In the proposed project, we examine how secondary science teachers learn classroom communication as they engage with scaffolded noticing and reflection, provided through a technology (ClassInSight) where teachers can engage with their own classroom data. A critical component of teacher learning is receiving formative feedback on one’s performance, which enables reflection and noticing of key features of problems of practice.

There has been rising interest in technologies that can assist teachers in noticing core features of instruction as a means to drive teacher learning and instructional change. However, there is an urgent need to understand precisely how this noticing and reflection can be scaffolded to support teachers of learners in high need settings to raise the cognitive demand of instruction. Relatedly, uptake of evidence-based strategies for facilitating classroom discussion is likely to be strongly affected by teachers’ beliefs about classroom discussion and what works in their particular instructional context.

Through a research-practice partnership between Vista Unified School District, UCSD, CMU, and the Distinguished Educator Network (DEAP), we investigate the cognitive and motivational factors that support deep engagement with teacher’s data and which drive change. By capturing extensive data in the classroom and using system logs of teacher interactions with scaffolded data, we use a scale-down approach that begins with design-based research and ends in a randomized controlled trial to investigate three outcomes: (a) change in teachers’ beliefs regarding classroom discussion, (b) change in teachers’ knowledge of effective strategies, and, (c) change in teachers’ behavior regarding the implementation of these strategies.