Learning to teach science in urban schools: Context as content

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how science teachers who persisted in urban schools interpreted and responded to the unique features of urban educational contexts. With 17 alumni who taught in metropolitan areas across seven states, the Science Educators for Urban Schools (SEUS) program provided a research setting that offered a unique view of science teachers' development of knowledge of urban education contexts. Data sources included narratives of teaching experiences from interviews and open-ended survey items. Findings were interpreted in light of context knowledge for urban educational settings. Findings indicated that science teaching in urban contexts was impacted by the education policy context, notably through accountability policies that narrowed and marginalized science instruction; community context, evident in teacher efforts to make science more relevant to students; and school contexts, notability their ability to creatively adjust for resource deficiencies and continue their own professional growth. Participants utilized this context knowledge to transform student opportunities to learn science. The study suggests that future science education research and teacher preparation efforts would benefit from further attention to the unique elements of urban contexts, specifically the out of classroom contexts that shape science teaching and learning.

Sustaining shifts in science teaching through a research–practice partnership

“…Consistent with Guskey's (2002) model of teacher change and previous work examining factors influencing the development of teacher practice (Hayes et al, 2017;Klinger, 2004) and beliefs (Luft, 2001;Lumpe et al, 2000;Marco-Bujosa et al, 2021), teachers' accounts indicate that shifts in practice and attitudes regarding the modules followed from observations of student success with the modules rather than directly from PD. Importantly, this is not to say that PD was not an integral part of teacher development.…”

“…Changing teacher practice represents a major theme in the science education literature, with a multitude of studies exploring factors that influence teacher practice including professional development (PD) (Fishman et al, 2003;Guskey, 2002;Lumpe et al, 2012;Miller et al, 2021;Pringle et al, 2018), science education policy and curricular reform efforts (Luft & Hewson, 2014;Penuel et al, 2009;Pruitt, 2014;Shaver et al, 2007;Spillane et al, 2001), teacher beliefs (Luft, 2001;Lumpe et al, 2000;Marco-Bujosa et al, 2021), and assessment (Deboer, 2002;Klassen, 2006). As a thorough review of this body of literature is beyond the scope of this paper, we focus on highlighting key findings from recent work examining changes in science teaching precipitated by NGSS-aligned PD or curriculum projects and RPPs.…”