Running head: Paper 2

Adult Learning Theory and Teacher Professional Development to Support Implementation of

Next Generation Science Standards in Elementary School Grade Levels
Cynthia Sargent
California State University, Monterey Bay

IST520 Learning Theories

Dr. Nancy Lockwood
May 12th, 2015

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3
Description of the Training Situation ........................................................................ 5
Teacher understanding of the content they teach .................................................... 7
Teacher dialogue and reflection as part of the learning process ............................. 8
Discussion of Learning Theory .................................................................................. 9
Real World Considerations ...................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 12
References .................................................................................................................. 13

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Introduction
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were introduced to the nations science
teachers in February 2012 when the first draft of the standards was released to the public.
California was one of 26 lead states, playing a significant role in the writing of the standards,
however the state did not formally adopt NGSS as its state science standards until November
2014, following approval by the State Board of Education (California Department of Education,
2014). The NGSS are truly a new framework for science teaching. They embed the what
students should know, known as Disciplinary Core Ideas, within a framework that ties the core
ideas to two other domains: Science and Engineering practices (such as designing solutions) and
Crosscutting Concepts (such as cause and effect). The Performance Expectations provide
guidance to teachers for how students might demonstrate or show proficiency in all three of the
domains, such as designing a thermal device that transfers energy by chemical reactions (NGSS
Lead States, 2013). This architecture is quite unique for a set of academic standards.
Because the NGSS development process included a number of drafts released for public
review and comments, many science teachers became increasingly aware of the new standards
and the three domains during the years from first draft to adoption. For example, as a member of
the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) the author of this paper received email
updates regarding the standards, including emails encouraging educators to take part in the
review process. The author also observed an increase in the frequency of posts on NSTA email
list serve discussion forums related to NGSS, evidence of teachers attempts to make meaning of
the new standards and adjust their teaching and curriculum accordingly. In addition, NSTA
journals, such as the Science Teacher, began to publish more NGSS focused articles, and in the
most recent issue (April/May 2015) all featured articles reference NGSS, clearly indicating an

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emphasis by the professional organization to make the new standards highly visible to science
teachers and provide examples of classroom practice that reflect the expectations of the NGSS.
The teaching of science in the elementary grade levels (K-5), though, has been largely
ignored in many schools throughout California during the era of No Child Left Behind and
Common Core standards. One study reported that 40 percent of teachers surveyed indicated that
they teach science for less than one hour each week (California Department of Education, 2014).
Given the predominant focus on English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics, elementary
teachers are more likely than their middle school or high school counterparts to be unaware of, or
only recently or vaguely aware of, the new NGSS standards. Awareness is the first of three
scheduled phases in the implementation timeline for NGSS in California. The awareness phase is
followed by transition in 2015-2016, and implementation in 2016-2017 (California
Department of Education, 2014). The training situation described in this paper focuses on
professional development designed specifically for the awareness and transition phases, and
elementary teachers are the target audience.
Innovate: A Blueprint for Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in
California Public Education (2014), describes seven strategic action areas related to improving
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in California. Given that
only 22 percent of 8th grade students in the state scored proficient or above on the 2013 National
Assessment of Educational Progress science assessment (California Department of Education,
2014), there is clearly a need for action. One area for action identified in the blueprint is
professional learning for STEM, including learning focused on NGSS implementation. The need
for ongoing professional development for teachers in order to realize the vision of the new

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

standards is also described in A Framework for K-12 Science Education, the publication from
which NGSS was born (National Research Council, 2012).
Unfortunately, professional learning for the target audience has been largely absent in
recent years. This trend is made evident by a 2011 study of California elementary teachers85
percent had not received science-specific professional development in the past three years
(California Department of Education, 2014). With the adoption of NGSS and increased emphasis
on STEM by education leaders in the state, there are positive signs that this trend will change and
elementary teachers in California will be provided more opportunities to participate in science
professional learning. To make a substantial and sustained impact on student learning outcomes,
professional learning for teachers must be designed around and grounded in sound learning
theory.
Description of the Training Situation
Much research has been done related to teacher professional development. The Innovate
report (California Department of Education, 2014) summarizes the findings of this research:
studies have shown that professional learning most closely linked to improved student learning:
a) focuses on teachers understanding the content they will teach; b) is sustained over time; and c)
provide opportunities for professional dialogue and critical reflection (p. 14). (See also the
consensus model for professional development proposed by Laura Desimone, 2009.) The
training situation described in this paper is designed to effectively target two of these
professional development principles: 1) teacher understanding of the content they teach and 2)
teacher dialogue and reflection as part of the learning process. The training situation is part of a
larger professional development effort that will provide the important component of learning

