Class
Article
College
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services
Department
English Department
Faculty Mentor
Hillary Swanson
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Science teachers feel pressure to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), embrace innovative methods and technology tools with their supporting pedagogies, yet daily classroom practices rarely incorporate them. Investigations of this phenomenon include professional development (PD) effectiveness, teacher learning, beliefs, views, and resistance to change. Investigation findings have not uncovered how to reverse the trend. A search to understand the tensions and barriers that outweigh the pressures mentioned above is one aim of this study. Tensions surface when teachers and students are expected to replace lectures, worksheets, teacher-led labs, and tests with the following: asking questions, defining problems, conducting investigations, developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data, arguing from evidence, constructing explanations, designing solutions, and communicating information. Sorting out specific elements that undermine readiness for change is another aim of this study. Analyzed transcriptions, from an NGSS theory-building summer PD and follow-up interviews, provide insights into these tensions and barriers. Categorization and emerging themes during the analysis have some connections with Albert Bandura’s human agency literature and The Influencer framework by Joseph Grenny et al. Emerging from these connections is a new framework that points to many areas within an education system that need evaluation before changes begin. This thorough, education specific, change readiness framework provides direction for in-depth investigation of any educational entity’s fitness to fully incorporate changes unlike anything currently found in literature. We hypothesize that following a framework like the one presented can facilitate pointed inquiry and discussion around change that increases long term application of change in the classroom.
Location
Logan, UT
Start Date
4-7-2022 12:00 AM
Included in
I'm Telling You, It Just Won't Work
Logan, UT
Science teachers feel pressure to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), embrace innovative methods and technology tools with their supporting pedagogies, yet daily classroom practices rarely incorporate them. Investigations of this phenomenon include professional development (PD) effectiveness, teacher learning, beliefs, views, and resistance to change. Investigation findings have not uncovered how to reverse the trend. A search to understand the tensions and barriers that outweigh the pressures mentioned above is one aim of this study. Tensions surface when teachers and students are expected to replace lectures, worksheets, teacher-led labs, and tests with the following: asking questions, defining problems, conducting investigations, developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data, arguing from evidence, constructing explanations, designing solutions, and communicating information. Sorting out specific elements that undermine readiness for change is another aim of this study. Analyzed transcriptions, from an NGSS theory-building summer PD and follow-up interviews, provide insights into these tensions and barriers. Categorization and emerging themes during the analysis have some connections with Albert Bandura’s human agency literature and The Influencer framework by Joseph Grenny et al. Emerging from these connections is a new framework that points to many areas within an education system that need evaluation before changes begin. This thorough, education specific, change readiness framework provides direction for in-depth investigation of any educational entity’s fitness to fully incorporate changes unlike anything currently found in literature. We hypothesize that following a framework like the one presented can facilitate pointed inquiry and discussion around change that increases long term application of change in the classroom.