Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of moon phases before and after instruction

This study focused on the conceptual understandings held by 78 preservice elementary teachers about moon phases, before and after instruction. Participants in the physics groups received instruction on moon phases in an inquiry‐based physics course; participants in the methods group received no instruction on moon phases. The instructive effect of two different types of preinstruction interviews also was compared. The instruction on moon phases used in the study is from Physics by Inquiry by Lillian McDermott. In the study, the method of inquiry followed a qualitative design, involving classroom observations, document analysis, and structured interviews. Inductive data analysis identified patterns and themes in the participants' conceptual understanding. Results indicate that without the instruction, most preservice teachers were likely to hold alternative conceptions on the cause of moon phases. Participants who had the instruction were much more likely to hold a scientific understanding after instruction. The instruction appears to be more effective in promoting a scientific understanding of moon phases than instruction previously reported in the literature. It also appears that using a three‐dimensional model or making two‐dimensional drawings during the preinstruction interviews does not have instructive value. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 633–658, 2002     

Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the causes of seasons

This study used both a written procedure and a procedure of models with verbal explanation to investigate 49 preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of what causes the seasons. Only one person each provided a response on each procedure which reflected a scientific conception. A total of 39 students provided alternative conception responses on the written procedure: 42 students provided responses judged to reflect alternative conceptions on the models with verbal explanation procedure. The distance of the earth from the sun was the most commonly expressed alternative conception on both procedures. Many students were not consistent in providing a particular alternative conception for the two procedures, which indicates that the alternative conceptions expressed may not be firmly held. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

'That's what scientists have to do': Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the nature of science during a moon investigation

In a science methods course for elementary education majors, students investigated the phases of the moon for six weeks. The moon investigation emphasized that scientific knowledge: a) is empirically based; b) involves the invention of explanations; and c) is socially embedded. After the moon investigation, students realized that scientists make observations and generate patterns, but failed to recognize that observation could precede or follow theory building. Students could separate the processes of observing from creating explanations in their learning, but did not articulate the role of invention in science. Similarly, students valued the social dimensions of learning, but were unable to apply them to the activity of scientists. Although our teaching was explicit about students' science learning, we did not help them make direct connections between their science learning activities and the nature of science [NOS]. We provide a set of recommendations for making the NOS more explicit in the moon investigation.     

Connecting photosynthesis and cellular respiration: Preservice teachers' conceptions

The biological processes of photosynthesis and plant cellular respiration include multiple biochemical steps, occur simultaneously within plant cells, and share common molecular components. Yet, learners often compartmentalize functions and specialization of cell organelles relevant to these two processes, without considering the interconnections as well as the significance of the plant as an independent biological system functioning as a nested component within local and global ecosystems. Understanding connections among biological systems at macro and micro levels is important to biological literacy. This study examined preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of photosynthesis and plant cellular respiration, with attention to interconnections and systems. Participants were limited in their understanding of the processes impacting multiple ecological levels, and they held inadequate representations of interconnections between the processes. Participants' views were laden with sociological and egocentric components. They often compared plant functions with analogous human functions. Most participants viewed plants as dependent on humans while having societal use. Justifications for views included nominal knowledge of the processes; experiential authoritarian reasoning; and anthropomorphism. We discuss instructional implications in light of the findings. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 791–812, 2009     

The change of teachers' conceptions: A strategy for inservice science teachers' education

This paper presents an evaluation of the design and implementation of a course for inservice science teachers, which was undertaken in Seville (1988, Spain) by requirement of the Ministry of Education and based on a didactic model named “Research at School”. The research was designed to evaluate and test the validity of this activity as a strategy to inform teacher educators, and also to encourage their professional development.     

Preservice elementary teachers' explicit beliefs about multiplication and division

This study, conducted in the United States, was designed to assess the extent to which the beliefs, multiplication always makes bigger and division always makes smaller, are explicitly held by preservice elementary teachers. Paper and pencil instruments were administered to 136 preservice elementary teachers in a large university in the southeastern United States. Responses on the instruments and in interviews provide insight into the sources of preservice teachers' beliefs and into the relationship among preservice teachers' beliefs, computational skills, and performance on word problems.     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of pedagogical and mathematical content knowledge

