Target Inquiry: Investigating the Teacher and Student Effects of a New Model in Chemistry Teacher Professional Development

Grand Valley State University, Allendale MI

Investigators

Abstract

This five-year research project has as its central aim the testing of a particular model of teacher professional development with secondary school chemistry teachers. The Target Inquiry (TI) model emphasizes the importance of the inquiry process in teaching and learning science by combining a research experience for teachers (RET) with curriculum adaptation and action research. TI has been translated into a chemistry emphasis for an existing M.Ed. program at Grand Valley State University in Michigan by integrating the key features of effective professional development programs with experiences designed to impact instruction and student outcomes in chemistry. A longitudinal study involving comparisons between the participant and control groups as well as measures of participant change over time will investigate the nature of the impacts on teachers and their students. Data will be collected pre-program, after each core experience, end of program, and one and two years post-program. Quantitative instruments such as American Chemical Society examinations and observational measures of classrooms will be used in addition to qualitative methods such as teacher interviews and classroom artifacts. The major research questions are: 1. How do the three core experiences (chemistry research, materials adaptation, and action research) impact in-service high school chemistry teachers' (a) content knowledge in chemistry; (b) attitudes and beliefs about scientific inquiry and self-efficacy; and (c) classroom instructional methods? 2. How do the core experiences build upon one another? 3. What connections do teachers make between the core experiences? 4. How does teacher participation in TI affect student achievement? 5. What impact does TI, a three-year, coherent, inquiry-focused PD program continue to have on teachers classroom instructional practices and student achievement after program completion? Funding from the Dreyfus Foundation and Grand Valley State University is being used to support the TI implementation with twenty teachers and this award is funding the in-depth research study of the effects.