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.

     

Preservice elementary school teachers’ knowledge of fractions: a mirror of students’ knowledge?

This research analyses preservice teachers’ knowledge of fractions. Fractions are notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach. Previous studies suggest that student learning of fractions may be limited by teacher understanding of fractions. If so, teacher education has a key role in solving the problem. We first reviewed literature regarding students’ knowledge of fractions. We did so because assessments of required content knowledge for teaching require review of the students’ understanding to determine the mathematics difficulties encountered by students. The preservice teachers were tested on their conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions, and on their ability in explaining the rationale for a procedure or the conceptual meaning. The results revealed that preservice teachers’ knowledge of fractions indeed is limited and that last-year preservice teachers did not perform better than first-year preservice teachers. This research is situated within the broader domain of mathematical knowledge for teaching and suggests ways to improve instruction and student learning.     

The pedagogy of argumentation in science education: science teachers’ instructional practices

ABSTRACT

Argumentation has been a prominent concern in science education research and a common goal in science curriculum in many countries over the past decade. With reference to this goal, policy documents burden responsibilities on science teachers, such as involving students in dialogues and being guides in students’ spoken or written argumentation. Consequently, teachers’ pedagogical practices regarding argumentation gain importance due to their impact on how they incorporate this practice into their classrooms. In this study, therefore, we investigated the instructional strategies adopted by science teachers for their argumentation-based science teaching. Participants were one elementary science teacher, two chemistry teachers, and four graduate students, who have a background in science education. The study took place during a graduate course, which was aimed at developing science teachers’ theory and pedagogy of argumentation. Data sources included the participants’ video-recorded classroom practices, audio-recorded reflections, post-interviews, and participants’ written materials. The findings revealed three typologies of instructional strategies towards argumentation. They are named as Basic Instructional Strategies for Argumentation, Meta-level Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation, and Meta-strategic Instructional ?St??rategies for ?Argumentation. In conclusion, the study provided a detailed coding framework for the exploration of science teachers’ instructional practices while they are implementing argumentation-based lessons.     

Preservice science teachers’ collective efficacy in a science methods course

This study investigated how preservice teachers develop collective efficacy when preparing lesson plans for a science methods course, and how this collective efficacy changed over time. The data were collected from four preservice science teachers working in a group to fulfil the requirements of the course. Findings revealed that four factors, including collaborative work, sharing the same goal, attitudes towards group work and group cohesion, played an important role in the development of collective efficacy among preservice teachers. The study also showed that collective efficacy improved continuously over the semester.     

An experimental study of a museum-based,science PD programme’s impact on teachers and their students

We present results of an experimental study of an urban, museum-based science teacher PD programme. A total of 125 teachers and 1676 of their students in grades 4–8 were tested at the beginning and end of the school year in which the PD programme took place. Teachers and students were assessed on subject content knowledge and attitudes towards science, along with teacher classroom behaviour. Subject content questions were mostly taken from standardised state tests and literature, with an ‘Explain:’ prompt added to some items. Teachers in the treatment group showed a 7% gain in subject content knowledge over the control group. Students of teachers in the treatment group showed a 4% gain in subject content knowledge over the control group on multiple-choice items and an 11% gain on the constructed response items. There was no overall change in science attitudes of teachers or students over the control groups but we did find differences in teachers’ reported self-efficacy and teaching anxiety levels, plus PD teachers reported doing more student-centered science teaching activities than the control group. All teachers came into the PD with high initial excitement, perhaps reflecting its context within an informal learning environment.     

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.     

Saudi science teachers’ perceptions of the cultural factors influencing elementary students’ science learning

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This mixed-methods research study explored Saudi Arabian elementary science teachers’ perceptions about and conceptualizations of cultural factors...     

Correction to: Saudi science teachers’ perceptions of the cultural factors influencing elementary students’ science learning

Cultural Studies of Science Education - In the Original Publication of the article, second author’s name was misspelt.     

