Novice Elementary Teachers’ Science Teaching: Instructional Planning and Discourse

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teaching science to elementary school students is complex, and teacher preparation programs must support pre-service teachers’ learning to communicate science content and practices with children. Science teachers bring the experiences they have as students to their teacher preparation, and these experiences may support or conflict with what they are learning about effective teaching. In this study, we present stories of two first-year teachers who attended a STEM-focused teacher preparation program in the U.S. While effective science teaching requires a multitude of complex practices, we focus on the teachers’ science lesson planning and discourse. These two constructs were chosen as areas of foci because they are introduced in teacher preparation, preservice teachers are often evaluated on these constructs in preparation for licensure, and they are critical components of effective elementary instruction/ Data collection began during their teacher preparation and continued into their first year as teachers and include semi-structured interviews, observation field notes, and video recordings. While both teachers expressed similar intentions for incorporating instruction practices learned in their teacher preparation, we found differences in enactment. We discuss influences, such as school cultures and peers, on beginning teachers’ attempts to translate learning from teacher preparation into their first year as teachers of science and include recommendations for continued support of novice teacher learning.