Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Allan Feldman, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Jennifer Jacobs, Ph.D.

Committee Member

David Rosengrant, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Cheryl Ellerbrock, Ph.D.

Keywords

action research, continuing education, professional development, science teacher education, science teacher leadership, teacher research

Abstract

The need for quality science education has long been established, but despite reform after reform, it remains a current concern. What we know as good teaching is not happening, perhaps because there is an increase in science teachers using alternative certification programs to enter the field. This lack of formal training causes teachers to have a reliance on professional learning opportunities to learn about reform-based science education. Unfortunately, traditional forms of professional learning are often inadequate, so newer professional learning designs have been established. Some of these newer designs, such as practitioner inquiry, offer teachers autonomy over how they assess and try to improve their practice. It is worthwhile to study these models, but it is not enough to solely look at these models externally; it is necessary to understand what happens within the professional learning itself. The problem is we cannot achieve that understanding until we know what the teachers actually experience as they engage in professional learning. How teachers conceptualize their professional learning experience is a critical voice. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to uncover this critical voice of secondary science engaging in the Wilcox Science Education Fellowship (SEF), a professional learning program that provides an opportunity for teachers to rethink their practice and become leaders in their education community. In the second year of this program, fellows engage in autonomous practitioner inquiry through the design and implementation of a Growth Plan System (GPS) project. This study addressed one major research question regarding how Wilcox SEF fellows understand their experience designing and implementing their GPS project. Three subquestions were also answered regarding understanding how the fellows came to identify and articulate their GPS goals, what barriers prevented the fellows from investigating their GPS goals prior, and how their processes designing and implementing their GPS work contributed to an understanding of their work as practitioner inquiry. Addressing these research questions resulted in nine assertions. Each assertion was discussed in relation to the theoretical framework, existing literature, and implications.

Download

Share

COinS