Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics


Book Description

This New Edition collects and brings together in one place what has been learned from professional developers efforts across the country in order to make the framework, principles, and strategies of the first edition come to life. This edition deepens our understanding of professional development through further research and new resources. The original purpose of this book to put a competent and caring teacher in every classroom has yet to be fulfilled and is more urgent now than ever. The authors provide one-stop shopping for busy practitioners that incorporates the most up-to-date research gleaned from the broadest possible research base as well as robust and rich descriptions of effective professional development programmes. It incorporates the growing knowledge base about learning, teaching, the nature of science and mathematics, professional development, and change. The authors scanned the field of professional development in mathematics and science over the last five years, noting what has changed and what has not, dissected the original framework, updated examples, incorporate what authors have learned as well as advances in the field. This essential primer offers a framework that considers key inputs and combines strategies uniquely tailored to their environment and goals; summarizes key knowledge and best practices; provides guidance on assessing one′s context; describes strategies that go beyond most common workshops and institutes; provides real-life examples of how elements of the framework were used to create professional development initiatives; offers references and resources for further exploration and inquiry. Highlights of the Second Edition include: - New design framework that incorporates standards, student learning data, and evaluation techniques - More guidance for assessing context using data - More strategies for professional development, including lesson study, aligning and selecting curriculum, and demonstration lessons. - Stronger real-life examples, including new uses of technology and data-driven designs An essential resource for educators who design, conduct, and support professional development for teachers of mathematics and science, including staff developers, principals, teacher leaders, curriculum supervisors, and leadership teams. College and university faculty in education, science, and mathematics will also find this to be a useful compendium of ideas for improving mathematics and science education.




Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics


Book Description

"This third edition represents the gold standard of resources for those working in the field of professional development. My staff and I highly recommend this book as a primary resource for designing and continuously improving professional development programs for teachers of science and mathematics. Unlike other resources, this unique and important book provides current research, an updated strategic planning framework, and access to a portfolio of best practices for informing your work." —Sally Goetz Shuler, Executive Director National Science Resources Center "In the 21st century when STEM education has become vital for our students and our nation and the importance of quality professional development has increased at least tenfold, this seminal work should be required reading for every education leader. It is both practical and scholarly in guiding a school toward a culture of continuous learning and improvement." —Harold Pratt, President, Science Curriculum Inc. Former President, National Science Teachers Association The classic guide for designing robust science and mathematics professional development programs! This expanded edition of one of the most widely cited resources in the field of professional learning for mathematics and science educators demonstrates how to design professional development for teachers that is directly linked to improving student learning. Presenting an updated professional development (PD) planning framework, the third edition of the bestseller reflects current research on PD design, underscores how beliefs and local factors can influence the PD design, illustrates a wide range of PD strategies, and emphasizes the importance of: Continuous program monitoring Combining strategies to address diverse needs Building cultures that sustain learning An inspiring blend of theory and practical wisdom, Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics remains a highly regarded reference for improving professional practice and student achievement.




Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics


Book Description

"This expanded edition of one of the most widely cited resources in the field of professional learning for mathematics and science educators demonstrates how to design professional development for teachers that is directly linked to improving student learning. Presenting an updated professional development (PD) planning framework, the third edition of the bestseller incorporates current research on PD design, underscores how beliefs and local factors can influence design, illustrates a wide range of PD strategies, and emphasizes the importance of continuous program monitoring, combining strategies to address diverse needs, and building cultures that sustain learning."--Back cover.




Practice-based Professional Development for Teachers of Mathematics


Book Description

This book provides a new perspective on how to design, conduct and evaluate professional education experiences for teachers. It explores a specific type of professional development opportunity that connects the ongoing professional development of teachers with the actual work of teaching and presents snapshots of practise-based professional development, offers ideas for designing high-quality professional development experiences and explains how to assess the effectiveness of professional development.




Mathematics Professional Development


Book Description

This resource will help school leaders and other professional development providers conduct ongoing, structured learning opportunities for mathematics teachers (K-12). The authors present models for professional development and the preparation of PD leaders designed and field-tested as part of two research projects supported by the National Science Foundation. The Problem-Solving Cycle model and the Mathematics Leadership Preparation model focus on topics of primary interest to mathematics teachers - mathematics content, classroom instruction, and student learning. They are intentionally designed so that they can be tailored to meet the needs and interests of participating teachers and schools. Through engaging vignettes, the authors describe the models, summarize key research findings, and share lessons learned. The book also includes detailed examples of workshop activities for both teachers and PD leaders.