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

being sustained over time. However, design of the larger program is still under development and
outside the scope of this paper.
The training situation involves both face-to-face as well as virtual, computer-based
components. Teachers from elementary schools in thirteen school districts of Sutter County, CA
will attend a start-of-the-year Boot Camp professional development event lasting three days.
During the event they will attend at least one two-hour workshop focused on NGSS. Then,
during the school year, teachers will have access to a STEM professional development expert for
in-classroom modeling of lessons, coaching in lesson planning or performing science lessons, as
well as access to computer-based support such as videos, curriculum, interactive learning
modules and other resources created or curated by the STEM expert. Additional two or three
hour in-person workshops are scheduled to take place periodically throughout the school year.
The training has the broad goal of increasing teacher awareness of NGSS and assisting teachers
in the transition phase of NGSS implementation.
Some important characteristics of the target audience were gleaned from a national
survey of science and mathematics education (Banilower, E. R., Smith, P. S., Weiss, I. R.,
Malzahn, K. A., Campbell, K. M., & Weis, A. M., 2013), and inform the design and facilitation
of the training situation. These are summarized below.

While most elementary teachers feel very well prepared to teach ELA and math
(81% and 77% respectively), only 39% percent feel the same way about teaching
science.

Of the various science subject areas, elementary teachers feel most prepared to
teach life science or earth science topics. Only 17% feel confident teaching
physical science and just 4% feel prepared to teach engineering. In fact, 73%
rated their confidence level as not adequately prepared when it comes to

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

teaching engineering, whereas more teachers at least felt fairly well prepared, or
somewhat prepared for the other science subjects.

39% of elementary teachers feel very well prepared to implement provided

science curriculum (textbooks or modules) during an instructional unit, but only
28% feel very well prepared to anticipate difficulties students may have with
particular science ideas and procedures in a unit.

Teacher understanding of the content they teach

Of course it is important for teachers to understand well themselves the science content of
a lesson they teach to their students, such as a lesson on the water cycle. To teach the water cycle
teachers need to understand concepts such as changes in states of matter (evaporation,
condensation, freezing, melting). This content knowledge helps the teacher explain clearly, using
proper vocabulary and representations, the way in which water moves between the atmosphere,
bodies of water, and the land. But understanding the content they teach involves more than the
science concepts; teachers must have a broaderand deeperunderstanding known as
pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Pedagogical content knowledge includes information
about paths that students typically traverse in order to achieve understanding, and sets of
potential strategies for helping students overcome the difficulties that they encounter (p. 3,
Heller, J.I., Little, J. W., and Shinohara, M., 2012).
Activities planned for the elementary teacher NGSS workshops include numerous handson investigations that involve teachers in performing scientific tasks and inquiry similar to what
students should be engaged in doing during science lessons. For example, teachers are provided
two samples of water, pure water and salt water, and they determine the freezing point of each
and discuss differences between the samples. Through their interactions with the facilitator
(STEM expert) and with each other, teachers increase their content knowledge. The discussions
in the workshop will also involve explicit explanation and modeling of related pedagogy, such as

