Running Head: DESIGN-BASED RESEARCH AS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

 

 

 

Design-based Research as Professional Development: Case Study of a Reading Teacher in a Science Inquiry Project

 

Erin E. Peters

Brenda Bannan-Ritland

John Baek

Patricia Martinez

Jolin Qutub

Qing Xia


Abstract

            This study investigates the involvement of one teacher in a unique, 9-month, graduate-level, design-based research experience who was challenged to design a technology-based system collaboratively with five science teachers that intersects inquiry-based science and reading comprehension.  This immersive, long-term professional development experience involving teachers directly in design research represents an emerging area of study. Individual teacher interviews conducted at multiple points during the academic year as well as video data from weekly class sessions and other design and reflective artifacts provided multiple data sources. The case study investigates the unique characteristics that emerge when a reading teacher is immersed in a professional development experience that revolves around the scientific discipline of geomorphology (Yin, 2003). The investigation of this design research experience yielded a growth in understanding regarding inquiry and learning science, a development of the connections between reading and science, positive aspects to the design-research process as professional development, and a conduit for connecting research to the classroom.


Theoretical Framework

Integration of Inquiry-based Science and Reading Comprehension

            The progression toward inquiry-based instruction and integration of appropriate text-based materials to improve reading comprehension of science instruction represent two nationally significant challenges for teachers (NRC, 2000; Snow, 2002).  Further complicating the problem, inquiry processes are defined and implemented differently by both teachers and researchers (Anderson, 2002; Haury, 1993).  In order to better define inquiry teaching and promote improved professional development, researchers are calling for additional studies on teachers’ views, beliefs and implementation of inquiry processes and also how these processes may intersect with appropriate science reading strategies (Keys, 1999; Keys & Bryan, 2001; Palincsar & Magnussen, 2000). An emerging line of research that involves teachers’ participation in complex collaborative experiences that a) acknowledge their existing knowledge and beliefs; b) promote reflection on their practices; c) engage them in a long-term, reform-based immersive professional development experiences and d) incorporate teachers in the role of collaborative designers and researchers may have the potential to more explicitly define inquiry processes, promote teacher conceptual change and influence classroom practice (Van Zee, Lay & Roberts, 2003; Loucks-Horsley, Love, Stiles, Mundry & Hewson, 2003).

Teachers Practical Knowledge and Research

            Hiebert, Gallimore and Stigler (2002) cite the difficulty of bridging the gap between traditional research knowledge and teachers’ practice. The role of teachers’ practical knowledge has traditionally been undervalued in research, professional development and reform efforts in science education failing to take teachers’ existing knowledge, beliefs and attitudes into account (van Driel, Beijaard & Verloop, 2001).   However, researchers are beginning to incorporate teacher perspectives and participation in studies related to science education.  Keys & Bryan (2001) studied teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and practices of inquiry-based science as well as student learning and called for additional research in these areas.  In particular, these researchers call for additional studies involving the co-construction of inquiry-based instruction by teachers and researchers (Keys & Bryan, 2001).

Design Research and Teacher Practical Knowledge

            The instructional design process provides a rich framework for teacher-researcher collaboration and may provide for the articulation of practitioner-based knowledge of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986).  Van Driel, Beijaard and Verloop (2001) refer to this knowledge as “practical knowledge” that experienced teachers possess comprised of integrated knowledge and beliefs about science, subject matter and teaching and learning. Studying the collaborative instructional design process of a group of teacher-designers and researchers can provide insight into how teachers integrate research and practical knowledge in a design-based research effort.  In addition, the instructional design process can provide insight into Hiebert et al.’s (2002) characterization of practitioner knowledge integrated and organized around problems of practice involving teachers in the following activities:  a) elaborating the problem and developing a shared language for describing the problem, b)analyzing classroom practice in light of the problem, c) envisioning alternatives, or hypothesizing solutions to the problem, d) testing alternatives in the classroom, and reflecting on their effects, and e)recording what is learned in a way that is shareable with other practitioners. (p.6).

