Situating Teacher Learning in the Practice of Science and

Mathematics Teaching

Monica HartmanUniversity of Michigan

May 28, 2004

Problems New content and pedagogy for students

require new content and pedagogy for teachers

Teaching is a cultural activity (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999)

Individualism, presentism and conservatism characterize the role of teaching (Grossman, Wineburg, & Woolworth, 2001; Lortie, 1975)

Apprenticeship of observation (Lortie, 1975)

No shared knowledge base for teachers. Teachers do not look to research. (Hiebert, Gallimore, Stigler, 2002: Richardson & Placier, 2001)

Problems

Teachers are a key to educational reform. (Cohen & Ball, 1990; Hiebert & Stigler, 2000)

Traditional methods of professional development are decontextualized and a patchwork of opportunities stitched together into a fragmented and incoherent curriculum. (Ball & Cohen, 1999)

Questions

How does a collaborative professional development experience, situated in teachers’ own practice, help elementary public school teachers develop their knowledge of teaching?

Sub Questions

1. What are the characteristics of these teachers’ engagement in a collaborative examination of practice?

2. What challenges do they face?3. Why do some teachers stay and other

teachers leave?4. What do these teachers appear to be

learning about content, pedagogy and their students?

Theoretical Framework

Three bodies of work inform my study Knowledge is situated, social and

distributed (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Putnam & Borko, 2000)

Conceptual change (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982)

The role of professional development in educational reform (Ball & Cohen, 1999)

Standards for Professional Development

Inquiry based, with time for reflection and analysis

Community of learners Involve meaningful conversations, a

discourse for inquiry Authentic and address needs and

concerns of participants Sustained over time

Japanese Lesson Study

Lesson study is responsible for the change in Japanese science education from the teacher-centered telling approach to a problem solving approach

(Lewis & Tsuchida, 1997)

Stigler and Hiebert identify Japanese Lesson Study as a possible model of professional development for systemic school improvement .

(Stigler & Hiebert, 1999)

Lesson Study Process

Determine long term and short term goals

Collaboratively plan a research lesson Implement lesson with other teachers as

observers Discuss and analyze research lesson Re-teach revised lesson

Participants

Small suburban district outside major city Six half-day sessions for each group Mathematics – Fifth Grade

• Greenfield (n=2)

• Forest Hills (n=4) Science Group – Fourth Grade

• Greenfield (n=2)

• Forest Hills (n=3)

Method

Qualitative analysis Constant comparison process Researcher’s role: Participant-observer Analysis Tool – Hyper Research

Data Sources

Audio tapes of planning and feedback sessions

Video tapes of lesson implementations Audio tapes of pre and post interviews Direct observations, field notes and

journal entries CoWeb Journal pages

Challenges

Three themes developed during analysis of these data that represent the challenges that faced these teachers:

Time Talk Individualism

Time

Too much to teach, too little time Control what they do with their time Need time to construct meaning and

process new learning Influence of cultural perspective of what

teachers should be doing with their time Taking time to collaborate was

expressed as a major benefit

Talk

Small talk developed into more meaningful conversations during the planning sessions

Teachers thought they would have no problem offering critical feedback, but found it difficult

Teachers with more content knowledge were more critical during feedback session

Individualism

Concern for self rather than others is problematic – puts an end to debate and closes the door to change

Pseudocommunities – individuals working with other individuals where everyone must agree. Challenges are against the rules

Role versus personal orientations to teaching

Patterns in the Group of Teachers Who Stayed

Dissatisfaction with learning outcomes of students

Collegial atmosphere already existed Trust in relationship with facilitator Teacher talk between sessions was

positive and supportive Were not assigned role of teacher too

soon

Patterns in the Group of Teachers Who Left

Substitute problems Already out of classroom for personal

reasons and professional development Didn’t know where this program was going in

the district Having a more experienced teacher watch

you teach was intimidating The school climate was not collegial Teachers did not know me as well

Building Community Knowledge: Subject Matter

Mathematics Lesson• Could not give real world example of fraction times a

fraction

• Wanted to postpone that topic to sixth grade

• Thought it was division Science Lesson

• Admitted they never ask their students to draw a conclusion during their science lesson

• Didn’t know what was an appropriate conclusion for the lesson

Building Community Knowledge:Teaching

Students need time to discuss concepts so don’t feel like you are wasting time when giving students that extra time

Journals allowed for you to see student thinking and how it develops through the lesson

Use of manipulatives

Building Community Knowledge:Students Collaborative skills

• Group talk was more productive than it sounds• Leaders developed within their groups• Students had good discussions in their group

Student learning• Students who were otherwise failing were leading their

groups in understanding concepts in science• Students were having a difficult time in finding fractions of a

set What teachers saw in the classroom did not match

their expectations• Students were on task, noise was productive• Teacher’s talk in lunchroom painted a different picture of

what was really happening in the classroom

Conclusion

Structures are present in this type of professional development that allow teachers opportunities to learn

Changes will not happen by introducing professional development like Lesson Study

Not all teacher groups are ready for a collaborative investigation of practice

Conclusion

The challenges of time, talk and individualism are resilient

Some teachers could work around it, but for changes to occur more reliably, challenges need to be addressed more directly in the design of professional development.

Conclusion

Groups that are more collegial have a better chance of succeeding in this type of professional development.

Teachers who are dissatisfied with the learning outcomes of their students are more inclined to see a need to learn something new.

The group leader needs to establish credibility and trusting relationships among the members.

Time should be scheduled during their work day

Conclusion

Future research should seek to identify how best to overcome the challenges of time, talk and individualism.