Elementary Science Methods Course Research Articles

Addressing Climate Change Anomie in Teacher Education

This research project sought to understand how preservice teachers explore their relationship with Science and confidence in teaching about climate change in Science education amid a culture of denial regarding the impact of the climate crisis. Using data from three cohorts of students in an elementary Science methods course, this paper shares the context of climate change acceptance in the province of Alberta, Canada, the fossil fuel economic hub of Canada, and how using Journell’s framework for controversial issues alongside a critical energy literacy framework using inquiry, supported preservice teachers to address their hesitancy in Science classrooms to engage with climate change education. Science education also needs to shift as our energy and economies need to shift in response to the climate crisis. Preservice teachers, therefore, need to be supported in this transition by better understanding their relationship with Science and how to respond to the climate crisis within regions that do not necessarily support renewable or sustainable forms of energy, such as Alberta, Canada.

An examination of an inquiry-based hybrid online/in-person science methods course

ABSTRACT This study explored elementary teacher candidates’ perceptions of a hybrid (in-person/asynchronous online) science methods course and aimed to uncover how this blended approach could maximise the benefits of each modality. Grounded in the foundations of Dewey’s experiential learning theory with a focus on an inclusive approach to course design, this study employed a qualitative methodology to investigate the experiences of teacher candidates. Data sources from two elementary science methods course sections included focus groups, pre-and post-surveys, and weekly reflections. Emergent themes were analysed to delve deeply into teacher candidates’ perceptions of the course. Affordances of the online and in-person modalities included flexibility (online), hands-on learning, and peer interactions (in-person). Self-discipline and pacing were key challenges of online learning, and in-person challenges were minimal. Teacher candidates shared the value of the hybrid model, highlighting the benefit of blended online and in-person modalities and the various strategies employed to support the hybrid approach for engaging in inquiry-based science. These included consistent and organised formatting, digital science notebooks, taking student and teacher perspectives, and connecting online and in-person course sessions. Recommendations are offered for an accessible hybrid science methods course through the lens of experiential instruction.

Using Notebooks to Explicitly Distinguish Multiple Perspectives in the Elementary Science Methods Course

Using Notebooks to Explicitly Distinguish Multiple Perspectives in the Elementary Science Methods Course

Interactive word walls for 3D learning: Visually representing the NGSS in elementary science methods courses

AbstractEven though the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released over a decade ago, science is still infrequently taught in early childhood and elementary classrooms. A lack of teacher confidence due to inadequate content knowledge may be a contributing factor, making access to high‐quality elementary science methods courses even more imperative. This article highlights preservice elementary teachers’ use of an interactive word wall, an instructional strategy that explicitly documented their experiences with disciplinary core ideas, scientific and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Students enrolled in four undergraduate elementary science methods sections participated in the creation, implementation, and evaluation of their classroom's interactive word wall. Through written assignments, classroom discussions, and photographic documentation, students helped to identify seven benefits of using this strategy while collaboratively building their interactive word walls. This article describes the process of setting up the word walls, the students’ choices during the construction of the walls, and their reflections on the benefits and challenges associated with using an interactive word wall at the university level. This article provides teacher educators with a strategy to strengthen students’ understanding of the NGSS framework and encourages preservice teachers to reflect upon how to use this strategy in their future classrooms.

Re-Imagining Preservice Science Teachers’ Becoming as Ethical Mattering: Diffracting Noticing in an Elementary Science Methods Course

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to describe the conditions under which diffracting noticing becomes both a process and product in dynamic relations to re-imagine preservice science teachers’ becoming as ethical mattering, a concept rooted in a relational ontology of change and emergence. Drawing on theories of posthumanism, this study theorized pre-service teachers’ becomings as ethical mattering which pays attention to two events: 1) the differences produced when participants engage in diffracting noticing by placing themselves in the middle of where they are in their becomings, and 2) the effects or a material mark on bodies, things, and other actants left by these differences. During these events, intra-action and entanglement with other actors produced differences and juxtapositions about how they understood and enacted equitable science teaching. Preservice teachers began to re-imagine what they would do differently to enact more equitable and inclusive teaching practices. Preservice teachers who participated in diffracting noticing could “see” their teaching practices in relation to and entangled with others, and therefore became differently and ethically mattered. In doing so, teachers rendered themselves and each other response-able and accountable for the knowledge that was collectively co-constructed about equitable teaching. The notion of becoming as ethical mattering illustrated in this study contributes to a new thought and re-imagines the traditional notion of change-in-practice, as preservice teachers could not be the same person as they were prior to intra-acting and thus seeing-becoming differently.

