Page 11 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education



Chapter 5
SystematicSupportforSTEMPre-ServiceTeachers:AnAuthenticandSustainableFour-Pillar
ProfessionalDevelopmentModel......................................................................................................... 73
Reenay R.H. Rogers, University of West Alabama, USA
Jodie Winship, University of West Alabama, USA
Yan Sun, University of West Alabama, USA
DevelopingastrongSTEMteacherworkforceisessentialtoimproveK-12(kindergartento12thgrade)
STEMeducationandtostrengthentheSTEMtalentpipelineintheUnitedStates.Basedonthesuccessful
experienceinProjectEngage,agrantfundedbytheU.S.DepartmentofEducation,thischapterproposes
anauthenticandsustainablefour-pillarSTEMprofessionaldevelopmentmodel.Groundedonsocial
constructivistandinteractiveapproaches,thisprofessionaldevelopmentmodelisintendedtocultivate
STEMpre-serviceteachers’abilitytoprovideK-12studentswithauthenticSTEMlearningexperienceas
definedinthefourtypesofauthenticity(i.e.,contextauthenticity,taskauthenticity,impactauthenticity,
andpersonal/valueauthenticity)identifiedbyStrobelandhiscolleagues(Strobel,Wang,Weber,&
Dyehouse,2013).

Chapter 6
TheRoleofTeacherLeadershipforPromotingProfessionalDevelopmentPractices......................... 91
Patricia Dickenson, National University, USA
Judith L. Montgomery, University of California Santa Cruz, USA

Thischapterexaminesthestatusofteacherprofessionaldevelopmentinmathematicsandexploresthe
roleofteacherleadershiptopromoteinnovativeprofessionaldevelopmentstrategiesthatsustainthe
growthanddevelopmentofanorganization.Surveydatawascollectedfromteacherleaderparticipants
ofonemathematicsprofessionaldevelopmentorganizationtounderstandhowparticipants’growth
anddevelopmentasateacherleadernotonlyshapedtheirmathematicsinstructionalpractices,but
influencedtheirchoicesinleadershiproles.Furthertheauthorssharehowthelearningenvironment
andpedagogicalchoicesoftheprojectdirectorsupportedateacher-drivenprofessionaldevelopment
approach.Recommendationsaswellasamodelfordevelopingateacher-drivenprofessionaldevelopment
organizationareprovidedforreplication.

Chapter 7
Teachers’ProfessionalDevelopmentintheDigitizedWorld:ASampleBlendedLearning
EnvironmentforEducationalTechnologyTraining............................................................................ 115
Emsal Ates Ozdemir, Istanbul Sehir University, Turkey
Kenan Dikilitaş, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Turkey

Professionaldevelopmentforin-serviceEnglishlanguageteachershasincreasinglybecomeaneedin
highereducationnotonlyinTurkeybutacrosstheworld.Duetothelimitedtimeteachershaveandthe
distancebetweenthesourceofserviceandthepotentialparticipants,usingdigitizedactivitiesandmaterials
havenaturallybecomeanecessity.Thepurposeofthisresearchistoreportthepotentialimpactofthe
coursedescribedbelowanddiscusstheroleofblendedlearningexperienceofprofessionaldevelopment
ontheparticipatingteachers.Thetheoreticalbackgroundofthestudyisexperientiallearninginitiated
byKolbandsocio-constructivistlearningtheorybyVygotskyinthatboththeorieshighlighttheroleof
experiencingthechangeandfocusonpersonalmeaningsandlearningwithandfromothersinrealand
onlineenvironments.