Listening to Science Teacher Leaders
Hear from the Exploratorium’s community of science teacher leaders, and reflect on teacher leadership in your own context.
Science teacher leaders support science teachers from within and beyond the classroom. Their roles continue to evolve as their influence in science education grows.
At the Exploratorium, professional learning for science teacher leaders employs many of the same principles we use with science teachers, with added attention to specific issues related to leadership. We support a network of science teacher leaders across California, as well as a local cohort of leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the short videos below, leaders share their thoughts on professional support, teaching and learning, identity and representation, and what it means to be a teacher leader.
Whether you’re a science teacher leader or someone who supports leaders, we hope these voices help you think about your own work in new or deeper ways.
What Is a Science Teacher Leader?
Science teachers at all experience levels can benefit from resources and support, and teacher leaders provide this support in a variety of formal and informal ways. There are many ways to be a science teacher leader, and one of the most valuable is to model lifelong learning.
What Does It Mean to See Ourselves in Science?
Personal identities directly impact how we view ourselves in relation to science, and how leaders, teachers, and students relate. Valuing different identities and celebrating the wide range of contributions to our collective understanding of the world can help everyone see themselves in science.
What Is the Value of Science?
Helping students build scientific practices equips them with the tools they need to follow their curiosity and investigate the world around them.
How Do We Center Students in Science Learning?
Teacher leaders help science teachers empower the students in their classrooms. When teachers value and trust their students, students feel more connected to learning and to one another—and they’re able to make connections between science and the ways that they experience and make sense of the world.
What Support Do Science Teacher Leaders Value?
At the Teacher Institute (TI), we believe that science teacher leaders benefit from sustained, experiential learning with others. Hear from participants about building communities of practice and the value of supporting each other.
About the Teacher Institute
The Exploratorium Teacher Institute (TI) supports teachers and teacher leaders to incorporate the hands-on, inquiry-rich experiences of the Exploratorium into science classrooms. TI programs are designed to provide support for educators wherever they are on the professional learning continuum.
Learn more about the Teacher Institute, our professional learning philosophy, and our research on science teacher learning.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1907460. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.