Inside the black box: How elementary teacher educators support preservice teachers in preparing for and learning from online simulated teaching experiences

Limited research has explored the pedagogies teacher educators use to support preservice teachers as they learn to enact core teaching practices. In this study, we used qualitative content analysis from class observations of elementary mathematics and science methods courses and survey responses to examine the pedagogies of practice eight elementary teacher educators used to support preservice teachers in preparing for and learning from an online simulated teaching experience. We also examined the teacher educators' and their preservice teachers’ perceptions of the value of using simulated teaching experiences. Findings suggest the importance of engaging preservice teachers in decomposing and recomposing practice through structured analysis and reflection within larger cycles of enactment.

Elementary Teachers’ Trust in Science and Scientists Throughout a COVID-19 SSI Unit

ABSTRACT Scientific knowledge is necessary to make informed decisions about many social issues, but some of the public is skeptical of science and scientific expertise. Teacher education programs are one way to address distrust in science in this generation and the next. Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been advocated as important for teaching about the nature of science, decision-making, and argumentation. This mixed methods case study sought to characterize 10 teachers’ trust in science and scientists in an online elementary science methods course for inservice and preservice teachers as they engaged in a COVID-19 inquiry unit. Data sources included Trust in Science and Scientist survey data gathered before and after the class and several course artifacts from a five-week COVID-19 SSI inquiry unit. Quantitatively, students demonstrated gains in their trust in science and scientists. Qualitatively, participants characterized their trust in science and scientists by attending to scientists’ credibility. Importantly, credibility perceptions were couched in participants’ perceptions of the nature of science, especially their understandings of empirical evidence, tentativeness, subjectivity, the nature of scientific models, and the sociocultural embeddedness of science. In the mixed methods analysis, participants were sorted by their quantitative trust profiles and showed different qualitative nature of science justifications for their trust and distrust. Participants’ trust in science and scientists were influenced by reading different sources about scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the use of media literacy tools. Implications for future research and teacher education are explored.

Prospective Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development in an Elementary Science Methods Course

ABSTRACT This study investigated the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development among 22 prospective teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The nature of prospective teachers’ PCK development was investigated in relation to their experiences in planning, enacting, and reflecting upon a Physical science lesson. The study was framed by the literature on the nature of PCK and PCK development. Narratives, together with other data sets, were used to embed the prospective teachers’ experiences throughout the 15-week methods course. Data analysis indicated that prospective teachers’ orientation to teaching was focused on keeping students’ engaged with teacher-centered or student-centered activities and was a needed requirement for learning science content. This orientation to teaching also served as the predominant knowledge component that scripted, filtered, amplified and mediated the other PCK components, and thereby dictated the prospective teachers’ PCK development traced across time. This orientation was also used as a frame of reference to plan, enact, and reflect upon science lessons. Implications include the need for teacher educators to provide authentic platforms for prospective teachers to trace and track their PCK development. Authentic platforms include the use of studenting and teaching narratives together with other praxis tools, and the use of domain/discipline-specific PCK as a frame of reference to provide the essential explanatory factor for understanding PCK development from the dynamic processes of planning, enacting, and reflecting upon science lessons respectively.

Exploring sources of engineering teaching self-efficacy for pre-service elementary teachers

