Exploring the Construct of Pedagogical Discontentment: A Tool to Understand Science Teachers’ Openness to Reform

It is well established that many teachers are resistant to take up the messages of reform if these messages require them to substantially shift their teaching practices. What accounts for this resistance? One well established explanation is that teachers lacks the self-efficacy required to attempt something new in their teaching—they simply do not feel capable of effectively enacting the messages. However, there are a host of studies describing teachers with high self—efficacy who remain resistant to messages of change. The purpose of this article is to address the gap in the application of self-efficacy to understand the change or lack of change of science teachers’ practice through the introduction of a related construct, pedagogical discontentment. This construct reflects a state of cognitive conflict that exists when an individual recognizes a mismatch between her/his science teaching pedagogical goals and classroom practices. One potential result of this mismatch is that a teacher problematizes her teaching practices, prompting an increased receptivity to reform messages. Building on existing literature, we present vignettes of four hypothetical teachers who exemplify variations of pedagogical discontentment. When combined with self-efficacy, pedagogical discontentment provides a useful lens to understand teachers’ consideration and adoption of messages of reform.     

Developing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of and Pedagogical Content Knowledge for History of Science–Integrated Science Instruction

Science & Education - Despite its positive impact on students’ understanding of the nature of science and science content knowledge, few secondary science teachers incorporate the history...     

Middle School Science Teachers’ Confidence and Pedagogical Practice of New Literacies

Due to the rapid advancements of information and communication technologies (ICTs), educational researchers argue that multimodal and new literacies should become common practices in schools. As new ICTs emerge and evolve, students need the new literacies skills and practices to successfully participate fully in the civic life of a global community. Are teachers prepared to integrate ICTs in the classroom to develop students’ new literacies skills? The purpose of this study is to suggest a new literacies framework that guides ICTs integration and supports scientific inquiry, as well as investigate middle school teachers’ confidence to practice new literacies in science classrooms. The study adopted mixed-methodology design, surveyed 32 middle school science teachers’ ICTs and new literacies skills, and randomly observed 15 teachers’ new literacies practices in the classrooms. The results revealed that even though teachers have high confidence in using ICTs, the meaningful technology integration and new literacies practices were scarcely observed in their classroom practices.     

Students’ Perceptions of Their Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a type of teacher knowledge to be developed by a teacher. PCK is said to contribute to effective teaching. Most studies investigated the development of PCK and its influence on students’ learning from the teachers’ perspectives. Only a limited number of studies have investigated the components of science teachers’ PCK that helped students’ learning from the perspective of students. Thus, it is the aim of this study to investigate the level of science teachers’ PCK from students’ perspective, in particular whether or not students of different achieving ability had different views of teachers’ PCK in assisting their learning and understanding. Based on the PCK research literature, six components of PCK have been identified, which were as follows: (1) subject matter knowledge, (2) knowledge of teaching strategies, (3) knowledge of concept representation, (4) knowledge of teaching context, (5) knowledge of students, and (6) knowledge of assessment in learning science. A questionnaire consisting of 56 items on a five-point Likert-type scale were used for data collection from 316 Form Four students (16 years old). One-way analysis of variance revealed that the differences in science teachers’ PCK identified by students of different achieving abilities were statistically significant. Overall, students of various academic achieving abilities considered all the components of PCK as important. The low-achieving students viewed all the components of PCK as being less important compared to the high and moderate achievers. In particular, low-achieving students do not view ‘knowledge of concept representation’ as important for effective teaching. They valued the fact that teachers should be alert to their needs, such as being sensitive to students’ reactions and preparing additional learning materials. This study has revealed that PCK of science teachers should be different for high and low-achieving students and knowledge of students’ understanding plays a critical role in shaping teachers PCK.     

Enabling Factors of Preservice Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science and Nature of Scientific Inquiry

Science & Education - The goal of this study was to explore the influencing factors of pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for targeted aspects of nature of...     