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

using formative assessment to gauge students prior knowledge or uncover misconceptions

related to the content before an investigation is carried out, or strategies to help students give
priority to evidence when they write conclusions to lab investigations. This element of the
training expands the teachers content knowledge into the realm of pedagogical content
knowledge. Additionally, the teachers PCK evolves to encompass an understanding of the
integration of the three domains of NGSS as they experience lessons (in person or virtually) that
model this integration and then systematically analyze the lessons for the presence or absence of
certain components of each domain and identify ways in which various components are linked
across domains.
Teacher dialogue and reflection as part of the learning process
Teaching has a long history of valuing reflection as an important part of the profession.
Many times the dialogue and reflection are specific to a teachers own experiences with his or
her own students, such as analyzing examples of student work during professional learning
community (PLC) meetings with colleagues or reflecting on what was or was not successful
about a lesson after being observed by a mentor teacher, peer teacher, or administrator
(Banilower, E. R., et. al, 2013). There is certainly value in such activities and such activities have
been demonstrated to be effective for professional learning (Gulamhussein, A., 2013).
However, the NGSS training workshops for the Sutter County elementary teachers will
involve a case study type approach to engage teachers in dialogue and reflection related to NGSS
implementation. In this approach teachers read (or watch videos of) scenarios describing actual
teaching events and classrooms, but the events and classrooms are not those of the teachers being
trained. In a randomized, controlled study, this Teaching Cases model was shown to be more
effective than Looking at Student Work (which included concurrent teaching of the unit with

LEARNING THEORY IN SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

professional development), and Content Immersion models (Heller, J.I., Little, J. W., and
Shinohara, M., 2012). The dialogue and reflection of the case studies will take place in both faceto-face training events as well as through computer-based modules and discussion forums.
Discussion of Learning Theory
The major learning theories applied in the described training situation include
constructivism and social-cognitive theory. Albert Banduras social-cognitive theory relates to
the prevalence of modeling in the NGSS training for elementary school teachers. Vicarious
experience can contribute to self-efficacy. And self-efficacy ultimately affects what a teacher
does or does not do with regard to trying out new teaching practices that may help their students
(Gredler, M.E., 2009). Since self-efficacy will be most important to develop in the final phase of
NGSS implementation, it will not be discussed in detail here; the final phase of the training
situation has not yet been developed. The instructional design of the training for the first two
phases, awareness and transition, applies the principles of constructivism.
Constructivism
Constructivism gained acceptance as an educational philosophy in the 1990s. Essentially,
the theory of constructivism posits that learning occurs when learners actively engage in
activities and social collaboration that facilitate their making meaning of the world. In other
words, knowledge is constructed from a learners interactions with the world and through social
participation (Reiser, R.A., and Dempsey, J.V., 2012).
Constructivism has ties to the work of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. Piaget focused his
work on describing cognitive development in children, though some of his conclusions can
reasonably be generalized to all learners, including adults. Consider the following summary of
Piagets work:

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he did not support the view of knowledge as static information residing in

objects and events that is separate from the individualknowledge is the process
of knowing through interactions with the environment, and intelligence is an
organized system that constructs the structures it needs in adapting to the
environment (p. 269, Gredler, M.E., 2009).
The learning environment is not just physical; there is also a social component to the
environment. Piaget recognized that this social component was influential to learning because
without it a child can maintain certain subjective beliefs, but when they encounter others with
different ideas and experience cognitive conflict, the learner must reorganize their thinking
(Gredler, M.E., 2009).
Bruner viewed learning similarly to Piaget, as an active process of constructing new
knowledge. However, Bruner more clearly articulated how the theory applies to classrooms. He
described constructivist teaching as that which carefully sequenced learning events and
organized information such that students built new knowledge based on their prior knowledge in
a spiral fashion, always expanding on what they already know. When learners discover
principles for themselves, they can go beyond the specific information or examples provided by
the instructor. Another principle of instruction related to Bruners constructivist theory is learner
readiness: experiences and contexts should facilitate a learners willingness and ability to learn
(Kearsley, G., 1994).
An evaluation of constructivist-oriented teacher professional development (specific to the
integration of technology in science teaching) was conducted by Gerard et. al (2011). In the data
collection phase of the literature review, professional development was considered consistent
with constructivism if it had the following components:

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eliciting teachers current ideas about teaching with technology

adding new ideas to the teachers repertoire
engaging teachers in using evidence to distinguish between current ideas and new
ideas
facilitating on-going reflection and integration of new ideas with current ideas to
formulate a pedagogical framework

