Pre-Service Elementary Teachers'' Perceptions of Factors in an Holistic Methods Course Influencing their Confidence in Teaching Science

Lack of confidence towards science is a major factor in the avoidance of teaching science at elementary school. This paper reports the results of a survey that asked 28 pre-service elementary teachers what they believed contributed to their confidence towards science and the teaching of science during a second year science unit where an holistic teaching/learning approach was taken. The holistic nature of the unit was based on a model that considered six major factors to be important influences on the confidence of the pre-service teacher. Using median values, and ranking from the most to least important factor influencing their confidence, the pre-service teachers identified practicum, teacher educator, pedagogical content knowledge, learning environment, assessment and reflection. Factors within pedagogical content knowledge, ranked from most to least important, were science pedagogy, science activities, children's views of science, science content knowledge and investigating scientifically. The wide variability in responses highlighted that no single factor was perceived to be a major contributor to the pre-service teachers' confidence, but rather a balanced mix was necessary. Implications for pre-service elementary science education units are discussed.     

An Exploration of the Relationship Between Case Study Methodology and Learning Style Preference

The purpose of this study was to look at the use of the case method approach in relation to the preferred learning style of students in an elementary science methods course. Ninety-seven students enrolled in an elementary and elementary/middle level science methods course at Midwest university participated in this study. Participants completed a Barsch Learning Styles Inventory to determine learning style preference. At the end of the semester, students were asked to rate the eight identified teaching methods utilized throughout the semester as to their effectiveness. This research shows that pre-service teachers found the use of case studies as potentially useful in helping them learn and process course content no matter what learning style preference the pre-service teacher has.     

The Role of Struggle in Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Experiences as Students and Approaches to Facilitating Science Learning

Science education researchers are concerned with preparing pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) to teach in ways that support students to learn science in a meaningful way. Preparing elementary teachers to teach science is complicated given that they tend to be generalists and may not have the same experience with science as secondary teachers. During an elementary science methods course, we explored PSETs?? perspectives on the teaching and learning of science via a case study that included four PSETs. Using Frykholm??s (Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 19:125?C149, 2004) framework of ??educative?? and ??debilitating?? discomfort, we examined PSETs?? approaches to their own science learning and their approaches to science teaching. A theme apparent in PSETs?? perspectives was struggle. We described ways in which struggle was either educative or debilitating for PSETs, both in terms of their own learning and the ways in which they approached teaching. Some PSETs who struggled in their own learning developed learning experiences to engage their students in reform-based science teaching, while some PSETs developed learning experiences that prevented their students from experiencing any sort of struggle in their learning process. The ways in which these students dealt with their own learning struggles mirrored the ways in which they dealt with their struggles to become teachers of reform-based science instruction. Helping PSETs to deal with their feelings of discomfort with science content or ideas about the nature of science learning and teaching promoted by reform documents may be a key issue in developing their willingness to become facilitators of meaningful science learning.     

Supporting pre-service elementary teachers in their understanding of inquiry teaching through the construction of a third discursive space

Several international reports promote the use of the inquiry teaching methodology for improvements in science education at elementary school. Nevertheless, research indicates that pre-service elementary teachers have insufficient experience with this methodology and when they try to implement it, the theory they learnt in their university education clashes with the classroom practice they observe, a problem that has also been noted with other innovative methodologies. So, it appears essential for pre-service teachers to conduct supportive reflective practice during their education to integrate theory and practice, which various studies suggest is not usually done. Our study shows how opening up a third discursive space can assist this supportive reflective practice. The third discursive space appears when pre-service teachers are involved in specific activities that allow them to contrast the discourses of theoretical knowledge taught at university with practical knowledge arising from their ideas on science and science teaching and their observations during classroom practice. The case study of three pre-service teachers shows that this strategy was fundamental in helping them to integrate theory and practice, resulting in a better understanding of the inquiry methodology and its application in the classroom.     

Museum Experience — a Resource for Science Teacher Education

In this study, the researcher included an extensive science museum experience for the pre-service secondary science teachers within a teaching methods course to enhance their learning to teach science. The extensive museum experience covered four aspects: the visit, discussion with museum educators, the development of lesson plans, and practising teaching in the science museum. Twenty-one pre-service science teachers attended this course. Qualitative methods were used for data collection and analysis. The data sources included field notes, reports, diaries, and interviews. The findings show that this course connecting museum resources and context had created a novel situation for pre-service science teachers to learn how to teach science. The discourses with the museum educators also provided them with innovations in education beyond the gains from traditional teacher education. Through developing and practising teaching activities, they improved their understanding of the meanings and effective ways to use museum resources in science teaching. Pre-service science teachers reported that getting feedback from peers and observing modeling teaching was helpful. This course provided an alternative way to view how scientific activities were developed for junior high students. In general, the use of museum settings provides a new profile of learning and teaching course for pre-service science teachers in Taiwan. Based on the findings, this study makes suggestions for those science teacher educators who would like to use science museum resources and contexts to nurture prospective science teachers.     

