Page 114 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

The Role of Teacher Leadership for Promoting Professional Development Practices

intensive had the greatest impact. In fact several studies have found the duration of professional develop-
ment is related to the depth of teacher change (Shields, Marsh, & Adelman, 1998; Weiss, Montgomery,
Ridgway,& Bond, 1998). Teachers much like students need an opportunity to practice and rehearse new
skills prior to implementing them in the classroom. In fact research has found teachers need at least twenty
instances of practice to master a new skill (Joyce & Showers, 2002). Further instructors of professional
development can identify and address misconceptions as well as answer questions related to teaching
strategies when teachers have an opportunity to develop expertise. In his research of teacher transferring
new skills Bush (1984) found that about 10 percent of teachers could transfer a skill to practice when
the training simply describes a skill to teachers. Darling-Hammond and colleagues (2009) analysis of
well designed experimental studies found that professional development that includes over six to twelve
months of contact hours with at least 30 to 100 hours in total spread over six to twelve months showed
a positive and significant effect. In addition when professional development included at least 49 hours
in a year, student achievement was raised by approximately 21 percentile points.
Research also shows that teachers will change their beliefs about how to teach something only after
they see success with students (Guskey, 2002). Therefore it is imperative that professional development
practices abandon the one-shot approach and develop ongoing dialogues that support a community of
practice for all learners. Further giving teachers much like students time to achieve mastery, provides the
facilitator with an opportunity to scaffold learning and support participants. Teachers are more likely to
abandon a new practice and teach the way they were teaching when they do not see success, regardless
of the research.
Additional research is needed to determine the efficacy of various types of professional development
activities, such as colloquiums, pre-service and in-service trainings, workshops, and summer institutes.
Studies are needed to evaluate professional development activities that are extended over time and across
broad teacher learning communities to identify the processes and mechanisms that contribute to the
development of teachers’ learning communities (Bransford, Brown, &Cocking, 1999, p. 240).
In review much of the research shared with regards to professional development suggests teachers
need to be engaged in learning opportunities that are continuous and lengthy and connected to prac-
tice. Teachers need multiple instances to practice new skills and see success in using the skills with
students. Further teacher professional development should be a collaborative process that provides time
for teachers to meet, plan curriculum, use data to design instruction and learn from each other. In high
achieving countries about 60 percent of work time is classroom instruction whereas the remaining time
is to collaborate with colleagues and develop curriculum and instruction, in the United States teachers
spend about 80 percent of their time in classroom instruction (Darling Hammond, et al., 2009). Thus the
present study is timely and much needed to understand how to develop and sustain teacher engagement
in professional development practices.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Teacher Professional Development through a Constructivist Lens

The idea that teachers must learn more about the subjects they teach, and how students learn these sub-
jects has been argued for quiet some time (Shulman & Sparks, 1992). Shifting to a mastery approach to
teaching mathematics requires teachers to develop a greater understanding of subject matter as well as

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