Designing Everyday Assessment in the Science Classroom


Book Description

This book describes how middle school science teachers, in collaboration with a team of researchers, tried to improve their everyday assessment practices to enhance student learning. It discusses the challenges they faced, the differences among the teachers, and the personal nature of deep educational change. A product of CAPITAL (Classroom Assessment Project to Improve Teaching and Learning), a research effort supported by the National Science Foundation, this book: Uses classroom stories to show how teachers can use a variety of formative assessment techniques to answer questions they have about their teaching.; Provides real-life examples of teachers grappling with new practices at a personal level, in their own settings and in light of their own values and beliefs; Offers suggestions for designing professional development efforts that recognize the significant variation among teachers in how they go about changing their assessment practices ; Outlines principles and practices that must accompany change in the classroom if it is to be more than superficial.




Teaching Mathematics Today


Book Description

New teachers and anyone interested in best practices for mathematics instruction will score big with this useful resource that puts it all together in one easy-to-use format. Boost your professional resource library with this up-to-date, research-based guide based on solid research and proven methodology. This resource equips teachers with sound educational strategies and resources, and provides interactive elements while promoting a thorough understanding of mathematics and its importance. In addition, this resource is aligned to the interdisciplinary themes from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and supports core concepts of STEM instruction. 200pp.




Designing and Implementing Effective Professional Learning


Book Description

For sustained success, educators must commit to their own lifelong improvement. A clear correlation exists between level of focus on teacher professional development (PD) and student success. In this book, John Murray identifies the characteristics of effective professional learning, detailing eight strategies for planning, and executing, and evaluating PD programs. Content includes: The proven “backward” approach to articulating the goals of your PD program Descriptions of innovative and effective designs for professional learning such as Lesson Study and Instructional Rounds Powerful approaches to designing and implementing online PD




Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs


Book Description

With the publication of the National Science Education Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, a clear set of goals and guidelines for achieving literacy in mathematics and science was established. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs has been developed to help state- and district-level education leaders create coherent, multi-year curriculum programs that provide students with opportunities to learn both mathematics and science in a connected and cumulative way throughout their schooling. Researchers have confirmed that as U.S. students move through the grade levels, they slip further and further behind students of other nations in mathematics and science achievement. Experts now believe that U.S. student performance is hindered by the lack of coherence in the mathematics and science curricula in many American schools. By structuring curriculum programs that capitalize on what students have already learned, the new concepts and processes that they can learn will be richer, more complex, and at a higher level. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs outlines: Components of effective mathematics and science programs. Criteria by which these components can be judged. A process for developing curriculum that is structured, focused, and coherent. Perhaps most important, this book emphasizes the need for designing curricula across the entire 13-year span that our children spend in elementary and secondary school as a way to improve the quality of education. Ultimately, it will help state and district educators use national and state standards to design or re-build mathematics and science curriculum programs that develop new ideas and skills based on earlier onesâ€"from lesson to lesson, unit to unit, year to year. Anyone responsible for designing or influencing mathematics or science curriculum programs will find this guide valuable.




Thinking Practices in Mathematics and Science Learning


Book Description

The term used in the title of this volume--thinking practices--evokes questions that the authors of the chapters within it begin to answer: What are thinking practices? What would schools and other learning settings look like if they were organized for the learning of thinking practices? Are thinking practices general, or do they differ by disciplines? If there are differences, what implications do those differences have for how we organize teaching and learning? How do perspectives on learning, cognition, and culture affect the kinds of learning experiences children and adults have? This volume describes advances that have been made toward answering these questions. These advances involve several agendas, including increasing interdisciplinary communication and collaboration; reconciling research on cognition with research on teaching, learning, and school culture; and strengthening the connections between research and school practice. The term thinking practices is symbolic of a combination of theoretical perspectives that have contributed to the volume editors' understanding of how people learn, how they organize their thinking inside and across disciplines, and how school learning might be better organized. By touring through some of the perspectives on thinking and learning that have evolved into school learning designs, Greeno and Goldman begin to establish a frame for what they are calling thinking practices. This volume is a significant contribution to a topic that they believe will continue to emerge as a coherent body of scientific and educational research and practice.