Collaboration among teachers,researchers and in-service trainers to develop an integrated science curriculum

The German contribution to the OECD SMTE Project is based on an evaluation of the PING Project (Practising Integration in Science Education) where teachers, researchers and in-service trainers collaborate in the development of an integrated school science programme emphasizing the relationship between humanity and nature. Collaboration among teachers, administrators, a research institute and in-service activities allowed the development of materials whichreflect the students' relationship withnature, promote responsible action, andare sensitive tothe cultural aspects of the topic. There is acoordinating networkwhich gives teachers information and access to materials, and a coordinating center for organizational development, information exchange, collection of relevant literature, revision of existing materials and subsequent distribution. Workshops are heldfor teacher education andfor dissemination.     

Primary/secondary transition and related teacher attitudes to science

There is an increasing call for K-12 continuity in education. This is supported by curriculum policy statements that are designed to cut across the traditional lines of discontinuity, particularly the primary/secondary boundary. However, apart from the different curriculum traditions of the two areas (Primary & Secondary), other major differences still remain. One such difference is the generalist training of primary teachers and the subject-based specialist training of their secondary counterparts. Does this result in attitudinal differences in respect to curriculum development and implementation priorities? This paper goes some way to addressing this question and is based upon interview data obtained from both practising teachers and teacher education undergraduates. The data represent two separate stages of research, one completed and one on-going.     

Science and computer-based technologies: attitudes of secondary science teachers

As is the case with most developed countries, pressures from various sectors of society have seen computers make a big presence in Australian education systems in the last decade. In the state of Victoria, integrating learning technology (LT) into all key learning areas of every school's curriculum has been a priority policy of governments. Over the last 8–10 years, large amounts of money have been provided to set schools up with computers and associated technologies. In the area of science, a range of LT resources is available for use in the teaching and learning processes in the classroom. However, there has been limited evaluation into teachers' attitudes towards, and types of, methodology and effectiveness of usage of computer-based technologies in knowledge construction. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, a study aimed at identifying science teachers' opinions and practices with the use of computer-based technologies in their teaching has been carried out in Victorian government schools. The focus of this paper is on the attitudes of these science teachers towards the use of computer-based technologies in their teaching. The study showed that most teachers have embraced the introduction of these technologies into the school structure well and are generally positive about their potential in the classroom. However, their use in the classrooms is infrequent and often on an ad hoc basis. A range of obstacles preventing the use of these technologies are identified and discussed in this paper.     

Perceptions and practices of multicultural education among Ethiopian secondary teacher education program officials,teacher educators and prospective teachers

This study explores the perceptions and practices of multicultural education among Ethiopian secondary teacher education program officials, teacher educators and prospective teachers. To that end, data were collected from secondary teacher education program officials, teacher educators and student teachers using questionnaire and interview. The data were analyzed by employing mixed methodologies. The study revealed that while Ethiopian secondary teacher education program officials and teacher educators have awareness about multicultural education, the prospective teachers’ awareness was found to be very low. Furthermore, there are inadequate practices of multicultural education in the secondary teacher education institutions. Suggestions which may enhance the implementation of multicultural education in the secondary teacher education program of the country and beyond are discussed in the article.     

Effectiveness of National Board Certified (NBC) teachers in terms of classroom environment, attitudes and achievement among secondary science students

No previous research has employed learning environments criteria in evaluating the effectiveness of the system of teacher certification sponsored by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Because the litmus test of any professional development effort is the extent of the changes in teaching behaviours in participating teachers’ classrooms, our study drew on the field of learning environments in evaluating the effectiveness of National Board Certified (NBC) teachers in terms of their students’ perceptions of their classroom environments. A sample of 443 students in 21 Grade 8 and 10 science classes taught by NBC teachers in South Florida was compared with a matched group of 484 students in 17 classes taught by non-NBC teachers in terms of classroom environment (as assessed by the What Is Happening In this Class?) and students’ attitudes and achievement. Statistically significant differences (with small to medium effect sizes ranging from 0.14 to 0.35 standard deviations) were found in favour of NBC teachers for numerous classroom and environment scales (Teacher Support, Involvement, Task Orientation, Investigation and Cooperation) and for student attitudes.     

Responding to teacher shortages: relationships among mobility experiences,attitudes, and intentions of Dutch teachers

From all over the world there have been calls from governmental institutions to address a shortage of high quality teachers. As changing jobs generates new experiences, job mobility could be a way for teachers to adhere to the government’s call to develop themselves into the teaching force needed. The research question of this study was: How do the experience with mobility and the attitude towards mobility of Dutch secondary school teachers shape their intentions to be mobile? A secondary analysis was conducted on data collected among 1261 respondents. Attitudes towards mobility were found to be linked to past experience with mobility and there is a strong relationship between the attitude towards mobility and the intention to be mobile. The control variables age, experience in teaching, and type of employment seem to have an effect as well. Implications for the teacher shortage issue are discussed.     

