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.     

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.

     

Drivers of teachers’ intentions to use mobile applications to teach science

Education and Information Technologies - Using mobile applications in science education has proven to be effective as it adds multiple benefits including learning gains, motivation to learn, and...     

Teaching anxieties revealed: pre-service elementary teachers’ reflections on their mathematics teaching experiences

Over the last 50?years, there has been ample research dedicated to mathematics anxiety in contexts of teaching and learning. However, there has been less attention focused on pre-service teachers’ anxieties about teaching mathematics in classroom settings. This study analyzed pre-service teachers’ reflections at the conclusion of an elementary mathematics field experience in order to determine common themes surrounding anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences. Through qualitative analysis of pre-service teachers’ reflections using open and axial coding, three categories and ten themes surrounding elementary pre-service teachers’ anxiety-related events based on mathematics practice-teaching experiences emerged. Some of the themes presented were ones that increased pre-service teachers’ anxieties for teaching mathematics, whereas other themes reflected aspects of the field experience that decreased anxiety for teaching mathematics. Based on the themes revealed in this study, suggestions for strategies and materials that could be developed for university mathematics methods courses are discussed. Novel perspectives for considering mathematics teaching anxiety, such as locus of control and future time perspective, are shared.     

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.     

Watching oneself teach – long-term effects of teachers’ reflections on their video-recorded teaching

This study examines changes in teaching habits reported by teachers when they see themselves on video. It is a longitudinal study in which 43 student teachers participated in the first step during their teacher education. When the teachers saw themselves teaching, they were surprised by certain habits and wrote that they wanted to change them. Two years later, eight of these teachers video recorded their teaching again. The interpretation is based on pragmatic philosophy and Mead’s concepts of ‘I’ and ‘me’. In the interviews, it becomes clear that the majority of the teachers in different ways had changed their habits. It is not only a question of new habits but also of the refinement of previous habits. Four categories of changed habits are presented: shift in the opportunity to speak in favour of the participants, reduced service orientation, reduced control, and building relationships.     

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.     

Fostering higher‐order thinking in science class: teachers’ reflections

The study reported in this article aimed at exploring what teachers know and do about fostering higher‐order thinking skills in teaching science, and how they see themselves involved in achieving this end. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with 11 teachers experienced in teaching high school physics, which is considered a relatively difficult but well‐established discipline. The findings highlighted a diversity among the teachers in four areas: meta‐strategic knowledge of the concept of higher‐order thinking; practical utilization of instructional strategies related to fostering higher‐order thinking in the classroom; beliefs about students’ abilities to acquire higher‐order thinking skills; and self‐perception regarding teaching towards higher‐order thinking. Regarding the second area, for example, some of the teachers reported using teaching strategies in class that could impede the development of students as autonomous thinkers; others occasionally try to foster higher‐order thinking among their students but regard this as a way of conveying subject content better; only a minority of the teachers see the fostering of higher‐order thinking as an important objective of teaching physics. In summary, teachers are frequently puzzled or uncertain about the entire issue of fostering higher‐order thinking in school. Introducing elements of constructivist pedagogy combined with the specific steps aimed at fostering higher‐order thinking into the science class is required to make the development of higher‐order thinking a regular ingredient in science teaching within the current schooling.     

Pedagogical intersubjectivity,autism and education: can teachers teach so that autistic pupils learn?

Effective pedagogy and inclusive practice are located within the quality of learning relationships and the context-sensitive, moment-to-moment professional judgements made by teachers within learning interactions. In particular, good teachers are able to align themselves with pupils’ subject positions, though this experience of relatedness within learning interactions is a bodily one that is mundane and mostly overlooked. The aim of this article is to explore whether this account of learning, that crucially involves a shared way of being minded, is adequate to describe the learning of pupils on the autism spectrum. Problems with the idea of ‘pedagogical intersubjectivity’ in relation to autism are noted. Using personal accounts of learning interactions and recent micro-level research findings about the competences of autistic children in favourable interactional ecologies, it is argued however that experiences of relatedness in learning should be considered as important for autistic pupils too. It is concluded that a key aspect of good practice in relation to autism and education is that teachers are able to critically reflect on their bodily experiences of interaction with autistic pupils as a way of deepening their understanding and developing their professional practice.     

Preservice elementary science teachers’ argumentation competence: impact of a training programme

The recent literature has shown the importance of preservice elementary science teachers (PESTs) having a deep understanding of argumentation, as this factor may affect the nature of the class activities that are taught and what students learn. A lack of understanding of this factor may represent an obstacle in the development of science education programmes in line with the development of scientific competences. This paper presents the results of the design and implementation of a training programme of 6 sessions (12 h of class participation plus 8 h of personal homework) on argumentation. The programme was carried out by 57 Spanish PESTs from Malaga, Spain. The training programme incorporates the innovative use of certain strategies to improve competence in argumentation, such as teaching PESTs to identify the elements of arguments in order to design assessment rubrics or by including peer assessment during evaluation with and without rubrics. The results obtained on implementing the training programme were evaluated based on the development of PESTs’ argumentation competence using Toulmin’s argumentative model. Data collection methods involved two tasks carried out at the beginning and the end of the programme, i.e., pre- and post-test, respectively. The conclusion of the study is that students made significant progress in their argumentation competence on completing the course. In addition, PESTs who followed the training programme achieved statistically better results at the end than those in the control group (n = 41), who followed a traditional teaching programme. A 6-month transfer task showed a slight improvement for the PESTs of the experimental group in relation to the control group in their ability to transfer argumentation to practice.     

