A two-year professional development program funded by the Teacher Quality Grant Program was designed for middle and high school science teachers to strengthen teachers' content knowledge and teaching practices in chemistry and environmental science and to increase the quantity and quality of inquiry in secondary science classrooms. The teachers who serve low-income, economically and culturally diverse population and who have not completed extensive college level courses in chemistry and environmental science and are teaching out of field were recruited and selected for this program. The teacher efficacy was measured by pre-post content exams and pre-post concept maps on chemistry and environmental science topics; classroom observations; journal entries; electronic portfolios; group presentations; lesson plan comparison; interviews; focus groups; and classroom student achievements. The preliminary results indicate that the program participants made significant gains in content knowledge and teaching practices as a consequence of their professional development experiences.

Assessing teacher efficacy in content knowledge and teaching practices in K-12 chemistry and environmental science through a two-year inquiry-based professional development experience

247th National Meeting (2014)

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