HOW PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT ONE CULTURAL INSTITUTION AFFECTS PARTICIPANTS’ THINKING ABOUT THE TEACHING OF HISTORY

Abstract

The current study examined the impact that professional development has on teaching history. A total of nine middle school and high school teachers, with varying degrees of teaching experience and content backgrounds, participated in the study. Through an artifact analysis, field notes, interviews, dilemma analysis, and lesson plans, the study asks two questions: (1) What characterizes the approaches to professional development at one cultural institution, and how do teachers respond to that professional development? (2) To what extent and in what ways does the professional development impact teachers’ approaches to teaching history? Findings suggested that there was almost no impact from the professional development on their teaching. For example, only two of the teachers showed the potential to be influenced by the professional development. Additional findings suggested that the professional development almost exclusively adopted the exposition-recital approach and teachers saw the professional development as a source of content knowledge and not teaching. In examining the impact that the professional development has on teaching history, these findings have implications for the developers of professional development, for teachers and teaching, and for future research on the influence that professional development can have on teaching.