New Perspectives in Science Education

The Primary Years Science-Math Integration Program is a collaboration between Colorado Springs School District 11 and Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.  The project involved 22 teachers in fourteen low-performing schools in a 30-month Integrated Natural Science Program, culminating in a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree. 

The pupose of the project was to deepen teacher content knowledge and improving pedagogical skills with tools, measurement and inquiry-based learning guided by four goals:

1.     Deepen teachers’ content/conceptual knowledge in mathematics and science as aligned with core concepts in mathematics and science;

2.     Improve teachers’ understanding of and ability to teach with standards-based inquiry-rich pedagogy, including a focus on conceptually rich curriculum with learning progressions, effective pedagogy, and use of notebooks with formative assessment;

3.     Develop a system-wide strategy for analyzing student assessment data for the purpose of informing needed teacher content and pedagogical understanding;

4.     Create a cohort of Primary Years Math-Science Integration Specialists who can build collaborative networks, support their colleagues and contribute to increased student achievement.

Professional development included:

• Summer Institutes (2012, 2013) – 480 contact hours over two summers with the purpose of deepening teacher’s content knowledge in physical, biological, and earth sciences;
• Pedagogical Content Knowledge Colloquia (2012, 2013) –  96 contact hours over two and one-half school years with the purpose of developing constructivist design pedagogy;
• Action research and thesis development focusing on classroom-based, data driven instruction; and,
• Master Teacher Coaching and peer mentoring – embedded coaching and feedback  throughout all three program years.

Evaluation methods were multi-faceted. Teacher gains in content and pedagogical knowledge were be assessed using curriculum knowledge surveys, formative assessments and observations, video analysis/assessment twice annually, a portfolio of curriculum alignment materials, and an action research-based Master’s thesis.   Student data and TIMSS-released items were be used annually to compare achievement growth rates with a) each teachers’ historical class student data growth and b) a matched-group comparison set of students.  Annual student standardized test data was compared annually and pre-/post-project.

Research data from the two-year project will be presented.