| The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers participate in collaborative professional development in order to implement a reform-based unit. The study participants were three 4th and one 5 th grade teacher participating in the eMINTS program. These teachers implemented an online authentic problem-solving unit called Improving Interstate 70 simultaneously in four schools throughout Missouri.; Using cultural historical Activity Theory (AT) as the framework for analysis, the researcher created structured coding categories based on the AT model and the concept of mediation and integrated theoretical constructs from related fields (e.g., professional development, innovation, collaboration) into operationalized groupings of interactions in the local and collaborative work activity of the teachers. Specifically, the researcher focused on three areas during data analysis: collaborative professional development, local context issues, and the teachers' philosophical and pedagogical beliefs about learning. Teacher responses to contradictions arising in the development and implementation of the unit were identified as turning points and then further defined as resulting in a widening, narrowing or disintegrating of their object, the implementation of the unit.; The collaboration turning points resulting in widening of the object were in the cases of two teachers who identified little or no collaboration in their local settings. In response to the second area of focus, local context issues, a key factor in resolving local contradictions was the ability of the teachers to identify and utilize local resources in order to meet their goals for the unit. In response to the third issue, philosophical and pedagogical beliefs, one teacher resolved the contradictions between her beliefs about learning and her practice resulting in a widening of her object. As a result of the systemic and contextual identification of turning points and the focus on three progressive issues in order to clarify the relationships of these responses to the development of the object, the researcher was able to identify professional development processes that influenced the implementation of a reform-based unit. |
