Learning in Practice: New Possibilities for Teacher Professional Education in Science

Terc Inc, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This four-year project promotes teacher "learning in practice" to bring out and build on the cognitive strengths of their students for science learning in the classroom. Using culturally sensitive approaches and understanding the broader contexts of their students lives will enable teachers to make classroom science teaching more effective and more relevant for their students. Within the professional development school setting, teachers and researchers will collaborate intensively to develop theories of action, document and disseminate practices that support teacher learning, and to design a model for sustainable, school-wide improvement of science teaching and students' science learning outcomes. Focusing intensely on one well-described school affords this project the opportunity to explore in-depth research on teacher content and pedagogical content learning.