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Preliminary Results on the Value of Investing in Training for Practicing Chilean Life Science Teachers

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Science Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

While Chile has been called an economic success story in the making, its educational system is challenged by inequalities, an under-prepared workforce, and inconsistency in teacher preparation. In 2016, a Chilean scientific research organization collaborated with philanthropy in the United States to offer curricular resources, professional development workshops, and leadership training to high-school life science teachers throughout Chile. Through a developmental evaluation lens, this study examines how an international collaboration provides professional development for practicing life science teachers. Our findings suggest this professional development contributed to teacher gains in content knowledge, their perceptions of professional growth, confidence, and students engagement upon implementing their newly acquired resources and practices.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Gonzalo Peñaloza, who contributed to the study presented at ISEC 2018 from which we developed this current paper, Dr. Javier Robalino for conducting interviews, and Dr. Laura Bonetta for her editorial review.

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Correspondence to Marjee Chmiel .

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Chmiel, M., Seaman, R.T. (2020). Preliminary Results on the Value of Investing in Training for Practicing Chilean Life Science Teachers. In: Teo, T.W., Tan, AL., Ong, Y.S. (eds) Science Education in the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5155-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5155-0_16

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