Congratulations to former CREATE-ors Hildah, Consuelo and Renee!
The article looks at how different factors shape the way teachers put science education reforms into practice, focusing on the story of Mr. Gray, an experienced middle school science teacher. The authors use the ideas of habitus (a teacher’s mindset and background), structure (the systems and norms around them), and agency (their ability to make choices) to understand what helps or gets in the way of change. While professional development helped introduce new ideas and supported Mr. Gray to some extent, it wasn’t enough on its own. Things like how students participated, how assessments were set up, and Mr. Gray’s existing teaching habits made it hard to fully shift to new teaching methods. The study shows that these different factors interact in complicated and sometimes unexpected ways, which can either help or block change. It suggests that teacher training and professional learning need to better account for these real-world challenges teachers face.
To read the article, go to: https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21973
