A Technology Preservice Program for Secondary Mathematics Teachers

No abstract available for this article.     

Hopes and Fears for Science Teaching: The Possible Selves of Preservice Teachers in a Science Education Program

Given the high attrition rate of beginning science teachers, it is imperative to better prepare science preservice teachers, so that they can be successful during the early years of their teaching. The purpose of this study was to explore science preservice teachers’ views of themselves as a future teacher, in particular their hopes and fears for science teaching and the experiences that help to shape their possible selves. Employed were qualitative methods, which included open-ended surveys and face-to-face interviews. Eleven preservice teachers who enrolled in a secondary science teacher preparation program participated. Findings showed six categories of future selves with the most frequent category being for effective/ineffective science teaching. When their hoped-for and feared selves were not balanced, participants articulated more fears. Regarding the primary influence in shaping their hopes and fears, diverse past experiences related to teaching and learning appeared to be more salient factors than science teacher education program. Given the enriched understanding of the science preservice teachers’ perceptions, we provided suggestions for science teacher educators.     

Rethinking Recruitment: The Comprehensive and Strategic Recruitment of Secondary Science Teachers

The shortage of science teachers has spurred a discussion about their retention and recruitment. While discussion about retaining science teachers has increased dramatically in just the last few years, science teacher educators have not attended to the recruitment of science teachers with the same tenacity. This paper is our effort to initiate this discussion and to focus on secondary science teachers. We begin by suggesting why recruitment is important and explore related research. We then suggest a comprehensive and strategic orientation towards recruitment that serves as a mechanism to examine current practices in the field. In presenting this position paper, we hope that science teacher educators will contemplate their own recruitment practices and begin discussing the recruitment process more openly with one another.     

Web Based Course on Earth and Environmental Science for Preservice and Inservice 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.     

Virtual Reality: a Tool for Preservice Science Teachers to Put Theory into Practice

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The purpose of the present study was to investigate, compare, and characterize interactive VR-based preservice science teacher clinical teaching...     

高师数学教育专业程序设计语言教学探讨

分析了当前高师数学教育专业程序设计语言教学内容与课程设置的现状与不足,阐述编程训练的重要性,提出将程序设计语言教学分为基础教学和提高教学阶段,探讨教学改革中所采取的措施。     

Looking Back to Direct the Future: A Playbill for Preservice Teachers

English learners (ELs) from Confucian heritage culture (CHC) are often perceived to be reserved and conforming to the authority of the classroom. But a careful look at struggles between a CHC student and the mainstream teacher reveals that the teacher's views and pedagogical approaches shape academic and social hierarchy in the classroom. Implications regarding working with Asian- and CHC-background learners are included.     

燕山大学数学教师发展规划初探

针对燕山大学目前教学师资短缺、同时既要提高数学科研水平,又要完成繁重的教学任务的现状,提出了燕山大学数学师资人员定额的、科学的、量化的、可持续发展的方案,从而在数学师资的引进、培养、发展规划等方面为学校及理学院提供了科学的理论依据。     

Environmental Education Course Development for Preservice Secondary School Science Teachers in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

In Summer 1996, an opinionnaire survey was used to evaluate the opinions of Korean professors, in earth science education and geology departments, about the science concepts related to environmental issues that might be important for secondary preservice earth science teachers in the Republic of Korea. The opinionnaire contained 63 items within the 14 major topics being considered. It used a 4-choice, Likert-type scale and was completed by 47 professors (response rate = 51%). There was a good coincidence in opinions on major topics to be included. Respondents favored an environmental earth science course that emphasized the “human impact on the environment” rather than “natural environmental hazards.” Also, they favored study of natural hazards that commonly occur in Korea within a context of worldwide natural hazards.     

Learning to Question: Categories of Questioning Used by Preservice Teachers During Diagnostic Mathematics Interviews

Developing appropriate questioning techniquesis an important part of mathematics teachingand assessment. This study examined thequestioning strategies used by 48 preserviceteachers during one-on-one diagnosticmathematics interviews with children. Eachparticipant conducted an audiotaped interviewwith one child, followed by an analysis andreflection of the interview. Data wereanalyzed to develop general categories ofquestions used by the preservice teachers. These categories included: 1) checklisting, 2) instructing rather thanassessing, and 3) probing and follow-upquestions. The analyses and reflectionscompleted by preservice teachers indicated thatusing the diagnostic interview format allowedthem to recognize and reflect on effectivequestioning techniques. Through an examinationof these categories of questions, we offersuggestions for teaching the skill ofmathematics questioning in preservice teachereducation courses.     

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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The Status of Civic Education: A Preservice Program Response

Civic education is an issue of growing and serious concern. There is diminished time for civics, fewer course offerings, and gaps in students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The role of teacher education in addressing this problem is one area deserving additional focus. This article describes the project begun by the secondary education faculty at one university to provide teacher education candidates in all content areas with the ability to address civics in meaningful ways.     

Preparing the Next Generation of Science Teacher Educators: A Model for Developing PCK for Teaching Science Teachers

Science education doctoral programs often fail to address a critical piece—the explicit attention to the preparation of future science teacher educators. In this article, we argue that, in addition to developing skills and a knowledge base for research, doctoral students must be given the opportunity to observe, practice, and reflect on the pedagogical knowledge necessary to instruct science teachers. In particular, we contend that the construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can be adapted to the context of knowledge for teaching science teachers. We use the PCK construct to propose a model for the development of knowledge for teaching science teachers, grounded in our experiences as doctoral students and faculty mentors. We end by recommending a vision for doctoral preparation and a new standard to be included in the ASTE Professional Knowledge Standards for Science Teacher Educators.     

Our Practice, Their Readiness: Teacher Educators Collaborate to Explore and Improve Preservice Teacher Readiness for Science and Math Instruction

Since many preservice teachers (PTs) display anxiety over teaching math and science, four PT educators collaborated to better understand the PTs’ background experiences and attitudes toward those subjects. The research project provided two avenues for professional learning: the data collected from the PTs and the opportunity for collaborative action research. The mixed method study focused on: the relationship between gender and undergraduate major (science versus non-science) with respect to previous and current engagement in science and math, understanding the processes of inquiry, and learning outside the classroom. A field trip to a science center provided the setting for the data collection. From a sample of 132 PTs, a multivariate analysis showed that the science major of PTs explained most of the gender differences with respect to the PTs’ attitudes toward science and mathematics. The process of inquiry is generally poorly interpreted by PTs, and non-science majors prefer a more social approach in their learning to teach science and math. The four educators/collaborators reflect on the impacts of the research on their individual practices, for example, the need to: include place-based learning, attend to the different learning strategies taken by non-science majors, emphasize social and environmental contexts for learning science and math, be more explicit regarding the processes of science inquiry, and provide out-of-classroom experiences for PTs. They conclude that the collaboration, though difficult at times, provided powerful opportunities for examining individual praxis.