Pedagogy of Science Teaching Tests: Formative assessments of science teaching orientations

A critical aspect of teacher education is gaining pedagogical content knowledge of how to teach science for conceptual understanding. Given the time limitations of college methods courses, it is difficult to touch on more than a fraction of the science topics potentially taught across grades K-8, particularly in the context of relevant pedagogies. This research and development work centers on constructing a formative assessment resource to help expose pre-service teachers to a greater number of science topics within teaching episodes using various modes of instruction. To this end, 100 problem-based, science pedagogy assessment items were developed via expert group discussions and pilot testing. Each item contains a classroom vignette followed by response choices carefully crafted to include four basic pedagogies (didactic direct, active direct, guided inquiry, and open inquiry). The brief but numerous items allow a substantial increase in the number of science topics that pre-service students may consider. The intention is that students and teachers will be able to share and discuss particular responses to individual items, or else record their responses to collections of items and thereby create a snapshot profile of their teaching orientations. Subsets of items were piloted with students in pre-service science methods courses, and the quantitative results of student responses were spread sufficiently to suggest that the items can be effective for their intended purpose.     

Preparing teachers as researchers in courses on methods of teaching science

The four standards for professional development of teachers of science from the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) provided a frame for reflection upon ways in which prospective teachers engaged in research in my courses on methods of teaching science. Students learned both science content and science pedagogy by inquiry. An extended research project helped students to integrate knowledge of science, learning, pedagogy, and students, and to apply that to teaching science. Students built knowledge, skills, and attitudes for lifelong learning by participating in a research festival and presenting at conferences. I designed this science-teaching methods course in the context of a teacher education program that is attempting to implement reform approaches to instruction. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 791–809, 1998.     

University Mathematics and Science Faculty Modeling Their Understanding of Reform Based Instruction in a Teacher Preparation Program: Voices of Faculty and Teacher Candidates

This study was conducted in a reform-based mathematics and science teacher education program in the USA, the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation(MCTP). The goal of the undergraduate program was to prepare upper elementary/middle level specialists in mathematics and science. One significant aspect of the MCTP was the expectation that the program's professors (in mathematics and science) would model a new vision of effective pedagogy based on reform-based recommendations. We determined, in general, that the program's mathematics and science content professors accepted the dual role of modeling effective instruction at the same time they were delivering content. However, this dual responsibility raised in their minds an ‘issue of appropriate balance’ between content and pedagogical foci in their courses. Previously, the professors' had not questioned a focus heavily tilted toward content coverage. We also determined that the program's teacher candidates believed that the mathematics and science professors modeled effective instruction. One of the primary reasons that the teacher candidates believed that their professors were modeling effective instruction was that the focus in the courses was primarily on conceptual understanding, not memorization. A major implication was that the professors' modeling of reform-based instruction prompted the teacher candidates to develop a new vision of mathematics and science teaching shaped by their professors' example.     

Reconstructing elementary teacher candidates' understanding of mathematics and science content

This paper examines the mathematics and science content knowledge of elementary teacher candidates. Data are presented which demonstrate that many elementary teacher candidates enter teacher education seriously deficient in their understanding of the subject matter they will teach to elementary students. The authors argue that these candidates are weakly prepared in content because of deficiencies in the pedagogy practiced in traditional didactic mathematics and science courses. They describe a conceptual approach to teaching mathematics and science content and contrast this with a didactic approach. Data are presented which demonstrate that these conceptual approaches significantly improved novice teachers understanding of content.     

Finding out more about teacher candidates' prior knowledge: implications for teacher educators

While it is recognised that prior knowledge is a key factor in determining future learning, its influence on learning to teach is less well known. This study investigates two cohorts of teacher candidates studying for a one-year, graduate qualification for primary teaching, who completed two tasks at entry to their initial teacher education programme: a task in writing and a task in mathematics. The tasks focused on teacher candidates' ability to recognise the key features of a piece of student work. The teacher candidates' responses to the tasks highlighted the diverse nature of the prior knowledge that underpinned their responses. The study raises questions about the pedagogy of initial teacher education, particularly in relation to the assumptions teachers educators make about the candidates they teach. The findings suggest that the prior knowledge that students bring to initial teacher education is both a resource and a challenge for teacher educators.     

