Professional Development Programs for Elementary Science Teachers: An Analysis of Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs and a Professional Development Model

The National Science Education Standards present visions for learning and teaching which promote the need for establishing educational opportunities for students that enables them to become scientifically literate. Included within this vision is the viewpoint that teachers are professionals who engage in constant decision-making processes regarding the facilitation of student learning. Comparable to the on-going training and development undertaken by other professionals, effective teachers of the sciences need continuous skill development throughout their careers. As contemporary ideas of both science teaching and learning change, so too must teachers have opportunities to study and engage in the theories and research that drive these reformative changes. Current, standards based, educational reform efforts require “...a substantive change in how science is taught; an equally substantive change is needed in professional development practices” (National Research Council, 1996, p.56). This study focused on an analysis of professional development program via data obtained from an in-service course for elementary science teachers. The professional development program was based on adapted materials from Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) in-service program for science teachers entitled Decisions in Teaching Elementary School Science. In addition to the BSCS inservice materials, local school district curricular materials were included and used by the participants during the program. The in-service program itself was designed on a research-based model of professional development of science teachers developed by Haney, Czerniak and Lumpe (1996). The inclusion of various components of the model, as well as the use of strategies geared to enhance the development of participating teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997), were the foundation of the design and implementation of the in-service program.

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