Integrating art into science education: a survey of science teachers’ practices

ABSTRACT

Numerous case studies suggest that integrating art and science education could engage students with creative projects and encourage students to express science in multitude of ways. However, little is known about art integration practices in everyday science teaching. With a qualitative e-survey, this study explores the art integration of science teachers (n?=?66). A pedagogical model for science teachers’ art integration emerged from a qualitative content analysis conducted on examples of art integration. In the model, art integration is characterised as integration through content and activities. Whilst the links in the content were facilitated either directly between concepts and ideas or indirectly through themes or artefacts, the integration through activity often connected an activity in one domain and a concept, idea or artefact in the other domain with the exception of some activities that could belong to both domains. Moreover, the examples of art integration in everyday classroom did not include expression of emotions often associated with art. In addition, quantitative part of the survey confirmed that integration is infrequent in all mapped areas. The findings of this study have implications for science teacher education that should offer opportunities for more consistent art integration.     

Enhancing teachers’ counselling skills: student teachers’ views on a teachers’ education programme

The purpose of this small‐scale study is to investigate the outcomes of a brief teacher education programme by exploring student teachers’ views. The teacher education programme aimed to provide teachers with the opportunity to develop qualities and skills that facilitate communication and to enhance teachers’ competence to apply social and emotional (SEL) programmes’ intervention activities in the classroom. According to student teachers’ estimations, the teacher education programme provided them with new knowledge and experiences in communication and counselling, which they felt they could use in teaching practice. Besides, teachers reported that the programme enabled them to develop their self‐awareness and to adopt a non‐directive attitude during the implementation of SEL programme’s activities.     

Teachers’work: Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competence

Worldwide, teachers’ work continues to be the subject of discussion and debate, especially in terms of teacher competence and its appropriate appraisal. Available literature offers a number of perspectives of beginning teacher competence, yet the voices of beginning teachers themselves are not represented. This paper outlines the findings of a phenomenographic study that sought to uncover the conceptions of competence held by beginning teachers. The results of this study suggest that beginning teachers believe that teaching competence requires demonstration of thorough preparation, a sound knowledge base, effective classroom management, professional communication with a range of stakeholders, and an accurate sense of self-awareness in the role of teacher. These conceptions will be compared to a selection of the available literature about teacher competence and associated teaching standards.     

Preservice teachers’ self-efficacy to teach primary science based on ‘science learner’ typology

ABSTRACT

According to international benchmarks [Thomson, S., Wernert, N., O'Grady, E., & Rodrigues, S. (2017). TIMSS 2015: Reporting Australia's results. Retrieved from Camberwell, Victoria: www.acer.edu.au/timss], Australia’s science education is still in decline and so the need for further investigation into preservice teachers is warranted. Utilising data from a broader mixed methods doctoral study [Norris, C. M. (2017). Exploring the impact of postgraduate preservice primary science education on students’ self-efficacy. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2040], this paper investigates the type of science learner entering into postgraduate preservice primary teacher education and how different learner types influence teacher self-efficacy and their effectiveness to teach science [Bleicher, R. (2009). Variable relationships among different science learners in elementary science-methods courses. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7(2), 293–313. doi:10.1007/s10763-007-9121-8]. In this study, data was derived from a modified STEBI-B questionnaire and focus group discussions that provided a deeper insight into the survey data. Participants (N?=?274) were from a one-year Australian Graduate Diploma of Education Primary (GDEP) program. Bleicher’s (2009) research on ‘science learner types’, which included Fearful, Disinterested, Successful and Enthusiastic learners, was used as a theoretical framework to categorise the participants. The study identified a new type of learner (Not Clearly Identifiable, n?=?68), located in the middle of the other four categories, where individuals’ attitudes and beliefs towards science had changed due to life experiences between secondary school and their GDEP program. Statistical analysis showed science learner types did influence participants’ science teaching self-efficacy (STSE), giving suggestions for how this may affect tertiary teacher education courses.     

Exploring teachers’ meta-strategic knowledge of science argumentation teaching with the repertory grid technique

ABSTRACT

This study investigated two science teachers’ meta-strategic knowledge (MSK) of argumentation teaching by applying the repertory grid technique (RGT). One teacher was a novice, while the other was experienced in teaching argumentation. Using the RGT, we elicited the objectives and strategies of the two teachers regarding their argumentation teaching involving two social scientific issue (SSI) scenarios. The results showed that the experienced teacher had more varied and organised MSK for teaching argumentation than the novice teacher. Meanwhile, the novice teacher indicated a belief that the learning of argumentation should occur in a more student-centred manner, rather than relying on a traditional lecture-based environment. Consequently, she spent a considerable amount of time engaging students with their peers’ ideas through discussion and collaboration. On the other hand, the experienced teacher noticed that most of students had the ability to generate arguments, but that few knew how to argue based on evidence. Therefore, she helped students to collect data from various resources and suggested that they construct their own knowledge framework in order to improve students’ ability to incorporate their understanding of scientific knowledge into scientific argumentation.     

