Strategies to support teachers' professional development regarding sense‐making in context‐based science curricula

Bibliographic Data

ID21392658
AuthorsRia Dolfing (0000-0002-1920-0526, Faculty of Science and Engineering University of Groningen Groningen The Netherlands, corresponding author), G T Prins (0000-0002-7041-567X, Utrecht University), Astrid M W Bulte (0000-0002-5097-081X, Freudenthal Institute Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands), Albert Pilot (0000-0003-2168-6825, Freudenthal Institute Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands), Jan D Vermunt (0000-0001-9110-4769, Eindhoven School of Education Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven The Netherlands)
Year2021
Volume105
Issue1
Pages127-165
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sce.21603
OpenAlexW3093730630
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited75

The aim of this study is to develop more understanding about strategies to support teachers' professional development in curriculum innovations, in which pedagogy and content change simultaneously compared to the conventional curriculum. A pre‐existing framework, including strategies for professional development, was adapted, implemented, and evaluated from the perspective of teachers' sense‐making in teaching context‐based science curricula. This framework guides the design of activities that support teachers' development in three new aspects of teaching context‐based science units: setting a context in class, performing a new teaching role, and teaching new content. In a case study, six teachers in secondary education participated in a professional development program based on the adapted framework. A qualitative inner‐case analysis was conducted to describe teachers' sense‐making during the program, in terms of the categories “assimilation,” “accommodation,” “toleration,” and “distantiation.” Results showed that teachers participating in the professional development program successfully assimilated and accommodated all three aspects; however, the process of teachers' sense‐making of the new content followed a different path compared to the processes of the other aspects. The relation between these results and the adapted framework are discussed to retrieve strategies for planning professional development programs to support teachers in curriculum innovations

Context (archaeology) · Curriculum · Curriculum development · Faculty Development · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Professional development · Qualitative research · Science education · Sociology · Diverse Educational Innovations Studies · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Psychology · Science Education and Pedagogy