Early Career Science Teachers Research Articles

Exploring the Goals of Social Justice Teaching Through the Eyes of Early Career Science Teachers

ABSTRACT Social justice-oriented teacher education programs infuse critical pedagogies in their coursework to build teachers’ capacity to design and enact teaching that seeks to disrupt systemic oppression and injustice. Graduates of these programs often seek teaching positions in schools that serve working class communities of color with the goal of working alongside students, families, and the community to act as agents of change. Yet, we know that teacher turnover remains high in these schools, especially for early career teachers (i.e. 1–5 years teaching experience). Understanding the needs and challenges that teachers face in their first few years of teaching can help teacher education programs design intentional support systems to ameliorate the lack of support early career teachers experience and issues with teacher turnover. In this paper, we share excerpts from interviews conducted with 20 early career science teachers that shared the social justice strategies, lessons, and pedagogies they used in their classroom. Our findings identified a multitude of teaching practices that depict teachers’ everyday pursuit of social justice in their science classrooms, namely how teachers reflected on their positionality, built restorative relationships with students, developed students’ critical dispositions, built positive science identities, increased student access to science, and incorporated students’ knowledge, experiences, and histories, some of which also presented some challenges for them. We describe these practices and associated challenges with implications for how teacher education can support early career teachers and their alumni in their continued development as social justice educators.

Teachers’ support in developing year 7 students’ argumentation skills about water-based socioscientific issues

ABSTRACT Internationally, there are calls for students to be able to use their scientific understandings to make informed decisions about the world in which they live. Using a mixed methods case study design, this study investigated the impact of behaviours and strategies used by two early career science teachers who taught argumentation about a water-based socioscientific issues (SSI) to their Year 7 students. Students’ argument quality, measured using Toulmin’s argument structure, improved significantly from pre- to post-instruction (p = .0033). There was also a significant increase (p = .0037) in the number of types of categories. Qualitative data comprising classroom audio-transcripts, field notes, student work samples, teacher interviews and student reflections were analysed using inductive analysis to identify four themes related to teacher behaviours and teaching strategies: (1) developing and maintaining a safe classroom environment; (2) providing clear instructions about the features of quality arguments; (3) providing opportunities for all students to think and work individually and collaboratively; and (4) practising oral and written argument construction with gradual removal of scaffolds. While the findings are not generalisable teacher educators can use their expertise to decide the extent to which the teacher strategies and behaviours would support the development of argumentation skills in their particular context.

Teaching during COVID-19: reflections of early-career science teachers

The unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic required that instruction be shifted online through asynchronous, synchronous, or hybrid models of instruction. This created a need for many K-12 teachers to dramatically rethink how teaching and learning occurred in their classrooms. In this study, we investigate the experiences of early-career science teachers who were in their first year of teaching when the pandemic struck. Using a comparative case study and an analytical framework focused on technology-related leader practices, we explore the unique opportunities for technology-based leadership that emerged for early-career teachers during the pandemic. We posit that the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic presented novel opportunities for early-career teachers to assume leadership roles that were embedded within the classroom teaching experience, which created unique opportunities for innovation and leadership in teaching.

The first 5 years of teaching science: The beliefs, knowledge, practices, and opportunities to learn of secondary science teachers

AbstractThe early years of teaching are important for science teachers, but little is known about how science teachers develop professionally in their early years. This mixed methods study took a longitudinal view of the early years of teaching. Following 95 secondary science teachers over a 5‐year period, this study examined the beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and practices of the teachers during and after their induction programming. It drew upon the conceptual framework of opportunities to learn to contemplate the experiences of the teachers in relationship to their beliefs, PCK, and practices. Interviews and observations comprised the data in the study, which were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and then integrated to understand the teachers' development. The quantitative analysis revealed that the early career teachers experienced no significant change in their beliefs over time but did experience significant change in their PCK and in some of their instructional practices. The qualitative analysis highlighted the difficulty in changing the instruction of the teachers, administrative decisions that constrained or contributed to the learning of the new teachers, and the different professional learning opportunities new teachers drew upon over time. These results suggest that early professional development experiences provided some support for the newly hired teachers, but not enough to challenge their beliefs or establish the instructional repertoires envisioned in the science education reforms. To better support the development of early career science teachers, they need strategic learning opportunities over time that involve administrators, colleagues, and science teacher educators.

