TY - JOUR
T1 - Building Teacher-Scientist Partnerships
T2 - Teaching About Energy Through Inquiry
AU - Caton, Elaine
AU - Brewer, Carol
AU - Brown, Fletcher
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
2000 School Science and Mathematics Association.
PY - 2000/1
Y1 - 2000/1
N2 - This study evaluated the effectiveness of teacher-scientist partnerships for increasing the use. of inquiry in precollege classrooms. It assessed the influence of the Teaching About Energy Through Inquiry Institutes for middle and high school teachers and energy scientists on participants' attitudes about science and science education, use of inquiry instructional techniques, and student attitudes about their classroom environments. Participant surveys, institute and classroom observations, lesson plans, and interviews indicated increased appreciation for inquiry, greater confidence in teaching using inquiry, and greater use of inquiry in the classroom. Student surveys and classroom observations pointed to higher levels of student satisfaction and less friction among classmates during inquiry-based investigations implemented after the institutes. Moreover, scientist partners reported increased familiarity with principles of science education and best teaching practice, which are essential skills and knowledge for disseminating results of scientific research to nonscientific audiences, as well as their own students. These results suggest that collaborations between teachers and research scientists can positively affect the environment for learning science in precollege and college classes. Successful collaborations are most likely to occur when equal status for teachers and scientists in the partnership is stressed and partners have the opportunity to explore inquiry-based curricula together.
AB - This study evaluated the effectiveness of teacher-scientist partnerships for increasing the use. of inquiry in precollege classrooms. It assessed the influence of the Teaching About Energy Through Inquiry Institutes for middle and high school teachers and energy scientists on participants' attitudes about science and science education, use of inquiry instructional techniques, and student attitudes about their classroom environments. Participant surveys, institute and classroom observations, lesson plans, and interviews indicated increased appreciation for inquiry, greater confidence in teaching using inquiry, and greater use of inquiry in the classroom. Student surveys and classroom observations pointed to higher levels of student satisfaction and less friction among classmates during inquiry-based investigations implemented after the institutes. Moreover, scientist partners reported increased familiarity with principles of science education and best teaching practice, which are essential skills and knowledge for disseminating results of scientific research to nonscientific audiences, as well as their own students. These results suggest that collaborations between teachers and research scientists can positively affect the environment for learning science in precollege and college classes. Successful collaborations are most likely to occur when equal status for teachers and scientists in the partnership is stressed and partners have the opportunity to explore inquiry-based curricula together.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0002442343&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2000.tb17315.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2000.tb17315.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0002442343
SN - 0036-6803
VL - 100
SP - 7
EP - 15
JO - School Science and Mathematics
JF - School Science and Mathematics
IS - 1
ER -