Utilizing data from international achievement studies in teacher professional development in science

Cypriot students have consistently scored low in science in international studies since 1995 despite various curriculum reform efforts during the last decades. Given the importance of teacher professional development, and the opportunity to further utilize data from an international study, the purpose of this paper is to show how data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) can be used for a professional development workshop focused on helping teachers identify reasons for low achievement in science, and proposing ways to support students in science. Overall, this professional development workshop could be considered as an effective way of using empirical data from international studies for professional development purposes as it gave teachers the opportunity to reflect on possible reasons that Cypriot students did not do well on certain items while allowing them to make connections between their teaching practice and student content knowledge misconceptions.