Nurturing Confidence in Preservice Elementary Science Teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in personal science teaching self-efficacy (PSTE), outcome expectancy (STOE), and science conceptual understanding and relationships among these in preservice teachers. Seventy preservice teachers enrolled in science teaching methods courses participated in this study. PSTE, STOE, and science conceptual understanding increased significantly during participation in the course. The study established that novice learners with minimal prior knowledge couldn't be expected to understand and employ core concepts in their learning schema without extensive guidance. The relationship between science learning confidence and science teaching confidence has not been theoretically delineated in the area of science teacher education. Findings suggest that there may be important connections between the two for preservice teachers that would be fruitful areas for future research.     

Nurturing Confidence in Preservice Elementary Science Teachers

This study examined changes in personal science teaching self-efficacy (PSTE), outcome expectancy (STOE), and science conceptual understanding and relationships among these in preservice teachers. Seventy preservice teachers enrolled in science teaching methods courses participated in this study. PSTE, STOE, and science conceptual understanding increased significantly during participation in the course. The study established that novice learners with minimal prior knowledge could not be expected to understand and employ core concepts in their learning schema without extensive guidance. The relationship between science learning confidence and science teaching confidence has not been theoretically delineated in the area of science teacher education. Findings suggest there may be important connections between the 2 for preservice teachers that would be fruitful areas for future research.     

Mathematics Anxiety In Preservice Elementary School Teachers

Mathematics anxiety is a condition that exists in many children and adults. Studies (Bulmahn & Young, 1982, Kelly & Tomhave, 1985) have indicated that about 10% of all preservice elementary school teachers have mathematics anxiety. The author verified this statistic in a research study conducted by Basta & Unglaub (1994). In fact, with the particular sample used in the 1994 study (79 preservice elementary school teachers) the number of high mathematics anxious rose to 11.4% based on the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (Suinn, 1972).     

Validating the Conceptions of Assessment-III Scale in Canadian Preservice Teachers

Building on Snow's (1989) idea of 2 pathways to achievement outcomes, a performance and a commitment pathway, this study examined how cognitive and motivational factors associated with each of these pathways, respectively, contributed to the prediction of achievement outcomes in science. The sample consisted of 491 10th- and 11th-grade high school students. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that (a) students' cognitive abilities were the strongest predictors of their performance in science as measured by standardized test scores; (b) motivational processes enhanced the predictive validity for science test scores and grades beyond the variance accounted for by ability; and (c) motivational processes were the strongest predictors of students' commitment to science in the form of situational engagement and anticipated choices of science-related college majors and careers. These results are consistent with Snow's (1989) conjecture that both performance and commitment pathway-related factors are necessary for understanding the full range of person-level inputs to achievement outcomes.     

Factors Affecting Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Preparing More Confident Preservice Elementary Science Teachers: One Elementary Science Methods Teacher's Self-Study

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Biotechnology of Elementary Education Preservice Teachers: The first Spanish experience

Due to the important impact that biotechnology has on current Western societies, well-informed critical citizens are needed. People prepared to make conscious decisions about aspects of biotechnology that relate to their own lives. Teachers play a central role in all education systems. Thus, the biotechnological literacy of preservice teachers is an important consideration as they will become an influential collective as future teachers of the next generation of children. The attitudes toward science (and biotechnology) that teachers have affect their behavior and influence the way they implement their daily practice of science teaching in school. This study analyzes the attitudes and knowledge of Spanish preservice teachers toward biotechnology. We designed a new survey instrument that was completed by 407 university students who were taking official degree programs in preschool and primary education. Our results point out that although they are aware of biotechnology applications, topics concerning the structure of DNA, management of genetic information inside the cell, genetically modified organism technology and the use of microorganisms as biotechnological tools were not correctly answered. According to our attitude analysis, Spanish preservice teachers could be defined as opponents of genetically modified product acquisition, supporters of biotechnology for medical purposes and highly interested in increasing their knowledge about biotechnology and other scientific advances. Our results show a positive correlation between better knowledge and more positive attitudes toward biotechnology. A Spanish preservice teacher with positive attitudes toward biotechnology tends to be a student with a strong biology background who scored good marks in our knowledge test.     

Preparing Elementary Preservice Teachers for Urban Elementary Science Classrooms: Challenging Cultural Biases Toward Diverse Students

This study reports the learning of elementary preservice teachers regarding diversity and teaching science in diverse urban elementary classrooms. From participating in a semester-long book club, the preservice teachers reveal their cultural biases, connect and apply their knowledge of diversity, and understand that getting to know their students are important elements for teaching science in diverse classrooms. These 3 things connect in ways that allow the preservice teachers to understand how their cultural biases impede student learning and gain new knowledge of diversity as they change their cultural biases. Implications of this study reveal that preservice teachers need opportunities to reveal, confront, challenge, and change their cultural models and to develop new models for teaching science in urban elementary classrooms.

