The backgrounds of most of our current professional teaching staff do not prepare them for effectively facilitating inquiry learning.   The education of the professional teaching staff prepared them, for the most part, to teach based upon ìwhat we knowî rather to facilitate students towards learning how to learn or a focus on ìhow we come about knowingî.   It is most important that the restructuring of professional development programs for the future teachers and the in-service professional development of current staff consider changes relating to the process of facilitating learning rather than trying to give the learner ìall the information they will ever needî. The emphasis on professional development needs to address the change from a focus on teaching as ìwhat we knowî to a focus on learning as ìhow we come about knowing.î It is important for teachers to stress skills development and the nurturing of habits of mind as a means to learn important content set in a conceptual framework context.   This approach better addresses the issue and importance of life-long learning.

Professional development (PD) is much more complex than just holding teacher workshops. Professional development can be helpful in fostering more appropriate workshops for Science as Inquiry, but a well-designed plan can influence certification of teachers and pre-service and in-service programs for teachers.

A working group, led by CS3, with representation from NRC, CCSSO, AAAS, the American Chemical Society (ACS), NSTA, AESP, and other education leadership groups, will be facilitated through a process for developing a Professional Development Template (PDT), complete with criteria and indicators, congruent with the operational definition of Science as Inquiry. This Professional Development Template will be useful to help direct and guide state and local level professional development programs for teachers of science in the implementation of Science as Inquiry." 

"Working in partnership with key national organizations and institutions, CS3 will use Science as Inquiry to define, describe, enumerate and construct a PDT. This template will be useful as a guide in the design of college/university teacher preparation programs and state and local in-service programs for science educators. In order to be more successful with program implementation, it is necessary for CS3 members to better understand the systemic nature of their work and to approach it with objectivity and utilitarian guidelines."

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