Professional Development

The Chèche Konnen Center has developed a practice of professional development based in a view of "teaching as inquiry." This practice integrates teacher inquiry into science, with inquiry into children's ideas and sense-making practices, and inquiry into language and culture. In essence, teachers become learners as they learn to see the deep connections among what they say and do, what their children say and do, and the ideas and sense-making practices of scientific disciplines. They become students of the scientific disciplines they are teaching, conducting inquiry into natural phenomena such as force and motion, heat and phase change, plant reproduction and growth, and the like. They analyze what the children in their classrooms say and do, often focusing on those children they find confusing or puzzling. We focus on puzzling children because we have found that their ideas and questions invariably lead both teacher and students deeper into the conceptual territory of the scientific phenomenon they are studying.

Teachers read widely in various literatures and connect these readings to their own intellectual biographies and dilemmas as classroom teachers. Throughout their inquiries, they question assumptions -- their own and others' -- about children, science, language, culture, learning and teaching. And through this practice they learn to craft curricula that are, to paraphrase Deborah Ball, at once responsible to scientific disciplines and responsive to students' ideas and questions.

In our research, we have studied what and how teachers learn about scientific ideas and practices, their children's ideas and discourse, and themselves as learners and teachers through their participation in this approach to professional development. We have also studied how groups who engage in these practices develop into professional discourse communities. In addition, we use this model to share what we are learning with educators locally and nationally. We have collaborated with urban and rural school districts across the country to help educators learn how to recognize and build on their students’ ideas and sense-making resources in learning science.

For more information, see our list of Publications.

© 2003 TERC
cheche_konnen@terc.edu