A Middle Grade Science Teacher's Emerging Understanding of Project-Based Instruction

This article provides an in-depth examination of 1 middle school science teacher's attempts to understand and enact project-based instruction-a nonprescriptive, nonlinear approach grounded in constructivist theory. The teacher is a member of our research team. We focus on her emerging visions of project-based instruction and describe some of her beliefs about teaching, learning, and the nature of science that influenced her learning to enact project-based instruction. We detail the challenges the teacher faced in enacting 2 projects, as well as the dilemmas she faced as some of her previous beliefs about teaching and learning came into conflict with her emerging understanding of the premises underlying project-based instruction. Throughout, we discuss how the dynamic interplay of collaboration, enactment, and reflection and the teacher's role as a respected collaborator with other teachers and university staff influenced her learning. We suggest that the teacher's role as a collaborator and multiple opportunities for enactment, collaboration, and reflection were major influences on her emerging visions of the features and practice of project-based instruction.