design. They also acted as mentors providing feedback to teachers as they imple-
mented their professional learning in classrooms. The project took place over a year
and involved distinct phases over two cycles or iterations.
54.7 The Lead-Up to the Development of the School’s
Science Implementation Plan (SIP)
While most teachers were experienced and skilled in student-centred pedagogy and
inquiry learning, the school’s self-review processes had revealed teachers were not
so in science. The existing school science plan was over 20 years old and few
teachers looked to it for guidance in their science lessons. Consequently science
was taught on a rather ad hoc basis in the school and topics linked to chemistry
and/or physics concepts typically did not feature strongly in classroom
programmes.
CoRe design brought the teachers’focus back on students’learning of science
concepts and processes as outlined by the NZC (MoE 2007 ), and acted as a catalyst
for rich professional learning at a number of levels within the school-based PLC of
teachers, when supported by knowledgeable facilitators and high quality resources.
Teachers spoke of the CoRe design process deepening their science content
knowledge by its emphasis on conceptual understanding. Here a teacher reflects on
the former superficiality of the science content in her lessons.
The CoRe was a new way of planning, like it made me focus on concepts of water and then
hone in on what we wanted...The CoRe made me realise how I gloss over things. (Year
3/4 teacher, focus group interview)Interestingly, while researchers were only invited into a total of 5 lessons for
observations in thisfirst cycle, in the follow-up focus interviews teachers at all
levels reported positive experiences of teaching their science units and the student
interest and learning that happened. Teachers in one of the Junior School groups,
i.e. the Year Two Group who were teaching 6 years old, based their CoRe around
big ideas in the Primary Connections Unit‘All Mixed up’(an early Chemistry
topic). They felt well supported by their CoRe and the resource. An experienced
teacher in the group commented:
The structure, the link between the CoRe and the‘All mixed up’(Primary Connections
unit) gave us confidence. (Junior School Teacher, Year 2, Focus group interview)She had invited a researcher to observe her science lesson and was surprised and
encouraged by students’enthusiastic responses to the investigations into everyday
phenomena, and the scientific understanding they gained. As a mentor teacher, she
saw the potential in the resource materials for developing the professional knowl-
edge and capabilities of student teachers. She recognised how the resource had
scaffolded her own scientific understanding and that of her students.
806 A. Hume