See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266453623 Supporting Teachers in Complex Situations: Learning to Teach Evolution, Nature of Science, and Scientific In.... Article · January 2010 CITATION READS 1 93 5 authors, including: Barbara Crawford Daniel Capps The University of Georgia (Tbilisi) University of Georgia 52 PUBLICATIONS 2,512 CITATIONS 23 PUBLICATIONS 261 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Robert M. Ross Paleontological Research Institution 64 PUBLICATIONS 265 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: geological time education View project citizen science View project All content following this page was uploaded by Barbara Crawford on 25 February 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Supporting Teachers in Complex Situations: Learning to Teach Evolution, Nature of Science, and Scientific Inquiry Barbara A. Crawford, Daniel Capps, Xenia Meyer, Maya Patel Department of Education Cornell University Robert M. Ross, The Paleontological Research Institution Ithaca, New York Corresponding author: [email protected] Final paper can be downloaded at www.fossilfinders.org Abstract This paper describes the nature and influence of the first year of an innovative professional development project that engaged upper elementary and middle level science teachers in an authentic setting that crossed informal and formal boundaries. We view learning as situated and value the importance of authentic activities in classrooms. The main purpose of the project is to help teachers facilitate instruction for 5th through 9th grade children in complex situations that involve learning about evolutionary concepts, nature of science (NOS) and inquiry. We hypothesized that an integrated instructional approach will enhance teacher and student understandings and will increase children’s interest in science, including those in underrepresented groups. The multi-year project is based on rationale for designing science instruction and materials for children from diverse backgrounds. The approach makes use of an authentic investigation of fossils to explore foundational concepts of evolution and investigate biological responses to change in past environments. A paper presentation at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting – Denver, Colorado Theme: Understanding Complex Ecologies in a Changing World April 30 – May 4, 2010 This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 733233. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The National Science Foundation. Children love fossils. The first author remembers back to when she was a young girl, and her grandpa took her to the Museum of Natural History at a nearby university. Like many children, she was fascinated with rocks containing the imprints and fossilized remains of animals and plants millions of years old. In this case she became intrigued with fossils because of her experiences in an informal learning setting. On her own, she read books about ages past and imagined and tried to understand what kinds of things might have lived thousands and millions of years ago. When she was in the fourth grade her teacher encouraged the students to bring in tiny dinosaur models, and the children lined them up on the front of their school desks, while they carried out their seatwork. Unfortunately, no other classroom teacher furthered her interest or learning in this area. Although formal grade school classes talk about the popular topic of dinosaurs, students and teachers rarely get the chance to work directly with fossils and engage in thinking about how scientists use evidence to develop explanations about the past. Collecting, observing, and analyzing fossils is an authentic part of the science of paleontology and geosciences. It is this idea of authenticity that is at the center of this project. Associated with the idea of authenticity is the notion of learning in both formal and informal settings. This paper connects with the theme of the 2010 AERA conference: Opportunities to learn within and across both formal and informal settings occur in the complex ecologies of peoples’ lives, not isolated in a single setting such as a school or family. These complex ecologies include people’s participation within and across multiple settings. The first author’s primary research focuses on how to change the way we teach science in formal classrooms, from that of using primarily traditional, didactic, fact- based science instruction to inquiry-based, student-centered instruction, situated in authentic scientific questions. In this paper we describe our efforts to design a complex learning experience for teachers and students centered on nature of science (NOS), authentic science inquiry practices, and evolutionary concepts. Our findings focus on science teacher learning in a professional development setting. Fossil Finders is a multi year National Science Foundation project centered on 1) developing a model for science teacher professional development; and 2) designing innovative materials to support children’s learning about evolutionary concepts, NOS, and scientific inquiry (SI). The project aims to support all children learning science, in particular those children from diverse backgrounds and English language learners, specifically at the upper elementary and middle level. We will describe the rationale for the project, and how we endeavored to integrate teacher professional development and the design of inquiry-based materials. We will address the idea of complex learning ecologies, and how we shaped our PD model by striving to develop a community of learners fostering teachers’ and children’s understandings of what science is and what science is not. This paper is primarily focused on our findings on science teacher learning in a professional development setting, and how we developed opportunity for teachers to grapple with complex content and pedagogy. The Problem One of the main problems in teaching about evolution is that many teachers who enter the field of science teaching may feel uncomfortable or ill prepared to teach evolutionary theory (Bishop & Anderson, 1990; Moore & Kraemer, 2005). The challenge of teaching about the theory of evolution by natural selection may stem from a teacher’s own alternative ideas about the nature of science (NOS), including the role of scientific theories and the mistaken notion that theories eventually change into laws (Duschl, 1990; McComas, 2002). To address the fact that many teachers are not adequately prepared to teach about evolution, professional development can help teachers develop more robust understandings of subject matter and pedagogy. However, the current state of teacher professional development is not equal to the challenge of fostering knowledge of difficult and complex science content and reformed ways to teach science to all students. As stated by Borko (2004, p 3), “Despite recognition of its importance, the professional development currently available to teachers is woefully inadequate”. Education researchers acknowledge that not only do students, but teachers themselves need support in learning about the fundamental science concepts related to evolutionary theory. Related to reform-based pedagogy, most teachers do not routinely use inquiry-based instruction in their classrooms due to a number of issues (Deboer, 2004; Krajcik, Mamlok, Hug, & 2000), or they simply do not understand what inquiry is (Anderson, 2002). This study tackles the challenge of how to support teachers in engaging students in learning about NOS, inquiry, and evolutionary concepts. Evolutionary topics are either culturally controversial and/or difficult to understand (Brumby, 1984). Without adequate support, it is unlikely that teachers will be able to successfully broach these topics with their students. Besides the complexity of the subject matter of evolution, inquiry-based teaching is a highly sophisticated way to orchestrate a classroom (Crawford, 2007). As declared by Windshitl (2003) preservice teachers rarely have authentic science research experiences in teacher education programs. We extend this to the need for practicing teachers to have experiences with authentic science research. Research on teacher professional development acknowledges that teachers themselves need support in learning about the fundamental science concepts and instructional strategies they will be expected to use in their classrooms (Garet et al., 2001). Thus, effective science professional development should support teachers in learning about content knowledge, as well as scientific inquiry and use of inquiry-based approaches and considering how to improve their practice (Loucks-Horsley et al., 2003). Theoretical Framework Many elementary and middle level children, as well as teachers, lack a basic understanding of inquiry, the NOS, and concepts of evolution (i.e. Crawford, Zembal-Saul, Munford, & Friedrichsen, 2005; Driver, Leach, Millar, & Scott, 1996; Jensen, & Finley, 1996). The main theoretical constructs underlying the design of the teacher professional development reported in this paper, as well as the educational research design, include those of situated cognition (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989); constructivist learning perspectives (Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer,