Entryways into Science and Science Teaching: Teacher and Researcher Development in a Professional Development School. Elementary Subjects Center Series No. 84.

Teachers describe their professional development experiences regarding science, science teaching, and science learning as they occurred over a 2.5 year period in the Literacy in Science and Social Studies Project in a professional development school setting. They contrast their experiences in this collaborative setting with more traditional models of science education reform. The members of the Literacy in Science and Social Studies Project pursued their goals through a variety of activities including study group discussions, curriculum planning, co-teaching of elementary children and preservice teachers, and joint research on student and educator learning. In this paper, the teachers, university professors, and doctoral students use stories of their professional development in science to illustrate two themes that emerged from their work in this restructured context. First, there is the theme of increasing interest in science over time as those who initially were science-avoiders found entryways into science. The second theme is that the science educators' research, teacher education efforts, and elementary school science teaching was enriched by their regular interactions with professional whose expertise and interest were in subject matter areas other than science. The teachers illustrate how their relationships with science changed over time. Science-avoiders became comfortable with and challenged by their own learning of science and their students' ways of thinking in science. Science educators deepened their understanding of science as a socially constructed endeavor. Professional development for elementary teachers in the area of science is perhaps more meaningful when it fits with the individual's readiness to tackle this subject area. (MDH)