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ERIC Number: EJ1069974
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Aug
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1046-560X
EISSN: N/A
Understanding Inservice Science Teachers' Needs for Professional Development
Zhang, Meilan; Parker, Joyce; Koehler, Matthew J.; Eberhardt, Jan
Journal of Science Teacher Education, v26 n5 p471-496 Aug 2015
Prior research has mainly focused on what makes professional development effective from the program design perspective. However, there is a lack of understanding about what teachers need for improvement in the context of educational reforms and curricular changes. This study used the pedagogical content knowledge framework to examine teachers' needs for professional development situated in specific science topics. Data were drawn from a total of 118 science teachers who participated in a professional development program over 3 years. First, this study identified a list of common science topics that teachers needed to improve in life science, physics science, and earth science. Also, teachers perceived the needs to improve teaching of certain topics for different reasons: themselves, students, and curricular changes. Moreover, data analysis showed that teachers needed improvement in multiple areas of pedagogical content knowledge: learners, instructional strategies, curriculum, and assessment. In particular, inquiry teaching was one of the greatest challenges for most teachers.
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A