            Teachers’ involvement in design-based research efforts that integrate instructional design and research activities as professional development experiences are just beginning to emerge. Design-based research is characterized by the generation of models or theories about teaching and learning in the context of the iterative design, development and evaluation of an innovative learning environment (Kelly, 2004; Sloane & Gorard, 2003; Bannan-Ritland, 2003).  Zawojewski, Chamberlin, Hjalmarson & Lewis (2004) promote the use of design-based research to support mathematics teachers’ professional development through specific cases of teacher designed materials such as the testing and revision of an algebra lesson and teacher development of student thinking sheets that closely examine student cognitive processes. However, complex collaborative professional development experiences that involve teachers as collaborators and co-researchers in long-term, instructional design and design-based research activities in science education have not yet been investigated. This paper will extend an emerging program of research to focus on investigating teachers’ beliefs and practical knowledge before, during and after engagement in a 9-month complex, collaborative design-based experience with researchers designing and developing a technology-based system integrating inquiry-based science and reading comprehension at the fourth grade level.

Elementary Teachers’ Understandings of Inquiry

            As most elementary teachers do not focus on a particular discipline, they generally do not have adequate background in the epistemology of science. Effective inquiry is characterized by experiences that are authentic to the experiences of scientists (Bybee, 2004), thus requiring an understanding of the operations of science as a discipline. Adb-El-Khalick and Akerson (2004) cite that preservice elementary teacher’s views of the nature of science as measured by the VNOS-B were naïve. After intervention, the preservice elementary teachers had a more substantial understanding of science as a way of knowing, and they were mediated by preexisting motivational, cognitive and worldview factors. Even when explicitly taught the nature of science, many elementary teachers showed only a limited understanding (Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick & Lederman, 2000). Geological inquiries are particularly difficult because this type of inquiry refers to objects with histories. That is, direct observations do not answer most questions in geomorphology, rather the prior movements of material must be inferred based on indirect evidence, which contain more ambiguity (Ault, 1998). An effective professional development for elementary teachers involving both scientific inquiry and geologic reasoning would require a great deal of cognitive change on the part of the participants, which design-based research could provide.

Purpose/Objectives

            The purpose of this study is to investigate the involvement of a reading teacher in an intensive, long-term (9-months), collaborative, design-based research professional development experience in science and the impact of that experience on her knowledge of science, reading and teaching and learning. The design research experience was structured to intensively involve teachers in the process of integrated instructional design and research activities that would promote the development of teacher-generated design ideas for an effective technology-based system for the fourth grade classroom integrating inquiry science and reading comprehension.  The objective of the emerging practice of design research is to promote the generation of knowledge related to teaching and learning while engaged in the design of a classroom intervention (Kelly, 2004).  This five year design-based research grant funded by the National Science Foundation has concluded year two which has culminated in the direct involvement of teachers in the design research process across an academic year along with a six-member research team.  The objective of this phase of data collection and analysis is to investigate the nature and impact of teacher involvement in design research specifically related to the intersection of inquiry-based science and reading comprehension.  The literacy-science connection is a significant area of concern for teachers and researchers alike (see Saul, 2004).  This study will illuminate a) teacher practical knowledge about the science-reading connection and earth science; b) the impact of participation in design research as a professional development experience on teacher practical knowledge and c) the nature of collaboration and co-construction of technology-based science curriculum by teachers and a research team.

Methods

The Design-based Research Experience

            The design-based research experience generally followed an emerging process model that attempts to intersect systematic instructional design processes with rigorous research investigation of cognitively-based theories about teaching and learning entitled the Integrative Learning Design Framework (see Bannan-Ritland, 2003).  Six teachers (five elementary and one middle school teacher) were involved in two 9-credit instructional design courses across the 2004-2005 academic year that were specifically designed to investigate teaching and learning issues related to science inquiry and reading comprehension as well as participate in the design of a technology system that integrated these concepts at the fourth grade level. In exchange for their participation, the teachers were offered free tuition for the total of 18 credits that counted toward their Masters or Doctoral work. The teachers were recruited from schools in the greater Washington, DC area and supported by a research team of an Instructional Design Professor, five graduate research assistants including a programmer and graphic artist. The teachers were intimately involved in the needs assessment process, selecting an area of study (landform change in earth science), aligning design direction with state and national standards, reviewing current research in science inquiry, earth science and reading in science.  The academic year long experience culminated in the teachers presenting technology-based prototype design ideas to the funding agency (National Science Foundation) advisory board. 