Findings of the literature review supported the application of a constructivist approach in

professional development. Teachers engaged in this type of learning, over a sustained time
period, were more likely to adopt technology and inquiry-based teaching practices.
The training situation described earlier will help teachers learn about and implement NGSS
through four steps very similar to those listed above. First, activities will elicit teachers current
ideas related to the previous state science standards as well as what they might already know
about NGSS. The activities will also elicit teachers ideas regarding the nature of science and the
relationship between science and engineering. The second step will involve activities and
structured collaborative discussion that guide teachers discovery of the architecture of the NGSS
and the relationships between the three domains and the performance expectations. This second
step begins the process of teachers constructing new knowledge through interactions (hands-on
science investigations and social interactions).
In the third step, the case study approach will be used to guide teacher dialogue and
reflection with sample student work (from the teaching case, not the teachers classrooms)
providing the evidence for teachers to use to distinguish between new and old science standards
and pedagogy, as well as to judge the efficacy of different teaching practices. The case studies
bring about cognitive conflict in the learner and help push the learner to higher levels of thinking
as they apply their recently constructed knowledge. Computer-based modules and online
discussion forums, as well as additional face-to-face training sessions, will comprise step 4 in

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which teachers put it all together, building a new pedagogical content knowledge framework.
Special attention will be paid to ensuring that common themes, such as the three domains of the
NGSS, spiral throughout the instructional sequence.
Real World Considerations
The use of the Teaching Cases model will be most easily implemented by purchasing
materials developed through the research. At $200 per module the purchase may not be approved
by the Sutter County Office of the Superintendent. If ready-made materials are not available it
greatly increases the difficulty of using the case study approach in the constructivist-oriented
training. Also, an in-depth analysis of the target audience has not been completed and this author
is limited in knowledge regarding similarities and differences in current science instruction for
the districts in Sutter county. It is also not yet known the level of buy-in by relevant stakeholders
and what the level of support will be for science professional learning for elementary teachers.
Conclusion
The Next Generation Science standards are complex and even experienced, inquiryminded science teachers are experiencing some pedagogical discontentment, requiring them to
rethink and reorganize their existing schema for science teaching. Teachers less experienced in
science teaching, such as elementary teachers, have an even greater transformation to undergo.
However, the inclusion of STEM into the elementary curriculum provides an exciting
opportunity for professional development providers to test the efficacy of applying various
learning theory to their work with teachers.

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References
Banilower, E. R., Smith, P. S., Weiss, I. R., Malzahn, K. A., Campbell, K. M., & Weis, A. M.
(2013). Report of the 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education. Chapel
Hill, NC: Horizon Research, Inc.
California Department of Education. (2014). Innovate: A blueprint for science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics in California public education, A report to the state
superintendent of public instruction. Retrieved May 12, 2015 from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/documents/innovate.pdf.
California Department of Education. (2014). NGSS Development Process. Retrieved May 12,
2015, from http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/ngssdevproc.asp
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better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181-199.
Gerard, L. F., Varma, K., Corliss, S. B., & Linn, M. C. (2011). Professional development for
technology-enhanced inquiry science. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 408448.
doi:10.3102/0034654311415121
Gredler, M. E., (2009). Learning and Instruction: Theory into Practice (Sixth Edition). Upper
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Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the teachers: Effective professional development in an era of
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Heller, J.I., Little, J. W., and Shinohara, M. (2012). Impact of content-focused and practice-based
professional development models on elementary electric circuits teaching and learning. Final
Report, WestEd. Retrieved May 12, 2015 from http://we-

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mss.weebly.com/uploads/8/6/4/9/8649828/_____lsft_full_report.pdf. (Also published as

Differential effects of three professional development models on teacher knowledge and
student achievement in elementary science in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching,
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Kearsley, G. (1994) The Theory Into Practice Database. (1994) Retrieved May 12, 2015 from
http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/.
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12
Science Education Standards (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices,
Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press.
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