Mission and Context
The Earth System Science teacher professional development program was informed by research on technology-enhanced and inquiry-based instruction and related professional development programs. This chapter focuses on how to support transformational changes in teachers’ technology-enhanced, inquiry-based science instruction via a situated community of practice (teachers working together to plan and reflect on their own instruction to improve).
Teachers need to be prepared to teach science in ways that are more closely aligned with the ways scientists work, represented by constructivist teaching practices such as inquiry. Inquiry instruction can support greater student learning gains compared to traditional instruction (e.g., Furtak et al., 2012). Science inquiry incorporates an important subset of the core science practices identified in the NGSS: development of questions, data analysis and interpretation, development of explanations, and evaluation and communication of information. The NGSS promote the integration of science practices within the context of science content knowledge. Yet teachers commonly mistake “hands-on” activities with little or no meaningful connection to scientific ideas as inquiry instruction (Gates, 2008), and many strong teachers struggle to teach by inquiry (e.g., Capps & Crawford, 2013; Vitalis Akuma & Callaghan, 2019). To address these issues, it is important for teacher professional development programs to focus on content knowledge and active learning opportunities (e.g., Wilson & Berne, 1999).
Research indicates that technology can support inquiry instruction (e.g. Lee, Linn, Varma, & Liu, 2010; Maeng, Mulvey, Smetana, & Bell, 2013). Technology that is easier and faster to learn to use also can “enhance” critical thinking (Patterson, 2007) and prepare learners for GIS training and use (Almquist et al., 2014). Maps and virtual globes such as Google EarthTM may offer helpful entry points for inquiry, balancing usability and analytic power (Curtis, 2019).
Despite its potential, using technology to facilitate inquiry instruction and student learning is complicated and difficult (Williams et al., 2004). A synthesis of technology-enhanced professional development research concluded that long-term support and a constructivist pedagogy orientation are crucial program components (Gerard, Varma, Corliss, & Linn 2011), helping to overcome the difficulties. Individualized support, local data and problems/issues use, and logistical support are important components of successful technology-focused professional development programs with a geospatial emphasis (e.g., Baker et al., 2009; Hammond et al., 2018; Moore et al., 2014; Trautmann & MaKinster, 2014). Hammond and colleagues (2018) recommend that “efforts must find the points of connection, entering into the existing curriculum by meshing with established expectations of content coverage and assessments that align to prescribed learning goals” (p. 281).
As noted by Blanchard et al. (2016), most teachers have not experienced professional development that promotes transformative ways of using technology to change their teaching and how their students learn (Hew & Brush, 2007). Earth System Science represents a program that aimed to promote such transformative technology use. Technology professional development does not ensure that teachers will understand and adopt the technology or use it in ways to promote student learning (e.g., Tyler-Wood et al. 2018). Technology-enhanced teacher professional development needs to be for an extended period of at least a year, with a constructivist orientation such as scientific inquiry (Gerard et al., 2011). Extended professional development programs, such as the three-year technology-enhanced inquiry professional development of Blanchard and colleagues (2016), can improve teachers’ teaching beliefs and comfort using technologies as well as student achievement on standardized tests. Gerard and colleague’s (2011) meta-analysis of teacher technology professional development indicated that university-supported programs tended to be more effective than school-based programs. The Earth System Science program was supported by Kent State University of Kent, Ohio, United States of America.
These evidence-based recommendations guided development and facilitation of the Earth System Science program. The program situated technology-enhanced and inquiry-based instruction in relevant earth and environmental science content.