            Involvement in the instructional design process allowed the teachers time and space to collaboratively and individually articulate their practical knowledge, beliefs and understanding about science/reading teaching, student learning and perceived obstacles in their environment. Focus on the design of a technology system seems to prompt explicit discussion of teacher practical knowledge when struggling with the complex task of identifying what is most important for students and attempting to collaboratively design a solution for the classroom.  In this design-based research experience, teachers were instructed to consider their prior knowledge, synthesize current research literature and collectively translate theoretical constructs, earth science content and research findings into technology-based design prototypes. The teachers also participated in data collection and analysis of their students’ prior knowledge and reading abilities in earth science employing a think aloud procedure as well as interviewed colleagues about their perspectives on inquiry science teaching that informed subsequent design ideas.

These challenging tasks engaged the teachers with the research team in a design problem-based experience that well aligned with Loucks-Horsely et al.’s (2003) description of a long-term, reform-based immersive professional development experience.  Questions remain, however, as to the benefits and drawbacks of such an experience. Specifically, does participation in an intensive, long-term design research experience hold benefit for teachers? If so, what are their perspectives on the value of this experience? Can a long term systematic design research process promote teacher professional development? In what ways? To investigate these questions, 32 class sessions of this collaborative design research experience were videotaped and will be qualitatively analyzed along with other data (discussed below) to uncover how engagement in a design-based research experience may elicit teachers’ views, beliefs and practical knowledge related to inquiry-based science processes and also how these processes may intersect with appropriate science reading strategies. It is hoped that these exploratory findings will shed light not only on teacher perspectives on teaching inquiry science and reading comprehension but also on the co-construction of instruction by teachers and researchers in this area as well as the potential of directly involving teachers in an intensive design-based research experience for purposes of professional development.

Research Questions

            This study is intended to investigate the emerging field of design-based research as well as explore the experience of a reading teacher in science inquiry professional development.  The following research questions will be asked: How does involvement in an intensive design-based research experience in science impact a reading teacher’s practical knowledge related to the intersection of inquiry-based science and reading comprehension? How does a reading teacher engage in a collaborative design-based research experience as co-constructor of an instructional technology-based system in science?

Design

            The study began with the formation of the six-member research team, consisting of principal investigator, content specialists, computer graphic specialist, and computer design specialists. The team met to develop content in the two-semester graduate course, which would be the platform for design, before any design work began. Students in the course would be challenged to develop a computer learning tool with the support of the research team that intersected inquiry and reading in science. Six graduate students, who were also full-time teachers, attended the course and became the primary design team. During the course the researchers contributed sporadically to the design, but the main task of the research team was to teach the course and take field notes during the class discussions. The course content consisted of four facets: reading and reporting on research that supported ideas developed in the design process, investigating the processes of a geomorphologist in the field, exploring the pedagogy of scientific inquiry, and exploring the pedagogy of reading in science. The course began with an emersion into the literature of design-based research and the intersection of inquiry and reading in science. Once the teachers felt adept in teaching science inquiry and teaching reading in science, they turned their attention toward learning how a scientist researches and attempts to answer a question. The purpose of having the teachers learn how a scientist operates was to provide an authentic science inquiry model. Design of the computer began with the selection of an objective, and then proceeded with the incorporation of inquiry and reading in the content. Discussions in the course were conducted face-to-face during the weekly five-hour course, online using Blackboard as a tool, and through a blog site.  At the end of each semester, the design team presented their work to an advisory committee consisting of experts in design-based research, geomorphology, and science education.

            The approach used in this study was informed by ethnographic methods that relied on semi-structured interviews before, during and after the professional development experience (Weiss, 1994; Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 1995) as well as transcripts from videotapes of the class sessions, field notes from the class sessions, and researcher memos (Maxwell, 1996).  The method was useful in distinguishing the unique experiences of a reading teacher accomplishing a professional development activity designed primarily for science teachers. The approach also informed the nature of collaboration and co-construction of inquiry-based curriculum as an identified need in science education by Keys and Bryan (2001). A constant comparative method (Alexander, 2005) was used to compare interview data to other sources to identify emergent themes and their properties. Open coding was used to develop the concepts, categories and properties.  This analysis will potentially inform other researchers in teacher professional development, design research and science education by determining “what is going on” (Maxwell, 1996) as well as how researchers might manage similar situations in optimal ways.

