acadia learning science and inquiry education Professional Partnership and Praxis An innovative approach to supporting teachers through the professional development cycle Bill Zoellick Acadia Partners for Science and Learning Winter Harbor, Maine (207)

acadia learning science and inquiry education Key Objectives professional development to help teachers improve inquiry-based learning develop mechanisms to support collaboration of working scientists and teachers identify impediments to more use of guided research by students bring students into closer contact with Acadia National Park and with resource issues in the park

acadia learning science and inquiry education Implementation worked with science and math teachers from 3 high schools and 2 career and tech ed schools recruited scientists familiar with watershed and forest issues ponds and coastal issues zoology and mercury toxicology used Moodle to provide courseware used Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to monitor use of inquiry-based instruction

acadia learning science and inquiry education Assumptions Inquiry-based instruction is a valuable skill for science and math teachers. Impediments to more use of inquiry are primarily related to subject knowledge.

acadia learning science and inquiry education Hypotheses Access to working scientists could help overcome this impediment. An off-the-shelf, open source CMS such as Moodle could support much of the required interaction.

acadia learning science and inquiry education Another Thing We Wanted to Test using the structure of professional scientific investigations to organize student work – background study – literature review – proposal – data collection and analysis – publication

acadia learning science and inquiry education Other Intended Outcomes increase in teacher skill/comfort with inquiry-based methods engagement of more teachers with student field research give students a better idea of what scientists do create a "community of practice" in which teachers work together to extend inquiry-based teaching skills knowledge useful in engaging more working scientists, and other National Parks, in supporting training in inquiry- based instruction

acadia learning science and inquiry education What We Learned (Big Things) There is broad acceptance of the value of inquiry based-instruction among science and math teachers.

acadia learning science and inquiry education What We Learned (Big Things) BUT we need to modify an assumption: Yes lack of subject matter expertise is a barrier to use of inquiry-based instructional methods -- BUT there are also more basic problems – habits – beliefs/experience – know-how (helping students frame good questions)

acadia learning science and inquiry education What We Learned (Big Things) Involving working scientists in the classroom (even if only virtually) expands possibilities. – technical know-how – approach to inquiry (But, without teachers who are more practiced in use of inquiry, it is not scalable.)

acadia learning science and inquiry education What We Learned (Big Things) Free, open source tools are completely capable of supporting this kind of activity, with good flexibility. (see the course site at

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acadia learning science and inquiry education Other Potential Important Outcomes The interaction with the scientists has shown at least some of the teachers what’s possible. There are teachers who want to run these research projects again next year. They feel that they can provide at least some of the inquiry support to the students that the scientists have provided. (We suspect that some summer institutes will help.) (still collecting and analyzing evidence)

acadia learning science and inquiry education Other Interesting Things … The "proposal" stage is where engagement and learning happens. Literature review and getting a good background need to be worked in AFTER the initial proposal work starts. Projects with sustained observation seem harder to pull off than ones where the field experience is more of an "event“. Summer workshops in advance are really helpful.

acadia learning science and inquiry education Other Interesting Things … Working scientists, if supported, can have fun with this. Overall, conventional course structure can make significant student research difficult. Support throughout the department and the administrative structure is important. Association with an external entity, such as Acadia National Park (or a laboratory, etc.) seems to bring important visibility and validity.

acadia learning science and inquiry education Next Steps research to understand dynamics/needs of teacher "communities of practice" in support of inquiry-based instruction development/testing of self-assessment tools that teachers can use to improve skills work toward a scalable support system

acadia learning science and inquiry education Disclaimer 2/11/200821www.acadiapartners.org The instructional practices and assessments discussed or shown in this presentation are not intended as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.