Exploring the noticing of science teachers: What teachers' notice and using video to capture teacher knowledge

Abstract

Knowing how science teachers develop their professional knowledge has been a challenge. One potential way to determine the professional knowledge of teachers is through videos. In the study described here, the authors recruited 60 elementary and secondary science teachers, showed them one of two 10-min videos, and recorded and analyzed their comments when watching the videos. The coding focused on their noticing of student learning, teacher's teaching, types of teaching practices, and the use of interpretative frames. The noticing data were collected and analyzed to determine the differences between groups of teachers. The findings from the analysis indicated that most science teachers noticed the instruction of teachers rather than the learning of students, and these noticing events were often focused on general instructional practices as opposed to the science practices emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards (National Research Council, 2013). The only difference between the teachers was in the area of evaluating the videos. Secondary science teachers and experienced elementary teachers were more likely to evaluate the videos than were novice elementary teachers. This may be a result of the knowledge base of the teachers. These results suggest a need for explicit reform-based instruction and a revision of this research process.