Improving practice with target inquiry: high school chemistry teacher professional development that works

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen J. Yezierski ◽  
Deborah G. Herrington
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Chemistry Teacher ◽  
High School Chemistry ◽  
Teacher Professional

Chemistry critical friendships: investigating chemistry-specific discourse within a domain-general discussion of best practices for inquiry assessments

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 452-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam G. L. Schafer ◽  
Ellen J. Yezierski
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Chemistry Teacher ◽  
High School Chemistry ◽  
Teacher Discourse ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Assessment Beliefs

High school chemistry teachers struggle to use assessment results to inform instruction. In the absence of expert assistance, teachers often look to their peers for guidance and support; however, little is known about the assessment beliefs and practices of high school chemistry teachers or the discourse mechanisms used as teachers support one another. Presented in this paper are the results from analyzing a discussion between five high school chemistry teachers as they generated a set of best practices for inquiry assessments. To analyze the discussion, a novel representation called a discourse map was generated to align the analyses conducted on chemistry teacher discourse as they temporally occurred. Results show the utility of the discourse map for evidencing critical friendship and assessment practices evoked by the teachers during the discussion of best practices. Implications for the structural considerations of materials and chemistry teacher professional development are presented as well as potential future investigations of teacher discourse regarding the use of data to inform instruction.

Investigating high school chemistry teachers’ assessment item generation processes for a solubility lab

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam G. L. Schafer ◽  
Ellen J. Yezierski
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Chemistry Teacher ◽  
High School Chemistry ◽  
Item Generation ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Assessment Item ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Guidelines And Standards

Designing high school chemistry assessments is a complex and difficult task. Although prior studies about assessment have offered teachers guidelines and standards as support to generate quality assessment items, little is known about how teachers engage these supports or enact their own beliefs into practice while developing assessments. Presented in this paper are the results from analyzing discourse among five high school chemistry teachers during an assessment item generation activity, including assessment items produced throughout the activity. Results include a detailed description of the role of knowledge bases embedded within high school chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and the processes used to enact these knowledge bases during planned formative assessment design. Implications for chemistry teacher professional development are posited in light of the findings as well as potential future investigations of high school chemistry teacher generation of assessment items.

scholarly journals Engaging High School Students in an Engineering Thermodynamics Project

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Paulino Preciado Babb ◽  
Candace Saar ◽  
Jim Brandon ◽  
Sharon Friesen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
School Level ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Mathematics And Science

Efforts for recruiting and retaining students in engineering programs are evident in many postsecondary institutions around the world. These efforts include outreach programs at both elementary and secondary school level, as well as projects that develop capacities beyond technical content—often taught as declarative and procedural knowledge. The mandate of the Galileo Education Network Association includes the design of rich learning environments engaging K – 12 students in authentic tasks: tasks that resemble the real work of professionals such as engineers. We describe the experience of enacting a seven-session engineering project in thermodynamics with Grade Ten students. Special attention is paid to formative assessment as an essential support for students' learning along the project. The initial project resulted from the collaboration—as a means for teacher professional development—between this network association and the mathematics and science teachers in a western Canadian high school. We propose that programs for teacher professional development in mathematics and science should include a focus on tasks that resemble the work of engineering in order to design authentic, engaging learning tasks, and assessing strategies that support and enhance student learning.

scholarly journals Middle and High School Teacher Professional Development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Schimmel ◽  
Muktha Jost ◽  
Tyrette Carter ◽  
Shawn Watlington ◽  
Terrie McManus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
High School Teacher ◽  
Teacher Professional

Physical Activity in High School Physical Education: Impact of Lesson Context and Class Gender Composition

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Smith ◽  
Monica A.F. Lounsbery ◽  
Thomas L. McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Gender Composition ◽  
Instruction Time ◽  
High School Physical Education ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Lesson Context

Background:Physical education (PE) is recommended as a source for physical activity (PA) and learning generalizable PA skills. Few studies have objectively examined high school PE, specifically its delivery, including PA, lesson contexts, and class gender composition.Methods:We used the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) to assess PA during 6 lesson contexts in 47 boys-only, 54 girls-only, and 63 coed lessons from 7 high schools. MANOVA assessed differences based on class gender composition.Results:Actual lesson length was 27.7 min, only 65% of the scheduled length of class periods. Students engaged in moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) 54% of the time, with boys being more active than girls. Game play was the most dominant context (47%), and little time was allocated to knowledge and skill development. Class size, lesson length, PA, and lesson contexts all differed by class gender composition (P < .001).Conclusions:Many differences in the conduct of high school PE are related to class gender composition. Boys accumulated more MVPA than girls. When held, PE lessons contributed about 25% of recommended daily PA minutes; improvements could be made by increasing allocations to fitness and skill practice and reducing transition and management time. Teacher professional development is warranted.

scholarly journals Gene Annotation in High Schools: Successful Student Pipeline and Teacher Professional Development in Bioscience Using GENI-ACT

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Koury ◽  
Shannon Carlin-Menter ◽  
Rama Dey-Rao ◽  
Kimberle Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
High School ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
Genome Annotation ◽  
Undergraduate Teaching ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
School Year ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teacher Professional

Knowledge of genomics is an essential component of science for high school student health literacy. However, few high school teachers have received genomics training or any guidance on how to teach the subject to their students. This project explored the impact of a genomics and bioinformatics research pipeline for high school teachers and students using an introduction to genome annotation research as the catalyst. The Western New York-based project had three major components: (1) a summer teacher professional development workshop to introduce genome annotation research, (2) teacher-guided student genome annotation group projects during the school year, (3) with an end of the academic year capstone symposium to showcase student work in a poster session. Both teachers and students performed manual gene annotations using an online annotation toolkit known as Genomics Education National Initiative-Annotation Collaboration Toolkit (GENI-ACT), originally developed for use in a college undergraduate teaching environment. During the school year, students were asked to evaluate the data they had collected, formulate a hypothesis about the correctness of the computer pipeline annotation, and present the data to support their conclusions in poster form at the symposium. Evaluation of the project documented increased content knowledge in basic genomics and bioinformatics as well as increased confidence in using tools and the scientific process using GENI-ACT, thus demonstrating that high school students are capable of using the same tools as scientists to conduct a real-world research task.

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