Description
The purpose of this study was to understand how the facilitator affects the participants’ perception of the professional development based on the moves they make to engage educators in the learning experiences. The implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards has resulted in the development of a variety of science professional development offerings meant to support teachers’ growth in both science content knowledge and high-quality science instructional practices. This study employed a phenomenological approach to understanding the participant and facilitator experience during science professional development. This study was conducted using observations of a professional development series that meets the characteristics of effective professional development described in the literature. Facilitators of the professional development sessions were interviewed regarding their experiences and participants completed surveys identifying moments they felt particularly engaged or disengaged in the learning. The findings in this study include a reinforcement of the literature describing active learning as an important characteristic of effective professional development. This study adds to the description of the characteristic of time as not just the long term spacing of professional development sessions to allow for classroom implementation and feedback, but also for the efficient use of time within the professional development sessions. The interaction between the facilitators and participants affected the participants’ perception of the facilitators' experience and their engagement in the session. Facilitators were able to increase the participants’ feelings of engagement by using moves that supported the participants to engage in discourse with one another and actively participate in the sessions.
