Stories of self and science: preservice elementary teachers’ identity work through time and across contexts

Grounded in theoretical and empirical underpinnings related to identity work and figured worlds, this case study explores the nature of two preservice elementary teachers’ identities for science teaching and the experiences that impacted their development through time and across contexts. The participants in this study portray a range of competencies, interests and orientations to science and science teaching, and hence provide two different kinds of, almost contradicting, identity works. Various data were collected in a period of 3 years with the use of life history methods in order to trace the participants’ identity work over time and across contexts. The analysis of the data showed prevalent differences between the participants’ identity works and identified critical events and experiences in the context of various figured worlds: (a) figured world of family; (b) figured world of childhood; (c) figured world of schooling; (d) outside of school figured worlds; (e) figured world of university and (f) figured world of science. These findings are offered alongside implications for future research and teacher preparation.     

Student teachers’ prior experiences of history,geography and science: initial findings of an all-Ireland survey1

Research into student teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and prior experiences of learning suggests that these experiences can exert an influence on practice which can be relatively undisturbed by their initial teacher education. This article is based on the initial findings of an all-Ireland survey of all first-year students on B.Ed. courses in colleges in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. The survey is the first stage in a longitudinal study which will follow the same cohort of students for the duration of their initial teacher education, seeking to map and track the development of their ideas about teaching and learning in primary history, geography and science. Based on an analysis of the quantitative data in the entry questionnaire, the initial findings suggest that subject knowledge remains a problematic issue in initial teacher education and that both location and gender interact with knowledge, attitudes and subject area to produce a complex and challenging context for teacher educators in history, geography and science education.     

Enhancing primary science: an exploration of teachers’ own ideas of solutions to challenges in inquiry- and context-based teaching

ABSTRACT

Studies of inquiry- and context-based science education (IC-BaSE) have shown that teachers find these approaches problematic. In this study, 12 primary school teachers’ reflections on challenges related to IC-BaSE are explored. The aim of the study was to investigate which challenges primary teachers experience when working with IC-BaSE and how these may be solved. Group discussions and individual portfolios were used for data collection. Content analysis showed that the challenges teachers experienced were mainly practical relating to: how to find contexts, lack of time, handling big classes, students working at different paces, handling materials, and the teachers' need of control. The teachers also presented their own ideas of solutions to the challenges.     

Student‐teachers’ conceptions of science,teaching and learning: a case study in preservice science education

The resort to experiment is considered to be essential for teaching physics. But it often consists of an inductivist method where students are supposed to be able to find physical laws by observing phenomena. In fact it is not as easy for the students as it is for the physicist. We propose and test another way. When studying a new phenomenon, an initial discussion is performed between students in the class. They can propose various (eventually contradictory) explanatory models. Experiments are then used to make a choice between these models. Sequences in class situation are described, with learning behaviour and results reported for pupils in French schools (grades 6 and 8, 11‐14‐year olds).     

Elaborate analogies in science text: Tools for enhancing preservice teachers’ knowledge and attitudes

Preservice teachers studied texts about three fundamentally important science concepts. They read versions with no analogy, versions with a simple analogy, and versions with an elaborate analogy. An elaborate analogy is one that consists of text and pictorial components in which similarities between the analog and the target concept are made explicit. Verbal and imagery processes combine to promote a mapping of conceptual features. The findings indicated that elaborate analogies improved the science knowledge and attitudes of preservice teachers by relating what is familiar to what is new. The findings are consistent with a constructivist view of learning science and suggest that science texts for preservice teachers should be adapted to take advantage of elaborate analogies in a systematic way.     

