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January 2006 > School News > Grants
NSF Grant Funds Investigation into Professional Development Models in Science
Most educators would agree that children benefit from early and sustained opportunities to develop an understanding of science. Yet few elementary school teachers can boast a strong science background. How might professional development best be designed to strengthen the knowledge and confidence that these teachers bring to teaching science? This is the question that professor Judith Warren Little will be investigating in a four-year partnership with WestEd and Heller Research Associates.
In a $1.2 million project funded by the National Science Foundation, the partners will compare the teacher knowledge gains, classroom practice and student learning that result when elementary grade teachers participate in one of three professional development configurations targeted to the teaching of electric circuits in grades 4-6. Each configuration is modeled on activity likely to be supported by districts or other organizers of professional development, but the configurations differ from one another in the resources used to help teachers develop science content and teaching knowledge.
A novel component of this project will be its focus on the actual practices of professional development in each of the designed configurations. Professor Little and doctoral student Nicole Wong, aided by undergraduate research apprentices, will take the lead on a video-based study of the professional development activity.
For more information about the project, titled Effects of Content-Focused and Practice-Based Professional Development Models on Teacher Knowledge, Classroom Practice and Student Learning in Science, contact professor Judith Warren Little.
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