The use of data to explain natural phenomena has been a core feature of science education, and science educators continue to call for an increased emphasis on teaching data practices. This mixed methods design-based research study adds to the growing body of research on data practices in science by explaining the learning trends of science…

This work reports a classroom experience of a general physics course designed to foster also the initiation of preservice mathematics and biology teachers to physics pedagogical content knowledge. To modify the conceptions that these students have about teaching and learning, the course was taught using different active learning instructional…

Effective professional development programs (PDPs) rely on well-defined goals. However, recent studies on PDPs have not explored the goals from a multi-stakeholder perspective. This study identifies the most important learning goals of PDPs at science research institutions as perceived by four groups of stakeholders, namely teachers, education…

This study adds to the construct of science teacher noticing through an analysis that integrates concepts from pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) frameworks. It examines 929 instances of science teacher noticing made via video annotation tools (VATs) over the course of 38 early-career, secondary science teachers' participation in a two-year…

Evolution is a difficult topic to teach; teachers admit not having enough knowledge of evolution and they face student opposition to learning evolution, especially based on religious grounds. Teachers are therefore motivated to gain knowledge in the field of evolution. We conducted a 30-hour evolution teacher training course, which included…

This study investigated in what ways and to what extent the interactions between the components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) differ for junior high school science teachers with different levels of content knowledge. Data were collected from three science teachers through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The…

Despite the impetus from professional organizations for science and mathematics integration, few teacher training programs provide opportunities for teachers to develop the knowledge and skills in effective content integration. This study reports on the impact of a graduate course on in-service middle school, math, and science teachers'…

The purpose of the study is to understand secondary science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and implementation of inquiry to provide information for the improvement of science education in a Midwestern U.S. state that has not yet adopted NGSS. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was selected to capture both a broad perspective of…

Two common goals of science teacher professional development (PD) are increased content knowledge (CK) and improved readiness to teach through inquiry. However, PD assessment challenges arise when the context is structured around inquiry-based, participant-driven learning, and when the content crosses scientific disciplines. This study extended…

This research investigated 20 middle and high school teachers' use of project-based learning curriculum after engaging in a 115-hour professional development program that was developed collaboratively with medical school and education faculty. The project-based learning (PBL) unit centered on the case of Marcus Brown (a pseudonym), a high school…

Educational reform needs to address the role of literacy in science if there is to be any hope of achieving the goal of literacy for all U.S. students. For reading to play a more prominent role in secondary science, teacher education programs need to develop and offer courses that familiarize preservice science teachers with disciplinary literacy.…

Many high school classrooms in the United States have physics teachers who are teaching the subject outside their certified content areas because of a severe shortage of physics teachers. There is a critical need to improve the knowledge base of these out-of-field teachers. This comparative case study examined the instructional practice of…

This study provides an example of a systematic professional development project designed to build capacity for the teaching of nature of science and scientific inquiry, while not sacrificing the learning of more traditional science subject matter. Specifically, this project examined the impact of a 5-year professional development project on K-12…