Florida and Puerto Rico Secondary Science Teachers’ Knowledge and Teaching of Climate Change Science

Misconceptions about climate change science are pervasive among the US public. This study investigated the possibility that these misconceptions may be reflective of science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers who claim to teach extensively about climate change were surveyed in regard to their conceptions of climate change science and the climate change-related topics they teach. Results show that many teachers hold naïve views about climate change (e.g. that ozone layer depletion is a primary cause of climate change) and climate change science (e.g. that it must be based on controlled experiments for it to be valid). In addition, teachers in both groups neglect crucial topics such as how evidence for climate change is developed and the social, political, and economic dimensions of climate change. Our results suggest the need for teachers to understand how to teach climate change and the nature of climate change science using authentic contexts that promote effective socioscientific decision-making and climate change mitigation.     

Science Teachers’ Views on CoRes and PaP-eRs as a Framework for Articulating and Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This paper reports on a study which was designed to examine how CoRes (Content Representations) and PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional-experience Repertoires) might impact the practice of science teachers by considering how they might value (or not) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as part of their professional knowledge. The paper is based on a 2?year longitudinal study that used CoRes and PaP-eRs as a form of intervention with a group of teachers (n?=?6) to determine how they interpreted, used and developed their understanding of PCK over time. The study concluded that the participating teachers developed rich understandings of their professional knowledge of science teaching and were of the view that CoRes and PaP-eRs were significant in shaping that development. As a consequence, the study also validates the use of CoRes and PaP-eRs as a meaningful methodology for examining science teachers?? PCK.     

Minority Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching Science: Sources of Science Teaching Strategies

This study explores five minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science and identifies the sources of their strategies for helping students learn science. Perspectives from the literature on conceptions of teaching science and on the role constructs used to describe and distinguish minority preservice teachers from their mainstream White peers served as the framework to identify minority preservice teachers’ instructional ideas, meanings, and actions for teaching science. Data included drawings, narratives, observations and self-review reports of microteaching, and interviews. A thematic analysis of data revealed that the minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science were a specific set of beliefs-driven instructional ideas about how science content is linked to home experiences, students’ ideas, hands-on activities, about how science teaching must include group work and not be based solely on textbooks, and about how learning science involves the concept of all students can learn science, and acknowledging and respecting students’ ideas about science. Implications for teacher educators include the need to establish supportive environments within methods courses for minority preservice teachers to express their K-12 experiences and acknowledge and examine how these experiences shape their conceptions of teaching science, and to recognize that minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science reveal the multiple ways through which they see and envision science instruction.     

Middle School Students’ Science Self-Efficacy and Its Sources: Examination of Gender Difference

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate middle school students?? science self-efficacy as well as its sources and outcomes as a function of gender. Bandura??s hypothesized sources of self-efficacy (i.e., mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal) in addition to being inviting with self and inviting with others were examined as sources of self-efficacy, while cognitive and metacognitive strategy use was examined as an outcome of self-efficacy. A total of 1,932 students participated in the study and were administered self-report instruments. Results showed that the relationship between science self-efficacy and its proposed sources does not change as a function of gender. All proposed sources, except for vicarious experience, were found to be significantly related to students?? scientific self-efficacy. Moreover, girls were found to experience significantly more emotional arousal and to send positive messages to others more than boys. On the other hand, no gender difference was found concerning science self-efficacy and strategy use. The findings also revealed a positive association between science self-efficacy and strategy use. Overall, findings supported Bandura??s conception of self-efficacy and suggested invitations as additional sources of self-efficacy.     

Exploring Science Teachers’ Argumentation and Personal Epistemology About Global Climate Change

Research in Science Education - This case study investigated the nature of in-service science teachers’ argumentation and personal epistemology about global climate change during a 3-year...     

Identifying Science Teachers’ Perceptions of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

The application of information and communication technology in instruction is highly emphasized in the contemporary education of science teachers. This paper hence aims to explore science teachers’ perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) addressing teachers’ perceptions of the affordances of technology application in instruction. A total of 222 pre- and in-service science teachers in Singapore were surveyed. Structural equation models analysis was utilized to examine the model of TPACK involving the seven factors of technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as well as synthesized knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content (TPC). The results confirm the seven-factor model and indicate that the science teachers’ perceived TPC significantly and positively correlated with all the other TPACK factors. This paper further reveals the relationships between the science teachers’ perceptions of TPACK and their demographic characteristics such as teaching experience, gender, and age. The findings indicate that female science teachers perceive higher self-confidence in pedagogical knowledge but lower self-confidence in technological knowledge than males. Further, female in-service science teachers’ perceptions of TK, TPK, TCK, and TPC significantly and negatively correlate with their age.     