Pre-Service Teachers’ Maturing Perceptions of a TPACK-Framed Signature Pedagogy in Science Education

Teacher education programs across North America are transforming. What were once piecemeal programs consisting of often unrelated courses are now becoming coherent and intertwined trajectories toward teacher certification. Part of this transformation can be attributed to the weaving of “signature pedagogies” throughout overarching program frameworks. A modern signature pedagogy within science teacher education is the integration of technology with science area content and effective pedagogy. In this article the author reports an action research study aimed toward promoting the “scholarship of teaching” of pre-service teachers through articulating changes in their maturing perceptions of the integrated relationship between technological, pedagogical, and science content knowledge.     

Reconceptualising higher education pedagogy in online learning

The purpose of this collaborative inquiry project was to examine teacher education practices in two early childhood degree programmes in a school of education at a regional university in Australia. All students are enrolled in these online courses as distance learners. The reconceptualised online pedagogy immersed students, peers and their lecturers in ‘teaching through assessment’ (Edwards, 2010) in a collaborative online environment that mirrors the complexity that students are experiencing in their workplaces. This article describes the pedagogical and conceptual underpinnings we used to reconceptualise our degree programmes. It also outlines our evolving conceptualisations of learning as knowledge creation (Hong & Sullivan, 2009) in the context of our teaching and learning in online courses.     

Eliciting Metacognitive Experiences and Reflection in a Year 11 Chemistry Classroom: An Activity Theory Perspective

Concerns regarding students’ learning and reasoning in chemistry classrooms are well documented. Students’ reasoning in chemistry should be characterized by conscious consideration of chemical phenomenon from laboratory work at macroscopic, molecular/sub-micro and symbolic levels. Further, students should develop metacognition in relation to such ways of reasoning about chemistry phenomena. Classroom change eliciting metacognitive experiences and metacognitive reflection is necessary to shift entrenched views of teaching and learning in students. In this study, Activity Theory is used as the framework for interpreting changes to the rules/customs and tools of the activity systems of two different classes of students taught by the same teacher, Frances, who was teaching chemical equilibrium to those classes in consecutive years. An interpretive methodology involving multiple data sources was employed. Frances explicitly changed her pedagogy in the second year to direct students attention to increasingly consider chemical phenomena at the molecular/sub-micro level. Additionally, she asked students not to use the textbook until toward the end of the equilibrium unit and sought to engage them in using their prior knowledge of chemistry to understand their observations from experiments. Frances’ changed pedagogy elicited metacognitive experiences and reflection in students and challenged them to reconsider their metacognitive beliefs about learning chemistry and how it might be achieved. While teacher change is essential for science education reform, students are not passive players in change efforts and they need to be convinced of the viability of teacher pedagogical change in the context of their goals, intentions, and beliefs.     

The use of analogies in language teaching: Representing the content of teachers' practical knowledge

This study sought to determine how experienced language teachers use analogies to help students comprehend a text on the course of their regular teaching routines. It is assumed that analogies constitute one important component of the content of teachers' practical knowledge in the context of reading-comprehension instruction. The framework of the study drew from Shulman's notion of 'pedagogical content knowledge'; the perspective was the analogy-provider (e.g. teacher or textbook author). Eight lessons taught by eight different teachers were observed and analysed for the presence of analogies. The frequent use of analogies, continuously under discussion in the literature about science education, seems at least open to question. The research suggests that teacher education programmes for language teaching should include information about developing and evaluating instructional analogies.     

Teaching primary science: emotions, identity and the use of practical activities

This paper uses cultural historical activity theory to examine the interactions between the choices primary teachers make in the use of practical activities in their teaching of science and the purposes they attribute to these; their emotions, background and beliefs; and the construction of their identities as teachers of science. It draws on four case studies of science lessons taught over a term by four exemplary teachers of primary science. The data collected includes video recordings of science lessons, interviews with each teacher and some of their students, student work, teachers?? planning documents and observation notes. In this paper, we examine the reflexive relationship between emotion and identity, and the teachers?? objectives for their students?? learning; the purposes (scientific and social) the teachers attributed to practical activities; and the ways in which the teachers incorporated practical activities into their lessons. The findings suggest that it is not enough to address content knowledge, pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education, but that efforts also need to be made to influence prospective primary teachers?? identities as scientific thinkers and their emotional commitment to their students?? learning of science.     

