Effectiveness of professional development program on a teacher’s learning to teach Science as inquiry

CONCLUSIONS

Many teachers have difficulty teaching science by inquiry because they were not taught this way nor were exposed to it in their preparation to become teachers (Kleine et al, 2002).

Ms. Smith’s goal was to create a classroom environment that helped students to have ownership of the problem and develop their skills to conduct scientific inquiry. This was directly opposite of her traditional classroom model in which she presented information and expected her students to memorize the information and do cookbook experiments. After the ICPDP she succeeded in needing her goals.

The results of the study show that the teacher often has problems with implementing more inquiry teaching. Major ones include:

There is a great gap between the teacher’s common knowledge and their common practices.

There is a need for more experience with inquiry teaching and learning approaches.

Seeking students’ participation.

Problems on engaging students.

Management issues.

Time constraints and lack of teaching practice made inquiry teaching difficult to implement for this teacher regardless of her previous experiences.

To achieve inquiry teaching, teachers need to feel secure enough about their own knowledge to help their students learn. The Iowa Chautauqua Science Program offered this teacher an opportunity to achieve and to learn how she can work with her students with an inquiry approach.

Ms. Smith’s main problem was a gap between her common perception of teaching and learning and her common practices. Lawson (2000) argues that, “Developing the needed teaching skills takes considerable practice and commitment. But once those skills have been acquired, the inquiry classroom becomes a very exciting and rewarding place and the thinking skills that students acquire can be used far beyond the confines of that classroom.” (p.7)

Ms. Smith needs more experience in using inquiry methods in her classroom. The Iowa Chautauqua Program helped her to increase her confidence in teaching science, and her understanding and use of the basic features of inquiry. She’s on her way!