What is the Making Sense of SCIENCE™ Professional Development Study?
Making Sense of SCIENCE (MSS) is a comprehensive series of professional development courses for teachers that combines in-depth science learning with a focus on classroom practice and pedagogical reasoning. The goal of the study is to improve science professional development, and ultimately student achievement in science, by investigating the impact of the MSS professional development model on students, classrooms, and teachers. This study is funded by the Institute for Education Sciences and is open to eighth grade teachers.
MSS courses cover a variety of key science content areas, but this study will focus on the efficacy of three physical science courses, including Force & Motion, Energy, and Matter. The courses feature best practices in science professional development and are designed to help you:
Learn major concepts of K–8 science
Examine how children make sense of those concepts
Analyze and improve their teaching practice
Learn ways to support science learning through literacy