AHA Moments of Science and Mathematics Pre-service Teachers

This research study explored pre-service teachers' (PST) reflections of their student teaching experiences through AHA moments. Participants included 37 pre-service teachers enrolled in mathematics and science student teaching seminars. Qualitative methods were used to analyze PSTs' written and verbal responses to questions regarding AHA experiences. Four themes emerged related to PSTs' AHA moments: a greater awareness of PSTs' identity as teachers, the importance of knowing their students, the realization of inconsistencies in their own and their students' beliefs, and the importance of anticipating students' misconceptions. The potential for using an AHA moment assignment, as presented here, appears to support reflection among PSTs; however, it is not clear these PSTs used judgments and analysis, both integral elements of the reflective process.     

Discussion of the Controversy Concerning a Historical Event Among Pre-service Teachers

As part of a teacher training project, 16 future chemistry teachers participated in a dramatisation activity (a mock trial of the Fritz Haber case), in which they discussed a controversy concerning an event from the history of science: the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Fritz Haber in 1918. Preparations for the role-play activity, the dramatisation of the mock trial, and the subsequent discussions were video-recorded. We also collected the written material produced by the pre-service teachers and the reflective journals they produced during their involvement with the activity. This article discusses the contributions of such an experience to future teachers’ knowledge on aspects related to both nature of science and argumentation, as well as to their views on their future actions related to authentic teaching of and about science. The results show that such contributions were meaningful.     

职前小学科学教师科学探究能力的培养

通过对我国小学职前科学教师对科学探究的理解存在问题的分析,提出了形成教师教育共同体,构建新型的课程体系,反思探究活动以及评价体系的建立等方法,旨在为未来我国职前小学科学教师的培养带来一点启示.     

Pre-service Teachers’ Experiences with a Science Education Module

This paper describes a module provided to first year elementary participants in a two-year after-degree Bachelor of Education program. The module was specifically designed to address the fact that pre-service teachers can enter the B.Ed. degree with little or no science knowledge. Science experiences were explicitly incorporated into the B.Ed. module described here linking science content knowledge to specific science pedagogic content knowledge. The pre-service teachers were surveyed and interviewed during and after completion of the module. It was found that the inquiry based approach increased the pre-service teachers' level of science knowledge, their confidence with regard to teaching elementary science, and improved their attitude toward science teaching and learning.     

Closing the Gap Between Attitudes and Perceptions About ICT-Enhanced Learning Among Pre-service STEM Teachers

The goal of this study was to examine pre-service STEM teachers’ attitudes and perceptions about the effectiveness of various learning methods and, in specific, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as means for enhancing progressive education. The study was conducted among two cohorts of pre-service STEM teachers (N = 103) in the years 2006 and 2012. The mixed method approach was used to compile data from two research tools: an attitudes questionnaire and reflective drawings. The findings of the first cohort indicated a conflict between the participants’ declared attitudes and their perceptions, suggesting a gap between their inclination to coincide with educational trends, and their actual views about the use of ICTs in the classrooms. The first cohort’s drawings illustrated ICTs as distractive technologies, ineffective tools for teaching and learning, impairing teachers’ authority, and distancing teachers and students from each other. Findings of the second cohort indicated that the gap between attitudes and perceptions was narrowed in such a way that preservice STEM teachers did not see ICTs as threatening, but they perceived them as instrumental for leveraging progressive education.     

加拿大里贾纳大学中等理科师资职前培养项目述评

在介绍加拿大里贾纳大学中等理科师资职前培养项目的概况、课程设置的基础上,阐述了中等理科师资职前培养的特点.包括：充分发挥教育类课程的作用;以学生为主体的教学方式;注重培养学生的反思能力;注重学生从教能力的培养等.     

