Julie A Luft

As a middle and high school science teacher, I was perplexed by what my students learned when they engaged in science investigations. Some students could quickly grasp complex topics, while other students needed additional supports during the lessons. Overtime, understanding the learning of my students became more important to me. Graduate school became an essential next step to gain insights into my classroom experiences.

As a graduate student at the University of Iowa, my questions about student learning were answered and I was introduced to the professional learning of teachers. My research assistantship involved enacting inquiry-oriented professional learning programs for teachers and studying their impact on teachers. The programs were novel, but purposefully configured. A key feature of the programs involved teachers observing a classroom in the midst of an inquiry lesson, and then debriefing with the teacher of the class following the lesson. This experience was formative and influenced the work I engage in today.

My first position was at the University of Arizona, where I was one of two science educators in the College of Education. Along with teaching science education courses, I built a program that provided professional development programs for science teachers and studied the impact of this programing on their instruction. In working with science teachers throughout Southern Arizona, the graduate students and I saw that newly hired teachers needed sound professional learning programs.

For the next 10 years, at The University of Texas and Arizona State University, I focused on building and studying professional learning programs for newly hired science teachers. With a strong group of graduate students, we were able to track over a 100 newly hired teachers over five years. Several years of this work involved Dr. Gill Roehrig, now at the University of Minnesota and her team. The resulting studies illuminated the challenges newly hired teachers faced in enacting science instruction.

When I arrived at the University of Georgia, my focus on newly hired science teachers continued. With a steady stream of graduate students, studies were completed that attended to teacher knowledge, the influence of context, and the role of professional learning programs. I also had opportunities to work in undergraduate science education. This work was the result of a vibrant discipline-based education research community that sought out cross-college collaborations.

My recent work involves looking at the role of district leadership on newly hired science teachers, and how new teachers cultivate their resilience. The leadership studies involve Dr. Whitworth at Clemson University, the National Science Educational Leadership Association, and local districts. We are looking at the impact of leadership programs for science coordinators on science teachers, many who are new to teaching. The studies focused on new teacher resilience are with Dr. Navy (Lead, PI) at Kent State and Dr. Bo Idsardi at Eastern Washington University. These studies are exploring the role of resources in building resilience among newly hired science teachers.