The SPIRAL project seeks to improve science teachers' professional learning through a suite of interventions and research questions. The project exists at the intersection of five key elements:
1. Phenomena-based science storylines aligned with NGSS.
2. The collection of multimedia artifacts that reflect student thinking.
3. The annotation and analysis of the artifacts.
4. Professional learning community (PLC) discussions at grade-level.
5. PLC discusses across vertical K-8 teams.
The project builds on nearly twenty years of work using both analogue and digital portfolios supported by prior and current NSF funding. The current app, the SPIRAL portfolio, allows teachers to a) collect a broad array of artifacts in print, image, and video formats and b) organize, share, and discuss evidence of student thinking and activity along a coherent, vertical science storyline.
Participating teachers were introduced to a storyline based on an NGSS core idea that spirals through their grade level and two other grades. While teaching the storyline, teachers use the SPIRAL app to capture evidence of student thinking. Teachers use the artifacts in both grade-level and vertical PLC teams to think about how they will work with different student ideas and recognize how thinking about a core idea changes over time.
1. How do grade level and vertical PLCs shape teachers' professional knowledge of a) disciplinary core ideas (water and waves) and practices (modeling); b) interpreting and using evidence of student thinking to inform instruction; and c) rigorous and equitable teaching practices?
2. How do grade level and vertical PLCs shape teachers professional practice as evidenced by multimodal artifacts from their classrooms?
3. What and how do tools, activities, and discourses shape changes in teachers professional knowledge and teaching practice, particularly the storylines and the collection and annotation of artifacts?