In broad terms, this study describes preservice elementary teachers' beliefs, conceptions, and practices during the mathematics methods course and teaching practica of a teacher education program. In particular, the study employs qualitative data to investigate preservice teachers' views of mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge. The study reveals symbiotic relationships between their views of content knowledge and their instructional actions which remain problematic. With unwavering beliefs and practices, and without reconceptualizing their roles as future elementary teachers, at the end of the semester the preservice teachers emerge as poor duplicators of mathematics methods instead of initiators of learning.     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science

Pre‐service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre‐service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre‐conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty‐one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience‐based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 497–523, 2008     

Preservice elementary teachers' perceptions of their science laboratory instructors in a phenomena-based laboratory and how it impacts their conceptual development

Phenomena-based approaches have become popular for elementary school teachers to engage children's innate curiosity in the natural world. However, integrating such phenomena-based approaches in existing science courses within teacher education programs present potential challenges for both preservice elementary teachers (PSETs) and for laboratory instructors, both of whom may have had limited opportunities to learn or teach science within the student and instructor roles inherent within these approaches. This study uses a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach to investigate PSETs' perceptions of their laboratory instructor's role within a Physical Science phenomena-based laboratory curriculum and how it impacts their conceptual development (2 instructors/121 students). We also examine how the two laboratory instructors' discursive moves within the laboratory align with their's and PSETs' perceptions of the instructor role. Qualitative data includes triangulation between a student questionnaire, an instructor questionnaire, and video classroom observations, while quantitative data includes a nine-item open response pre-/post-semester conceptual test. Guided by Mortimer's and Scott's analytic framework, our findings show that students primarily perceive their instructors as a guide/facilitator or an authoritarian/evaluator. Using Linn's knowledge integration framework, analysis of pre-/post-tests indicates that student outcomes align with students' perceptions of their instructors, with students who perceive their instructor as a guide/facilitator having significantly better pre-/post-outcomes. Additional analysis of scientific discourse from the classroom observations illustrates how one instructor primarily supports PSETs' perspectives on authentic science learning through dialogic–interactive talk moves whereas the other instructor epistemologically stifles personally relevant investigations with authoritative–interactive or authoritative–noninteractive discourse moves. Overall, this study concludes by discussing challenges facing laboratory instructors that need careful consideration for phenomena-based approaches.     

Preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusion: Early childhood education and elementary education programs

Abstract

Teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of children with disabilities play a central role in the successful inclusion of these children into general education classrooms. This study examined possible predictors of preservice teachers’ attitudes toward (1) persons with disabilities, and (2) inclusion of children with disabilities into general education classrooms. Participants were students majoring in early childhood education and elementary education. Preservice teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities and inclusion were explained significantly by their personal relationships with persons who have disabilities and the number of courses related to special education/teaching strategies taken. However, preservice teachers’ experiences working with persons who have disabilities was not a significant predictor. Further, the relations between preservice teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion and personal experience variables were mediated by their attitudes toward persons with disabilities. This study provides evidence that more effective, practical experiences and course content related to children with disabilities, inclusion, and teaching strategies need to be provided in teacher education programs to support successful efforts with inclusion. This study also suggests that teacher education programs should strive to improve students’ attitudes toward inclusion, as well as toward persons with disabilities.     

Curriculum design for inquiry: Preservice elementary teachers' mobilization and adaptation of science curriculum materials

Curriculum materials are crucial tools with which teachers engage students in science as inquiry. In order to use curriculum materials effectively, however, teachers must develop a robust capacity for pedagogical design, or the ability to mobilize a variety of personal and curricular resources to promote student learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the ways in which preservice elementary teachers mobilize and adapt existing science curriculum materials to plan inquiry‐oriented science lessons. Using quantitative methods, we investigated preservice teachers' curriculum design decision‐making and how their decisions influenced the inquiry orientations of their planned science lessons. Findings indicate that preservice elementary teachers were able to accurately assess how inquiry‐based existing curriculum materials are and to adapt them to make them more inquiry‐based. However, the inquiry orientations of their planned lessons were in large part determined by how inquiry‐oriented curriculum materials they used to plan their lessons were to begin with. These findings have important implications for the design of teacher education experiences that foster preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical design capacities for inquiry, as well as the development of inquiry‐based science curriculum materials that support preservice and beginning elementary teachers to engage in effective science teaching practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:820–839, 2010     

The use of a computer simulation to promote scientific conceptions of moon phases

