Novice elementary teachers’ knowledge of, beliefs about, and planning for the science practices: a longitudinal study

Abstract

ABSTRACT This longitudinal research examines the knowledge of, beliefs about, and planned use of the science practices of five novice elementary or primary teachers during their science methods course, student teaching, and first year of teaching. To answer our research questions, we collected lesson plans and conducted interviews after the teachers taught science lessons, and we coded these data sources for science practices and sub-practices. We found that the novice elementary teachers assumed a wide range of purposes for using the science practices in their classroom. For example, they emphasised the practices’ cross-curricular nature as well as how the practices can engage students in real science. In reference to the use of the science practices in their plans, there were aspects of the practices where the novice teachers’ planned practice did not yet match their understanding or beliefs. For instance, the novice teachers knew that reasoning is a part of science explanations, but there was little evidence of this element of Explanation and Argumentation in their plans. This work adds to the field's understanding of how novice elementary teachers use multiple science practices in planning to engage their students in sensemaking, and has implications for elementary science teacher education.