UNDERSTANDING AND TEACHING BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SUMMER 2009 JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

1. SUPERVISION & LEADERSHIP IN SCIENCE EDUCATION UNDERSTANDING AND TEACHING BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SUMMER 2009 JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

2. LEADERSHIP TO IMPROVE SCIENCE EDUCATION • In what ways do you think you can support other biology/science teachers at your school to improve their instruction? • How would you encourage and support them to use the inquiry and technology-based instructional strategies discussed in Zepeda and Mayers (2004)?

3. SCHOOLS AS LEARNING COMMUNITIES • Making schools as true learning communities requires nurturing and supporting both adults and children Kegan & Lahey, 2009; Murphy, 2006; Peterson, 2002; Wagner et al., 2006). • Educational leadership has taken on a different meaning in the 21st century. There needs to be less emphasis on cultivating leaders-as-managers and more on helping leaders learn how to support adult learning within our schools (Ackerman & Maslin-Ostrowski, 2004; Drago-Severson, 2009; Olson, 2007).

4. Educational Leadership in 21st Century Schools • Leadership in education has been conventionally coupled with administration, management, and authority and generally focuses on management skills that are necessary, but insufficient. • Leadership also needs to encompass: • relational learning, • collaborative leadership, and • reflective practice to prepare leaders to experience the nature of adult learning and how to support it (Donaldson, 2008; Grogan & Andrews, 2002 Mizell, 2007).

5. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP • Leadership essentially involves educating others (Burns, 1978; Crowthner & Olsen, 1997). • In an organizational context a leader inspires others to reshape and improve their professional practice while improving themselves, thus contributing to the overall development of their organization. • TEACHERS’ AND ADMINISTRATORS’ GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • STUDENT ACHIEVMENT

6. Informational Vs. Transformational Learning in Adults • Informational learning involves developing adults’ knowledge and skills and professional competencies. It essentially enhances a person’s knowledge about a particular subject. • Transformational learning helps develop adults' cognitive and interpersonal capacities, and competences to better manage the complexities of work and life. • - Involves transformations in one’s belief system about their professional practice

7. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES Shared leadership model • Creating a strong school leadership team to: • stimulate and sustain an environment of collegiality, mutual collaboration, and professional and personal growth • Involves identifying common problems, contemplating solutions, and working together to create a plan to implement agreed upon solutions. (Brown, 2008; Dinko, 2004; DuFour et al., 2004; DuFour & Eaker, 1998).

8. K-8 Science Lead-Teachers’ Initiatives to Improve Science Education Challenge: Materials for science instruction Activities Ceating materials and model lessons for those who need help in the planning and delivery of science instruction. Sharing instructional resources with other teachers and assisting them in accessing online resources. Conducting workshops for teachers, sharing resources, and simple everyday materials that could be improvised for teaching science.

9. K-8 Science Lead-Teachers’ Initiatives to Improve Science Education Challenge: Interdisciplinary curricular connections Activities: • Discussing with teachers ways to integrate science into other parts of the curriculum (language, social studies, arts). • Developing interdisciplinary units in collaboration with other teachers that incorporate art, science and mathematics • Developing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects and sharing these with colleagues in regular faculty meetings or special seminars. - Helping fellow colleagues to use technology in science lesson by content and technical support.

10. K-8 Science Lead-Teachers’ Initiatives to Improve Science Education • Challenge: Teachers’ content knowledge • Activities • - School-based professional development (PD) seminars including content workshops to build teachers’ content knowledge in various scientific domains included in thescience education • standards. • Modeling effective instrucation by including motivating, interesting, and hands-on activities and experiments in the PD seminars. • - Scheduling science into the daily or weekly instruction of all elementary teachers (grades 3-5).

11. K-8 Science Lead-Teachers’ Initiatives to Improve Science Education Challenge: Teachers’ lack of comfort with science Activities: - Assessing teachers’ content knowledge and comfort level about teaching science through questionnaires, surveys and conversations prior to the content workshops. - Helping other teachers with developing science lesson plans. (Asghar, 2009)