A Case Study of a Teacher's Professional Development: A Junior High School Teacher's Views on Inquiry Teaching

This case study was conducted as part of a professional development project. A science teacher's views on inquiry teaching and the effect of this professional development project were investigated. The data included meeting records, an open-ended questionnaire, formal and informal interviews, classroom observations and artifacts. The method of open coding was adopted to analyze the data. It was found that the case teacher thought that inquiry teaching had to be open-ended and initially include routine procedures. She indicated that the science fair was the only way to implement inquiry teaching in schools. After participating in this professional development project, she interpreted inquiry teaching in a more flexible and extensive manner. Activities before classes were planned to increase teaching efficiency. However, the subject's inquiry teaching had a weak relationship with the nature of science. Collaboration, discussion and review were viewed as critical elements of professional development. Case discussion, lesson plan writing and discussion as well as field observations were effective ways to improve the case teacher's views of inquiry teaching.