PIESC3 project team members gave three presentations at this year’s annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), held April 3-6 in Orlando, Florida. Here are some shots of University of Iowa Ph.D. students Mandy Biggers and Laura Zangori presenting research at the Monday evening poster session.
Congratulations to PIESC3 project doctoral student Mandy Biggers for being accepted to the 2011 Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students. The institute will be co-hosted by BSCS and Penn State University and held in Colorado Springs, CO, 23 – 28 July 2011. Mandy’s research, which is embedded in the PIESC3 project, focuses on how practicing elementary teachers adapt kit-based elementary science curriculum materials to better engage students in comparing and evaluating theirs and others’ evidence-based explanations for scientific phenomena. This scientific practice is one of 5 essential features of inquiry identified by the National Research Council (2000).
A paper from my masters thesis study has just been published in the January issue of the Journal of Environmental Education. The survey-based study focuses on practicing elementary teachers‘ beliefs about, perceived competencies for, and reported use of scientific inquiry to promote students’ learning about environmental issues and developing scientific literacy.
Forbes, C.T. & Zint, M. (2011). Elementary teachers’ beliefs about, perceived competencies for, and reported use of scientific inquiry to promote student learning about and for the environment. Journal of Environmental Education, 42(1), 30-42.
A paper from my dissertation study has just been published in the September issue of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. The study focuses on preservice elementary teachers’ adaptation of science curriculum materials. Specifically, we investigated the ways in which these preservice teachers adapt existing elementary science curriculum materials, whether or not they are able to adapt individual lessons to be more inquiry-based, and relationships between the curriculum materials, their curriculum design decisions, and curriculum design outcomes.
Forbes, C.T. & Davis, E.A. (2010). Curriculum design for inquiry: Preservice elementary teachers’ mobilization and adaptation of science curriculum materials. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47(7), 365-387.
Here are links to news stories reporting on the PIESC3 project in recent weeks:
The PIESC3 project team had the opportunity to present our work to participants in the 2010 IMSEP Iowa Science and Mathematics Teacher Educators Summit, held Tuesday at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Pictured here with Iowa Governor Chet Culver are me, Cory Forbes, project PI, Kim Gasaway, Science Curriculum & Instruction Specialist with the Davenport Community School District (DCS), and University of Iowa graduate students, Mandy Biggers and Laura Zangori. This was a fantastic learning experience not only for us, but for science and math teacher educators from across the state.
I am very excited to have recently become a new faculty affiliate of the University of Iowa Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research (CGRER). CGRER is a state-funded institute that promotes interdisciplinary research on the many aspects of global environmental change, including regional effects on natural ecosystems, environments, and resources, and effects on human health, culture, and social systems. CGRER’s 72 members come from Universities across Iowa and the U.S., including those from 17 different departments at the University of Iowa. I am very excited to participate in CGRER as a science educator, as well as to explore the potential for this partnership to enhance and enrich both my teaching and research.
The PIESC3 (Promoting Inquiry-based Elementary Science through Collaborative Curriculum Co-Construction) project has been funded by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust and University of Iowa. The project involves a quasi-experimental, non-randomized two group pre-/post- repeated measures research design, as well as in-depth case studies, over two years to investigate the effectiveness of the PIESC3 professional development program for elementary (K-5) teachers and to learn more about how elementary teachers use existing science curriculum materials to plan and engage in inquiry-based science. This project will be carried out in collaboration with the Davenport Community School District (DCS) and Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency.
A paper from the CASES longitudinal study has just been published in the March issue of Science Education. The study focuses on beginning elementary teachers’ beliefs about the use of driving questions and investigation questions to engage students in science as inquiry. Specifically, we investigated how four beginning elementary teachers conceptualize the role of these questions in inquiry-based science, how they negotiate their use in light of their other beliefs and priorities, and how these beliefs evolve over the first three years of their teaching careers.
Forbes, C.T. & Davis, E.A. (2010). Beginning elementary teachers’ beliefs about the use of anchoring questions in science: A longitudinal study. Science Education, 94(2), 365-387.