McKeown Tammy R, Abrams Lisa M, Slattum Patricia W, Kirk Suzanne V
Virginia Commonwealth University.
J Educ Environ Sci Health. 2016;2(1):85-97. doi: 10.21891/jeseh.30143.
Inquiry-based instructional approaches are an effective means to actively engage students with science content and skills. This article examines the effects of an ongoing professional development program on middle and high school teachers' efficacy beliefs, confidence to teach research concepts and skills, and science content knowledge. Professional development activities included participation in a week long summer academy, designing and implementing inquiry-based lessons within the classroom, examining and reflecting upon practices, and documenting ways in which instruction was modified. Teacher beliefs were assessed at three time points, pre- post- and six months following the summer academy. Results indicate significant gains in reported teaching efficacy, confidence, and content knowledge from pre- to post-test. These gains were maintained at the six month follow-up. Findings across the three different time points suggest that participation in the professional development program strongly influenced participants' fundamental beliefs about their capacity to provide effective instruction in ways that are closely connected to the features of inquiry-based instruction.
基于探究的教学方法是让学生积极参与科学内容和技能学习的有效手段。本文探讨了一个正在进行的专业发展项目对初中和高中教师效能信念、教授研究概念和技能的信心以及科学内容知识的影响。专业发展活动包括参加为期一周的暑期学院、在课堂上设计和实施基于探究的课程、审视和反思教学实践，以及记录教学改进的方式。在暑期学院之前、之后以及之后六个月这三个时间点对教师信念进行了评估。结果表明，从测试前到测试后，报告的教学效能、信心和内容知识都有显著提高。这些提高在六个月的随访中得以保持。在三个不同时间点的研究结果表明，参与专业发展项目强烈影响了参与者对自己以与基于探究的教学特点紧密相关的方式提供有效教学能力的基本信念。