Experience and Reflection: Preservice Science Teachers’ Capacity for Teaching Inquiry

In this article, we investigate the relationship between preservice teachers’ inquiry experience and their capacity to reflect on the challenges involved in implementing inquiry into classrooms. For data, we draw on the personal narratives of preservice science teachers enrolled in science instruction courses. Preservice teachers with extensive inquiry experiences perceive implementation challenges principally in terms of teaching and student learning. This contrasts with the perceptions of preservice teachers with limited inquiry experience for whom the main concerns relate to the negative perceptions of others, time, the curriculum, and materials. By identifying these perceptions, it may be possible to develop courses that assist limited and moderate-experience preservice teachers’ move toward the perceptions of their more inquiry experienced colleagues.     

Student Preschool Teachers’ Experiences of Science and Its Role in Preschool

This article reports on student preschool teachers’ views of science and its role in preschool. Three cohorts of students have been given a written questionnaire with open-ended questions before and after a one-semester course including science (specifically Chemistry and Physics) in a 3.5-year preschool teacher programme in Sweden. The science content in the course is integrated with other subjects and lecturers with different subject backgrounds work together in forming an integrated and meaningful context. A phenomenographic qualitative analysis of responses to the questionnaires before and after the course is presented. The analysis indicated that many students equate science with biology (nature studies), and several did not adjust this view even though chemistry and physics were explicitly taught. Surprisingly few students were negative towards science, none after the course. However, several remain hesitantly positive. Most students described ‘what’ and ‘how’ perspectives of science, but few developed a synthesised view of science activities. However, there was a shift towards a more integrated perspective after the course. Also the quality and eloquence of the students’ responses were noticeably improved in responses given after the course. Prior expectations and implications of the results for preschool teacher education are discussed.     

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.     

Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Science Vocabulary: Knowledge and Application

Science vocabulary knowledge plays a role in understanding science concepts, and science knowledge is measured in part by correct use of science vocabulary (Lee et al. in J Res Sci Teach 32(8):797–816, 1995). Elementary school students have growing vocabularies and many are learning English as a secondary language or depend on schools to learn academic English. Teachers must have a clear understanding of science vocabulary in order to communicate and evaluate these understandings with students. The present study measured preservice teachers’ vocabulary knowledge during a science methods course and documented their use of science vocabulary during peer teaching. The data indicate that the course positively impacted the preservice teachers’ knowledge of select elementary science vocabulary; however, use of science terms was inconsistent in microteaching lessons. Recommendations include providing multiple vocabulary instruction strategies in teacher preparation.     

Pupils’ and Teachers’ Views on a British Science Magazine for Youth

This paper focuses on students' ability to transfer modelling performances across content areas, taking into consideration their improvement of content knowledge as a result of a model-based instruction. Sixty-five sixth grade students of one science teacher in an urban public school in the Midwestern USA engaged in scientific modelling practices that were incorporated into a curriculum focused on the nature of matter. Concept-process models were embedded in the curriculum, as well as emphasis on meta-modelling knowledge and modelling practices. Pre–post test items that required drawing scientific models of smell, evaporation, and friction were analysed. The level of content understanding was coded and scored, as were the following elements of modelling performance: explanation, comparativeness, abstraction, and labelling. Paired t-tests were conducted to analyse differences in students' pre–post tests scores on content knowledge and on each element of the modelling performances. These are described in terms of the amount of transfer. Students significantly improved in their content knowledge for the smell and the evaporation models, but not for the friction model, which was expected as that topic was not taught during the instruction. However, students significantly improved in some of their modelling performances for all the three models. This improvement serves as evidence that the model-based instruction can help students acquire modelling practices that they can apply in a new content area.