In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide a framework for students to building critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting such educational reforms. However, despite a strong consensus regarding best practices for professional development, relatively little systematic research has documented classroom changes consequent to these experiences. This paper reports on the impact of sustained, multiyear professional development in a program that combined neuroscience content and knowledge of the neurobiology of learning with inquiry-based pedagogy on teachers’ inquiry-based practices. Classroom observations demonstrated the value of multiyear professional development in solidifying adoption of inquiry-based practices and cultivating progressive yearly growth in the cognitive environment of impacted classrooms.

Vol. 11, No. 4

December 01, 2012

333-447

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Downloads: 429

Citations: 24

History

Submitted: 13 April 2012

Revised: 20 June 2012

Accepted: 30 July 2012

Information

© 2012 G. H. Roehrig et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2012 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Dr. Frances Lawrenz for her permission to use the cCETP data for comparison purposes. We acknowledge the contributions of the staff from the Science Museum of Minnesota: Larry Thomas, Leisl Chatman, Keith Braafladt, Jennifer Teegarden, Teresa Hung, Kristen Murray, Sarah Hick, Jeff McLennan, Dawn Cameron, David Chittendon, Maija Sedzielarz, and Jim Heintzman, in the instruction of pedagogy portions and development of resources for the workshops. Additional program instructional and teacher support staff included Amber Clausen, Georgia Brier, Nicole Drager, and Kelly Casperson. Thanks also go to all the faculty who provided research update lectures and/or opened their research laboratories for tours during a BrainU: Timothy J. Ebner, M.D., Karen Mesce, Ph.D., Kathleen Klukas, Ph.D., Jocelyn Shaw, Ph.D., Peter Santi, Ph.D., Monica Luciano, Ph.D., Kathleen Zahs, Ph.D., and Walter Low, Ph.D.

This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, Science Education Partnership Award R25 RR17315, and the University of Minnesota Medical School, University of Minnesota Academic Health Center.

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