Professional development int he use of discussion and argument in secondary school science departments

Simon, Shirley, Christodoulou, Andri, Howell-Richardson, Christina, Osborne, Jonathan and Richardson, Katherine (2009) Professional development int he use of discussion and argument in secondary school science departments. ESERA, , Helsinki, Finland. 31 Aug - 04 Sep 2015. 1 pp .

Abstract

To establish a curriculum which foregrounds the epistemic aspects of science requires a pedagogy that promotes a dialogic approach to the evaluation of evidence and arguments for scientific ideas. Such an approach, where students and teachers address learning tasks together, listen to each other and consider alternative viewpoints, is not the most familiar or comfortable for many secondary science teachers. Moreover it can pose a significant challenge to their teaching of science. Informed by previous research on the conditions for teachers’ professional learning, this research focuses on the development of dialogic practice in four secondary school science departments. Two lead teachers from each school attended a professional development programme introducing a theoretical rationale and pedagogical approach for dialogic teaching. These lead teachers subsequently introduced activities and resources in their curricula and held meetings with colleagues to share their practice and
collaboratively reflect on their experiences. Interviews, observations of lessons, and recordings of reflective meetings provide data sources for qualitative analysis from which narratives of development in each community of practice are drawn. The perspectives of teaching and learning science held by lead teachers, their school structures and colleagues’ existing practices determine different approaches for establishing sustained change.

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Contributors

Author: Andri Christodoulou

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