Tempered radicals: elementary teachers’ narratives of teaching science within and against prevailing meanings of schooling

Science educators and researchers have bemoaned the lack of reform-based science in elementary schools and focused on teachers’ difficulties (i.e., lack of knowledge, interest, experience) in enacting quality science pedagogy. We present compelling evidence that challenges assumptions about science education reform and draw on a practice theory perspective to examine the stories, commitments and identities of thirteen teachers, whose beliefs and practices aligned with those promoted by science education reform documents. Through ethnographic interviews, we learned about these teachers’ critical science experiences, perceived science teacher identities, and their goals and commitments. Their stories highlight institutional and sociohistorical difficulties of enacting reform-based science, the many biases, contradictions, and unintended consequences prevalent in educational policy and practice today, and emphasize how easily the status quo can get reproduced. These teachers had to work as ‘tempered radicals’, ‘working the system’ to teach in ways that were consistent with reform-based science.     

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.     

Using a modified argument-driven inquiry to promote elementary school students’ engagement in learning science and argumentation

This study explored the effects of a modified argument-driven inquiry approach on Grade 4 students’ engagement in learning science and argumentation in Taiwan. The students were recruited as an experimental group (EG, n?=?36) to join a 12-week study, while another 36 Grade 4 students from the same schools were randomly selected to be the comparison group (CG). All participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study. In addition, four target students with the highest and the other four students with the lowest pretest engagement in learning science or argumentation to be observed weekly and interviewed following the posttest. Initial results revealed that the EG students’ total engagement in learning science and argumentation and the claim and warrant components were significantly higher than the CG students. In addition, the EG students’ anxiety in learning science significantly decreased during the study; and their posttest total engagement in learning science scores were positively associated with their argumentation scores. Interview and observation results were consistent with the quantitative findings. Instructional implications and research recommendations are discussed.     

The impact of prospective teachers’ perceived competence on subsequent perceptions as schoolteachers

This longitudinal study examines connections between 110 teachers’ perceived professional competence acquired during professional preparation and later perceptions as schoolteachers in Norway. The results indicate that theoretical understanding plays an important role in schoolteachers’ professional competence development and that prospective and practising schoolteachers do not tend to perceive themselves as either good theorists or good practitioners. Furthermore, the results contradict research arguing that the teacher education programme has limited effect. Instead, the results indicate that the level of perceived competence acquired during professional preparation in the general teacher training programme is of major importance for perceived mastery of teaching as a schoolteacher. In addition, the results also underscore the importance of experiencing continuing mastery of teaching requirements for supporting perceptions of teaching specific self-efficacy over time. This finding again supports previous research that has emphasised the importance of supporting teaching specific self-efficacy during both the period of teacher education of prospective teachers and the induction period of newly qualified teachers.     

Student science teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development: an empirical study of three postgraduate training cohorts

Conceptions of sustainable development were elicited using a questionnaire completed by three cohorts of postgraduate students starting a secondary science teacher‐training course (N = 123). Qualitative responses were analysed in three ways: (i) development of categories to capture features of sustainable development; (ii) scrutiny of individual responses for the presence or absence of key features; and (iii) in contrast to these grounded approaches, examination of the responses in light of a framework proposed by the UK Panel for Education for Sustainable Development. Notable findings were: substantial numbers recognised the centrality of environmental (72%), economic (53%) and social (31%) factors—but just 15% highlighted all three; when compared with the pre‐specified framework, the aspects of sustainable development largely missing were to do with citizenship, with preservation of diversity, and with uncertainty and precaution in action. The findings are related to contemporary literature in the field and some implications for trainees’ learning are considered.     

Integrating learner and learning concerns: prospective elementary science teachers’ paths and progress

This article describes three prospective teachers’ progress toward an integrated view of learner and learning concerns. Two prospective teachers formulated similar questions by the end of their first year about how to balance concerns for individual learners’ experiences in class with concerns that they learn content. However, the two arrived at this point from very different initial conceptions via different conceptual paths during the year. In contrast, the third prospective teacher (same program, same year) prepared to give up content learning goals if they interfered with learners’ enthusiasm about the lesson. Possible explanations and implications for teacher education are discussed.