Participants

            The participants of the research project were the students in the graduate-level course offered at a mid-Atlantic university. All of the six students were teachers from the same public school system and five taught science in grade four. The other student was a grade six reading teacher, who was the focus for this case study. Tuition for the course was funded through the National Science Foundation grant as an incentive for participating in the study. The curriculum supervisor for the teachers encouraged targeted teachers to participate, and contacted them about the opportunity. Teachers were chosen as informed designers for the computer tool because they are directly involved with the intended audience.

Setting

            The face-to-face course was offered once a week in the evenings for five hour segments, with a one hour break. The pedagogy as well as the content was constantly being revised as is the nature of design-based research. As the teachers considered different issues in developing the computer tool, their learning needs changed. Course materials included reading relevant research and content, peer review of student work, interviewing teachers and students to find needs of the intended audience, and producing prototypes of their designs. The iterative process of design included assessing the needs of the audience, identifying the processes of a scientist through field work, considering the intersection of science inquiry and reading, selecting content material, and designing the computer tools to convey the content and processes. In addition to the weekly face-to-face meetings, teachers were required to contribute to an online discussion each week regarding design issues.

Researcher Perspective or Background

            This was the researcher’s first experience with design-based research, so understanding the amorphous nature of this type of research took some time. Researcher memos were necessary in this process because the researcher was also part of the design team, as well as being asked to contribute to the teaching of the course. Researcher memos helped to distinguish the different observations and reflections made in the different roles. The researcher was also a teacher in the same district as the participants in the class, although at a different grade level. This helped give perspective on the amount of workload that each participant teacher could be expected to accomplish, as well as the general student population in the area.

Data Collection Methods

Various sources of data have been collected over the last year and are currently being analyzed. Data includes multiple teacher interviews, video recordings from weekly class sessions (4 hours across two 16-week sessions for a total of 128 hours of video data), online discussions, online journal reflections, individual teacher-produced artifacts (individual concept maps, colleague interview transcripts and data analyses, student think aloud protocol, transcription and analyses), collaborative teacher-produced artifacts (collective design brainstorming concept maps), research team memos and multiple surveys related to teacher practice, content knowledge and design knowledge.  Individual interviews were conducted with the teacher approximately one month into the nine-month experience as well as during the fourth month and at the conclusion of the experience. The interview data is used as the primary source of data with the classroom video, online journals and multiple artifacts used to triangulate the data. 

Data Analyses

            Transcribed interviews from the reading teacher involved in the design-based research project were read in entirety, then examined and coded line by line for each idea expressed using verbatim statements when possible. Ideas from the line by line coding were grouped into the following categories: ideas about learning science, ideas about inquiry, intersections of reading and science, design-based research, connecting research in the classroom, and the role of design in lesson planning. A matrix was developed to compare statements for each category in the before intervention interview, the mid-point interview, and the after intervention interview. The matrix also included statements from the surveys, researcher memos, course discussions, online discussions, and products from the course. Analyses of data were shown to the research team and their input was considered as well as member checks during interviews. Consistencies in the statements across data sources and across time were noted. Change in the reading teacher’s ideas over time was also considered in the results and conclusions.

