Assessing Teachers’ Science Content Knowledge: A Strategy for Assessing Depth of Understanding

One of the characteristics of effective science teachers is a deep understanding of science concepts. The ability to identify, explain and apply concepts is critical in designing, delivering and assessing instruction. Because some teachers have not completed extensive courses in some areas of science, especially in middle and elementary grades, many professional development programs attempt to strengthen teachers’ content knowledge. Assessing this content knowledge is challenging. Concept inventories are reliable and efficient, but do not reveal depth of knowledge. Interviews and observations are time-consuming. The Problem Based Learning Project for Teachers implemented a strategy that includes pre-post instruments in eight content strands that permits blind coding of responses and comparison across teachers and groups of teachers. The instruments include two types of open-ended questions that assess both general knowledge and the ability to apply Big Ideas related to specific science topics. The coding scheme is useful in revealing patterns in prior knowledge and learning, and identifying ideas that are challenging or not addressed by learning activities. The strengths and limitations of the scoring scheme are identified through comparison of the findings to case studies of four participating teachers from middle and elementary schools. The cases include examples of coded pre- and post-test responses to illustrate some of the themes seen in teacher learning. The findings raise questions for future investigation that can be conducted using analyses of the coded responses.     

Effects of Consultation on Professional Learning Communities

ABSTRACT

School psychologists can impact student outcomes by consulting with teams around data. The current study investigated the effects of consultation with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) teacher teams. The study included four teacher teams, observing their PLC practices and providing consultation. Each team was observed with a PLC-implementation rubric using a multiple baseline design, including baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. The specific areas of observation on the PLC Implementation Rubric were “How Effective Teams Work,” “What Students Need to Know and Do,” and “Assessment for/of Learning.” The data were visually analyzed and a nonoverlap of all pairs effect size was computed. During the intervention phase, each team chose an item to focus on from the same observation strand. Therefore, the data were analyzed on the single strand and the three strands taken together. The results from the study indicated a change in PLC implementation occurred when consultation was added, and the change was maintained after consultation ended. However, the improvements for each team during the intervention and maintenance phases were small in comparison to the baseline phase. In addition, teams displayed greater improvements in implementation fidelity on the single strand in comparison to the three strands taken together. Future research is needed to determine the impact of consultation with PLCs on student outcomes. Implications for research and practice, limitations, and future directions are discussed.     

Reasons for Attending,Expected Obstacles,and Degree Aspirations of Asian Pacific American Community College Students

This study examined how the academic aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) attending community colleges are influenced by their demographic and educational background, reasons for attending, and obstacles they expect to encounter. The sample consisted of 846 APAs out of a total student sample of 5,000 in an urban community college district. The analyses compared results for ethnic groups within the APA community as well as APAs with other racial groups. The key finding—that APA community college students often consist of recent immigrants—should lead institutional researchers to collect data on their numbers, characteristics, and needs.     

Teenagers’ Experiences With Social Network Sites: Relationships to Bridging and Bonding Social Capital

Many studies have examined the relationship between social network sites (SNSs) and the development of social capital. However, most studies to date have only considered college and adult populations. This study examines the patterns of SNS use in an urban, teenage sample in the United States. It tests the hypothesis that use of SNSs is related to higher levels of social capital. The results show that youth who use Facebook and Myspace report higher social capital in both their school and online relationships. In addition, the analysis suggests that distinct modes of SNS experiences are differentially related to bridging and bonding social capital. Time spent in SNSs is related to bridging capital, while positive or negative experiences are related to bonding capital. The study offers new insights into how youth experience SNSs and the relationship of that experience with their connection to the world.     

‘I Actually Contributed to Their Research': The influence of an abbreviated summer apprenticeship program in science and engineering for diverse high-school learners

This study describes an investigation of a research apprenticeship program that we developed for diverse high-school students often underrepresented in similar programs and in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions. Through the apprenticeship program, students spent 2 weeks in the summer engaged in biofuels-related research practices within working university chemistry and engineering laboratories. The experience was supplemented by discussions and activities intended to impact nature of science (NOS) and inquiry understandings and to allow for an exploration of STEM careers and issues of self-identity. Participants completed a NOS questionnaire before and after the experience, were interviewed multiple times, and were observed while working in the laboratories. Findings revealed that as a result of the program, participants (1) demonstrated positive changes in their understandings of certain NOS aspects many of which were informed by their laboratory experiences, (2) had an opportunity to explore and strengthen STEM-related future plans, and (3) examined their self-identities. A majority of participants also described a sense of belonging within the laboratory groups and believed that they were making significant contributions to the ongoing work of those laboratories even though their involvement was necessarily limited due to the short duration of the program. For students who were most influenced by the program, the belonging they felt was likely related to issues of identity and career aspirations.     

‘Do You Have to Pack?’—Preparing For Culturally Relevant Science Teaching in the Caribbean

This paper reports on the attempts by some Caribbean science teachers to make links between their students' everyday lives and school science in their planning for teaching. It describes how these teachers drew on their exposure to a university graduate course on science education and culture in seeking to access the background cultural knowledge of their students and to incorporate this knowledge in their plans for teaching science. The paper critically examines the experiences of these teachers and highlights both the rewards and challenges that ensued as these teachers prepared for culturally relevant science teaching     

In Appreciation of the Kind of Rhetoric We Learn in School: An Institutional Perspective on the Rhetorical Situation and on Education

Theoretical discussion of the rhetorical situation has been dedicated largely to questions of its ontology and of how it is constituted. Where this ontological orientation has inclined theorists to treat the concept as a theoretical premise, an institutional orientation would instead frame constructivist accounts of the rhetorical situation as a political-pedagogical commitment and treat the ethical obligations that arise from any given situation as bound to specific institutional forms. From an institutional perspective, the rhetorical situation is to conscience as the institution of school is to education. The distinction of both rhetorical situations and schools lies not in their contrivedness per se, but in the inventional capacities their contrived qualities sustain.