This study described the conceptual understandings of 50 early childhood (Pre‐K‐3) preservice teachers about standards‐based lunar concepts before and after inquiry‐based instruction utilizing educational technology. The instructional intervention integrated the planetarium software Starry Night Backyard™ with instruction on moon phases from Physics by Inquiry by McDermott (1996). Data sources included drawings, interviews, and a lunar shapes card sort. Videotapes of participants' interviews were used along with the drawings and card sorting responses during data analysis. The various data were analyzed via a constant comparative method in order to produce profiles of each participant's pre‐ and postinstruction conceptual understandings of moon phases. Results indicated that before instruction none of the participants understood the cause of moon phases, and none were able to draw both scientific moon shapes and sequences. After the instruction with technology integration, most participants (82%) held a scientific understanding of the cause of moon phases and were able to draw scientific shapes and sequences (80%). The results of this study demonstrate that a well‐designed computer simulation used within a conceptual change model of instruction can be very effective in promoting scientific understandings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 346–372, 2008     

Preservice teachers' initial conceptions about assessment of science learning: The coherence with their views of learning science

This study utilized responses from Taiwanese preservice elementary teachers to describe and analyze their conceptions about the assessment of science learning and the extent that these conceptions were coherent with their views of learning science. A methodological framework of phenomenography was used for the study. The results revealed that the preservice teachers' mode of assessment was coherent with a traditional view of learning but their performance mode of assessment was not well developed. Improving preservice teachers' conception of assessment requires clarifying and reconstructing their conceptions of and coherence between assessment, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning.     

A comparative study: English and Turkish teachers' conceptions of their professional responsibility

This paper discusses some of the findings pertaining to how teachers see their work, produced by a comparative study of 120 English and 120 Turkish primary school teachers. The sample was drawn from schools in four different types of matched catchment areas—rural, inner city, suburban and affluent suburban—in Leicestershire. England, and in Erzurum, Turkey. Four major dimensions of difference between the two national contexts are identified in terms of the range of professional activities undertaken, the ambiguity of relative importance to teachers of the process as against the products of learning. Against a background of contemporary policy changes which seem likely to effect different teaching and learning activities in the two countries, the paper argues that attempts to change teachers' practice without due regard to those conceptions of professional responsibility which are deeply rooted in particular national traditions, as well as more general classroom realities, will result in a lowering of morale and decreased effectiveness.     

One course is not enough: Preservice elementary teachers' retention of improved views of nature of science

This study examined the views, and the retention of these views, of 19 preservice elementary teachers as they learned about nature of science (NOS). The preservice teachers participated in a cohort group as they took a science methods course during which they received explicit reflective instruction in nature of science. Through Views of Nature of Science version B (VNOS‐B) surveys and interviews it was found that most preservice teachers held inadequate ideas of nature of science prior to instruction, but improved their views after one semester of instruction in the science methods course. However, 5 months after instruction, the graduate preservice teachers were again interviewed and it was found that several of the students reverted back to their earlier views. The results are interpreted through Perry's scheme, and implications and recommendations for elementary science teacher education are made. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 194–213, 2006     

Children's conceptions of air pressure: exploring the nature of conceptual change

Children's responses to a series of air pressure activities were tracked in detail during group discussion and interview, and again in interview six months later. Results for different age cohorts have yielded insights into age‐related knowledge components framing children's conceptions of air pressure phenomena. Case studies of individuals have been constructed to explore the way conceptions change over time, and the difficulties presented by the concept of atmospheric pressure. These are used to evaluate different structural theories of conceptual change. The findings point to the complexity of children's conceptions, the stability and extension over time of productive conceptions, and the critical role of contextual features of phenomena in the conceptual change process. Although structural aspects of changes in concepts related to air pressure are identified, the difficulty of accessing the atmospheric pressure conception is argued to have more to do with presupposition based in perceptual features of air, and with difficulties associated with the application to particular phenomena.     

Preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans

This study explored the relationships among preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans. A total of 47 preservice teachers in Taiwan who had experienced designing their own lesson plans and teaching materials (ie, eBooks and applications) for teaching using mobile devices (ie, smart phones and tablet PCs) participated in this study. The results showed that four qualitatively different conceptions of teaching using mobile devices were identified, namely “technology support,” “knowledge transmission,” “learning facilitation,” and “supporting students to learn.” This study also found that the teachers who had more constructivist perceptions of teaching using mobile devices, such as facilitating students' understanding in a convenient way or supporting student learning in a more active way, appeared to attain better quality technology integration in their lesson plans than those teachers with traditional conceptions.