Research trends in in-service science teacher professional development from 2012 to 2016

Abstract

This paper presents a content analytic approach to research related to in-service science teachers' professional development. The research under consideration was published in four international science education journals and three international conference proceedings specialized in science education from 2012 through 2016. A total of 204 articles (44 published in journals and 160 published in conference proceedings) were examined to identify the fields of concentration within continuous professional development (CPD) programmes, which are; focus of professional development, Types of Professional development, research purposes, research tools, Types of the data, the context of the in-service CPD programmes. The result indicated that there is increasing emphasis on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), inquiry, problem-solving and thinking. Most of the journals and conferences provide CPD as in-school and long-term training programmes subject to systematic evaluation.