Providing Bottom-Up Support to Middle School Science Teachers’ Reform Efforts in Using Inquiry-Based Kits

Middle grades science teachers need professional support in practice as they implement new inquiry-based science. Professional development schools can provide this bottom-up support through connecting preservice and inservice teacher education programs in classroom practice. In this study, coteaching arrangements with secondary science education majors provided additional teachers in the classroom to support a materials-rich curriculum and the needed associated pedagogies. Science education majors provided needed assistance in troubleshooting difficulties with the new curriculum. They also provided needed content knowledge to support inquiry, along with creating moments and space for teachers to reflect on inquiry practice. Ongoing assistance by preservice teachers allowed inservice teachers to progress from logistical concerns in implementing kit curriculum to concerns regarding student learning and the supporting professional development.

The Integration of Creative Drama in an Inquiry-Based Elementary Program: The Effect on Student Attitude and Conceptual Learning

Creative drama activities designed to help children learn difficult science concepts were integrated into an inquiry-based elementary science program. Children (n?=?38) in an upper elementary enrichment program at one primary school were the participants in this action research. The teacher-researcher taught students the Full Option Science System? (FOSS) modules of sound (fourth grade) and solar energy (fifth grade) with the integration of creative drama activities in treatment classes. A 2?×?2?×?(2) Mixed ANOVA was used to examine differences in the learning outcomes and attitudes toward science between groups (drama and non-drama) and grade levels (4th and 5th grades) over time (pre/post). Learning was measured using the tests included with the FOSS modules. A shortened version of the Three Dimension Elementary Science Attitude Survey measured attitudes toward science. Students in the drama treatment group had significantly higher learning gains (F?=?160.2, p?<?0.001) than students in the non-drama control group with students in grade four reporting significantly greater learning outcomes (F?=?14.3, p?<?0.001) than grade five. There was a significantly statistical decrease in student attitudes toward science (F?=?7.5, p?<?0.01), though a small change. Creative drama was an effective strategy to increase science conceptual learning in this group of diverse elementary enrichment students when used as an active extension to the pre-existing inquiry-based science curriculum.     

Studying Career Science Teachers' Personal Histories: A Methodology for Understanding Intrinsic Reasons for Career Choice and Retention

Career choice and retention of nineteen secondary science education graduates were studied using a biographical approach. Autobiographical papers written as preservice teachers and rewritten as career teachers were compared for intrinsic reasons for vocational choice. Comparisons were made between early vocation teachers and those who chose science teaching later in their higher education studies. Participants beginning college as science education majors wanted to teach for student learning and to shape their students' lives. Participants beginning college as science majors wanted to continue learning science while also enhancing their students' science literacy. Ten participants' data from both groups showed great similarities in self as teacher across autobiographical papers. Teaching for impact on students appeared to support retention in this study. Implications for development and potential retention of future science teachers are discussed.     

Use of the Outdoor Classroom and Nature-Study to Support Science and Literacy Learning: A Narrative Case Study of a Third-Grade Classroom

A case study of an exemplary third grade teacher??s use of the outdoor classroom for meeting both state science and language arts standards is described. Data from the researcher??s field journal, teacher lesson plans, and teacher interviews document how this teacher used nature-study to bridge outdoor classroom experiences with the state science and language arts curriculum. This teacher??s early life experiences supported her strong interest in science and nature in the outdoors and experiencing it with her children. Children interacted with the outdoor classroom throughout the day as a context for science and literacy learning. All but one child successfully met Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) goals in reading at the end of the school year.     

Mitgliederversammlung der „Association Internationale des Universités“, Istanbul,September 1955

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Dispositions Supporting Elementary Interns in the Teaching of Reform-Based Science Materials

Dispositions supporting the teaching of science as structured inquiry by four elementary candidates are presented. Candidates were studied during student teaching based on their positive attitudes toward teaching science with reform-based materials in their methods course. Personal learning histories informed their attitudes, values, and beliefs about the teaching and learning of science through structured inquiry. Supportive dispositions included curiosity and questioning, investigating first-hand, learning together, and active learning. These dispositions supported early science teaching despite candidates limited science content knowledge, and may contribute to candidates’ further learning of science.     

Practicing What We Teach: A Self-Study in Implementing an Inquiry-Based Curriculum in a Middle Grades Classroom

A science teacher educator returned to teaching adolescents after more than 10 years in the professoriate. We studied his beliefs, practice and daily use of inquiry pedagogy while implementing a reform-based curriculum. Reflection on practice was evidenced by a weekly journal, classroom observations and debriefings, and extensive interviews. Newly developed practical knowledge from this experience shifted the science teacher educator’s beliefs away from the Piagetian structuralism espoused in prescribed curricula towards a more culturally responsive, student-driven approach to teaching science to middle grades students. The merits and limitations of curricula attempting to follow traditional scientific practices are discussed.     

Tailoring National Standards to Early Science Teacher Identities: Building on Personal Histories to Support Beginning Practice

Individual recommendation plans (IRP) for student teaching practice were co-constructed with two methods students based on the select application of National Science Teachers Association’s National Standards for Science Teacher Preparation. Methods students completed a resume, an interview on pedagogical preferences, and a learning styles survey to determine the reform-based standards and pedagogical approaches that better fit their personal histories and identity formation as science teachers. Each case was unique with one student better meeting the Standards of “Issues” and “Science in the Community” and the other student better meeting the standards of “Inquiry” and the “Nature of Science”. Student teachers planned and taught lessons based on their IRP and were mostly successful in meeting their prescribed standards and utilizing their preferred pedagogies. However, their success in use of specific strategies supporting their approach was highly dependent upon classroom context. The use of the IRP process as a reflective tool strengthening identity formation and early practice is discussed.