Pre-service English teachers’ perceptions and practice of field experience and professional learning from expert teachers’ mentoring

Though it is well known that pre-service teachers’ field experiences are recognized as key to enhancing teaching practice, Taiwanese pre-service teachers who take ‘Teaching Methods and Materials’ in elementary school’s seven areas often complain that they lack field experience. They do not have the opportunity to experience teaching demonstrations among real elementary school students. This case study discusses 35 pre-service English teachers’ professional learning and the field experience they acquired from expert teachers in the Teaching Methods and Materials of English in the Elementary School course in Taiwan. Data in this study include: (1) observation notes, (2) lesson plans, worksheets, and teaching materials, (3) videos on teaching demonstrations, (4) conversation notes on lesson planning, (5) the class syllabus, (6) semi-structured interviews with expert teachers, and (7) participants’ reflections on their mentoring experience. Participants held positive attitudes toward the mentoring experience and their expert teachers. Because it helped them combine their knowledge of the classroom context, lesson plan content, instructional pedagogy, and their students, these 35 participants regarded teaching practice as more beneficial than observing expert teachers’ instructions and having conversation with expert teachers after teaching practice. In addition to mentored field experience, online discussions and seminars on topics are suggested for inclusion in mentoring activities.     

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.     

The Challenges of Science Inquiry Teaching for Pre-Service Teachers in Elementary Classrooms: Difficulties on and under the Scene

In the context of the emphasis on inquiry teaching in science education, this study looks into how pre-service elementary teachers understand and practise science inquiry teaching during field experience. By examining inquiry lesson preparation, practice, and reflections of pre-service elementary teachers, we attempt to understand the difficulties they encounter and what could result from those difficulties in their practice. A total of 16 seniors (fourth-year students) in an elementary teacher education program participated in this study. In our findings, we highlight three difficulties ‘on the lesson’ that are related to teaching practices that were missing in the classrooms: (1) developing children’s own ideas and curiosity, (2) guiding children in designing valid experiments for their hypotheses, (3) scaffolding children’s data interpretation and discussion and another three difficulties ‘under the lesson’ that are related to problems with the pre-service teachers’ conceptualization of the task: (4) tension between guided and open inquiry, (5) incomplete understanding of hypothesis, and (6) lack of confidence in science content knowledge. Based on these findings, we discuss how these difficulties are complexly related in the pre-service teachers’ understandings and action. Several suggestions for science teacher education for inquiry teaching, especially hypothesis-based inquiry teaching, are then explored.     

USING A STATE TEACHER CERTIFICATION TEST TO ASSESS AN INQUIRY-BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM

In this study, we looked at the impact of our specially designed inquiry-based science courses for pre-service elementary teachers on their science content knowledge as measured by a high-stakes state certification test for elementary education. We conducted a pre/post-analysis of the certification test scores of 1,003 pre-service teachers. Cohort 1 consisted of 424 students who took the test prior to implementation of our reformed science courses. Cohort 2 consisted of 579 students taking the test after complete implementation. We examined overall test scores, science subscores, total science credits, age, and science transfer credits. We found that the overall test score dropped significantly from cohort 1 to cohort 2, but the science subscores remained unchanged. Our results showed that students who took all 3 of the science content courses vs. none scored significantly higher on the science portion, non-traditional students (older than 25) scored similarly to traditional-aged students, and there was a negative correlation with the number of science courses transferred. Of importance is the fact that students who took the minimal number of science courses and are less interested in science passed the science portion at the same rate (over 90%) as science majors and minors. We conclude that our pre-service elementary teachers can and do learn science content using inquiry as recommended by the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996).     

How Do Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Views on Science, Scientists, and Science Teaching Change Over Time in a Science Teacher Training Program?

Every aspect of teaching, including the instructional method, the course content, and the types of assessments, is influenced by teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. Teacher education programs play an important role in the development of beliefs regarding teaching and learning. The purpose of the study was to document pre-service teachers’ views on science, scientists, and science teaching as well as the relations between these views and the offered courses over several years spent in an elementary science teacher training program. The sample consisted of 145 pre-service elementary science teachers who were being trained to teach general science to students in the 6th through 8th grades. The research design was a cross-sectional study. Three different instruments were used to collect the data, namely, the “Draw a Scientist Test”, “Draw a Science Teacher Test”, and “Students’ Views about Science” tests. The elementary science teacher training program influenced pre-service science teachers’ views about science, scientists and science teaching to different degrees. The most pronounced impact of the program was on views about science teaching. Participants’ impressions of science teaching changed from teacher-centered views to student-centered ones. In contrast, participants’ views about scientists and science did not change much. This result could be interpreted as indicating that science teacher training programs do not change views about science and scientists but do change beliefs regarding teaching science.     

Science Curriculum Components Favored by Taiwanese Biology Teachers

The new 1–9 curriculum framework in Taiwan provides a remarkable change from previous frameworks in terms of the coverage of content and the powers of teachers. This study employs a modified repertory grid technique to investigate biology teachers' preferences with regard to six curriculum components. One hundred and eighty-five in-service and pre-service biology teachers were asked to determine which science curriculum components they liked and disliked most of all to include in their biology classes. The data show that the rank order of these science curriculum components, from top to bottom, was as follows: application of science, manipulation skills, scientific concepts, social/ethical issues, problem-solving skills, and the history of science. They also showed that pre-service biology teachers, as compared with in-service biology teachers, favored problem-solving skills significantly more than manipulative skills, while in-service biology teachers, as compared with pre-service biology teachers, favored manipulative skills significantly more than problem-solving skills. Some recommendations for ensuring the successful implementation of the Taiwanese 1–9 curriculum framework are also proposed.     