Preliminary Results and Conclusions

Given the volume of data, the analysis phase of this study is continuing. Preliminary analyses point to teacher perspectives that demonstrate expanded definitions of inquiry-based science and more complex connections to reading as well as improved content knowledge. The case-study of the reading teacher, Deb, in science professional development experience has led to evidence of the teacher’s growth in several areas. Deb had been co-teaching science for three years prior to the experience, yet had no comments about how students learn science at the beginning of the project. At approximately the mid-point of the course, Deb regarded science as a process without regard to content. When asked about teaching content, at the beginning of the project, Deb states her role as a reading teacher, “I teach them strategies or they can learn strategies along the way to help them get that information.” Her contact with the scientist during the course greatly affected her perception of the interaction between content and process in science. She began examining her own environment in terms of erosion and deposition, and expressed that her conversations with her students in science were deeper. “Now I see it as you have to be knowledgeable about your topic, you have to know enough to ask a researchable question and to lead you in that direction.” After the design-based research experience has an understanding that process and content is most effective when taught simultaneously. “It’s made me really focus on content in that there’s specific strategies that are applicable to certain content.” Deb also expressed her growth in her own understanding of geomorphology. When asked about her learning with regard to science content, Deb stated, “It didn’t click for me until this semester, the second semester. . . . Instead of being more general I was able to be more specific. . . I need to be more knowledgeable in that content. And I think that was a big, big learning ah-ha for me that I’m just, I’m a better teacher.” The experience as designer on a team helped Deb to expand from her role as teaching the reading process to one where process and content interact.

Deb’s ideas about inquiry developed though the design-based research experience from generally asking questions to invoking the habits of scientists. Prior to the experience, as a reading teacher, Deb thought that inquiry was a general process of questioning and finding answers, and that inquiry always meant that students initiate the questions. “It means giving students a choice in their learning and the direction they are going to go. . . . Inquiry is questioning and their (the students’) questions change. . . It’s an ongoing learning process in a sense, because they are trying to learn more information . . . It (the question) totally changes, but you know, that’s what learning is all about.” By the mid-point of the design experience, Deb articulated that building background knowledge through research was part of the process and she learned how standards could be reached using inquiry. She expressed her change in understanding by describing her own inquiry experience in the course, “We brainstormed about what we knew and kind of built up our background knowledge and then we asked questions, things we were curious about. . . . It all centers about what you’re curious about, what questions do you have, and then how are you going to find those answers and why, what’s the purpose of finding them.” Deb’s ideas about inquiry changed from generally asking questions to asking purposeful questions and developing a process to answer the questions. Deb stated in an online reflection, “I was confused the first half of how inquiry would work in science when you’re trying to meet all these standards and how are you going to do that through just kids asking questions. Well the way it’s done is that you have this common base – so at least in my mind – you have the base and then from that you start of ask your question, or even a question can be given . . . As so it just gets really specific.” After the experience she had an epiphany that inquiry is what scientists carry out and there are more specific processes that take place in inquiry. “My ah-ha moment there was when I realized it’s like, well, it was the whole scientist thing. Scientists, yes they ask questions and they do things (experiments), but they have that whole level of background knowledge. . . . Now I see it as you have to be knowledgeable about your topic, you have to know enough to ask a researchable question . . . that will lead you in that direction.” Deb’s understanding of inquiry developed from mainly a general process to an additional understanding of scientific inquiry.

Before her design-based research experience, the teacher understood that there were parallels between science and reading, but her interactions with a scientist involved with the project helped her to understand that reading to learn was a natural process in a scientific endeavor. Before the experience, Deb considered the parallels between science and reading to be mainly thinking skills. “I do a lot in reading and science with thinking skills. . . . Some of the strategies that I work with are making predictions. That’s like hypothesis. . . . Compare and contrast, cause and effect, all of those things that, it’s just being a good thinker. You have to do it in every subject.” At the mid-point of the design-based research experience, Deb reconsidered her understanding about the connections between reading and science. She now understood that it was useful to use specific strategies geared to science reading and that there are more sources than just non-fiction text, such as maps and diagrams. Deb also recognized when she transferred her knowledge learned through the design experience to her teaching that some students asked questions during inquiry that were not answerable. During an interview, Deb reflected on this realization, “So after the first day, I sat with the group . . . and they started, and they realized it, I didn’t want to give it to them, they were like, are you going to be able to find any information on this or do you have some way that you can conduct an experiment? We had to reformulate their question.” After the design experience, Deb found that in her teaching the integration between science and reading was more natural. Reading was not just an add-on to the science curriculum. She considered her learning through the experience, “Before the course, I started with a process for the sake of teaching the process. Now I see it is important to be as authentic as possible.” Interacting with a scientist deepened the reading teacher’s rationale of why reading is important in science.

