Advanced Placement Biology Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Approach to Inform Quality Improvement
Abstract
Reformed teaching strategies in science promote deeper conceptual understandings
of how the world works. National reforms in K-12 science teaching have been
recommended for decades, but science teachers tend to “teach as they were taught,”
limiting the reach of reforms. Effective 2012-2013, the College Board revised the AP
Biology® course, materials, and training to align with reforms emphasizing studentcentered
practices. As an AP Biology® workshop facilitator, I was interested in the
factors affecting the actual classroom implementation phase of reform. I asked: Will a
workshop focused on science reforms change teachers’ beliefs and improve confidence?
Do changes in teachers’ beliefs lead to behaviors changes in their classroom teaching,
and what impediments reduce transfer to the classroom?
After the course revision, I pursued the answers to these questions as I facilitated
two four-day workshops for forty new AP Biology® teachers. Using a mixed methods
research approach, I collected data from participants including a pre-institute needs
assessment, pre- and post-workshop responses on two surveys measuring beliefs, daily
workshop reflections, and follow-up school-year interviews. I compared the quantitative
data from the two surveys using matched pairs t-tests and subjected qualitative data to
directed coding to examine theoretical alignment. I identified problems with classroom
transfer using an activity theory lens.
Pre-post comparisons of workshop participants’ responses on quantitative surveys
indicated statistically significant positive changes in (1) reform-beliefs associated with
behavior changes, predicted by Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, and (2) self-efficacy,
predicted by Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy. Qualitative analysis indicated
some participants’ schools possessed a supportive community for reform-based teaching,
making reformed behaviors likely. For other participants, use of the activity theory lens
allowed identification of tensions threatening the transfer of reformed strategies to their
classrooms. These results indicate a need for supportive attitudes of stakeholders in and
outside the school community (e.g., teachers, students, parents, and administrators), to
increase student-centered science teaching in schools lacking a reformed culture. My
recommendation for changes to my professional development curriculum was to
specifically address the tensions I identified. While an important source of changed
beliefs, however, professional development is only the beginning in assimilating reform.
Citation
Killough, Joy Kathleen (2018). Advanced Placement Biology Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Approach to Inform Quality Improvement. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /173377.