Browsing by Author "Weiland, Ingrid S."

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Developing an Online/Onsite Community of Practice to Support K-8 Teachers’ Improvement in Nature of Science Conceptions
(InTech, 2012-04) Akerson, Valarie; Townsend, J. Scott; Weiland, Ingrid S.; Nargund-Joshi, Vanashri
Research shows that teachers do not have adequate conceptions of science as inquiry and must be exposed to both content and pedagogical demands of inquiry to effectively teach using inquiry (Anderson, 2002). These results are especially unfortunate for the teacher and the learner because understanding of science as inquiry is reciprocally related to understanding important aspects of the nature of science (NOS) (Akerson, et al., 2008). This problem is coupled with the need to teach NOS and inquiry throughout all elementary grades (NSTA, 2000). Most elementary teacher preparation programs do not include specific courses on NOS or inquiry, and what teachers learn is usually embedded in a science methods course (Backus & Thompson, 2006). Certainly teachers can conceptualize and teach NOS once they understand it, are convinced of its importance, and have strategies to teach it to their own students. Professional development programs can help teachers attain these goals. We have found communities of practice (CoP) (Wenger, 1998) especially useful when working with inservice teachers in terms of helping them conceptualize and to teach NOS when used in an on-site professional development program (Akerson et al, 2009; Wenger, 2002). The CoP enabled the teachers to be committed to a vision of reform in their teaching, and to share ideas and provide peer feedback. To develop a COP there must be mutual engagement around a shared theme in which participants are engaged with colleagues, and share and respond to ideas in the context of the theme (in our case, NOS). In addition, a CoP should have a shared mission (joint enterprise) in which the community works toward a common purpose (for us, improving science teaching). Also, a CoP must include a shared repertoire of ideas, techniques, practices, terminology, as a needed outcome for the CoP and its participants (for us, shared strategies for NOS instruction) (Kerwald, 2008; Wenger, 1998; Wenger, 2006).
Exploring the Potential of Using Explicit Reflective Instruction through Contextualized and Decontextualized Approaches to Teach First-Grade African American Girls the Practices of Science
(Electronic Journal of Science Education, 2014) Buck, Gayle; Akerson, Valarie; Quigley, Cassie; Weiland, Ingrid S.
Contemporary science education policy documents call for curriculum and pedagogy that lead to students’ active engagement, over multiple years of school, in scientific practices. This participatory action research study answered the question, “How can we successfully put twenty-three first-grade African American girls attending a gender school in an impoverished school district on the path to learning the practices of scientists”. The Young Children’s Views of Science (YCVOS) (Lederman, 2009) was used to interview these first-graders pre-, mid- and post-instruction during an instructional unit designed in response to many of the pedagogical strategies research has demonstrated to be effective in other contexts; explicit reflective instruction utilizing contextualized and decontextualized activities. Classroom observations, copies of student work and planning documents were also collected and analyzed. The cumulative findings indicated that the decontextualized aspects of our science initiative had positive impacts on the girls’ understandings of observation and inference while the contextualized aspects of instruction supported an increase in their understandings of empirical evidence. The contextualized aspect of instruction appeared to hinder our efforts in regards to observation and inference. The results extend current understandings of the potential of using these approaches to teach first-grade African American girls the practices of science by supporting some of the aspects of these approaches and raising questions in regard to others.