The effects of computer-assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.     

One course is not enough: Preservice elementary teachers' retention of improved views of nature of science

This study examined the views, and the retention of these views, of 19 preservice elementary teachers as they learned about nature of science (NOS). The preservice teachers participated in a cohort group as they took a science methods course during which they received explicit reflective instruction in nature of science. Through Views of Nature of Science version B (VNOS‐B) surveys and interviews it was found that most preservice teachers held inadequate ideas of nature of science prior to instruction, but improved their views after one semester of instruction in the science methods course. However, 5 months after instruction, the graduate preservice teachers were again interviewed and it was found that several of the students reverted back to their earlier views. The results are interpreted through Perry's scheme, and implications and recommendations for elementary science teacher education are made. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 194–213, 2006     

The implementation and development of science process skills in the natural sciences: A case study of teachers' perceptions

Abstract

The notion of scientific literacy, with its concomitant emphasis on science process skills gave rise to this study. This case study research sought to explore the perceptions of four primary school Natural Sciences teachers with respect to the implementation and development of science process skills at classroom level in a disadvantaged urban primary school in South Africa. Qualitative data, generated via focus group interviews and classroom observations were analysed. These data revealed that the implementation and development of science process skills were strongly influenced by the teacher's confidence and understandings of these skills, and that these in turn could be coupled to their present and past experience of science process skills. A key recommendation of this study, that might go some way to addressing these issues, is the implementation of high quality and sustained (over a long period of time) appropriate in-service training of primary school Natural Sciences teachers.     

Preservice teachers' views of the nature of science during a postbaccalaureate science teaching program

The goals of this study were to determine preservice science teachers' views of the nature of science and to describe the changes in those views that occur during a teacher education program. Fifteen students in a postbaccalaureate secondary science teaching program at a large university participated in this study. The participants' views of science were ascertained by an investigator-developed survey and a follow-up interview administered before and after the university's science teaching methods sequence. Before entering the teaching program, the participants had a contemporary (i.e., postpositivist) view of scientific theory, knowledge, and the role of a scientist and a traditional (i.e., empiricist or positivist) view of scientific method. Initially, there was an equal number of traditional, mixed, and contemporary views of the different aspects of science. After completing the methods sequence, the number of contemporary views doubled and the number of mixed views decreased by more than half. The number of participants with an overall contemporary view of science rose from 2 to 7. Since there was little direct instruction about the nature of science, it is possible to make positive changes in preservice teachers' views of the nature of science in a teaching program in which contemporary teaching strategies such as conceptual change and cooperative learning are taught. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 595–615, 1997.     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science

Pre‐service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre‐service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre‐conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty‐one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience‐based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 497–523, 2008     

Curriculum design for inquiry: Preservice elementary teachers' mobilization and adaptation of science curriculum materials

Curriculum materials are crucial tools with which teachers engage students in science as inquiry. In order to use curriculum materials effectively, however, teachers must develop a robust capacity for pedagogical design, or the ability to mobilize a variety of personal and curricular resources to promote student learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the ways in which preservice elementary teachers mobilize and adapt existing science curriculum materials to plan inquiry‐oriented science lessons. Using quantitative methods, we investigated preservice teachers' curriculum design decision‐making and how their decisions influenced the inquiry orientations of their planned science lessons. Findings indicate that preservice elementary teachers were able to accurately assess how inquiry‐based existing curriculum materials are and to adapt them to make them more inquiry‐based. However, the inquiry orientations of their planned lessons were in large part determined by how inquiry‐oriented curriculum materials they used to plan their lessons were to begin with. These findings have important implications for the design of teacher education experiences that foster preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical design capacities for inquiry, as well as the development of inquiry‐based science curriculum materials that support preservice and beginning elementary teachers to engage in effective science teaching practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:820–839, 2010     

Jordanian and Malaysian science teachers' prominent perceived professional needs: A comparison

The prominent perceived professional needs of 365 Jordanian and 1,162 Malaysian secondary-level science teachers were examined using the Science Teacher Inventory of Need. These were compared across subgroups of the respective samples and across the two samples. The Jordanian science teachers' needs were in the areas of delivering science instruction, managing science instruction, administering science instructional facilities and equipment, and improving one's competence as a science teacher. The Malaysian science teachers' needs came from those four areas plus the area specifying objectives for science instruction. Needs from the first four areas were shared across the two samples. These needs were similar to ones observed in U.S. samples. The reason for the similarities is questioned.     

