Learning to Teach Science

Abstract

Northfi eld (1998) tackles this theme in a discussion of how science teacher education is practiced. He begins by quoting an unnamed individual with a provocative comment about teacher education: “Teacher preparation is necessary and worthwhile, but it is generally conducted in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for too little time” (p. 695). Northfi eld draws on the work of Farnham-Diggory (1994) to introduce three models of how novices become experts-behavior, apprenticeship, and development. His concern is one that we share: How does school experience infl uence an individual’s learning to teach? He then immediately offers a challenging answer:Much the same conclusion could be drawn about how we view experience in the context of children’s learning in science classrooms. Northfi eld’s statement at the opening of this chapter helps us frame our approach in this chapter: Whether in the science classroom or in the science teacher education program, how individuals learn from experience remains a poorly understood phenomenon. Here we focusWe write as teacher educators who are passionate about improving science education and teacher education in general and the experience of learning to teach science in particular. In this chapter we permit our experiences as teacher educators to inform and shape our accounts and interpretations of research related to learning to teach science. One of the most striking observations we can offer about research related to learning to teach science is the extent to which science education research appears not to be extended and extrapolated to programs of science teacher education. Research appears to confi rm what our own experiences as teacher educators tell us: A fundamental challenge resides in the prior teaching and learning beliefs and experiences of those learning to teach, just as a fundamental challenge of teaching science resides in students’ prior beliefs about phenomena. The research associated with constructivism and conceptual change reminds us that beliefs and experiences are deeply intertwined (see Ozdemir & Clark, 2007; Pelech & Pieper, 2010; Vosniadou, 1994, 2008). Just as children in elementary, middle, and secondary schools tend to be unaware of their initial beliefs about phenomena and unaware of how personal experiences shape and constrain those beliefs, so those who are learning to teach science tend to be unaware of their initial beliefs about what and how they will learn in a program of science teacher education.