Abstract

The focus of this study was to understand and describe the nature of a professional community of interdisciplinary science teachers linked together through a telecommunications network. Thirty two high school science teachers participated in a 2 week summer institute. Patterns of teacher participation and changes within this community were detected from the frequency and use of electronic mail, bulletin boards, conferencing, and software sharing. The high school science teachers from this study spent a minimum of 2 hours per week becoming acquainted with a commercial telecommunications system for one month prior to a summer institute and continued to interact with one another during their school year following the summer program. Interactions on-line were coordinated, collected, and supported by the community's facilitator. Pre-workshop electronic activities included tasks to assist teacher familiarity with the network, public bulletin board sections for socializing, sharing resources, and obtaining information about the workshop. Post-workshop interactions have been initiated by the teachers and coordinated by the facilitator and other workshop staff to include professional support for: resources for classroom maintenance, new classroom strategies, and opportunities for sharing teacher resources. These preliminary results indicate a strong potential for developing a collaborative community of professional practitioners. Contains 48 references. (Author)

Citation

Caggiano, M.E. (1995). A Pilot Study of an Electronic Community of Interdisciplinary Secondary Science Teachers. Presented at National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting 1995. Retrieved August 15, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/78916/.

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Keywords

• Computer Uses in Education
• Cooperation
• educational technology
• High Schools
• internet
• science education
• science teachers
• Secondary School Teachers
• Telecommunications
• Use Studies