Understanding Teacher Change and Teachers as Learners in K-12 Classrooms

Overview

<p>The James S McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) announces a new program in 2017 that will fund education research on the science of teaching and expand our understanding of teachers as learners and as agents of change in education. The Teachers as Learners (TAL) program will emphasize a cognitive science perspective on teachers as learners – including a focus on the cognitive constraints that guide teacher thinking and change in attitudes, knowledge, skills and behaviors. We need to know what aspects of cognition (e.g., memory, knowledge, goals, expertise, collaboration) help explain teachers’ learning and change, particularly as it relates to adopting evidence-based practices in classroom contexts. Understanding teachers as learners in the context of the many influences on teacher change across career trajectories is an important but understudied area of translational research with the opportunity for impact on both research and educational practice.  Understanding teachers as learners from a cognitive science perspective would advance the implementation of policies aimed at evidence-based reforms. We acknowledge that teaching occurs in a complex context and we want to situate the work in that context, but the focus of this program is on studying the cognitive dimensions of teacher learning as it takes place within these rich socio-cultural and institutional contexts, rather than the contexts themselves. A survey of the current landscape reveals that there is significant focus on small­scale experimental work on student cognition and on descriptive work on teaching – but the lack of a cognitive science framework for how teachers learn to process, evaluate, and improve their use of evidence­based practices within a complex, dynamic system. The desired outcomes from the projects supported through this new JSMF funding initiative are twofold. First, it is expected that the research funded will lead to refined theories of teachers as learners that include motivators and causes of systematic improvements in teachers’ instructional practices. These theories will consider how attitudes and knowledge shape teachers’ instructional practices and how attitude, knowledge and practices improve. Second, it is anticipated that the knowledge acquired will lead to improvements in teachers’ uptake and effective use of evidence-based educational practices. The JSMF program will focus on supporting research that builds from a cognitive science perspective on teachers as learners – including a focus on the aspects of cognition (attention, working memory, motivation, reward) that guide teacher thinking and change in attitudes, knowledge, skills and the adoption of evidence­-based practices in classroom contexts.  In particular JSMF is interested in research that can be characterized as translational, needs­-driven education research that identifies malleable factors that promote teachers learning to improve their use of evidence­-based practice.</p>