Promoting Inquiry-Based Elementary Science through Collaborative Curriculum Construction (PIESC3)

Project Overview
logo-largejpgThe purpose of the PIESC3 project (2010-2013) was to investigate how and why elementary teachers use existing science curriculum materials to plan and engage in effective science teaching, as well as promote students’ science learning. The National Science Education Standards and the Iowa CORE curriculum standards emphasize engaging students in the practices of science, or inquiry-based science, to best support their science learning. However, elementary teachers face many challenges to engaging their students in inquiry-based science. Professional development efforts must be designed that help elementary teachers engage in reform-oriented, inquiry-based science teaching. To meet this need, the PIESC3 (Promoting Inquiry-based Elementary Science through Collaborative Curriculum Co-construction – pronounced “pisces”) professional developmentt program was implemented in the Davenport Community School District (DCS), one of Iowa’s largest high-needs school districts, from 2010-2013. The PIESC3 program has engaged 21 elementary teachers in evaluation, planning, and instruction to learn about the teaching and learning of science as inquiry as articulated in the Iowa CORE and National Science Education Standards, to use this knowledge to learn how to feasibly adapt existing, district-specific science curricular resources to design inquiry-based planned instruction, analyze their own teaching and evidence of student learning, and to use this evidence to better support students’ science learning through engagement in scientific inquiry. We employed a quasi-experimental, non-randomized two group pre-test/post-test repeated measures design, as well as in-depth case studies, over three years to investigate the effectiveness of the PIESC3 program and to learn more about how elementary teachers use existing science curriculum materials to plan and engage in Carver_logoinquiry-based science. Findings from project research have illustrated the dimensions of inquiry-based science in which elementary teachers engage students in the classroom and their reasoning for engaging students in inquiry in the ways that they do. These empirical results have important implications for the development of elementary science curriculum materials, science professional development for elementary teachers, and the preparation of preservice elementary teachers through formal, university-based teacher education. This research builds upon past research on elementary science teaching and learning, leveraged funding and scholarship from a variety of sources, and was grounded in a partnership between the University of Iowa, DCSD, and Mississippi Bend AEA designed to improve the teaching and learning of science in Iowa’s schools.

  • $134,978 from the Carver Charitable Trust
  • $73,168 from the UI CoE and VP for Research
  • $73,168 from Iowa Measurement Research Foundation and Iowa Math and Science Education Partnership

Stay up to date with current news associated with the PIESC3 project here.

Project Publications
Forbes, C.T. & Biggers, M. (2015). What kind of science teacher will I be? Teachers’ curricular role identity for elementary science. In L. Avraamidou (Ed.), Studying Teacher Identity: Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Approaches, (pgs. 129-152). Sense Publishers; Rotterdam.

Forbes, C.T., Lange, K., Möller, K., Biggers, M., Laux, M., & Zangori, L. (2014). Explanation-construction in 4th-grade classrooms in Germany and the United States: A cross-national comparative video study. International Journal of Science Education, 36(14), 2367-2390.

Biggers, M., Forbes, C.T. , & Zangori, L. (2013). Elementary teachers’ curriculum design and pedagogical reasoning for supporting students’ comparison and evaluation of evidence-based explanations. The Elementary School Journal, 114(1), 48-72.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2013).  Investigating essential characteristics of scientific practices in elementary science learning environments: The Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P-SOP).  School Science and Mathematics, 113(4), 180-190.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C.T. (2013).  Preservice elementary teachers and explanation construction: Knowledge-for-practice and knowledge-in-practice.  Science Education, 97(2), 310-330.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Biggers, M. (2013).  Fostering student sense-making in elementary science learning environments: Elementary teachers’ use of science curriculum materials to promote explanation-construction.  Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 50(8), 887-1017.

Biggers, M. & Forbes, C.T. (2012). Balancing teacher and student roles in elementary classrooms: Preservice elementary teachers’ ideas about the inquiry continuum. International Journal of Science Education, 10(2), 267-292.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C., & Biggers, M. (2012). This is inquiry…right? Strategies for effectively adapting elementary science lessons. Science and Children, 50(1), 48-53.

