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Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors Forum

Josh Ellis
Assistant Director of STEM Education, Cognitive and Learning Science
Michigan Tech

In the absence of high quality, science-specific induction support, science teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices are consolidated into teacher-centered, didactic practices as they are socialized into the classroom (Luft, Roehrig, & Patterson, 2003; Simmons et al., 1999). 

This study presents early findings from an NSF Noyce research project investigating induction strategies that go beyond addressing retention to positively shape the professional growth of beginning secondary science teachers as reform-based practitioners. Results from the first year of the project indicate a statistically significant decrease in teachers’ beliefs about reformed teaching (particularly in the area of lesson design and implementation), as measured by the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning questionnaire (Sampson, Enderle, & Grooms, 2013).

However, the same teachers exhibit a statistically significant increase in reformed practices related to student/teacher relationships, as indicated by the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (Sawada et al., 2002). Interview and journal data support these findings with themes related to the role of the teacher, the nature of student engagement, and agency in planning for learning.