Transcript Developing and Implementing an Alternative Version of FAST Professional Development Mary E. Gray ThanhTruc T.

Developing and Implementing an
Alternative Version of FAST
Professional Development
Mary E. Gray
ThanhTruc T. Nguyen
Thomas W. Speitel
University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa
April 13, 2005
American Educational Research Association Annual
Meeting
Montreal, Canada
FAST
• Foundational
Approaches in Science
Teaching
• Inquiry-based, middle
school science
• Physical, biological,
and earth sciences
• Exemplary program
(USDOE, 2001)
FAST Professional Development
• All FAST teachers must
participate in PD
– Certification required to
purchase science
curricula
•
•
•
•
•
Content
Inquiry
Standards
Assessment
Classroom organization
and management
• Safety
The Challenge
To develop and implement an alternative version
of FAST I professional development
Considerations
• Current needs of science teachers
• Future possibilities (emerging
technologies)
• Unique challenges (the dynamic nature of
inquiry)
Review of Literature
Professional Development
Inquiry Science
On-Line Learning
Review of Literature
Professional Development
• Strong subject area content (Kennedy, 1999)
• Focus on higher-order teaching strategies
(Porter, Garet, Desimone, Yoon, & Birman, 2000)
– Collaborative, Same subject-grade-school,
Active learning, Consistent with teacher goals
Review of Literature
Professional Development
• Quantity linked to improvements (Radford, 1998;
Supovitz, Mayer, & Kahle, 2000; Fishman, Marx, Best, & Revital, 2003)
– science content knowledge, process skills, and
attitudes
• Quantity linked to standards based teaching
(Supovitz & Turner,2000)
• Problems with researching inquiry-based
teaching and student learning (Fishman et al., 2003)
Review of Literature
On-line Learning
• 3 million adult learners on-line (Waitts & Lewis,
2003)
• Convenience and increased flexibility
(Hülsmann,1999)
• Evidence of implementation of various
pedagogical approaches (Schlager & Schank,
1997)
Review of Literature
On-line Learning
• Quantifiable learning outcomes were not
significantly linked to technology adoption (Jones
and Paolucci,1998).
• Focus on motivation, skills and knowledge, selfdirected learning, interactive competence, and
technology skills (Kabilan, 2004)
• Increased efficacy and self-perception in
teachers (Huai, Braden, White, & Elliot, 2003)
FASTPro
How are the traditional PD and
FASTPro different?
• Two-weeks in
duration, face-to-face
• One-week in duration,
face-to-face
• Conduct 43
investigations
• Conduct 19
investigations
• Extensive modeling
and practicing time
• Electronic resource
• WebCT-based
learning community
Inquiry
Teaching and learning science through
inquiry is a new experience for many
teachers and requires a significant
change in attitude and behavior.
FASTPro – Addressing Inquiry
• Strategies (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson,
Love, & Stiles,1998)
– Examples
• Immersion in inquiry
into science
• Coaching and
mentoring
• Technology for
professional learning
FASTPro – Addressing Inquiry
• Change (Hord, Rutherford, Huling-Austin, & Hall,1987; Guskey,
2000)
– takes time and persistence
• awkwardness and frustration expected
– as teacher’s progress through a change process,
their needs for support and assistance change
• Optimal Mix (Guskey, 2000)
– A combination of teacher, program and change
agent that will help create a positive relationship for
PD to be effective
FASTPro
FASTStart
• One week face-to-face
institute
• Teachers conduct
nearly half of actual
student investigations
• Use inquiry
methodology including
modeling, discussion,
assessment, and
practice
FASTeR
• Observe interactions
of students and
teachers
• View and reflect upon
investigations not
experienced
• See detailed step-bystep procedure
suggestions
• Movies and
animations
• Web interface
– Quicktime and Flash
plugins
• DVD-ROM medium
Examples from FASTeR
Examples from FASTeR
• Slideshow 9, Density
and the Cartesian
Diver
• Slideshow 22,
Identifying Unknown
Substances
FASTForward
Formative Findings
• Suggest that teachers
were able to implement
successfully and share
teaching practice
• Added utility, focused and
meaningful to teachers’
own environment
Future considerations
• Infuse technological
aspects into the
FASTStart face-to-face
experience
• Address credit
equivalencies to enable
more robust activity
requirements
• Expand to include FAQ’s,
indexing, and rich
descriptions
• Expand to include a
Website as well as DVDROM
• Automate some computer
assisted instruction and
feedback mechanisms
Reflections…
Reflections…
• Teamwork and
flexibility
• Coordination of
equipment and
resources
Future Considerations
• Building capacity
• Application to other
CRDG quality
educational
programs
Mahalo.
Developing and Implementing an
Alternative Version of FAST
Professional Development
Mary E. Gray
ThanhTruc T. Nguyen
Thomas W. Speitel
University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa
April 13, 2005
American Educational Research Association Annual
Meeting
Montreal, Canada