The effects of hands-on and teacher demonstration laboratory methods on science achievement in relation to reasoning ability and prior knowledge

The present study compared the relative effects of hands-on and teacher demonstration laboratory methods on declarative knowledge (factual and conceptual) and procedural knowledge (problem-solving) achievement. Of particular interest were (a) whether these relationships vary as a function of reasoning ability and (b) whether prior knowledge and reasoning ability predict student achievement. Ninth-grade physical science students were randomly assigned to classes taught by either a hands-on or a teacher demonstration laboratory method. Students' reasoning ability and prior knowledge of science were assessed prior to the instruction. The two instructional methods resulted in equal declarative knowledge achievement. However, students in the hands-on laboratory class performed significantly better on the procedural knowledge test than did students in the teacher demonstration class. These results were unrelated to reasoning ability. Prior knowledge significantly predicted performance on the declarative knowledge test. Both reasoning ability and prior knowledge significantly predicted performance on the procedural knowledge test, with reasoning ability being the stronger predictor.     

Teacher candidates' growth in designing mathematical tasks as exhibited in their lesson planning

Abstract

In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K‐8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research on pedagogical content knowledge served as the theoretical framework for this study. The teacher candidates submitted lesson plans at three intervals during a semester‐long methods course; the lesson plans were then coded based on candidates' planned uses of academic tasks. Analyses of the data revealed trends in these teacher candidates' design of academic tasks over the course of the semester. Recommendations and implications are pre‐sented highlighting the benefits of incorporating the knowledge base on academic task into a mathematics methods course as a means to con‐tribute to teacher candidates' developing pedagogical content knowledge via their designing of academic tasks in lesson planning.     

The synthesis of subject and pedagogy for effective learning and teaching in primary science education

The issue of science subject knowledge, and how to address the demands of this for both practising and trainee primary teachers, has constituted a core research enterprise in recent decades. The Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status entail considerable conceptual demands for many primary trainees. Generating meaningful causal explanations of scientific phenomena lies at the heart of both the scientific endeavour itself, and of effective classroom teaching. To focus on knowledge acquisition per se in teacher education, however, obscures the critical issue of subject‐related pedagogical knowledge that ultimately influences classroom practice. This article explores the development of both subject knowledge and subject‐related pedagogical knowledge in science education. It is informed by science education literature, as well as by a substantial body of empirical research into trainees' learning of aspects of physical science accumulated over a five‐year period. Learners' perspectives of the synthesis of subject and pedagogy raise important questions concerning the nature of teacher education.     

Effects on the technological pedagogical content knowledge of early childhood teacher candidates using digital storytelling to teach mathematics

This study aimed to present early childhood teacher candidates' experiences preparing digital stories and to reveal the resulting changes, if any, in self-reported technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). This study was quasi-experimental and indicated that teacher candidates' evaluations of digital storytelling were affected by their preparation experiences. Moreover, results showed a shift from dual intersections of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge to the triple intersection of TPACK.     

Not a stale metaphor: the continued relevance of pedagogical content knowledge for science research and education

Recently, theorists have raised concerns that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become “a stale metaphor” that disregards diversity and equity, offers little to help teachers address students’ misconceptions, and portrays knowledge as “in the head” versus in practice. We refute these notions using grounded theory to specify ways one 7th-grade science teacher enacted PCK to advance student learning. With the definition of PCK as knowledge at the intersection of content and teaching, we utilised a framework for science PCK to explore instructional decision-making. Interviews conducted over three years revealed specific ways the teacher enacted PCK by designing and delivering instruction built on each of the seven conceptual science PCK components. The teacher enacted PCK to plan and deliver instruction that was responsive, adaptive, and considerate of changing needs of students and the changing classroom landscape. She infused PCK into instructional decision-making, instructional interactions, and mentoring of a student teacher, modelling the translation of educational theory into practice and habits of mind necessary for expert teaching. This enactment actively refutes Settlage’s critiques, and depicts PCK as a vibrant and effective stance for teaching that enhances learning.     

Undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs about subject matter and pedagogy measured periodically in a reform‐based mathematics and science teacher preparation program

This study describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. The instrument, Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science, was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a statewide, standards‐based project in the National Science Foundation's Collaborative in Excellence in Teaching Preparation (CETP) Program. We report on two applications of the instrument: (a) a contrast between MCTP teacher candidates' and non‐MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science as they initially encountered reform‐based instruction in their undergraduate courses, and (b) a landscaping of how the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics and science evolved over a 2.5‐year period. In support of current reform in science and mathematics teacher education, we determined that over an extended period the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs moved substantively and significantly in the direction intended. However, we also found that the non‐MCTP teacher candidates in the same reform‐based courses did not mirror this improvement in their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science or the teaching of those subjects. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 713–737, 2002     

Science teaching in science education

Reading the interesting article Discerning selective traditions in science education by Per Sund, which is published in this issue of CSSE, allows us to open the discussion on procedures for teaching science today. Clearly there is overlap between the teaching of science and other areas of knowledge. However, we must constantly develop new methods to teach and differentiate between science education and teaching science in response to the changing needs of our students, and we must analyze what role teachers and teacher educators play in both. We must continually examine the methods and concepts involved in developing pedagogical content knowledge in science teachers. Otherwise, the possibility that these routines, based on subjective traditions, prevent emerging processes of educational innovation. Modern science is an enormous field of knowledge in its own right, which is made more expansive when examined within the context of its place in society. We propose the need to design educative interactions around situations that involve science and society. Science education must provide students with all four dimensions of the cognitive process: factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. We can observe in classrooms at all levels of education that students understand the concepts better when they have the opportunity to apply the scientific knowledge in a personally relevant way. When students find value in practical exercises and they are provided opportunities to reinterpret their experiences, greater learning gains are achieved. In this sense, a key aspect of educational innovation is the change in teaching methodology. We need new tools to respond to new problems. A shift in teacher education is needed to realize the rewards of situating science questions in a societal context and opening classroom doors to active methodologies in science education to promote meaningful learning through meaningful teaching.     

Reforming Pedagogy: Inservice Teacher Education and Instructional Reform

To what extent can a large-scale national teacher-enhancement project help science teachers employ new pedagogical methods in the science classroom? In this study, data from 13 high school physics teachers who taught 23 classes with 401 students were examined to determine the extent to which a teacher-enhancement project can alter teachers’ pedagogy. Three groups of teachers were examined: experienced users of the new pedagogy, beginning users of the new pedagogy, and a group of comparison teachers who used traditional instructional methods. Results suggest the reform effort can increase the extent to which teachers engage students in experiments and use alternative assessment methods; however, helping teachers use constructivist discussion methods and discuss the nature of scientific inquiry appears to be more difficult. The implications for inservice teacher education are discussed.     

Science teacher orientations and PCK across science topics in grade 9 earth science

ABSTRACT

While the literature is replete with studies examining teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), few studies have investigated how science teacher orientations (STOs) shape classroom instruction. Therefore, this research explores the interplay between a STOs and the topic specificity of PCK across two science topics within a grade 9 earth science course. Through interviews and observations of one teacher’s classroom across two sequentially taught, this research contests the notion that teachers hold a single way of conceptualising science teaching and learning. In this, we consider if multiple ontologies can provide potential explanatory power for characterising instructional enactments. In earlier work with the teacher in this study, using generic interview prompts and general discussions about science teaching and learning, we accepted the existence of a unitary STO and its promise of consistent reformed instruction in the classroom. However, upon close examination of instruction focused on different science topics, evidence was found to demonstrate the explanatory power of multiple ontologies for shaping characteristically different epistemological constructions across science topics. This research points to the need for care in generalising about teacher practice, as it reveals that a teacher’s practice, and orientation, can vary, dependent on the context and science topics taught.     

Exploring the Impact of Varying Degrees of Cognitive Conflict in the Generation of both Subject and Pedagogical Knowledge as Primary Trainee Teachers Learn about Shadow Formation

Primary teacher preparation courses to need support students in developing not only science content knowledge, but also pedagogical knowledge appropriate to the effective translation and representation of subject matter for learners in classrooms. In the case of the generalist primary trainee, this constitutes a considerable challenge. This study explored how a group of 13 primary trainees developed subject and pedagogical knowledge during university‐based training as they investigated shadow production in a variety of contexts using cognitive conflict as a strategy for promoting conceptual change. By using a metacognitive approach, students analysed their own learning in response to increasing depth of conflict within a series of shadow investigations. The results indicate that the depth of conflict perceived by the learners in this study was instrumental in inducing conceptual change and generating pedagogical insight within the domain of light.