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Developing and Implementing an Alternative Version of FAST
Professional DevelopmentMary E. Gray
ThanhTruc T. NguyenThomas W. Speitel
University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa
April 13, 2005American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
Montreal, Canada
FAST
• Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching
• Inquiry-based, middle school science
• Physical, biological, and earth sciences
• Exemplary program (USDOE, 2001)
FAST Professional Development
• All FAST teachers must participate in PD– Certification required to
purchase science curricula
• Content• Inquiry• Standards• Assessment• Classroom organization
and management• Safety
The ChallengeTo develop and implement an alternative version of FAST I professional development
Year Round Schedules
Considerations
• Current needs of science teachers
• Future possibilities (emerging technologies)
• Unique challenges (the dynamic nature of inquiry)
Review of Literature Professional Development
• Strong subject area content (Kennedy, 1999)
• Focus on higher-order teaching strategies (Porter, Garet, Desimone, Yoon, & Birman, 2000)
– Collaborative, Same subject-grade-school, Active learning, Consistent with teacher goals
Review of Literature Professional Development
• Quantity linked to improvements (Radford, 1998; Supovitz, Mayer, & Kahle, 2000; Fishman, Marx, Best, & Revital, 2003)
– science content knowledge, process skills, and attitudes
• Quantity linked to standards based teaching (Supovitz & Turner,2000)
• Problems with researching inquiry-based teaching and student learning (Fishman et al., 2003)
Review of Literature On-line Learning
• 3 million adult learners on-line (Waitts & Lewis, 2003)
• Convenience and increased flexibility (Hülsmann,1999)
• Evidence of implementation of various pedagogical approaches (Schlager & Schank, 1997)
Review of Literature On-line Learning
• Quantifiable learning outcomes were not significantly linked to technology adoption (Jones and Paolucci,1998).
• Focus on motivation, skills and knowledge, self-directed learning, interactive competence, and technology skills (Kabilan, 2004)
• Increased efficacy and self-perception in teachers (Huai, Braden, White, & Elliot, 2003)
How are the traditional PD and FASTPro different?
• Two-weeks in duration, face-to-face
• One-week in duration, face-to-face
• Conduct 43 investigations
• Extensive modeling and practicing time
• Conduct 19 investigations
• Electronic resource• WebCT-based
learning community
InquiryInquiry
Teaching and learning science through inquiry is a new experience for many teachers and requires a significant change in attitude and behavior.
FASTPro – Addressing Inquiry• Strategies (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson,
Love, & Stiles,1998)
– Examples• Immersion in inquiry
into science• Coaching and
mentoring • Technology for
professional learning
FASTPro – Addressing Inquiry• Change (Hord, Rutherford, Huling-Austin, & Hall,1987; Guskey,
2000)
– takes time and persistence• awkwardness and frustration expected
– as teacher’s progress through a change process, their needs for support and assistance change
• Optimal Mix (Guskey, 2000) – A combination of teacher, program and change
agent that will help create a positive relationship for PD to be effective
FASTStart• One week face-to-face
institute
• Teachers conduct nearly half of actual student investigations
• Use inquiry methodology including modeling, discussion, assessment, and practice
FASTeR
• Observe interactions of students and teachers
• View and reflect upon investigations not experienced
• See detailed step-by-step procedure suggestions
• Movies and animations
• Web interface– Quicktime and Flash
plugins
• DVD-ROM medium
Examples from FASTeR• Slideshow 9, Density
and the Cartesian Diver
• Slideshow 22, Identifying Unknown Substances
Formative Findings
• Suggest that teachers were able to implement successfully and share teaching practice
• Added utility, focused and meaningful to teachers’ own environment
Future considerations• Infuse technological
aspects into the FASTStart face-to-face experience
• Address credit equivalencies to enable more robust activity requirements
• Expand to include FAQ’s, indexing, and rich descriptions
• Expand to include a Website as well as DVD-ROM
• Automate some computer assisted instruction and feedback mechanisms
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