英国中学理科师资职前培养课程述评

英国中学理科师资的职前培养属于“3 1”模式。其职前培养课程包括公共课程、学科课程、中学见习／实习3大部分。从约克大学的中学理科师资职前培养课程的结构和内容可以看出。英国中学理科师资的职前培养具有重视理论与实践的结合；注重学生反思能力的培养；重视学生从教基本技能的培养与训练；注重学生的主体作用。重视学生教育教学研究能力的培养等特点。     

Assessment Outcomes of Pre-service Teachers

As a response to the shortage of credentialed teachers in California, a four-year major called Urban Learning (ULRN), combining both the undergraduate and a teaching credential program was developed by professors at the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles. The assessment results of the program after its first two-year pilot period showed that ULRN students (N=153) exhibited higher motivation to learn and tended to take fuller course loads as compared to other undergraduate students at the university. This was attributed to faculty collaboration and cohort modeling of the program. Compared to students in the regular credential programs, ULRN students were more likely to remain enrolled in their program and more likely to complete the program and graduate sooner. This blended program as a whole including the assessment course appeared to have help pre-service teachers become competent as teachers. This blended program with its structure emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness was comparatively successful.     

Pre-service Teachers Perspectives of Google Expedition

Early Childhood Education Journal - This article explores pre-service teachers' personal experiences as they implemented immersive virtual reality using Google Expedition during a summer STEM...     

The Excitement and Wonder of Teaching Science: What Pre-service Teachers Learn from Facilitating Family Science Night Centers

In this study, pre-service teachers facilitated stations at a family science night as a context to learn to identify, assess, and use children’s science ideas. Assessment is already difficult in K-12 classrooms. Assessing learning in informal learning environments adds the complication that participation is largely voluntary. As such, controlling the learners’ participation to systematically assess learning is counter to the intents of informal environments. The pre-service teachers in this study experienced success at teaching science and developed understandings about children’s science ideas. Data included reflective postings, class discussions, observations, artifacts, and photographs. The findings contribute to understanding the value of multiple learning contexts in teacher preparation and lead to implications about leveraging informal science contexts for educating teachers.     

Historiographical Capacity of Pre-service History Teachers in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to determine how well the Turkish pre-service history teachers in a state university＇s teacher certification program for history majors create the historiographical papers. By doing so, the aim is to elicit the present state which can be drawn on by future research. Document analysis method, which is one of the qualitative research methodologies, has been used to analyze the data. Historical texts of seven pre-service history teachers were analyzed according to some historical essays check-list developed by the researchers. At the end of the study, it was concluded that pre-service history teachers do not thoroughly follow the criteria used to write a historiographical paper. Suggestions have been offered to improve writing skills of the pre-service history teachers.     

Fostering Model-Based School Scientific Argumentation Among Prospective Science Teachers

The paper aims both to foster and to assess ＂school scientific argumentation＂ among secondary science teachers during their pre-service education. For these purposes, the paper uses the recta-scientific construct of＂theoretical model＂ （proposed by the so-called semantic view of scientific theories from contemporary philosophy of science） in three different and complementary conceptual levels. Firstly, the paper suggests teachers to argue using theoretical models （as opposed to propositional items） from science as a key component of their arguments. Secondly, the paper tries to scaffold teachers＇ argumentation practices modeling them with paradigmatic exemplars （which the author calls ＂epitomes＂）. And thirdly, the paper uses a four-component model of school scientific argumentation as an analytical tool to inspect how science teachers argue. The teachers＇ argumentative texts that are discussed in the paper arise from their participation in teaching-learning sequences designed to improve their argumentation skills via three synergic model-based operations： analyzing epitomes of arguments, （co-）constructing new arguments, and meta-theoretically reflecting upon them.     

Age Stereotypes of Older Primary Teachers in Taiwan

Elder respect in East Asia has a long history that could be derived from Confucian philosophy. However, with the rapid development of westernization, younger people have gradually depreciated the value of elder respect and seek a reciprocal relationship with the elderly. A literature search revealed that age stereotypes would be both negative and positive. This study employs the qualitative approach, mainly through interviews, to collect college students' attitudes towards older primary teachers. The research findings illustrate three characteristics: (a) the value of elder respect from college students seems to have gradually declined, particularly under the impact of westernization and industrialization, although some students did still believe in elder respect influenced by Confucian philosophy; (b) some students' negative stereotypes of older primary teachers include that older primary teachers are resistant to change, unwilling to accept new ideas, and less motivated to learn; (c) some students' positive stereotypes towards older primary teachers are that they are experienced in teaching and classroom management and role models for younger teachers. This study raises several issues and questions that may contribute to further research. In addition, the study proposes some implications for educational authorities.     

