolute requirement for the success of standards-based reform (NRC 1996). This proposed Professional Development Institute will be guided by the principles identified by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA Standards 2000):

A commitment to the concept that all children can and should learn science in ways that reflect an emphasis on inquiry-based learning, problem solving, student investigation and discovery, and application of knowledge.

The implementation and modeling of instructional methods to promote adult learning of science mirror the methods to be used with students.

Professional development programs that regularly review and assess their effectiveness and ability to meet their goals, to revise and improve based on those assessments, and to align with their vision.

Consciously designed structures that link professional development in science to other parts of the educational system; e.g., higher education.

Professional development programs that constantly review and assess their effectiveness and ability to meet their goals and align with their vision.

The proposed Institute has adapted its model for the professional development of science teachers from the NSTA Standards for the Education of Teachers of Science (Table 5). The importance of knowledge of content is supported by research, but not as strongly as the importance of the teachers’ general and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) that is specific to the science being taught. The Institute will work to improve the teachers’ content knowledge using misconceptions of science (Appendix V) not only from the students’ point of view as reported by teachers but also by teachers themselves. Using the richness of scientific resources available in the Capital Region (i.e., University at Albany; Hudson Valley Community College; Union College and University; College of St. Rose; Wadsworth Laboratories) and Buffalo State College in Buffalo, NY, teachers’ knowledge will be expanded by working with participating scientists to bring cutting-edge science into the classroom.

•Concepts and principles understood through science.

•Concepts and relationships unifying science domains.

•Processes of investigation in a science discipline.

•Applications of mathematics in science research.

Inquiry is the standard by which science should be taught and learned. It is the very backbone of science (Sulkes 1996). During a presentation at the STANYS annual State conference, in 2003 Nobel Laureate, Dr. Leon Lederman made the statement “Doing science is messy!” There is no scientific method with its static, sequential steps, which has been a myth perpetuated in many textbooks. However, there are protocols that underlie good science (e.g., sample, size, data collection and analysis, control groups). In order to implement inquiry/constructivism into the science classroom, learning cycles, such asthe 5E instructional model for constructivism, will be used by teachers to develop their lesson plans. In order to implement inquiry/constructivism into the science classroom, learning cycles, such as the 5E’s, will be used by teachers to develop their lesson plans (Bybee 1997). The standard called socialcontext includes:

•Relationships among systems of human endeavor including science and technology.

•Relationships among scientific, technological, personal, social and cultural values.

•Relevance and importance of science to the personal lives of students.

Over 50 years ago in Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, Ralph Tyler noted the importance of providing relevance when teaching science. Traditionally, science has been taught as if all learners were destined to enter a science-related profession. (Tyler 1949). Since that is clearly not correct, considerable professional development is needed for teachers to bring science into the lives of students in ways that are durable and meaningful. For example, in order to conduct discussions on bioethical issues, teachers require (a) training on how to lead these types of discussions and (b) in-depth knowledge of the relevant science. This proposed Institute will do this.

The standard for pedagogy includes a subset called pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). General pedagogy includes all the strategies a teacher uses to engage a student in the learning process and how to monitor learning. However, many concepts in science require specific types of pedagogy that are closely linked to the teaching of the content. This is probably one of the most important standards to master for effective teaching as measured in student learning. The importance of metacognition and formative assessment are two examples of “Best Practices. The former helps the student do the mental gymnastics needed to understand concepts, while the latter enables the teacher to monitor learning (Pressley 1995).

National Science Education Standards defines the standard curriculum as "the way content is delivered . . . the structure, organization, balance, and presentation of the content in the classroom (NRC 1996).” All curriculum and activities developed by the Institute will be articulated to the New York MST State Learning Standards. The professional standard for teaching stresses the importance of roles such as this one. All participants will receive leadership training. Teachers graduating this Professional Development Institute will become master teachers/intellectual leaders for their respective school districts. They will all become cooperating teachers for inservice teachers. They will work with teachers in their respective districts to help improve the district’s science program. They will work with teachers in their respective districts to improve the district’s science program, and be called upon by the Teacher Center and BOCES to provide professional development for other teachers. They will be expected to attend professional conferences and make presentations at conferences.

The standard for the environment of learning includes knowledge of laboratory safety, treatment and care of animals and the psycho-emotional development of their students. There is a considerable body of research that correlates readiness of learning specific concepts in science with age (NRC 1996). The New York State MST Learning Standards identifies Performance Indicators and major understandings appropriate for the elementary, intermediate and commencement level learners.

The standard for assessment is often linked with summative assessment, which has an important role but does not directly affect day-to-day teaching. Teachers will be trained in formative assessment strategies (Black 1998). This provides teachers with the information needed to adjust their teaching. Teachers will be trained to use the data analysis of summative tests to improve their programs. The Institute will provide teachers with training on item writing for their own tests. This is intended to improve teacher-generated summative tests. The item writing training has the extra benefit of providing the State with a potential source of item writers for State exams.

Project Goals and Alignment

The brainstorming rubric that was used to identify the goals for this project is summarized in the Needs Assessment of Participating Institutions charts. A goal is defined as an intended outcome. What actually happens is the outcome. Some strategies to address the goals and ways to measure outcomes were also brainstormed (Appendix III). The New York State Science Initiative’s mission and vision is congruent with the mission and vision of this project. The establishment of this Professional Development Institute will act as a model to set up satellites across the State to “create a statewide learning community to support student achievement of the learning standards in science, leading to a scientifically literate population (mission statement of NYS Science Initiative).” Graduates of the Institute will become master teachers/intellectual leaders, who will provide K-12 institutions with their own professional developers for science education. Hence this will “ensure the learning of science for all pre-K-12 students by providing equitable access to exemplary teachers, inquiry-centered curriculum and instruction, standards-based assessments, a wealth of resources and community support” (mission statement of NYS Science Initiative 2004).

Inquiry science and understanding the nature of science will be the unifying theme of the Institute. These professional development standards will act as the glue for all of the other professional development standards. Teachers will learn how to create inquiry-based learning and teaching environments as instructors model the process and provide strategies from the best practices to achieve this goal. Graduates of the Institute will teach to the Standards, not the State test. Their training will be turn-keyed to their respective school districts.