Assessing the Impact of the MSPs: K-8 Science (AIM: K-8 Science)

Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.
Funding agency: National Science Foundation
Program: Math Science Partnership—other awards, Computing Ed for 21st Century
HRI Role: Research

Project Description
AIM: K–8 Science was funded as an MSP RETA to add to what the field knows about professional development strategies for deepening the content knowledge of science teachers. Current knowledge is limited by a number of challenges. One is lack of clarity about the construct; people use the term “teacher content knowledge” to mean very different things. For example, some people use it to refer to disciplinary content knowledge and others use it to refer to pedagogical content knowledge. Another is that substantial constraints in the research design and/or instrumentation of many of the studies of professional development (PD) in the current literature have limited what has been learned.

AIM sought to address these challenges by developing a system for collecting equivalent data across MSP projects. The study involved capturing details on the PD offered to teachers (i.e., the interventions), as well as measuring teacher disciplinary content knowledge and student learning using common instruments. Component One of AIM sought to examine the impact of the MSPs on teacher content knowledge and investigate the relative impacts of different approaches to the PD.  Component Two explored the relationships among teacher content knowledge, classroom practices, and student achievement. A third component of AIM examined the impacts of a learning theory-based model to professional development and curriculum development on teachers, their teaching, and student learning.

AIM developed several instruments that are being used by others in the field to conduct research about professional development and its impact on teacher content knowledge, classroom practices, and student achievement. These instruments include 16 assessments of teacher and student content knowledge that cover four different topics at the elementary and middle grades levels. AIM also developed a classroom observation protocol that is explicitly aligned with an instructional model based on learning theory and co-developed a survey to measure of teachers’ beliefs about effective instruction. All of these instruments, and supporting documentation, have been made available for others to use at no cost.

Results from Component Three of AIM provide evidence to support a scalable approach to improving science education: using educative curriculum materials that are explicitly aligned with learning theory, with initial professional development to support teachers’ understanding of the pedagogical approach, structure of the curriculum materials, and particularly difficult content ideas.

Eric Banilower (PI)
P. Sean Smith (Co-PI)
Iris R. Weiss (Co-PI)

Project + Products Link: www.horizon-research.com/aim/