Preservice teachers' initial conceptions about assessment of science learning: The coherence with their views of learning science

This study utilized responses from Taiwanese preservice elementary teachers to describe and analyze their conceptions about the assessment of science learning and the extent that these conceptions were coherent with their views of learning science. A methodological framework of phenomenography was used for the study. The results revealed that the preservice teachers' mode of assessment was coherent with a traditional view of learning but their performance mode of assessment was not well developed. Improving preservice teachers' conception of assessment requires clarifying and reconstructing their conceptions of and coherence between assessment, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning.     

Robotics and science literacy: Thinking skills,science process skills and systems understanding

This paper reports the results of a study of the relationship of robotics activity to the use of science literacy skills and the development of systems understanding in middle school students. Twenty‐six 11–12‐year‐olds (22 males and 4 females) attending an intensive robotics course offered at a summer camp for academically advanced students participated in the research. This study analyzes how students utilized thinking skills and science process skills characteristic of scientifically literate individuals to solve a robotics challenge. In addition, a pre/post test revealed that course participants increased their systems understanding, t (21) = 22.47, p < .05. It is argued that the affordances of the robotics environment coupled with a pedagogical approach emphasizing open‐ended, extended inquiry prompts the utilization of science literacy‐based thinking and science process skills and leads to increased systems understanding. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 373–394, 2008     

Analyzing hierarchical relationships among modes of cognitive reasoning and integrated science process skills

The purpose of this research was to search for a learning hierarchy among skills comprising formal operations and the integrated science processes. Ordering theoretic and probabilistic latent structure methods were used to analyze data on five process skills and six logical thinking skills collected from 700 science students. Both linear and branching hierarchical relationships were identified within and across the two sets of skills. Most of them fit the logical hierarchies which have guided curriculum development and classroom practices in the past. But a few run counter to our present logic and understanding of these skills.     

A comparison of preservice and in-service earth and space science teachers' general mental abilities,content knowledge,and problem-solving skills

The purpose of this study was to compare in-service and preservice earth and space science teachers on their general mental abilities, their content knowledge or declarative knowledge of earth and space sciences, the Gagnean levels of their content knowledge or declarative knowledge, and the procedural knowledge used in solving earth and space science problems. This study used a contrast-group design to compare in-service (n = 30) and preservice (n = 30) earth and space science teachers. The in-service earth science teachers (a) bring more declarative knowledge to the problem-solving situation, (b) use fewer steps while problem solving, (c) generate more subroutines and alternate hypotheses, and (d) possess different structural knowledge than do preservice earth science teachers. Findings from this study support Norman's theory of learning that experts (in-service teachers) function at the tuning mode of learning, whereas novices (preservice teachers) function in an accreting or structuring mode. In-service earth science teachers exhibited smoothness, automaticity, and decreased mental effort not exhibited by preservice earth and space science teachers.     

