Artifact Five

Artifact 5: Professional Learning Interviews (MSU CREATE for STEM Institute) & Framework

Source: MSU EAD 863

MATC Goals: 1, 3

MATC Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6

Artifacts Commentary

The professional learning interviews were conducted with the purpose of developing a greater understanding of the design and facilitation of professional learning for adults. Through my work with MSU Extension and my role serving as a Director on the College of Education Alumni Board, I had gained familiarity with the MSU CREATE for STEM Institute. I decided to reach out to Dr. Bob Geier regarding the possibility of interviewing someone within the institute for the assignment. He referred me to Dr. Angela Kolonich, who graciously accepted my invitation to serve as interviewee and carried on to greatly support and enrich my growing understanding of professional learning theories and practices.

Through the interviews, I investigated CREATE for STEM Institute’s approach to designing and facilitating meaningful, effective professional learning so that I may broaden my skills and ability to support adult learners within and beyond the classroom through my work as an educator (Standards 2, 4 & 6; Goal 1). This investigation included analyzing the institute’s approach and practices in relation to professional learning literature and theories (Standard 3; Goal 2). In addition to deepening my knowledge of professional learning, Dr. Kolonich (2018) introduced me to the key principles she developed, with her colleagues, to guide the building of equitable science learning communities based upon her work. These are principles that I, in turn, am working to share with others in my professional networks in order to support growth in opportunities for equitable science learning and that I explored as I wrote my framework for professional learning (Standard 1).

This experience confirmed ideas I already held regarding science teaching and learning, yet also extending my thinking and perspective in new ways. In the face of tremendous obstacles and challenges in my workplace, this confirmation was a greater relief than Angie could ever have known. I have taken several significant professional risks over the years; trusting in what I believed to be true about educating young children and what I knew from my own experience to build what I have alongside many others. To find someone who “got it,” who took great care to build programs upon research, with which I could identify similarities in our core values and philosophy, was truly a gift at that time. For this reason, these interviews were a pivotal experience in my professional journey. I continue to remain engaged with the CREATE through my work, considering Angie and other institute faculty and staff to be kindred spirits in “doing the work” of both sharing a vision for science learning for all and seeking ways, both big and small, to make that vision a reality.

Reference:

Kolonich, A., Richmond, G., & Krajcik, J. (2018). Reframing inclusive science instruction to support teachers in promoting equitable three-dimensional science classrooms. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29(8), pp. 693-711. doi: 10.1080/1046560X.2018.1500418

Photo Note:

This photo represents one of many powerful learning moments captured during Farm Sprouts. In this photo, a child who had harvested sunflower seeds in the fall, planted them in the spring, and then returned to harvest again in the fall suddenly made sense of the phenomenon of seed formation as a part of a sunflower's life cycle after brushing off the dried petals. To read more about this seasonal tradition, embedded within a project-based approach as also adopted by CREATE for STEM, take a look at this case study.