Pivoting in a Pandemic: Supporting STEM Teachers’ Learning through Online Professional Learning during the Museum Closure

Abstract

Drawing on data from STEM teacher education programs collected during museum closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article examines the shifts that a large natural history museum made in educational programming. We explore three questions; _who participated; the nature of participants’ experiences with programming; and what we learned as an education department within and across teacher education programs_ by drawing on systematically collected quantitative and qualitative data (attendance, surveys, focus groups, and interviews). We draw upon case study data to delve into our online teacher professional learning offerings as an example, and then ground it within data and findings from our other teacher education programs at the museum offered during closure. We conclude by identifying implications for developing ongoing work with teachers going forward. Three central implications were: 1) continue to offer remote teacher professional learning sessions, 2) develop a shared vision of good science teaching online, and 3) model pedagogy that supports this shared vision. During a time of extreme uncertainty and tragedy, this article seeks to document and capture the innovative approaches developed to help support teachers, continue educational efforts, strive to act as an agent of change, as well as address challenges that emerged in the move to remote.