Moving into the Zone of Feasible Innovation
– towards meaningful science teaching
NFSUN Proposal, January 2008
Auður Pálsdóttir and Allyson Macdonald
Iceland University of Education
Abstract
Science teaching and learning is considered a complicated challenge both by teachers
and pupils. This paper addresses the question of how much change is appropriate in a
given context of science teaching and school development.
Analysing science teachers‘ motivation and identity with regard to how their interests
are met and identifying their potential to implement the national science curriculum
can help to find ideas on activities which might help to change some of the
experienced constraints on science teaching. The main findings of the study so far are
that using Roth‘s (2007) ideas and Macdonald´s (2008) framework to analyse
teachers‘ motivation and identity have given a deeper understanding of some of the
constraints realised when developing science teaching in schools. Also, the results
indicate that the theory of Zone of Feasible Innovation (ZFI) by Rogan and Grayson
(2007) is an useful idea to evaluate the levels of implementations where its major
constructs are adapted to the national curriculum in Iceland, giving teachers and
school administrators a new way to identify what to focus on as next steps in
developing science teaching in their schools.
Background
In school development, the decisions of what to do next and how to do it are always
difficult questions to answer. When new curriculum was introduced in 1999 into
Icelandic schools, and a new one issued in 2007 with slight changes in emphasis, the
discussion about science teaching became more prominent than before. Teachers‘
potential to implement the curriculum differ and their competence to evaluate what
and how much change is appropriate.
Since 1996 all schools have been obliged by law to carry out self-evaluation and since
2000 the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture has started to inspect selfevaluation methods being used in schools. The ministry provides guidelines for
schools of what aspects of the work of schools must be considered (Sjálfsmat skóla :
leikskólar, grunnskólar og framhaldsskólar, 1997) but schools choose how they
collect the information (Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla, almennur hluti, 2006). However,
the capacity of schools to do so are very uneven (Úttektir á sjálfsmatsaðferðum
grunnskóla : vormisseri 2007 : helstu niðurstöður, 2007) and in many communities
schools have not had much support for such undertaking.
Aims
The aim of this study is to assess science teachers situation with regard to how their
interests are met and their potential to implement the national science curriculum.
First the way in which science teachers in three urban schools understand and
interpret the demands of the national curriculum for science lessons is analysed.
Second, teachers‘ motivation and identity in science teaching is analysed and
interpreted by using Roth‘s (2007) and Macdonalds‘s (2008) ideas. Third, the
framework of the Zone of Feasible Innovation (Rogan & Grayson, 2003) is used in
search for ideas on activities which might change some of the constraints on science
teaching in these schools.
Framework
In a research project called Intentions and reality on science education in Icelandic
schools and is funded by the national Research Fund and the Research Fund of the
Iceland University of Education. researchers collected data from schools in five
districts in Iceland 2006-2007 visiting four to five schools in each district. The data
collected are documents, questionnaires, on-site visits, interviews with principals,
teachers, pupils and district leaders.
The capacity of the schools with regard to science teaching was assessed by using the
Science Curriculum Implementation Questionnaire (SCIQ) (Brian, 2006); Authors,
2007). The questionnaire calls for the evaluation by teachers of the actual and
preferred capacity of their own school in implementing the science curriculum. Four
extrinsic factors and one intrinsic factor are assessed. In Lewthwaite’s approach, the
SCIQ results can form the basis of discussion and further development within schools
(Wood & Lewthwaite, 2007); (McMillan, Lewthwaite, & Hainnu, 2007).
The SCIQ was used in Iceland in 2006-2007 as part of a research project in which 19
schools took part. The results showed that there was a clear capacity gap between
actual and preferred situations. According to the teachers, the biggest gaps were in the
area of resources and of the knowledge, skills and security of teachers. Interviews
were taken in conjunction with the completion of the SCIQ. A first analysis of the
interviews and questionnaire data provides some ideas on activities which might
change some of the constraints on science in these schools. To further analyse these
constraints we use two approaches.
First, we focus on teachers motivation and identity in science teaching and analyse to
what extent collective and individual interests of science teachers are met. To do so
we use Roth´s idea (2007) where he argues that the motivation at work is high when
one realizes both individual and collective interests in the same action. Based on
Roth´s ideas, Macdonald (2008) designed a two dimension framework to map
teachers motivation and identity. The vertical axis presents to what extent individual
interests are met (top is + and bottom is -) and the horisontal axis presents to what
extent collective interests are met (right is + and left is -). Competent teachers show
high motivation and strong identity but coerched teachers show low motivation and
weak identity.
Second, we suggest that a theory of curriculum implementation introduced by (Rogan
& Grayson, 2003)could provide an effective tool for school development. The tool is
based on three major constructs:

Profile of implementation (in the classroom)

Capacity to support innovation

Support from outside agencies
For each construct it is possible to create a rubric of levels of development. The rubric
covers the national curriculum, the capacity of those who participate in the school
system and support from outside agencies. Rogan and Grayson introduced the idea of
a “zone of feasible innovation” for planning development, a hypothetical construct
which suggests that innovation should not exceed current practice by too large a gap
between existing practice and the demands of the innovation.
Schools can find themselves at different levels on different factors, both within and
between constructs, when an innovation such as the national curriculum is
introduced,. The Zone of Feasible Innovation (ZFI) will vary between schools
(Rogan, 2007). The ZFI draws on theories of school development, on Vygotsky’s
concepts of the zone of proximal development and the importance of social
interaction for development, and on the zone of tolerance i.e. the space given to
institutions by communities in the change process.
This research will consider the six propositions made by (Rogan & Grayson, 2003)
with regard to the theory of curriculum implementation.
These are:
1. Innovation should be just ahead of existing practice. Implementation should
occur in manageable steps
2. Capacity to support innovation should be concurrent with efforts to enrich the
profile of implementation.
3. Outside support should be informed by the other two constructs, matching
outside support with capacity, and capacity with desired implementation
4. All role players need to reconceptualise the intended changes in their own
terms and context.
5. Changing teaching and learning is a change of culture not a technical matter.
6. There should be alignment between the three constructs and the primary level
(e.g. the learning experience).
Such an analysis gives us the possibility of making a realistic assessment of the ZFI,
the Zone of Feasible Innovation. Our study has been carried out on the NC 1999, and
the results of the study will be useful in implementing NC 2007, which should be
implemented fully by schools by 2010.
Thus the chief goal of the research that is presented here is to understand teacher´s
situation, their strengths and challenges, in order to identify desirable and necessary
steps in the development of science teaching in Iceland.
Methods and Samples
The research study being reported here is mainly based on interviews with teachers
taken in 2006-2007as a part of the research project Intentions and reality, but
information collected from documents, questionnaires, on-site visits, interviews with
principals, pupils and district leaders will be used.
Teachers’ situation is assessed according to their motivation and identity in science
teaching and to what extent their collective and individual interests are met. The
national science curriculum for compulsory education in Iceland has been analyzed
using the theory of implementation. The theory is being adapted to the Icelandic
national curriculum, and the content of the three major constructs will be addressed by
science teachers and the group of researchers participating in Intentions and reality.
Schools will be placed within the frame of Profile of implementation (the first
construct) according data from Intentions and reality.
Results
Using Roth‘s ideas and Macdonald´s framework to analyse teachers‘ motivation and
identity have given a deeper understanding of some of the constraints realised when
developing science teaching in schools. Also, the results indicate that the theory of
Zone of Feasible Innovation (ZFI) is an useful idea to evaluate the levels of
implementations.
Conclusions and Implications
Understanding teacher´s situation in science teaching, and identifying their strengths
and challenges, does provide information on desirable and necessary steps in teachers´
professional development and their potential to implement the curriculum. Evaluating
the levels of implementation teachers could identify developmental aspirations for
stakeholders and potential contributors and constraints to the achievment of these
aspirations.
Keywords: science education, curriculum implementation, teachers motivation and
identity, evaluation.
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