Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Todd Campbell (Committee Co-Chair), Kimberly Lott (Committee Co-Chair)

Committee

Todd Campbell

Committee

Kimberly Lott

Committee

Suzann Broughton

Committee

Ann M. Berghout Austin

Committee

Deborah Byrnes

Committee

Susan Turner

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which sustained teacher professional development in science education affects the classroom instruction of
elementary school teachers in third through sixth grade over a 3-year period. The teachers in the study were all elementary endorsed and prepared to be generalists in the content areas.

Science reform has led to more content-specific science standards that are difficult for most elementary teachers to address without professional development. Recent studies on improving elementary science instruction suggest the need for professional development to be long term, embedded in teaching practice in the classroom, and rooted in research on how children learn science. The researcher examined changes in classroom instruction over a 3-year period of teachers who participated in a professional development program designed to meet the elementary science education reform.

Classroom observations were administered to determine whether sustained professional development in science impacted teacher practices in the classroom. Observations were made of two groups of teachers, one of which was the control group of 20 teachers and the other was the experimental group of 22 teachers. The control group was used to illustrate nontreatment and was observed once during year one of the study. The treatment group was observed three times, one time each year over 3 years of treatment. Two observation instruments were used to evaluate classroom science instruction. The Summary Judgment of Science Instruction was used to evaluate overall science instruction. The PESTL Observation Protocol was used to evaluate five components of reformed science instruction, which included: talk and argument, investigation, modeling, content alignment, and addressing misconceptions. The data were analyzed to determine the effects of the professional development on classroom instruction overtime.

This study suggested that classroom science instruction did significantly change through sustained professional development of 3 years. Findings indicated that 1 year of professional development does not appear to significantly improve overall science instruction or the practices of reformed science instruction of elementary teachers who participate when compared to nonparticipants. Findings indicated that 2 years of sustained professional development appears to significantly improve the practices of talk and argument, investigation and content alignment of elementary teachers who participate when compared to 1 year of treatment. Furthermore, findings indicated that 3 years of sustained professional development appears to concomitantly improve overall science instruction and all five components of reformed science instruction of elementary teachers who participate when compared to 1 and 2 years of treatment. Notably, overall science instruction and the components of modeling, and addressing misconceptions significantly improved only after 3 years of professional development. This study suggested that 3 years or more of professional development is necessary to significantly improve overall science instruction and all five components of reformed science instruction concomitantly.

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This work made publicly available electronically on September 20, 2012.

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