Bringing Democratic Theory into Didactical Practice. Concepts of Education for Democracy Among Norwegian Pre-service Teachers

Democracy is highlighted in the Norwegian school system. This article investigates how pre-service teachers in social studies understand the more theoretical concept of democracy, and in what ways they intend to operationalize it with future pupils. Three ideal types are used to locate perspectives in the data: pure liberalist, majority rule and deliberative models of democracy. The findings indicate that perceptions of democracy in the sample are most commonly associated with core aspects of liberal democracy through a general focus on elections and voting, majority rule and individual civil liberties. A striking finding is the highly apparent internalization of participation as a norm and ideal in itself. However, ideas of contents and didactical implications of participation varies among respondents. As many also display a seemingly restricted interpretation of the political sphere, this might imply a thin understanding of democratic participation. The article further points out that translating concepts from political science into pedagogical notions is not a straightforward endeavor.     

教师职前培养的问题与对策

教师专业发展由职前培养、资格任用和在职培训三个阶段组成。职前培养是教师专业发展的起始阶段，对其今后的专业成长有着至关重要的影响。针对当前我国教师职前培养存在的问题，借鉴国外成功经验，提出相应的对策和建议。     

论大学教师的职前培养体制

根据大学教师职前培养现状以及大学教师职业特性,可以将大学教师的职前培养体制分成三种模式:纯粹的学科专业型、学科专业主导型、学科专业与教学专业并重型。学科专业主导型模式既遵循了大学教师的成长规律,也兼顾了大学教师培养与成长的实际,是当前大学教师职前培养体制的理想选择。     

Constructing Explanations in Science: Informal Formative Assessment Practices Among Science Teachers of English Learners

Research in Science Education - Informal formative assessments (IFAs) are classroom interactions teachers use to gather information about their students’ learning, interpret it, and act on...     

Strategies of Number Sense in Pre-service Secondary Mathematics Teachers

This paper presents some results of an investigation on the number sense of a group of pre-service secondary teachers from Spain. The objective of this research was to analyze students’ use of strategies associated to number sense and compare them with those obtained in a previous study with pre-service primary teachers in Taiwan, (Yang, Reys & Reys, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7, 383–403, 2009). Pre-service secondary teachers showed lower success than pre-service primary teachers in a number sense test. Nevertheless, these last based their reasoning mainly on rules and algorithms, while pre-service secondary teachers used more strategies of number sense. In an attempt to delve into the low success shown by of Spanish pre-service secondary teachers, some students were interviewed. Those interviews showed that a deeper work on number sense in the training of these students is needed.     

A Multi-Year Program Developing an Explicit Reflective Pedagogy for Teaching Pre-service Teachers the Nature of Science by Ostention

This investigation delineates a multi-year action research agenda designed to develop an instructional model for teaching the nature of science (NOS) to preservice science teachers. Our past research strongly supports the use of explicit reflective instructional methods, which includes Thomas Kuhn’s notion of learning by ostention and treating science as a continuum (i.e., comparing fields of study to one another for relative placement as less to more scientific). Instruction based on conceptual change precepts, however, also exhibits promise. Thus, the investigators sought to ascertain the degree to which conceptual change took place among students (n = 15) participating in the NOS instructional model. Three case studies are presented to illustrate successful conceptual changes that took place as a result of the NOS instructional model. All three cases represent students who claim a very conservative Christian heritage and for whom evolution was not considered a legitimate scientific theory prior to participating in the NOS instructional model. All three case study individuals, along with their twelve classmates, placed evolution as most scientific when compared to intelligent design and a fictional field of study called “Umbrellaology.”     

Real-World Applications and Instructional Representations Among Prospective Elementary Science Teachers

This paper explores new elementary teachers' instructional representations and how these are related to their science subject matter knowledge. One pair of prospective elementary teachers studied here exhibited a well-integrated, principled, and scientifically accurate understanding of the science they were teaching. The other pair exhibited less scientifically accurate and integrated knowledge. The pair with stronger subject matter knowledge developed instructional representations that were more scientifically and pedagogically appropriate. A perspective on one aspect of pedagogical content knowledge—knowledge of instructional representations—is presented. Real-world applications are hypothesized to play a crucial mediating role for elementary teachers. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for elementary science teacher educators and researchers, including the importance of attending to how prospective teachers apply science knowledge to real-world situations. Parts of this work were presented at the 2000 AERA and NARST meetings.