An Unexpected Journey

Abstract

It is rare when a group of teachers gets to embark on a sustained, collaborative journey together to transform their teaching. It is even rarer that this group gets to reflect on this work and take a step back to appreciate the triumphs of their toils. In this article, six science educators share their reflections on how a journey of sustained professional development and continued collaboration has changed their teaching and their relationships and left them unable to return to their former ways. What began as three one-day workshops with science education professional development facilitators over a four-month period became a three-year journey of sustained support, in which a collaboration between university faculty and high school science teachers transformed how the teachers approached instruction and how the students engaged in learning.