Enhancing Inservice Teacher's Constructivist Epistemology through the Development and Redesign of Inquiry-based Investigations together with their Students

Abstract

This paper summarizes a two-year professional development project with twenty-three inservice teachers. Teachers were charged with the task of developing inquiry investigations correlated with the Illinois Standards in a state funded project titled "Connecting Outdoor Instruction to the Illinois Learning Standards" (COIILS). Scientific investigations on the school grounds were developed, piloted and peer tested. Students then field-tested and redesigned the activities to test student-derived hypotheses. One purpose of this project was to facilitate a shift in teachers' constructivist epistemology. Positive changes were found in teacher's endorsements of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey - Teacher Form. Significant change was noted in students' knowledge about scientific process. The utilization of this inquiry-based investigation design/redesign model may be one step in developing an effective professional development program for teachers in the area of science education. The project can be viewed at http://web.stclair.k12.il.us/splashd/Experimt.htm