Enacting Co-Designed Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Curriculum Units: A Case of Secondary Science Teacher Learning

Abstract

Secondary science teachers participated in a socio-scientific issues (SSI) professional development (PD) during which they co-designed SSI curriculum units. In this qualitative multiple case study, we followed a sub-set of eight teachers who enacted their SSI units in their classrooms and agreed to participate in the study. Clarke and Hollingsworth’s Interconnected Model of Professional Growth served as a theoretical framework. Primary data sources include one interview at the end of the PD, and a post-enactment interview. Field notes of the PD and the SSI curriculum units were secondary data sources. Data analysis resulted in the identification of three teacher profiles: Embracers, Dismissers, and Explorers. In teaching their SSI units, the Embracers foregrounded the SSI, maintained a focus on their SSI throughout the unit, made modifications to increase relevancy during the unit, and included an SSI culminating activity. The Dismissers equated the SSI approach to using a current topic to introduce a unit and gave little or no attention to the social dimensions. The Explorers used the SSI to introduce their units, valued and included limited social dimensions of the issue, but did not enact a SSI culminating activity. For each of the profiles, we elaborate their teaching beliefs, learning in the PD, and perceived salient outcomes of their SSI curriculum enactment. PD implications include explicit attention to teacher beliefs, working with groups of teachers from the same school, and the need to develop an array of instructional and assessment tools to support SSI teaching.

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