| Project Alliance, a teacher development program conducted by George Mason University and the American Association for the Advancement of Science with National Science Foundation funding (ESI-9355753) from 1994 to 1998, provided professional development for interdisciplinary teaching teams to enhance middle-level science instruction. Teachers experienced the same kinds of constructivist, hands-on, inquiry-based learning environments that they were expected to create for their students. The purposes of this study of 48 participants are (a) to assess the effectiveness of Project Alliance, and (b) to investigate relationships among teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning, school contexts, and individual teachers' implementation of the program's goals.; Two cohorts of interdisciplinary teams from the mid-Atlantic region volunteered for two years each. During the first of two summer institutes, teachers engaged in graduate studies of environmental science, geology, technology, pedagogical content knowledge, and team teaching methods and designed integrated environmental science curriculum units to implement in their schools during the following academic year.; Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to investigate individual teachers' implementation of the curriculum units. Data sources included surveys, videotaped presentations, interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations. Quantitative analyses employed exploratory correlation and regression procedures. Qualitative analyses followed a constant comparative process. Predictor variables were (1) teachers' personal epistemologies, measured by the Attitudes about Reality Scale; (2) certainty of practice, assessed with the Expert Science Teaching Evaluation Model, Teaching Practices Assessment Inventory; (3) school organizational structure; and (4) administrator involvement.; Results showed that more than half of the teachers successfully implemented their units and all implemented unit-related activities. Both school organizational structure and the level of administrator involvement predicted an individual teacher's level of implementation, while personal epistemology and certainty of practice did not. Teachers' practice gradually became more constructivist and teaming increased their confidence in inquiry-based teaching. Project Alliance enhanced environmental science instruction in schools that supported teaming. |