A sociocultural investigation of pre-service teachers’ outdoor experiences and perceived obstacles to outdoor learning

Abstract

This study utilizes a sociocultural approach to explore how pre-service elementary teachers’ experiences in both outdoor and formal school settings have contributed to their intentions for taking their students outdoors and perceived obstacles to doing so. The participants were pre-service elementary teachers (N?=?95) enrolled in an elementary science education methods course at a public university in the Midwestern United States. This study builds on the qualitative research methodology established in a prior research study, whereby after reading Richard Louv’s book entitled Last Child in the Woods, pre-service teachers completed written essay responses to prompts about their past outdoor experiences, their intentions for taking their students outdoors, and additionally in this study, perceived obstacles to doing so once they become teachers. Analysis of the data indicates the importance of participants’ youth experiences in the outdoors and positive intentions for taking students outside. In addition, findings describe major obstacles discussed by pre-service teachers, and we use sociocultural theory to analyse the context of these findings. Implications for teacher educators working to better equip pre-service teachers to overcome these perceived obstacles are discussed.     

Why change to active learning? Pre-service and in-service science teachers’ perceptions

This article explores pre-service and in-service science teachers’ perceptions on active learning, and examines the effectiveness of active learning by pre-service science teachers in the Irish second level classroom through a two-phase study. In the first phase, data on perceptions were gathered from final year pre-service teachers and in-service teachers in Irish post-primary schools. In the second phase, pre-service science teachers, working with teacher educators, designed a comparative test for students in lower secondary science classrooms. This tested achievement differences for students taught in traditional ways and students taught using active learning approaches. While the test results show a significant difference between traditional teaching and active learning, overall analysis indicates that the majority of teachers in the study were not convinced of the value of this way of teaching. The findings have implications for science teaching and the enactment of curriculum reform measures in compulsory education.     

Assessing and Enhancing Pre-service Science Teachers’ Self-Efficacy to Teach Science Through Argumentation: Challenges and Possible Solutions

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of an intervention on pre-service science teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science through argumentation and explore the challenges they experienced while implementing argumentation. Forty pre-service science teachers in their final semester of schooling participated in an intervention that lasted for 11 weeks. Intervention focused on participants’ understanding of argumentation as a scientific practice and as a pedagogical tool. The participants engaged in argument construction, evaluation, and critique, taught three argumentation lessons, engaged in peer observation of teaching, and reflection on their teaching skills. Data were collected through Argumentation Self-Efficacy Scale and an open-ended questionnaire. The results show that the intervention had a significantly positive effect on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy. Despite this reported self-efficacy, participants experienced significant challenges in guiding their students to construct scientific arguments and assessing the arguments developed by their students. Discussion focuses on implications for professional development of pre-service and in-service science teachers.     

Exploring the Development of Pre-Service Science Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This paper explores how a group of pre-service elementary science student teachers came to understand the development of their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) over the course of a semester??s study in a science methods course. At the start of the semester, PCK was introduced to them as an academic construct and as a conceptual tool that they could use to plan for, and assess, the development of their professional knowledge and practice as beginning science teachers. All participants were provided with a tool known as a CoRe (Content Representation) and the manner in which they worked with the CoRe was such that it supported them in planning for and assessing their own learning about teaching elementary science through a focus on the development of their PCK. Through analysis of data derived from the application of a CoRe based methodology (modified and adapted for this study) to the teaching of the science topic of Air, participants?? reasons for, confidence in, and perceived meaningfulness of their learning about science teaching could be examined. In so doing, the nature of participants?? PCK development over time was made explicit. The results illustrate real possibilities for ways of enhancing student teachers?? ongoing professional learning in teacher preparation and offer a window into how the nature of PCK in pre-service education might be better understood and developed.     

Teachers’ Willingness to Adopt Nature of Science Activities Following a Physical Science Professional Development

The major science education reform documents emphasize the need for K-12 students to have a robust understanding of nature of science (NOS), and inservice teachers consequently need to develop their NOS teaching repertoires. This study investigated the extent to which science teachers were willing to adopt new strategies and activities for teaching NOS in their classrooms. The participants were 36 elementary, middle, and high school teachers who were completing a year-long physical science professional development (PD) that included NOS instruction. Data sources consisted of surveys (teachers’ NOS views, teaching practices), collected work, and responses to post-PD follow-up questions. The professional development course was successful in that teachers incorporated many of these strategies and activities into their own practice. This study also endeavored to identify factors that facilitated the adoption of these new approaches to teaching NOS. While personal characteristics such as pre- or post-PD NOS understandings, NOS gains, and grade level taught were not related to the number of NOS activities incorporated, teachers from suburban and rural schools were significantly more likely to implement NOS activities.