Upper Secondary Teachers' Knowledge for Teaching Chemical Bonding Models

Researchers have shown a growing interest in science teachers’ professional knowledge in recent decades. The article focuses on how chemistry teachers impart chemical bonding, one of the most important topics covered in upper secondary school chemistry courses. Chemical bonding is primarily taught using models, which are key for understanding science. However, many studies have determined that the use of models in science education can contribute to students’ difficulties understanding the topic, and that students generally find chemical bonding a challenging topic. The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ knowledge of teaching chemical bonding. The study focuses on three essential components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): (1) the students’ understanding, (2) representations, and (3) instructional strategies. We analyzed lesson plans about chemical bonding generated by 10 chemistry teachers with whom we also conducted semi-structured interviews about their teaching. Our results revealed that the teachers were generally unaware of how the representations of models they used affected student comprehension. The teachers had trouble specifying students’ difficulties in understanding. Moreover, most of the instructional strategies described were generic and insufficient for promoting student understanding. Additionally, the teachers’ rationale for choosing a specific representation or activity was seldom directed at addressing students’ understanding. Our results indicate that both PCK components require improvement, and suggest that the two components should be connected. Implications for the professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers are discussed.     

A case study of beginning science teachers’ subject matter (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teaching chemical reaction in Turkey

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which used the research literature on potential student misconceptions with regard to different aspects of chemical reactions. Thirty beginning science student teachers were tested, with an additional eight interviews from the student teachers in the same sample. The interviews focused on student teachers’ views about how to best teach chemical reactions in lower secondary chemistry classes. The results revealed deficits in the subject matter knowledge of the student teachers. It also became obvious that the teachers in this sample held very traditional and teacher-centred beliefs when it came to chemistry teaching at the secondary level. Their teaching attitudes were geared mainly towards the acquisition of facts by pupils, and often ignored the development of process-oriented skills. Implications for science teacher education are discussed.     

Jordanian Preservice Primary Teachers' Perceptions of Mentoring in Science Teaching

Quality mentoring is fundamental to preservice teacher education because of its potential to help student and novice teachers develop the academic and pedagogical knowledge and skills germane to successful induction into the profession. This study focused on Jordanian preservice primary teachers' perceptions of their mentoring experiences as these pertain to science teaching. The Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching instrument was administered to 147 senior preservice primary teachers in a university in Jordan. The results indicated that the greater majority of participants did not experience effective mentoring toward creating a supportive and reflexive environment that would bolster their confidence in teaching science; further their understanding of primary science curriculum, and associated aims and school policies; help with developing their pedagogical knowledge; and/or furnish them with specific and targeted feedback and guidance to help improve their science teaching. Substantially more participants indicated that their mentors modeled what they perceived to be effective science teaching. The study argues for the need for science-specific mentoring for preservice primary teachers, and suggests a possible pathway for achieving such a model starting with those in-service primary teachers—much like those identified by participants in the present study—who are already effective in their science teaching.     

“Before teaching this I'd do a lot of reading” preparing primary student teachers to teach science

The subject knowledge primary teachers have as a basis for their teaching of science has become a major concern in preservice and inservice education in many countries, including Australia, the UK and the USA. There are differing views among policy makers, teacher educators and student teachers about precisely what primary teachers need to know and how they are best prepared for teaching science. This article reports an investigation into the science content and pedagogic content knowledge of student teachers a university in the UK. Many students said that when approaching a real teaching situation they would be able to prepare themselves adequately by independent research using published sources. The data from this study revealed that half the group of students were able to do so with guidance although their initial background knowledge of science was weak. Implications for the preparation of primary student teachers are discussed.     

论化学教师的PCK结构及其建构

教师专业发展的核心问题就是发展他们的PCK。化学教师的PCK主要包括基于化学科学理解的化学学科知识、关于学生理解化学的知识、关于化学课程的知识和化学特定课题的教学策略及表征的知识。教师的PCK是在实践中建构和发展的。PCK的发展是一个非线性的、螺旋发展的动态的过程。化学教师PCK建构的基本策略是:形成促进PCK发展的教学思维方式,提升对化学科学的理解水平,关注学生对于化学的理解,发展化学课程知识,提高整合转化能力,多渠道丰富PCK资源库。     

How do Elementary Teachers Compensate for Incomplete Science Content Knowledge?

