Science Teachers' Learning: Enhancing Opportunities, Creating Supportive Contexts
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released a report that finds a lack of coherent learning opportunities for science teachers across their careers, and recommends changes to current systems for supporting teachers’ professional development inside and outside the classroom.
As part of ongoing efforts to improve the quality of science education in the United States, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards, which are largely based on the 2011 Academies report A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. The standards outline key scientific ideas and practices that all students should learn by the time they graduate from high school, and they entail shifting away from memorization of facts and information presented by teachers to student-led investigations and in-depth examination of core ideas.
The committee that produced the report recommends implementing policies and practices at the school and district levels, which are crucial locations for investments in the science teacher workforce. Districts and schools should design a portfolio of coherent learning experiences for science teachers that reflect their individual and context-specific needs. Those experiences should be developed in partnership with teachers and their professional networks, institutions of higher education, cultural institutions, and the broader scientific community. In addition, in collaboration with teachers and parents, district personnel and school principals should identify specific learning needs of science teachers in their schools and develop a multiyear plan for their development that is linked to the school and district strategy for students’ science learning.
TRB is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which provides independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conducts other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine.
This Summary Last Modified On: 2/1/2016