Mobilizing Learning Progressions for Teacher Use: Examining the Utility of Outside Learning Progressions in Task Co-design

Abstract

While many learning progressions have been developed in science education, few studies have examined the utility of these progressions as tools for teachers in contexts outside of their original design. This paper is a case study examining how one group of high school biology teachers drew upon two different learning progressions (evolution and carbon cycle) over the course of one academic year as they designed and enacted formative assessment tasks, and then interpreted responses to the tasks. We find that the progressions were taken up differently and may have provided central ideas for the curricular units but primarily acted as tools for facilitators to frame discussion around student ideas. Our findings suggest the progressions appeared not to be ready-to-use tools for teachers in these new contexts.