The purpose of this study was to describe how three primary teachers attempted to overcome incomplete content knowledge when teaching an astronomy unit. Daily observations of science activities were videotaped and transcribed from each classroom to determine the influences on the changes in teacher and student ideas of astronomy. Teachers' ideas were triggered toward the more scientific by classroom interactions. Influences on the experienced teachers' ideas were questions raised by the students, or conceptions students held of the content. Experienced teachers planned to elicit and address student ideas, and so were triggered to improve their understanding of the astronomy.     

Teaching aquatic science as inquiry through professional development: Teacher characteristics and student outcomes

We present an inquiry‐based, aquatic science professional development (PD) for upper‐elementary, middle, and high school teachers and examine changes in student outcomes in light of participating teachers’ characteristics and the grade band of the students. Our study lends support to the assertion that inquiry‐ and content‐focused PD, paired with classroom implementation, can effectively improve student learning. Our findings indicate that students improved in their nature of science (NOS) and aquatic science content knowledge and that these changes depended in some ways on the participating teachers’ characteristics and adherence to the program. The students’ improvements were amplified when their teachers adhered more closely to the PD activities during their classroom implementation. The teachers’ previous science PD experience and pre‐PD understanding of inquiry‐based teaching also explained some of the variability in student growth. In both NOS and content, students of teachers with less prior science‐PD experience benefited more. Grade band also explained variation in student outcomes through interactions with teacher‐characteristic variables. In high school, students of teachers with lower pre‐PD inquiry knowledge appeared to learn more about NOS. Our results suggest that inquiry and content training through PD may minimize disparities in teaching due to inexperience and lack of expertise. Our study also demonstrates the value of PD that teaches a flexible approach to inquiry and focuses on underrepresented, interdisciplinary content areas, like aquatic science. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:1219–1245, 2017     

Videobased lesson analysis: Effective science PD for teacher and student learning

The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project is a videobased analysis‐of‐practice PD program aimed at improving teacher and student learning at the upper elementary level. The PD program developed and utilized two “lenses,” a Science Content Storyline Lens and a Student Thinking Lens, to help teachers analyze science teaching and learning and to improve teaching practices in this year‐long program. Participants included 48 teachers (n = 32 experimental, n = 16 control) and 1,490 students. The STeLLA program significantly improved teachers' science content knowledge and their ability to analyze science teaching. Notably, the STeLLA teachers further increased their classroom use of science teaching strategies associated with both lenses while their students increased their science content knowledge. Multi‐level HLM analyses linked higher average gains in student learning with teachers' science content knowledge, teachers' pedagogical content knowledge about student thinking, and teaching practices aimed at improving the coherence of the science content storyline. This paper highlights the importance of the science content storyline in the STeLLA program and discusses its potential significance in science teaching and professional development more broadly. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 117–148, 2011     

Capitalizing on Teacher Expertise: Motivations for Contemplating Transfer from Professional Development to the Classroom

Of primary concern in professional development (PD) are the ways in which teachers transfer knowledge from PD to the classroom. This qualitative case study of a chemistry PD course for elementary teachers investigates the first step in the transfer process by examining why and how K-8 teachers consider transfer to the classroom. Motivations for considering transfer were the same whether teachers only proposed how they could use PD content or teachers actively utilized PD experiments and concepts in their own classrooms. Teacher learning of chemistry concepts, activities, and pedagogical strategies were motivating factors for considering transfer. Teachers appropriated and adapted PD materials based on the specific learning needs of their own students, the constraints of their teaching contexts, and their desired outcomes, including making science learning relevant for students. Understanding teachers’ motivations and means of adaptations in considering PD can inform PD provider programs how to be more effective and responsive to teacher needs. Furthermore, teachers’ active consideration of appropriations and adaptations highlights how teachers leverage their expertise in shaping their PD experiences.     

Preservice teachers’ thinking within a research-based framework: what informs decisions?

