Professional development is often needed in order to support teachers’ capacity to create and sustain an NGSS classroom. Effective professional development (PD) meets several criteria. First, PD needs to be persistent and ongoing; one-shot PD sessions are rarely enough to support the ambitious changes that need to take place. Second, it should afford teachers the opportunities to experience the new instructional approaches for themselves as “students” through engagement with activities that models and embodies effective instruction. Third PD should be coupled to educative instructional materials that can support teachers as they try out new strategies and instructional approaches. Lastly, PD should leverage learning communities in school and districts thereby capitalizing on the human and material resources available to help make and sustain change.
PRACCIS:Promoting Reasoning and Conceptual Change in Science