Teachers in conversation with industry scientists: Implications for STEM education

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is dominating industry as we become more technology-dependent and the workplace evolves. Consequently, engaging industry professionals in STEM education continues to be a priority in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, as industry look to invest in students who will become future innovators. While industry partnerships with schools can help to drive authentic education in STEM, there needs to be a mutually respectful approach that capitalises on the expertise of each partner; that is, the deep discipline knowledge of industry and the pedagogical knowledge of educators. This research partnered industry scientists with early career science teachers to explore the implications of industry-school partnerships. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups with 15 participants. The qualitative data were inductively coded and triangulation occurred between different focus groups for dependability. The advice from industry scientists to educators focused on making science practical and authentic, while educators sought to engage industry partnerships to support the development of content knowledge and to overcome resourcing issues. In addition, the conversations between scientists and science educators illuminated a number of barriers to partnering, including what type of STEM careers to introduce to students and the appropriate age groups to target to ensure successful partnerships.

Science teachers’ perception and implementation of inquiry-based reform initiatives in relation to their beliefs and professional identity

The purpose of this study was to understand how early career science teachers perceive and interpret the calls for inquiry-based instruction (as suggested by National Science Education Standards) in relation to their emerging professional identity and beliefs. Further, this study explored how the school and classroom contexts influenced teachers’ implementation of the reform-based teaching practices. Using semi-structured interviews with twelve early career science teachers, this study revealed that teachers often showed limited understanding about inquiry-based instruction, such as hands-on lab activities, and devoted small amount of time for implementing inquiry teaching. However, interestingly, their beliefs about teaching science were aligned with the assumptions of inquiry-based instruction. The lack of inconsistency between beliefs and practices seem to result from the influence of contextual factors. School and classroom environments that limit teachers’ agency and sense of power lead teachers to experience unpleasant emotions, which may eventually threaten their identity as a teacher. This paper ends with implications for school administrators and policy makers.

Physics Teacher SOS: Supporting New Teachers Without Pushing an Agenda

Few workshops for teachers focus primarily on instruction methods for basic high school physics. In Northern California, Physics Teacher SOS (PTSOS) has gained popularity doing just that. PTSOS workshops are directed toward early-career science teachers, though veterans are welcome too. The program is not influenced by scientific supply companies, government institutions, or power utilities. Support is entirely private, enough so that tuition is free.

Learning to Teach Inquiry: A Beginning Science Teacher of English Language Learners

Early career science teachers are often assigned to classrooms with high numbers of English language learners (ELLs). For the underprepared early career science teacher, these circumstances are challenging. This study examines the changes in beliefs and practices of an early career science teacher who taught high numbers of ELLs in an urban setting. Victoria participated in the Alternative Support for Induction Science Teachers (ASIST) program during her initial two years of teaching. Our research team followed her over a three‐year period, and the data collected included classroom observations and interviews about her beliefs and practices. In addition, documents such as teacher evaluations and classroom artifacts were collected periodically for the purpose of triangulation. The analysis of the data revealed that with the support of the ASIST program, Victoria implemented inquiry lessons and utilized instructional materials that promoted language and science competencies for her ELLs. Conversely, standardized testing and her teaching assignment played a role in constraining the implementation of inquiry‐based practices. The results of this study call for collaborative efforts between university science educators and school administrators to provide professional development opportunities and support to build the capacity of early career science teachers of ELLs.

Using a Wiki in a Scientist-Teacher Professional Learning Community: Impact on Teacher Perception Changes

In this study, a wiki was integrated into a professional development model that systemically addresses early-career teachers’ needs. This study was conducted to examine the impact of wiki-based professional development activities in a scientist-teacher professional learning community and focused on early-career teachers’ perceptions of the role of wiki technology and knowledge of teaching through inquiry. Teachers participated in the Professional Learning Community Model for Entry into Teaching Science (PLC-METS), a professional development program that is based on an integrated teacher education model of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and communication between teachers and scientists, with the goal of supporting early-career teachers’ ability to engage their students in scientific inquiry. The use of a wiki environment to collaborate on activities, deliver resources, and share knowledge is rapidly expanding in professional development communities. The use of the wiki in PLC-METS positively predicted the results of teachers’ knowledge of inquiry-based teaching. Results demonstrate that the wiki can contribute to building a learning community for collaboration between early-career science teachers and scientists. The paper also discusses the educational implications for the design of wiki-based professional learning communities that impact teachers’ professional development.