Response to Grace’s reflections on Allen and West’s paper

Since the 1970s, school effectiveness research has looked for process-variables filling the black box between mainly structural school features and cognitive outcomes in students. Two concepts came to the fore: school climate and school culture. Both concepts are currently used interchangeably, although it is open to debate whether both are actually the same thing. Because of the way culture and climate are defined and subsequently measured, we propose school culture is a better frame from which to study school effectiveness. This article goes through the premises of perceptual measurement usually overlooked in climate research, and we demonstrate empirically by means of very basic and simple methods and techniques that perceptual measurement and measurement based on assumptions are different approaches and might yield totally different results on an aggregated level. We conclude by demonstrating how culture can be probed and integrated in the models traditionally used in school effectiveness research in an advantageous and theoretically sound way.     

Swedish teachers’ ethical reflections on a study visit to Central America

In this article we argue that culturally variable values and morals have a key role in educational initiatives that address a global dimension. The article suggests that looking at values and morals in relation to a teaching practice is a way of adding knowledge to this field. Our study inquires into how an intercultural experience can evoke ethical reflections on environmental and sustainability issues. The article is based on a qualitative empirical study of teachers’ experiences of a teacher development programme, where we analyse the variety of ethical reflections that emerge during a study visit to a Central American country. We build on a pragmatic analytical approach that takes John Dewey’s ethical thoughts on moral situations as a point of departure and deals with teachers’ ethical reflections in a way that takes the contextual and situated nature of morals into account.     

Doing science that matters to address India’s water crisis

India is one of the most water stressed countries in the world. However, despite appreciable increase in funding for water research, high quality science that is usable by stakeholders remains elusive. I argue that this can be attributed to the absence of research on questions that actually matter to stakeholders, unwillingness to transcend disciplinary boundaries, and the demise of fleld-work research culture in favour of computer simulation.Conventional wisdom is these trends are driven by what is publishable. However, there is an increasing interest in the international community in interdisciplinary, problem driven, empirical research. Using examples of my own research in Chennai and Bengaluru, on water scarcity in urbanising watersheds, I offer some methods and insights.     

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.     

Encountering science education’s capacity to affect and be affected

What might science education learn from the recent affective turn in the humanities and social sciences? Framed as a response to Michalinos Zembylas’s article, this essay draws from selected theorizing in affect theory, science education and science and technology studies, in pursuit of diverse and productive ways to talk of affect within science education. These discussions are framed by desires to transcend traditional epistemic boundaries and practices. The article concludes offering some associated ambiguities and tensions involved.     

Secondary school teachers’ perspectives on teaching about topics that bridge science and religion

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, science and religious education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject areas. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils held religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training.     

Reality is broken to be rebuilt: how a gamer’s mindset can show science educators new ways of contribution to science and world?

This paper presents a review of Jane McGonigal’s book, “Reality is broken” (Reality is broken: why games make us better and how they can change the world. Penguin Press, New York, 2011). As the book subtitle suggests it is a book about “why games make us better and how they can change the world”, written by a specialist in computer game design. I will try to show the relevance this book might have to science educators through emphasizing the points that the author offers as the fixes to rebuild reality on the image of gaming world. Using cultural-historical activity theory, I will explore how taking up a gamer mindset can challenge one to consider shortcomings in current approaches to the activity of teaching–learning science and how using this mindset can open our minds to think of new ways of engaging in the activity of doing science. I hope this review will encourage educators to explore the worldview presented in the book and use it to transform our thinking about science education.     

From diagrams to self-regulated learning: student teachers’ reflections on the construction of their PLE

This paper presents a study on the reflections on their PLEs by student teachers in an ICT subject of the fourth degree course in Teacher Education (Early Childhood Teacher Training) at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). There were four student teacher groups (n = 117) participating in this project, from the three Balearic Islands’ campuses (Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza). The main research issues focused on in this study are: the topics highlighted from the reflections on the students’ PLEs and the reflection level achieved. To explore these issues, a content analysis technique has been used to interpret their final assignment of the students’ eportfolios, in which they had to carry out their reflections on their PLEs. For that purpose, two instruments have been designed: a system of categories and a rubric of assessment. Results show that the topics on which students reflect most are the conception of the PLE, its explicitness and its purpose. Although some improvement in students’ reflective skills was observed, conclusions lead us to the necessity of working further on the depth of reflections in order to adequately support self-regulated learning.