Deb found that design-based research as a professional development tool to be more authentic than other professional development experiences she has had in the past. “It’s (the design-based research experience) really practical and we’re asked to do things for a purpose; it’s authentic. . . . It’s kind of like inside of me changing what I do. . . learning the content before I expect my student to do it, thinking about just this idea of inquiry and how can I get my students engaged. . . . It helped me as a teacher to take notice of things.” She found that other professional development activities ask teachers to implement isolated lessons into their curriculum, while a design-based research provided a deeper understanding of the material and insight into student learning issues which led to more authentic learning. The element of collaboration incorporated into design-based learning aided in her ability to articulate science concepts and to have empathy for the diverse issues the other members of the team faced in accomplishing the learning goals of the project. “While other people were presenting their ideas to you, you were developing your own ideas from them. . . . I’m a lot more empathetic than I was.”  The professional development experience also changed the way Deb develops lesson plans. “Now I couldn’t just pretend like these things (problems with student learning) weren’t here . . . put a bunch of nice things on paper that look good on paper. But looking back and reflecting, that’s pretty much what happened last year.” The iterative nature of the design process demonstrated to Deb how concepts are built with layers rather than directly targeted, “in the way you’re building layers instead of just directly teaching that thing. . . . (in planning my lessons) I did all the different components and looked at them all and tried to mesh them. And I don’t have day to day lessons done, but I will. These things build on each other.”  The requirement of reading research in the course demonstrated to Deb other methods of teaching and made her think more in-depth about the design of current programs she uses in her classroom. The methods employed in the professional development experience persuaded the teachers to think as designers and has evoked change in how the reading teacher currently plans lessons.

Overall, design-based research as a professional development experience has elicited an expansion of the reading teacher’s ideas regarding learning in science, inquiry, reading comprehension, reading resources, and the role of research in the classroom. She has a deeper understanding of the processes involved in designing a learning tool and evokes these skills in her own lesson planning. She compares this professional development experience as more authentic than previous professional development experiences.

Educational Importance of Study

The importance of a long-term professional development process is evident. On the basis of a literature review, van Driel, Beijjard & Verloop (2001) conclude that long-term professional development is required because prior reform efforts do not take into account teachers’ existing knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. Deb mentioned in her interviews, online reflections, and in class discussions that learning about geomorphology and inquiry simultaneously required a lot of integration on her part. The integration of her prior understanding and the new information sometimes took the entire year. Her understanding of inquiry progressed from general questioning to building background knowledge by the mid-point of the year, but progressed even further by the end of the second semester. By the end of the research-design experience, Deb understood inquiry to be what scientist do, and admitted it took the full-second semester to reach that point. Teachers are often presented with professional development opportunities that last one day and require no follow-up. This study gives evidence for the importance of long-term professional development experiences in evoking genuine change in cognition regarding content and pedagogy.

Involving teachers in the process of design helped to explicate how teachers think about their presentation of material in their classrooms. This study shows one teachers growth from merely covering topics in a day-to-day fashion to interconnecting topics through layering and revisiting concepts. Each teacher has his or her own personal way to implement lessons which is difficult to change if found ineffective. The design-based research process gives teachers the opportunity to work together as a design team, helping teachers to expand their repertoire along with their content knowledge. This type of long-term intense experience has shown to be effective in expanding the pedagogical knowledge a reading teaching has regarding science inquiry intersects with reading and in increasing her content knowledge in geomorphology. Research-based design as professional develop could provide teachers with the skills needed to constantly think about their rationale when designing lessons.

Involving teachers as collaborators in design research represents a new direction of research in teacher professional development. Borko (2004) characterizes current professional development for teachers as “woefully inadequate” (p.3). Participation in design research experiences may promote a context for studying teacher practical knowledge as well as provide for a high-quality professional development experience.  Aligned with this goal, this study investigates teacher perspectives on the value and nature of participating in design research as a professional development experience and the impact of this experience on teacher practical knowledge of inquiry-based science and reading instruction. The study also sheds light on the process of co-construction of technology-based curriculum between teachers and researchers in the area of science education. 


 

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