Page 77 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

A Paradigm Shift for Teachers’ Professional Development Structure in Turkey

conducted over a period of three years in order for the teachers to efficiently apply the ABI approach
to their classroom practices. The participating teachers took part in a total of five in-service training
programmes twice every year.
All the in-service training activities were designed considering the teachers’ needs and the project
goals, and geared to the acquisition of the ABI approach by the participants. Each programme focused
on an educational theme that was considered important in the ABI approach. The teachers were helped
acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the light of the ABI approach using themes; such as learning,
conceptual underpinnings of ABI, importance of questioning, sharing changing experiences in teaching
pedagogy and planning.
Research suggests that the success of in-service training programmes rises when they are designed as
more than just an ordinary professional development programme with well-defined and clearly laid-out
objectives, and when supported by seminars, team work, workshops, conferences, visits, and consulta-
tion services as well as on-line and face-to-face educational activities (Guskey, 2014; National Research
Council, 1996; Evans, 1986). From this point of view, planning was considered to be one of the most
important factors for an effective in-service training programme (Klein, 2001), and all the project activi-
ties were planned with due diligence over the course of three years.
All in-service training activities were structured around an assessment of the teachers’ practices in
the previous programme and a debate on what needed to be done to improve teachers’ ABI practices.
The teachers were asked to share their experiences relating to their ABI practices in the classroom
with the other participants and the project team. Proposals were formulated to overcome the challenges
experienced in these practices, which were then taken into consideration in the planning of subsequent
in-service training programmes.
One of the primary goals of these in-service training programmes was to allow participating teach-
ers to experience the process as ‘learners’. For this purpose, learning environments were set up where
the participants would be aware of, and reflect upon, their own learning. Current studies on the basics
of professional development highlight the significant role of the knowledge contributed by teachers to
in-service training programmes, and underline their existing beliefs on learning and teaching as a highly
effective factor in the success of the process (Loucks-Horsley, 1995). In this context, many published
studies and reports (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982; Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer & Scott,
1994; National Research Council (NRC), 1996, 2000) stress that teachers, just like students, need to
“acquire an experience of questioning as learners”, and underline the important role of professional
development programmes in improving the ways, in which science is taught. For this reason, learner-
focused ABI activities on the field knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology were designed as part
of the in-service training activities for the science teachers. In the course of these activities, data on the
basic patterns of the ABI approach was obtained, which led to the formulation of claims with corrobo-
rating evidence. In this way, the question-claim-evidence triangle, which is an important component of
the ABI approach, was established. Furthermore, writing to learn activities were included as one of the
language practices in the ABI approach. Sample writing activities that can be used in different levels of
education were presented, and the participants took part in these activities.
Throughout the training, in addition to directly experiencing the learning process, the teachers were
presented with further opportunities to work in collaboration with their colleagues and the researchers.
During the planning and the ABI practices in their own classrooms, the participating teachers took direct
responsibility and structured the process in collaboration with their colleagues and the researchers. Many

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