"Developing a Critical Discourse About Teaching and Learning: The Case of a Secondary Science Video Club"

Alumna Tara Barnhart (Ph.D. '16) and Associate Professor Elizabeth van Es published an article in the Journal of Science Teacher Education: "Developing a Critical Discourse About Teaching and Learning: The Case of a Secondary Science Video Club."

Barnhart, who specialized in Learning, Cognition, and Development as a doctoral student, is an assistant professor of science education at Chapman University. Her research interests include teacher learning in artifact-rich professional development environments, teacher noticing, and science education.

van Es studies teacher cognition, pre-service teacher education, in-service teacher professional development, teacher learning communities, and uses of video in teacher learning. She also serves at Associate Dean in the School of Education.

Tara Barnhart

Elizabeth van Es

Abstract

​Video is used widely to support teachers’ learning and enactment of responsive instruction. Informed by principles of video club design, we designed a video club to support secondary science teachers developing a vision of responsive teaching, attention to student thinking, and a critical discourse to analyze their own and others’ efforts to enact responsive practices. In this study, we investigate if and how teachers developed a critical discourse in this context. Analysis reveals that the group developed a more collaborative, interpretive, and evidence-based discourse about teaching and learning. These findings contribute to research on video clubs as a professional development model to support teacher learning, as well as make visible how teachers shifted to develop a more critical lens for discussing teaching and learning. This study has implications for designing professional learning that will result in sustained, generative development in the context of instructional reform.