Connecting photosynthesis and cellular respiration: Preservice teachers' conceptions

The biological processes of photosynthesis and plant cellular respiration include multiple biochemical steps, occur simultaneously within plant cells, and share common molecular components. Yet, learners often compartmentalize functions and specialization of cell organelles relevant to these two processes, without considering the interconnections as well as the significance of the plant as an independent biological system functioning as a nested component within local and global ecosystems. Understanding connections among biological systems at macro and micro levels is important to biological literacy. This study examined preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of photosynthesis and plant cellular respiration, with attention to interconnections and systems. Participants were limited in their understanding of the processes impacting multiple ecological levels, and they held inadequate representations of interconnections between the processes. Participants' views were laden with sociological and egocentric components. They often compared plant functions with analogous human functions. Most participants viewed plants as dependent on humans while having societal use. Justifications for views included nominal knowledge of the processes; experiential authoritarian reasoning; and anthropomorphism. We discuss instructional implications in light of the findings. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 791–812, 2009     

Flipping the experimentation process: influences on science process skills

Educational technology research and development - This paper reports on a study aiming at examining the development of science process skills through the implementation of experiments in a science...     

初中学生综合科学过程技能的水平、特点及影响因素

以1452名初中生为被试,以Burns等编制的综合过程技能测验(TIPS)和Hasan的科学教师的影响问卷,科学教科书的影响问卷,以及学生科学学习的自我效能感问卷为工具,考察初中学生的综合过程技能水平及其特点。结果表明,初中生的平均技能水平较高,但还不能达到满意水平,同时存在性别、年级和城乡的显著差异,表现为:随着年级的递增,初中生的TIPS成绩也递增;城市学校的学生成绩显著高于农村学校;在控制和操作变量技能上,男生得分显著低于女生;教师、教材、自我效能与综合过程技能显著相关,其中教材对综合过程技能的影响最大。     

On the nature of teaching nature of science: Preservice early childhood teachers' instruction in preschool and elementary settings

This study explored whether early childhood preservice teachers' concerns about teaching nature of science (NOS) and their intellectual levels influenced whether and how they taught NOS at the preschool and primary (K‐3) levels. We used videotaped classroom observations and lesson plans to determine the science instructional practices at the preschool and primary levels, and to track whether and how preservice teachers emphasized NOS. We used the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SOCQ) pre‐ and postinternship to determine concerns about NOS instruction, and the Learning Context Questionnaire (LCQ) to determine intellectual levels. We found that neither concerns about teaching NOS nor intellectual level were related to whether and how the preservice teachers emphasized NOS; however, we found that all preservice early childhood teachers began their internships with NOS concern profiles of “worried.” Two preservice teachers' NOS concerns profiles changed as a result of their internships; one to “cooperator” and one to “cooperator/improver.” These two preservice teachers had cooperating teachers who were aware of NOS and implemented it in their own science instruction. The main factors that hindered or facilitated teaching NOS for these preservice teachers were the influence of the cooperating teacher and the use of the science curriculum. The preservice teacher with the cooperating teacher who understood and emphasized NOS herself and showed her how to modify the curriculum to include NOS, was able to explicitly teach NOS to her students. Those in classrooms whose cooperating teachers did not provide support for NOS instruction were unable to emphasize NOS. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:213–233, 2010     

Meeting linguistic challenges in the science classroom: pre-service ESL teachers' strategies

This study explores the perceptions and challenges of Malaysian pre-service teachers teaching science in a second language. A qualitative case study method was used with multiple sources of data to provide insights into the challenges that a group of pre-service teachers faced during their teaching practicum. The pre-service teachers had to overcome various challenges that arose due to factors such as lack of competency in the medium of instruction and the students' varying levels of language ability. In addressing the challenges faced, they employed various strategies, including code switching and mixing, teacher-student collaboration, rephrasing and re-emphasizing, the use of instructional aids, and the use of analogies. The evidence presented in this study suggests that attention should be given to addressing the English language policy in the science teacher education programme.     

The change of teachers' conceptions: A strategy for inservice science teachers' education

This paper presents an evaluation of the design and implementation of a course for inservice science teachers, which was undertaken in Seville (1988, Spain) by requirement of the Ministry of Education and based on a didactic model named “Research at School”. The research was designed to evaluate and test the validity of this activity as a strategy to inform teacher educators, and also to encourage their professional development.