A research-based framework for teaching science is a heuristic tool used to help preservice teachers conceptualize many complexities of teaching while making explicit the strategy to use a research-based body of professional knowledge to inform instructional decision-making (Clough, 2003, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science, St. Louis, MO). Elementary preservice teachers frequently struggle to apply this knowledge to classroom decisions (Madsen, 2002, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the North Central Association for the Education of Teachers of Science, Bettendorf, IA). This study examined the effects of using a video case-analysis within an elementary science methods course focused on the development of a research-based framework. Students in two course sections completed a unit plan, and students in one section completed the video analysis. Video analysis students’ performance on an oral defense with the instructor was compared with oral defense performance from students in the unit plan group. Video analysis students outperformed their peers on questions related to how learning theories influence decisions of selecting content, explaining the use of questioning, and the use of self assessment strategies. Despite these differences, students in both groups still perceive teaching as primarily accomplished through activities and have difficulties understanding the critical role of the teacher in promoting student goals. This study raises issues regarding teachers’ knowledge development during preservice experiences.     

Understanding Teacher Educators and Their Pre-Service Teachers through Multi-Media Case Studies of Practice

The challenges facing those who seek to prepare mathematics teachers are well established in the literature. Most of the research to date has focused on the perceptions and understandings of pre-service teachers, but not on the perceptions and understandings of teacher educators. In this study, we explore how four teacher educators understand their pre-service secondary teachers as the pre-service teachers attempt to make sense of teaching through the investigation of a multimedia case study of practice. We found that the teacher educators adopted two different implementation strategies: one strategy tended to be open-ended and exploratory; the other was more focused on the teacher educators' goals of anticipating student understanding and developing mathematical content knowledge for teaching. We also found that, in using the case study, teacher educators elicited pre-service teachers' thinking about the complexities of the teacher's role in small group work, about the value of explicitly revealing the teacher's reflections on the lessons, about the role of planning and preparation, and about the limits of pre-service teachers' abilities to understand and appreciate students' thinking and to extend lesson ideas. Both teacher educators and their pre-service teachers gained perspectives on the role of a teacher's mathematical content knowledge. These results imply that multimedia case studies of practice can serve as vehicles for revealing the knowledge and practice of teacher educators, as they engage in supporting the professional development of pre-service teachers.     

Computer-Mediated Communication Environments in Teacher Education: Computer Conferencing and the Supervision of Student Teachers

The use of computer conferencing environments with student teachers and their supervisors was implemented during teaching practice and evaluated for four teacher education programs. Computer conferencing can be contrasted with the more common supervision methods, such as face-to-face conferences between the student teacher and the cooperating teacher, or between a group of student teachers and their supervisor at the teacher education institute. In our evaluation, we focused on participants' opinions of computer conferencing and their participation, activities and educational outcomes. During their field experiences, student teachers used computer conferencing primarily to exchange emotional support when they recognised similar experiences among their peers. It was less used for reflecting on their teaching and exchanging pedagogical content knowledge, including instructional methods and designs, classroom management strategies, general and instructional theories, and aspects of the teaching profession. This finding led to the conclusion that more attention should be paid to the structure of student teachers' learning environment, because more coaching and instruction of student teachers in their systematic and reflective use of computer conferencing leads to more varied and extensive communication     

Learning science content through socio-scientific issues-based instruction: a multi-level assessment study

Science educators have presented numerous conceptual and theoretical arguments in favor of teaching science through the exploration of socio-scientific issues (SSI). However, the empirical knowledge base regarding the extent to which SSI-based instruction supports student learning of science content is limited both in terms of the number of studies that have been conducted in this area and the quality of research. This research sought to answer two questions: (1) To what extent does SSI-based instruction support student learning of science content? and (2) How do assessments at variable distances from the curriculum reveal patterns of learning associated with SSI-based instruction? Sixty-nine secondary students taught by three teachers participated in the study. Three teachers implemented an SSI intervention focused on the use of biotechnology for identifying and treating sexually transmitted diseases. We found that students demonstrated statistically and practically significant gains in content knowledge as measured by both proximal and distal assessments. These findings support the claim that SSI-based teaching can foster content learning and improved performance on high-stakes tests.     

