Conference: Shaping the Future of Curriculum-Based Professional Learning in Science Education

About This Grant

Given the national priority for America's leadership in science, there is a need to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning in science classrooms. This conference brings together researchers, practitioners, curriculum developers, and policymakers to chart the future of curriculum-based professional development (CPBL) in science education. CBPL is an approach that uses high-quality curricular materials as a catalyst for teacher learning. Historically, efforts to improve classroom learning outcomes have focused on high-quality curricular materials--written to support students for learning beyond rote recall to fundamental understandings. These new materials have been designed so that their use would lead to shifts in teacher instruction. Because the scope, sequence and teaching strategies in these materials are research-based, these materials represent a key leverage point for translating research to practice. Presently, the field is not clear about how teachers learn from these well-designed materials and what other supports might be necessary. The need to understand how teachers learn from them is made more poignant by the advent of open source, because several new high-quality curricula in science are made freely available and come without traditional professional development support. The conference aims to address pressing questions about how high-quality materials can drive teacher learning, how materials should be designed to support teacher learning trajectories, how CBPL can promote high quality science education, and what organizational supports are needed for successful implementation. Through structured collaboration among stakeholders, this gathering will consolidate existing work and generate concrete plans for advancing both research and practice in ways that honor teacher professionalism while supporting student learning in science. The conference employs a four-phase structure to maximize its impact on the field. In Phase 1, commissioned white papers from leading scholars map the theoretical terrain of CBPL and identify critical areas for advancement. Phase 2 involves careful participant selection and meeting design to ensure productive engagement across perspectives. During Phase 3, the conference engages approximately 55 participants in analyzing current practices, identifying shared commitments and assumptions, conducting gap analyses, and developing action plans for moving the field forward. Activities alternate between whole-group sessions examining white paper themes and small-group work focused on specific dimensions of CBPL. Phase 4 focuses on dissemination through a special journal issue that combines the commissioned papers with additional manuscripts emerging from the conference. Throughout all phases, the work is guided by an experienced planning committee and advisory board representing key stakeholder groups in science education. This systematic approach is supporting scholarship that advances understanding of how CBPL can support teacher learning and transformation of science education practice. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) is an applied research program that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for funded projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.