This article explores findings from a two-year study of the Expeditionary Learning (EL) professional development program for teachers. Using case study qualitative methods, we present findings about how EL meets the challenge of preparing teachers to teach in innovative ways. We investigate how EL structures experiential professional development for its teachers, the strengths and challenges of these experiences, and how the experiences affect teachers' implementation of professional development in their classrooms.
AndresenL.BoudD.CohenR.(2000). Experience-based learning. In FoleyG.(Ed.), Understanding adult education and training, (2nd ed., pp. 225–239). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
2.
Association for Experiential Education. (n.d.). What is experiential education? Retrieved October 21, 2008, from http://www.aee.org/about/whatIsEE.
3.
BallD. L.CohenD. K. (1999). Instruction, capacity, and improvement, (CPRE Research Report Series RR-4). Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.
4.
BednarA. K.CunninghamD.DuffyT. M.PerryJ. D.(1991). Theory into practice: How do we link? In AnglinG.(Ed.), Instructional technology: Past, present and future, Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
5.
BogdanR. C.BiklenS. K. (1998). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods, (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
6.
Brooks-HarrisJ. E.Stock-WardS. R. (1999). Workshops: Designing and facilitating experiential learning, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
BrownJ. S.CollinsA.DuguidS. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42.
8.
CohenD. K.HillC. (2001). Learning policy: When state education reform works, New Haven: Yale University Press.
9.
CreswellJ. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
DeweyJ. (1902/2001). The school and society & the child and the curriculum, Mineola, NY: Dover.
11.
DeweyJ. (1938/1963). Experience and education, New York: Collier Books.
12.
Expeditionary Learning. (n.d.). Expeditionary Learning [Brochure]. Retrieved April 18, 2011, from http://elschools.org/our-approach.
13.
GaretM. S.PorterA. C.DesimoneL.BirmanB. F.YoonK. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915–945.
14.
GuskeyT. (1999). Evaluating professional development, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
HawleyW. D.ValliL.(1999). The essentials of effective professional development: A new consensus. In Darling-HammondL.SykesG.(Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of policy and practice, (pp. 127–150. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
17.
KleinE. J. (2007). Rethinking professional development: Building a culture of teacher learning. The New Educator, 3(3), 179–197.
18.
KleinE. J. (2008). Learning, unlearning, and re-learning: Lessons from one school's approach to creating and sustaining learning communities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(1), 79–97.
19.
KleinE. J.RiordanM. (2009). Putting professional development into practice: A framework for how teachers in Expeditionary Learning Schools implement professional development. Teacher Education Quarterly, 36(4), 61–80.
20.
KnowlesM. (1972). Innovations in teaching styles and approaches based upon adult learning. Journal of Education for Social Work, 8(2), 32–39.
21.
KolbD. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
22.
KolbD. A.FryR.(1975). Toward an applied theory of experiential learning. In CooperC.(Ed.), Theories of group process, (pp. 33–58. London: John Wiley.
23.
LiebermanA.McLaughlinM. W. (1992). Networks for educational change: Powerful and problematic. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(9), 673–77.
24.
LightfootS. L.Hoffman DavisJ. (1997). The art and science of portraiture, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
25.
LincolnY. S.GubaE. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
26.
Loucks-HorsleyS.LoveN.StilesK. E.MundryS.HewsonP. W. (2003). Designing professional development for teachers of science and mathematics, (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
27.
MarzanoR. J.PickeringD. J.PollockJ. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
28.
MaudsleyG.StrivensJ. (2000). Promoting professional knowledge, experiential learning and critical thinking for medical students. Medical Education, 34(7), 535–544.
29.
McLaughlinM. W.TalbertJ. (2001). Professional communities and the work of high school teaching, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
30.
McLaughlinM. W.TalbertJ. (2006). Building school-based teacher learning communities: Professional strategies to improve student achievement, New York: Teachers College Press.
PutnamR. T.BorkoH. (2000). What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teacher learning?Educational Researcher, 29(1), 4–15.
33.
SimmonsS. (1995). The teacher education consortium: A new network for professional development in experiential education. Journal of Experiential Education, 18(3), 120–127.
34.
SoltisJ. (Ed.). (1981). Philosophy and education: 80th yearbook of the national society for the study of education, pt. 1, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35.
StakeR. F.(1997). Case study methods in educational research: Seeking sweet water. In JaegerR. M.(Ed.), Contemporary methods of research in education, (2nd ed., pp. 253–278). Washington, DC: AERA.
36.
WalshV.GolinsG. L. (1976). The exploration of the Outward Bound process, Denver, CO: Colorado Outward Bound School.
37.
WilsonS. M.BerneJ.(1999). Teacher learning and the acquisition of professional knowledge: An examination of research on contemporary professional development. In Iran-NejadA.PearsonP. D.(Eds.), Review of research and education, (pp. 173–290. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
38.
YinR. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods, (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