Science as experience,exploration, and experiments: elementary teachers’ notions of ‘doing science’

ABSTRACT

Much of the literature on science teaching suggests that elementary teachers lack relevant prior experiences with science. This study begins to reframe the deficit approach to research in science teaching by privileging the experiences elementary teachers have had with science – both in and out of schools – throughout their lives. Our work uses identity as a lens to examine the complexities of elementary teachers’ narrative accounts of their experiences with science over the course of their lives. Our findings identify components of teachers’ science-related experiences in order to lay the groundwork for making connections between teachers’ personal experiences and professional practice. This work demonstrates that teachers’ storied lives are important for educational researchers and teacher educators, as they reveal elements of teaching knowledge that may be productive and resourceful for refining teachers’ science practice.     

Kyouzaikenkyuu: an exploration of Japanese mathematics teachers’ daily planning practices

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - Kyouzaikenkyuu (translated as instructional materials research) is said to be a crucial part of successful Japanese lesson study. Kyouzaikenkyuu is...     

Addressing the discontinuity of students’ and teachers’ diversity: a preliminary study of preservice teachers’ beliefs and perceived skills

The authors of the present investigation provide baseline data regarding preservice teachers’ beliefs about addressing the needs of students whose backgrounds and abilities differ from their own. These data provide the guidance for subsequent in-depth longitudinal investigations about the ways in which preservice teachers’ beliefs inform their classroom behaviors toward the aforementioned students, as well as suggestions for teacher educators about program improvements.     

Provision of in-service training of mathematics and science teachers in Botswana: teachers’ perspectives

Teaching is a field that is dynamic, with innovations necessitating upgrading of skills and education of teachers for the successful implementation of reforms. The behaviour and attitudes of teachers towards teaching and learning and their knowledge banks are the result of the impact of in-service training. This study investigated the perceptions of mathematics and science teachers in Botswana towards in-service provision by the Department of Mathematics and Science Education In-service Training unit (DMSE-INSET), whose mandate is to improve the quality of teaching by supporting teachers through training programmes that enable them to take ownership of their professional development. Data were collected from a sample of 42 senior Mathematics and Science secondary school teachers, using structured interviews with open-ended questions, which were analyzed qualitatively. The findings show that teachers’ concerns included the lack of impact of current in-service training programmes on the education system, no regular follow-up activities to support the one-off workshops and insufficient skills acquired to sustain the implementation of the strategies solicited by the workshops.     

Developing preservice teachers’ sensitivity and confidence: a service-learning experience at a homeless shelter

ABSTRACT

This article describes how early childhood preservice teachers can develop sensitivity toward and confidence in working with children who are homeless through a service learning project. The 14 weeks intervention provided an opportunity for undergraduate early childhood teacher candidates to gain real-life experience working with among the most vulnerable of all children—those who are homeless. Results of this project suggest that through implementing art integrated literacy activities with children in a homeless shelter, teacher candidates alter their deficit views of homelessness and at the same time develop confidence in their ability to work with homeless children and their families.     

Preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of science: science,theories and evolution∗∗

The intent of the present study is to describe preservice elementary teachers’ understanding of science and how certain contextual variables contribute to this understanding.

Eighty students in three sections of an elementary science methods course participated in the study by completing a questionnaire. Six questions dealt with knowledge of science, theories and evolution. In addition, a 21‐item rating scale covering various aspects of science and science teaching was included.

The major theme arising out of the data is how beliefs affect preservice teachers’ understandings of science. The anthropocentricity in the subjects’ definitions and purposes of science, theories and evolution is the most explicit and pervasive of the beliefs influencing the conceptualizations of science. The often vague and misinformed definitions of theories add a further dimension of how science is perceived. When evolution is introduced, both the anthropocentric view of science and the misunderstood notion of theory come together to confound the subjects’ understanding. When asked about the teaching of evolution, the subjects’ confusion concerning the nature of science becomes strikingly evident.

     

The first principles of instruction: an examination of their impact on preservice teachers’ TPACK

Educational technology research and development - The flipped approach has been widely adopted in higher education, yet its theoretical framework and use in teacher preparation courses have been...     