Learning strategies and learning-related emotions among teacher trainees

Teacher trainees are questioned about their strategic and emotional relationships with a key area of their future activity, learning. Characteristics of German teacher trainees are identified through comparisons with German students on a related course of study (educational science), and through comparisons with Swedish teacher trainees. N = 875 people took part in the study, of whom n = 135 German teacher trainees participated again after two years.There are national differences both in the numbers of students allocated to the identified learning strategy clusters, and in the balance of learning-related emotions. In both areas, the Swedish students show more favourable configurations.     

Initial teacher trainees and their views of teaching and learning

One hundred and sixty-two student secondary teachers were followed through a postgraduate certificate in education course at a university department of education in England to identify, using a variety of methods, changes in their thinking about the teaching and learning process and initial training course. While it was found that student teachers' knowledge of teaching gained from earlier experience was highly influential in their views on teaching and learning and interpretation of the course, differences between individuals and curriculum groups emerged which suggest that the course of training could not be considered a constant, as had been assumed by earlier studies. Several issues are raised and discussed concerning the influence of preservice courses on student teachers' thinking and classroom practice, together with their implications for course design and the selection of students.     

Beginning science teacher cognition and its origins in the preservice secondary science teacher program

The objectives of this study were to (a) identify the major tenets of a preservice secondary science education program as expressed by science education faculty, (b) identify knowledge structures that beginning secondary science teachers have constructed about the teaching and learning of science, and (c) identify the correlatives that exist between the first two objectives. The study was grounded in the postulates of teacher cognition in that teachers construct their own schema from their experiences in order to comprehend, plan for, and respond to the dynamics of their classroom. This qualitative study consisted of interviews and observations of beginning science teachers, interviews with science education faculty, and an analysis of the course syllabi of that faculty. Methods of single and cross-case analytic induction were combined to analyze the data. Based on the data, it may be concluded that aspects of the program, such as student-centered learning, cooperative learning, general pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge, were adopted into the schema of the beginning teachers; the degree of adoption appeared to be linked to the individual's most significant learning experiences and the constraints of the school situation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 633–653, 1997.     

Conceptions of geological time among primary teacher trainees,with reference to their engagement with geoscience,history, and science

People's grasp of geological time is under-researched, despite attention being devoted to the philosophy of time. Research carried out with 179 pre-service primary teachers suggests they perceive events in Earth's geological past as falling into three distinct clusters: extremely ancient, less ancient and geologically recent. Respondents' grasp of relative time is more secure than their grasp of absolute time and instruments which address absolute time generate less conclusive evidence than do those requiring simple sequencing. Trainee teachers vary in their geoscience interests and classroom experiences and are more comfortable and imaginative with their teaching of history than with their geology, despite the parallels. In order to render more secure people's learning of geoscience concepts and processes, a deep time framework is needed for each learner, individualized to accommodate learner characteristics and local geoscience features.     

Images of science teaching: An exploration of the beliefs of preservice secondary science teachers

Science graduates who enrol in a preservice Graduate Diploma of Education bring with them many years of experience as learners of science. These will have enabled them to develop implicit theories about what a science teacher is and does. Such implicit theories almost certainly affect the process of becoming a teacher, and may prove persistent despite the input from University and school during the Dip. Ed. year and beyond. This paper presents the research method and results obtained from a group of graduates on entry to their Diploma course. Concept maps and Repertory Grid interviews were obtained from eleven graduates, with varying life experiences. The paper presents analyses of these and explores emerging themes. Specializations: reflective teaching, general science and biology, curriculum and assessment.     

A comparison of elementary teacher attitudes and skills in teaching science in Australia and the United States

A study, originally don in Australia in 1983, was replicated in an urban-suburb in the Unitd States. The Australian project vivolved matched pairs of year-fiv teachers in one of two workshops. One workshop taught the skills of teaching electricity, while the other one discussed issues in gender equity in science education (active participation of both girls and boys, comparble student-teacher interactions, and research findings concerning equity). The U.S. study provided three types of workshops (skills, equity and skills, and equity) for comparable groups of fourth and fifth grade teachers. All teachers and their students were subsequently obseved during lessons involving an electricity unit, queried both students and teachers concerning the appropriateness of different fields of science for boys and girls and their interest and aptitudes in doing various types of science. Results from both studies suggest that gender differences in student attitudes toward science may be amellorated by specific types of teacher workshop. Specializations: Gender research, science teacher education, science education national policy. Specializations: Elementary and middle school science education, classroom research. Specializations: Secondary science education, data analysis.