Features of a positive work environment for early career teachers

What are the features of a positive work environment for early career teachers? This article examines this question through interviews with secondary school early career science teachers. Findings suggest a science department that is collegial and collaborative is essential in encouraging teachers in the early stages of their career to stay in the profession and engage in practice that supports student learning. While the article focuses on the science department work environment, the features and issues raised could have implications for different departments or sectors within New Zealand.

Characteristics of effective professional development for early career science teachers

The research reported here set out to investigate the features in schools and science departments that were seen as effective in contributing to the continuing professional development (CPD) of early career science teachers. Ten schools took part in the study, selected on the basis of their reputation for having effective CPD practices. To gain different perspectives from within the organisations we conducted interviews with senior members of staff, heads of science departments and early career teachers. A thematic analysis of the interviews is presented, drawing on findings from across the 10 schools, and exemplified in more detail by a vignette to show specific features of effective CPD practice. The study has revealed a wealth of practice across the 10 schools, which included a focus on broadening experience beyond the classroom, having an open, sharing, non‐threatening culture and systemic procedures for mentoring and support that involved ring‐fenced budgets. The schools also deployed staff judiciously in critical roles that model practice and motivate early career science teachers. Early career teachers were concerned primarily with their overall development as teachers, though some science specific examples such as observing practical work and sessions to address subject knowledge were seen as important.

Changing career and changing identity: how do teacher career changers exercise agency in identity construction?

The quest to understand what it means to ‘become’ a teacher and the conditions in which such aspirations can be translated into lived experience, continues to exercise teacher educators and researchers alike. Whilst the literature points towards the importance of developing teacher identity, little attention has been given to understanding the transitional processes of individuals coming into teaching at a later point in their working lives. The research reported here was part of a wider project investigating the experiences of early career science teachers. In this study we follow one mature, highly qualified science graduate as she moved through initial teacher education and beyond into her first teaching post. Drawing on theories of identity and self-verification, the analysis reveals how disparity between strongly-held archetypal teacher images and socially constructed teacher identity played out and led this teacher to step away from her new career. Fostering a strong sense of self-efficacy is suggested as critical in supporting mid-career changers in making durable adjustments to new working roles and contexts of teaching.

Teaching Rocks and Minerals in the Hands on Lab: A Teaching and Learning Experience for Pre-credential Undergraduates at CSU Chico

INTRODUCTION The importance of hands-on activities in learning science at all grade levels has been widely recognized for several decades from the results of a number of studies, including: 1. the development of constructivist learning theory (e.g. Piaget, 1967), 2. the introduction of process-based approaches to science education (AAAS) and 3. the development of discovery by the Science Improvement Study (SCIS) at UC Berkeley (e.g. Gagne 1966; Cole, 1991). Each approach has supported the merits of hands on learning in the sciences. However, multiple factors act as barriers to the full scale adaptation of hands on activities in classroom science lessons including: limited funds for materials, lack of experiences in teacher training and professional development programs, and limited adoption choices for quality resources such as textbooks and kit based instructional materials (Cole, 1991). Across the disciplines of mathematics and science, widespread attention has been paid to the need for high quality training for pre-service teachers (e.g. Cooney, 994; Weiss, 1995; Frykholm, 1999), particularly in the implementation of new teaching strategies. For instance, Brown and colleagues (1990) cite the need to shift focus to place greater attention on pre-service teacher training, which we agree is particularly important given reports that some in-service teachers who serve as mentors to young teachers resist implementing reform based pedagogy (e.g. in mathematics, Frykholm, 1999), and given the tendency for pre-service teachers to revert to teaching styles similar to those their own teachers used (Brown, et al., 1990). Early teaching experiences for pre-service teachers have been shown to empower students to have confidence to teach, help them clarify their decision to become teachers (or not), and give them improved attitudes towards subsequent coursework (e.g. Cooney, 1994; Weiss, 1995; Frykholm, 1999, LaMaster, 2001). Similarly, early teaching experiences that include service learning has been shown to promote improved attitude in pre-service teachers (e.g. LaMaster et at, 2001) as have programs that use inquiry-based learning environments to train pre-service teachers (e.g. Plevyak et al., 2007), both of which are components of the Hands On Lab (HOL) training for pre-service science teachers. NEED FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHING EXPERIENCES Previous research, state, and national standards have documented the need for pre-service teaching experiences for students interested in secondary mathematics and sciences (e.g. Papick, et al, 1999, Oh, et al., 2005). Additional work has indicated that early career science teachers often find short comings in their preparation in areas such as classroom management, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and cite a gap between their university preparation and professional practices (e.g. Gustafson et al., 2002; Appleton and Kindt, 1999; Mulholland and Wallace, 2000). Even students who demonstrate good content knowledge have reported negative attitudes towards science and science teaching (Tosun, 2000), making a clear case for pre-service teachers to have low-risk, non-threatening teaching experiences early in their preparation. The Internship in Science Teaching course in the provides such experiences for the undergraduate students (referred to as HOL Interns). Recognizing the educational importance of hands on science activities as well as common barriers to their implementation in the classroom, a course was developed at California State University, Chico to meet the needs of pre-service teachers. This upper division course, Internship in Science Teaching, is taught in a dedicated laboratory, the HOL, which provides opportunities for undergraduate students to practice teaching hands on, inquiry based science activities to classes of elementary aged students. Classroom teachers bring their students to campus for the science lesson field trip and pre-service teachers learn the art of teaching science to these young students through supervised and structured hands on teaching experiences. …

