With billions of dollars spent on professional development, there remains a very real disconnect between what teachers are given and what they receive especially in terms of the follow-up of an extended PD program. Several theories attempt to explain the differences that exist within the teacher population, but few professional development…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Pack program. The Pack was developed by the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and includes a digital game and set of curricular and professional development resources that aim to support computational thinking teaching and learning in middle school science and computer…

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) have a scientific basis, have a dilemma in their nature and are often discussed under political and social influences. Teachers perceive SSIs as a difficult subject to teach. This project was carried out to guide teachers in overcoming this difficulty and to enable them to include practices that they can adapt more…

Background/Context: The emphasis on scientific practices articulated by the National Research Council framework and the Next Generation Science Standards requires significant pedagogical shifts for U.S. science teachers. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study provides a rare window into the challenges and opportunities…

Research has highlighted the significant decline in teachers' implementation of newly acquired teaching practices following professional development (PD), primarily attributed to the absence of follow-up support. Even science teachers who have participated in intensive PD programs often encounter challenges in integrating new teaching practices…

This study describes a professional development (PD) program designed to support middle school teachers in effectively integrating robotics in science and mathematics classrooms. The PD program encouraged the teachers to develop their own science and mathematics lessons, aligned with national standards, infused with robotic activities. A…

This exploratory case study reports findings on 20 middle-level science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of a one-year project in which teachers engaged in using robotics and engineering design inquiries in their classrooms. Principled by Bandura's Social Learning Theory (SLT) and using mixed methods approaches, the study…

The case of two middle school science teachers engaged in a long-term professional learning project is used to complicate the story of teacher change and agency and the presumed relationships between teacher knowledge and practice. Becky and Kelly were highly participatory in all aspects of a multi-year professional learning project, yet, when…

This study aims to develop and evaluate an augmented reality microscope, "MicrosAR", for a middle school Science course, which was aimed for use both in and out of school, and to understand the users' perceptions about it. The study adopted design-based research to iteratively develop and evaluate the MicrosAR. Learning activities and…

The NGSS Early Implementers Initiative was created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K-12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Many educational initiatives are funded for only a couple of years. This unique initiative spanned an extraordinary six…

This study describes a science professional development (PD) project within a small Appalachian school district involving all elementary and middle school science teachers. Teachers receiving PD demonstrated statistically significant gains in content knowledge from pre- to post-testing, with higher post-test scores compared with science teachers…

Research indicates the most effective type of teacher professional development (TPD) involves a sustained and ongoing experience, which is coherent, job-embedded, and involves active participation by the learner and includes a learning community (Borko et al., 2010; Desimone, 2009; Easton, 2008; Loucks-Horsely et al., 2010). However, most teachers…

The goal of this study was to identify the impact that participation in the Urban Advantage Initiative, a professional development program designed for middle school science teachers in New York City, has had on science teaching and learning. Urban Advantage is a long-term situated learning model whereby teachers engaged in over 100 hours of…

The Teacher Academy in the Natural Sciences (TANS) provided middle school (U.S. Grades 6-8) teachers (N = 81) with intensive professional development in chemistry, geosciences, and physics through 13 days of face-to-face instruction that was extended with 2 online science modules per discipline. Because we administered online module assessments…

This qualitative study examined how and why research experiences for teachers (RETs) influenced middle and high school science teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and values about teaching science as inquiry. Changes teachers reported after participating in the RET ranged from modifying a few lessons (belief change) to a comprehensive revision of what…