DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING A METACOGNITIVE APPROACH TO THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF IN-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS – AN ISRAELI CASE STUDY

This study describes a case study focusing on the design of a metacognitive approach to the professional development of In-service high-school science teachers, responding to the need to develop effective professional development programs in domains that require genuine changes in teachers’ views, knowledge, and practice. It seems that there is still a gap between what science teachers know about metacognition and what is being reflected in their practices. Since this issue is central to teachers’ professional development, we designed and studied two courses that we think can bridge this gap.

The courses are part of a two-year M.Ed. program designed for experienced high school science teachers. In both courses ('principles for developing teaching units in physics' and 'excellence in science and mathematics'), the teachers were asked to develop teaching units. In the first course, the teachers were given the opportunity to teach their units to children participating in an enrichment program in the college.

We present two design settings: In the first, the teachers learned the two courses in same semester and worked with the children at the following one. In the second, the teachers learned one course at the first semester, and learned the other at the second one. The implementation and the practice with the children were in the second semester. In both settings, the teachers were asked to reflect on the design and implementation of the courses.

Our goals were to:
a) characterize the design principles of both courses,
b) expose expressions of metacognition among the teachers, and to examine the changes they designed in their teaching units and teaching process,
c) study the interactions between the participants (researchers, teachers, children). The participants were 43 teachers, 34 children, laboratory assistant, and the two researchers.

The data included the design and activities of both courses; reflections of the researchers (the courses` moderators); interviews; the teachers’ teaching units, and observations of the lessons taught by the teachers. The data was analyzed qualitatively.
Our findings show that the courses we designed engaged teachers in constructing their own knowledge as well as collaborating as a group of learners, as we can see in the teachers' reflections:
I find myself learning new things and thinking how to introduce a problem in a challenging way.
The exposure to peer feedback enabled me to understand my colleagues' thinking techniques. The discussion was conducted in a constructive way. I felt that we contributed to one another.

We identified six key resources, which influenced the metacognitive development of the teachers: the courses in this study; other courses; the researchers’ insight; the teachers’ teaching experience; peer suggestions and children’s reflections. We found that listening to the voice of the children is a new experience for the teachers, and can change their views about teaching and learning. As Khaled wrote:
The concept of getting feedback from the students was a new experience for me. It helps teachers to assess and evaluate the teaching methods they use, and teachers can improve themselves by listening to the students!

In conclusion, we believe that the teachers' metacognitive knowledge and own understanding of the complex teaching mechanism have changed, and they will take this experience into account while designing activities for their students in the future.