Faculty Publications

Overcoming a Learning Bottleneck: Inquiry Professional Development for Secondary Science Teachers

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Science Teacher Education

Volume

17

Issue

3

First Page

185

Last Page

216

Abstract

This paper examines the summer component of a year-long professional development program. The program was developed based on recent models of effective professional development that indicate that teachers should guide the direction and focus of the professional development program. Specific activities in the summer program were adapted from a long-running, successful program for university faculty development. In this study we explore the conceptions of inquiry teachers developed during the program, as well as the products teachers created. The discrepancies between program goals and the teachers' products and conceptions are described and reasons for these differences explored. The results suggest that engaging teachers in identifying key issues in their own professional development is an effective strategy. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006.

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Original Publication Date

9-1-2006

DOI of published version

10.1007/s10972-005-9002-3

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