Psychological modeling of preservice science teachers’ argumentativeness,achievement goals,and epistemological beliefs: a mixed design

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study was conducted to investigate the relationships among Turkish preservice science teachers’ argumentativeness, epistemological beliefs,...     

Exploring preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of science curriculum materials in respect to socioscientific issues

The work presented here represents a preliminary effort undertaken to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning and decision-making about socioscientific issues (SSI) by characterizing preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of SSI-based science curriculum materials and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. Four undergraduate preservice elementary teachers were studied over the course of one semester. Results indicate that the teachers navigated multiple learning goals, as well as their own subject-matter knowledge, informal reasoning about SSI, and role identity, in their critique and adaptation of SSI-oriented science instructional materials. Implications for science teacher education and the design of curriculum materials in respect to SSI are discussed.     

Education with production in Zimbabwe: an evaluation of teachers’ and pupils’ attitudes and perceptions

The terms community development and lifelong learning have been in use for several decades and refer to different areas within the field of adult education. This paper sets out to explore the relationship between these two concepts. It examines the ways in which community development work contributes to the development of an overall system of lifelong education. Recent writing on the idea of the learning society points towards a more holistic view of education, which acknowledges learning in all its forms and venues and which values the many and varied ways in which people learn. The nature of this rapidly changing society demands that individuals and communities take up this challenge, so that they can play their part in shaping the future. This paper is based on research which was carried out in the early 1990s, under the auspices of the Community Research and Development Centre, by one of the authors (RM) as part of a DPhil study. It was constructed with a view to exploring the need for a more holistic, integrated approach to meeting the educational needs of those involved in adult education, community development and community regeneration in Belfast. The research set out to investigate the relationship between the various forms of learning, through an examination of organizations engaged in providing formal, non‐formal and informal adult learning opportunities in Belfast. The results confirm that traditional providers of adult education no longer hold a monopoly over learning and that there is an emerging sector of community and voluntary organizations engaged in providing learning opportunities for adults in their communities. There is some indication that whilst the relationship between traditional and non‐traditional providers is complex, the opportunities for learning which they offer are complementary. The voluntary and community sector emphasizes issue‐based and action‐oriented learning within a democratic, participative culture. Non‐formal providers often seek to support such groups, by providing more structured learning situations. Their programmes frequently offer an alternative adult education to that of the formal providers, who are more concerned with traditional ‘liberal adult education’. Whilst formal providers may try to be more community‐based, they are severely confined by their bureaucratic, hierarchic structure. Informal providers, however, also offer opportunities for more formal adult learning opportunities, through links with formal providers. The existence of this network suggests the basis for a system of lifelong education, which incorporates the range of adult learning opportunities.     

Perilous times: an oral history of teachers’ experience with school inspection in the 1930s

School inspectors and school inspection were integral features of the elementary public school system in Ontario from the 1840s until the practice was abandoned in 1967. From its earliest beginnings and subsequent development, school inspection and school inspectors were established as an important institution of the educational state. By regulation every teacher in the province could expect a twice-annual unannounced visit from a state-appointed male school inspector – more frequently if difficulties arose. This study explores teachers’ experiences of school inspection and inspectors during the 1930s by drawing on the oral history accounts of 17 women and four men who taught elementary school in various regions of the province.     

Making sense of the glass ceiling in schools: an exploration of women teachers’ discourses

There is extensive evidence of a ‘glass ceiling’ for women across the labour market. Though schools have widely been described as ‘feminized’ work environments, the under‐representation of women at school management level is well established. Based on a study of women teachers’ careers and promotion in the English school sector (in early years, primary and secondary schools), this paper draws on a critical discourse analysis of 44 individual interviews conducted with women teachers to explore their views of the ‘glass ceiling’. Despite significant evidence of the barriers to management positions faced by women teachers, interpretative frameworks drawing on discourses of individualization and personal choice are most prominent among these to make sense of the low proportion of women in school management. However, the paper also identifies the existence of alternative discourses recognizing the existence of gender inequalities.