Use of Information Communication Technology by Early Career Science Teachers in Western Australia

Australia wide, all school systems are in the process of providing teachers with computers and there is an expectation that new teachers will possess the expertise to use them in their teaching. In addition to using computers for basic word processing and data manipulation, early‐career science teachers need to be able to use a range of Information Communication Technology (ICT)‐related resources effectively in the science classroom. The purpose of this research study was to examine the extent to which early‐career (less than 3 years of experience) science teachers perceived that their preservice education prepared them to use ICT in their teaching role, to clarify the nature of their ICT use, and to identify factors that enhance or inhibit their use of ICT. Through questionnaire and interview, it was found that the most frequent uses of ICT were word processing, Internet research, email, and PowerPoint while the least frequent uses were palm top computers, web page design, online discussion groups, and virtual excursions. The factors that most enhanced ICT use were access to the Internet and computers, teacher confidence, and skills and workload. The factors that most inhibited ICT use were workload, behaviour management issues, and access to computers and the Internet. The findings of this study will inform preservice science education and professional development workshops.

Negotiating the conflicts: Reexamining the structure and function of reflection in science teacher learning

AbstractMany researchers and teacher educators propose that reflection is an important way teachers can think about changing their views and practices. The hierarchical constructs used to describe reflection, however, are often interpreted in ways that promote reflection as a toolteachers use to elevate their views and practices toward ideal “end goals” rather than as a more complex intellectual act that could help them learn how to shape their own goals. This research explores how four early career science teachers learned to negotiate the conflicts between their own goals and actual practices by situating their reflections in multiple contexts. They were invited to become aware of those conflicts through interviews and discussions of classroom observations and then to address them by actually teaching toward their own unrealized goals. The data generated from these activities were described with a rubric based on M. van Manen's reflection construct (1977) but were framed with certain perceptions each teacher had about her or his own science teaching. Several patterns emerged across the four teachers' cases that challenge the use of reflection as a tool and suggest how science teachers can reflect as a way to take greater ownership over and responsibility for their own lifelong learning. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 91:629–663, 2007

Challenges New Science Teachers Face

Providing support focused on real challenges is critical in retaining highly qualified new science teachers, but the field lacks a systematic description of these teachers’ needs. The authors of this article examine the areas that science teachers are expected to understand: (1) the content and disciplines of science, (2) learners, (3) instruction, (4) learning environments, and (5) professionalism. They review the literature on challenges facing preservice and early-career science teachers, identify issues on which conventional wisdom is supported or called into question, and highlight the areas where the existing research is inadequate as a basis for generalization. For example, the authors found few studies on how new science teachers use curriculum materials or how they understand scientific inquiry. Their overview of challenges is followed by a discussion of how these teachers can be supported.