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Studying Children's Conceptions of Life: An Example of Research Carried Out by Preservice Science Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Sustaining Reform-Based Science Teaching of Preservice and Inservice Elementary School Teachers

This study examined the influence of a professional development program based around commercially available inquiry science curricula on the teaching practices of 27 beginning elementary school teachers and their teacher mentors over a 2 year period. A quantitative rubric used to score inquiry elements and use of data in videotaped lessons indicated that education students assigned to inquiry-based classrooms during their methods course or student teaching year outperformed students without this experience. There was also a significant positive effect of multi-year access to the kit-based program on mentor teaching practice. Recent inclusion of a “writing in science” program in both preservice and inservice training has been used to address the lesson element that received lowest scores—evaluation of data and its use in scientific explanation.     

Preservice Teachers’ Exploration of Children’s Alternative Conceptions: Cornerstone for Planning to Teach Science

Investigation involving children’s understandings of scientific concepts have been a dominant area of research in science education over the last 2 1/2 decades. One fruitful outcome of these studies is to alert teachers to difficulties in learning science. Although this information is commendable in highlighting their existence, not much is presented on how to deal with the alternative conceptions. It is generally believed that teachers tend to teach the way they were taught, and breaking this cycle requires different emphasis on pedagogy in teacher education. The focus of this article is on preservice teachers’ experiences in a science education course as they explore the importance of children’s alternative conceptions and in using such knowledge to make decisions about teaching.     

Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers: Examination of the Multiple Factors Reported as Influential

This study explores the science teaching efficacy beliefs of pr-service elementary teachers and the relationship between efficacy beliefs and multiple factors such as antecedent factors (participation in extracurricular activities and number of science and science teaching methods courses taken), conceptual understanding, classroom management beliefs and science teaching attitudes. Science education majors (n?=?71) and elementary education majors (n?=?262) were compared with respect to these variables. Finally, the predictors of two constructs of science teaching efficacy beliefs, personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) and science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE), were examined by multiple linear regression analysis. According to the results, participation in extracurricular activities has a significant but low correlation with science concept knowledge, science teaching attitudes, PSTE and STOE. In addition, there is a small but significant correlation between science concept knowledge and outcome expectancy, which leads the idea that preservice elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding in science contributes to their science teaching self-efficacy. This study reveals a moderate correlation between science teaching attitudes and STOE and a high correlation between science teaching attitudes and PSTE. Additionally, although the correlation coefficient is low, the number of methodology courses was found to be one of the correlates of science teaching attitudes. Furthermore, students of both majors generally had positive self-efficacy beliefs on both the STOE and PSTE. Specifically, science education majors had higher science teaching self-efficacy than elementary education majors. Regression results showed that science teaching attitude is the major factor in predicting both PSTE and STOE for both groups.     

The Role of Content Knowledge and Problem Features on Preservice Teachers’ Appraisal of Elementary Mathematics Tasks

The objective of this study was to examine the nature of preservice teachers’ evaluations of elementary mathematics problems using the Mathematical Tasks Framework (MTF), a model designed to discriminate among tasks according to their cognitive complexity. We also tested the relationship between mathematics content knowledge and problem length on the preservice teachers’ evaluations. Twenty-six undergraduate students enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course at a large urban university were introduced to the MTF and cognitive complexity during a class lecture and were subsequently required to sort 32 mathematics problems according to the framework. Results demonstrated that overall, the preservice teachers had more difficulty accurately classifying problems considered to represent high levels of cognitive complexity compared to problems that were less complex. Those with strong mathematics content knowledge, as measured by a standardized test, were able to sort the problems more accurately than those with weaker content knowledge. Two open-ended items assessing content knowledge were not related to sorting performance. Finally, the preservice teachers were influenced by the surface characteristic of task length; the data indicated that the teachers tended to label short problems as less cognitively demanding and long problems as more so. Implications for preservice professional development include an increased emphasis on mathematics content knowledge as well as expert modeling of the identification of deep conceptual principles at the heart of the mathematics curriculum.     

Misconceptions Regarding the Brain: The Neuromyths of Preservice Teachers

Understanding preservice teachers' misconceptions regarding the brain and neuroscience (neuromyths) can provide information that helps teachers to apply neuroscience knowledge in an educational context. The objective of this study was to investigate these misconceptions. Following preliminary research, a questionnaire comprising 59 challenging assertions in two categories (education and neuromyths) was developed as a data collection tool. The findings identify preservice teachers' neuromyths, which were found to vary by teaching area.     

Investigating Preservice STEM Teacher Conceptions of STEM Education

Surrounding the national emphasis on improving STEM education, effective STEM educators are required. Connected, yet often overlooked, is the need for effective preservice STEM teaching instruction for incoming educators. At a basic level, preservice STEM teacher education should include STEM content, pedagogy, and conceptualization. However, the literature suggests no leading conception of STEM education, and little is known about how preservice STEM teachers are conceptualizing STEM education. In order to explore preservice STEM teacher conceptions of STEM education, preservice teachers at a large, Midwestern research university were given an open-ended survey eliciting both textual and visual responses. Here, we report and discuss the results of employing this instrument in relation with the current STEM conceptualization literature.