Factors Contributing to Preservice Teachers' Discomfort in a Web-Based Course Structured as an Inquiry

Abstract

This is a report of a qualitative emergent design study of a Science, Technology, Society Interaction (STS) Web-enhanced course. Students' discomfort during the pilot test provided insight to the intellectual scaffolding preservice secondary science teachers needed to optimize their performance when required to develop understanding through open-ended inquiry in a Web environment. Eight factors identified contributed to students' discomfort: computer skills, paradigm shifts, trust, time management, thinking about their own thinking, systematic inquiry, self-assessment, and scientific discourse. These factors suggested developing understanding through inquiry by conducting a self-designed, open-ended, systematic inquiry required autonomous learning involving metacognitive skills and time management skills. To the extent students either came into the course with this scaffolding, or developed it during the course, they were successful in learning about STS and its relationship to science teaching. Changes in the Web site made to accommodate learners' needs as they surfaced were described.