The beliefs and perceptions of pre-service teachers enrolled in a subject-area dominant teacher education program about “Effective Education”

Teacher educators and researchers have studied the improvement of teacher education programs so that pre-service teachers may be well prepared. Research has shown that not only teachers’ knowledge but also their beliefs have major influence on their approach to teaching. This present research examined the mathematics and science pre-service teachers’ beliefs and perceptions in Turkey. Specifically, the study focused on the student–teachers’ perspectives on “effective education” at the end of their subject area dominant program before the student teaching and the changes in those beliefs after having teaching experience. Many pre-service teachers described the teacher-centered environment as effective, and those who supported a student-centered environment discussed difficulties they faced in creating it during student and full-time teaching.     

What do we know and where do we go? Formative assessment in developing student teachers’ professional learning of teaching science

In the context of teacher education, it could well be suggested that assessment activities that build on formative interactions between student teachers and teacher educators might offer new windows into better understanding teaching and learning. This paper presents findings from a study into a primary science teacher education initiative that seeks to build the foundations on which 24 primary science student teachers, through the use of formative assessment of their science teaching and learning, can begin developing their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). In the project, formative assessment consists of activities used by teacher educators to stimulate interactions, self- and peer-assessment in order to provide insights into how student teachers develop their PCK during a semester. Content Representations (CoRes), were used as a tool to unpack the student teachers’ approach to teaching a science topic and the reasons for that approach. The results indicate that the use of CoRes, together with subsequent self-assessment and formative interactions with teacher educators and peers, do have the potential for PCK development for student teachers. The results further highlight the need for developing reliable and valid tools for capturing and assessing student teachers’ PCK in pre-service teacher education.     

A case study of two exemplary biology teachers

Research has indicated that most science classrooms are not intellectually demanding and place little emphasis on small group discussions and laboratory activities. However, successful science programs and competent science teaching that can provide models for other science teachers do exist. This study sought to document the teaching practices of two exemplary biology teachers of grades 11 and 12 by means of an interpretive research methodology. Both teachers had a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the content they were to teach and had a range of teaching strategies that could be used without a great deal of thought. Their expectations for student performance were high, consistent, and firm. Students were expected to complete a high level of academic work in discussions, in problem work, and in laboratory activities, and were encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. A distinctive feature of these biology classes was the high level of managerial efficiency, where lessons were busy occasions for both teacher and students; students had little opportunity for off-task behavior. Both teachers actively monitored the behavior of both high- and low-ability students by moving around the room and speaking with individuals, while still maintaining control of the entire class. By manipulating questioning and the social environment, both teachers encouraged students to engage in work, gave effective praise to the whole class and to individuals, encouraged student input by referring to it, helped students to effectively use their time, and gave marks for completion of set work. Compared to research with less-successful teachers, these teaching behaviors contributed to exemplary practice.     

Making Inquiry a Habit of Mind: Learning to use inquiry to understand and improve practice

This study examines how student teachers in a 2-year graduate program used inquiry to examine the day-to-day issues that arose in their student teaching placements. Through systematic questioning, collection of data and controlled experimenting with solutions, student teachers learned to apply the technical and theoretical knowledge they were learning in education classes to their individual student teaching situations. Essential to the success of this process was collaboration with colleagues for clarifying their questions and for understanding and analyzing the data they collected. Analysis of the data shows that student teachers learned to help one another so that their teaching was focused and successful in many different ways. Confirmation of this success was noted in the supervisor evaluations and observation notes for each student teacher. Student teachers did learn to make inquiry a habit of mind, thereby initiating a long-term commitment to professional self-study.     

Experienced teachers' knowledge of teaching and learning of models and modelling in science education

This article reports a study of the knowledge of experienced science teachers in the context of a reform in science education in The Netherlands. The study focused on a major goal of the reform, that is, improving students' knowledge and abilities in the field of models and modelling in science. First, seven teachers of biology and chemistry were interviewed about the teaching and learning of models and modelling in science. Next, a questionnaire was designed consisting of 30 items on a Likert-type scale. This questionnaire was completed by a group ( n = 74) of teachers of biology, chemistry and physics. Results indicated that the teachers could be grouped in two subgroups, who differed in terms of their self-reported use of teaching activities focusing on models: one sub-group applied such activities substantially more often than the other sub-group. This distinction appeared not to be related to the teachers' subject, or teaching experience. Moreover, the use of teaching activities seemed only loosely related to the teachers' knowledge of their students, particularly, students' views of models and modelling abilities. Implications for the design of teacher education are discussed.