Project Presentations
Biggers, M. & Forbes, C. T. (2015, April). Curriculum planning and enactment in elementary science: Beyond fidelity of implementation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Biggers, M., Forbes, C.T., & Zangori, L. (2013, April).  Elementary teachers’ ideas about, planning for, and implementation of learner-guided and teacher-guided inquiry.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Biggers, M., Forbes, C.T., & Zangori, L. (2013, April).  Investigating variations of inquiry in elementary science classrooms: Establishing validity/reliability of a modified observation protocol.  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2013, August). Teachers’ reasoning about students’ sensemaking in elementary science learning environments.  Paper presented at the bi-annual meeting of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, Munich, Germany.

Forbes, C.T., Lange, K., Möller, K., Biggers, M., Laux, M., & Zangori, L. (2013, April). A comparative study of early learners’ engagement in scientific practices in the U.S. and Germany.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Biggers, M. (2013, April).   Elementary students’ explanation construction of seed structure and function: A concurrent mixed methods study.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Biggers, M. (2013, April).   Elementary teachers’ use of science curriculum materials to foster explanation construction.   Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

Zangori, L., Forbes, C.T., & Biggers, M. (2013, April).  Elementary teachers’ use of science curriculum materials to promote students’ sense making: An embedded mixed methods study.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Aguirre-Mendez, C., Promyod, N., Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2012, March). Characteristics of scientifically-oriented questions and the nature of inquiry in elementary classrooms: A multiple-case study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Biggers, M. & Forbes, C.T. (2012, March). Elementary teachers’ ideas about, planning for, and implementation of learner-guided and teacher-guided inquiry. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Biggers, M., Forbes, C.T., & Zangori, L. (2012, April). Elementary teachers’ curriculum design and pedagogical reasoning for supporting students’ comparison and evaluation of evidence-based explanations. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC.

Biggers, M., Zangori, L., & Forbes, C.T., (2012, March). Exploring scientific explanations: Promoting students’ sense-making in elementary classrooms. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Forbes, C.T. (2012, February). Fostering sense-making in K-8 science learning environments through curriculum and instruction: An evolving research agenda. Invited presentation at the University of Münster (WWU-Münster), Münster, Germany. Sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Forbes, C.T. (2012, January). Fostering sense-making in K-8 science learning environments through curriculum and instruction: An evolving research agenda. Invited presentation at the University of Essen (NWU-Essen), Essen, Germany. Sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2012, April). Investigating essential characteristics of scientific practices in elementary science learning environments: The Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P-SOP). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC, April 13-17.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2012, April). Toward an empirically-based learning progression: Defining progress variables and measurable levels of elementary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for science. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2012, March). Elementary teachers’ enactment of science curriculum materials: Investigating early learners’ engagement in scientific practices. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Pinney, B., Suh, J-K., Tseng, C-M., Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2012, March). Dichotomous inquiry practices: Characterizing teaching practice based on essential features of inquiry. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C.T., (2012, March). Learning to support elementary students’ scientific reasoning: Preservice elementary teachers and the evidence-explanation continuum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Indianapolis, IN.

Biggers, M. & Forbes, C.T. (2011, April). Preservice elementary teachers’ learning about the five essential features of classroom inquiry. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Orlando, FL, April 3-6.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2011, September).  Promoting and investigating elementary teachers’ PCK for inquiry-based science. Paper presented at the bi-annual meeting of the European Science Education Research Association, Lyon, France.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2011, April).  Supporting elementary teachers’ evaluation and adaptation of science curriculum materials: The PIESC3 professional development model.  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Orlando, FL, April 3-6.

Forbes, C.T., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2011, January).  Promoting inquiry-based elementary science through collaborative curriculum co-construction: The PIESC3 Project.  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education, Minneapolis, MN, January 19-22.

Forbes, C.T., Gasaway, K., Biggers, M., & Zangori, L. (2010).  Promoting inquiry-based elementary science through collaborative curriculum co-construction.  Poster presented at the 2nd annual Iowa Science and Mathematics Teacher Educators Summit, Grinnell, IA.