Identity Development of Science Teachers Involved in Teacher Communities: Based on the Theory of "Community of Practice"

Abstract

The premise of the study is that teacher communities or teacher interest groups are one of the repres entative examples of Communities of Practice (CoP) formed by teachers who engage in the process of collecti ve learning regarding science teaching. Based on the theory of CoP, we investigated and interpreted the proces s of identity development of six science teachers who have been actively involved in teacher communities. We conducted 2-3 individual interviews with the teachers in order to explore their narratives and personal experien ces of being involved in the communities over the years. Results indicated that a teacher community is a place where the teachers not only generated and shared repertories of ideas, documents on teaching and learning, or routines (i.e. practices), but also formulated a set of relationships through social participation. Teacher commu nities actively provide the teachers a sense of joint enterprise and identity, and where the teachers have an opp ortunity to develop themselves personally and professionally as science teachers playing major roles in their c ommunities.