BackgroundThe Next Generation Science Standards (2013) put a special emphasis on engineering for K-12 science education. However, a significant number of elementary teachers still feel unprepared to integrate engineering into their science programs. It is, therefore, incumbent upon science educators to update their elementary science methods courses to accommodate engineering especially in the states which adopted the NGSS. In this study, we taught an engineering unit in an elementary science teaching methods course to examine what instructional components and learning experiences provided in the engineering unit enhance teachers’ engineering teaching self-efficacy beliefs.Our research questions addressed to what extent the engineering education intervention improved pre-service teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs and what instructional components and learning experiences served as sources of self-efficacy contributing to the improvement of pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. We also explored how pre-service teachers viewed the relative importance of the sources of teaching efficacy stemming from the engineering unit.ResultsThe participants comprised 84 pre-service teachers enrolled in an elementary education program at a public university in the Southwestern United States. Data obtained from the Engineering Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (ETEBI) indicated that the pre-service teachers’ personal teaching efficacy beliefs significantly improved after the engineering intervention; however, the engineering intervention had a small impact on teachers’ engineering teaching outcome expectancy beliefs. Written reflections used to explore the sources of engineering teaching efficacy and the relative importance of each source showed that cognitive content mastery and cognitive pedagogical mastery were the major sources of engineering teaching self-efficacy among the pre-service elementary teachers.ConclusionOur study illustrated that integrating engineering design activities with explicit-reflective instruction on the nature of engineering concepts could enhance pre-service teachers’ personal engineering teaching efficacy beliefs even though a relatively small impact was observed in their engineering teaching outcome expectancy beliefs. Also, the study indicated cognitive content mastery and cognitive pedagogical mastery were the most important sources of engineering teaching efficacy. Therefore, the study suggests that it is vital to integrate a variety of mastery and vicarious experiences in methods courses to support the development of teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. Besides, the current study could provide an example for integrating engineering education in methods courses.

Connecting engineering design and inquiry cycles: Impact on elementary preservice teachers' engineering efficacy and perspectives toward teaching engineering

AbstractEngineering has become increasingly prominent in science education, with documents such as Next Generation Science Standards detailing the importance of introducing students at all grade levels to science and engineering practices. Yet, many elementary teachers may lack sufficient engineering content and pedagogical knowledge and report feeling unprepared to teach engineering content and processes. To prepare future elementary teachers to teach engineering, two university faculty members in science and mathematics education designed an engineering unit that was incorporated within an elementary science methods course and supported through an elementary mathematics methods course. This unit focused on the engineering design process as well as connections between the work of scientists and engineers; the processes of science, engineering, and mathematics; and the cycles of engineering design and inquiry. The results of the study provide evidence that the unit had a positive influence on the 27 preservice teacher participants’ engineering teaching efficacy, understanding of engineering, and comprehension of the implementation of engineering in the elementary classroom.

Analysis of preservice teachers’ lesson plans to determine the extent of transfer of argumentation

ABSTRACT Argumentation research often addresses the nature of argumentation as a complex set of procedures that can aid learning of complex scientific knowledge and practices. Thus, studies might look at transfer of knowledge and processes to specific science domains or to other types of procedural knowledge, such as teacher implementation in the elementary classroom or attention to argumentation procedures. This study explored the extent of transfer of the procedures and knowledge of argumentation to preservice teachers’ lesson plans. Participants were four African American female preservice graduate students enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The students engaged in argumentation exercises in science from segments of the IDEAS project [Osborne, J., Erduran, S., & Simon, S. (2004). Ideas, evidence and argument in science (IDEAS) project. University of London Press], then participated in a socioscientific crime scene investigation. Students’ capstone unit plans were analysed to explore the extent of transfer of argumentation knowledge and procedures to students’ lessons. Schema theory as an analytic framework shows the nature of psychological and architectural features consistent with students’ abstractions and attention to argumentation. The research has implications for understanding the importance of considering transfer of learning in relation to students’ prior knowledge, especially when it comes to understanding the connections that African American students make to science pedagogy and content.

The Impact of a Summer Camp-Based Science Methods Course on Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Science as Inquiry

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of a summer camp-based science methods course on elementary pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching science as inquiry. The science camp was offered to K-6 students as part of the 4-week, 3-credit science teaching methods course over the summer. The preservice teachers were asked to teach camp children for two weeks for their practicum requirement. This study utilized a mixed-methods design using both qualitative and quantitative data collected with 55 participants over four years. The TSI (Teaching Science as Inquiry) was administered at the beginning and end of the course to estimate participants’ self-efficacy. We only measured PSTEB (Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief) using 34 items out of the TSI to reduce test fatigue. We also conducted semi-structured interviews at the end of the course to investigate sources for their self-efficacy. The paired samples t-test of the pre- and post-course survey indicates that preservice teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching science as inquiry increased significantly as a result of participating in the course (p < .001). Analysis of the interview data revealed eight main sources of self-efficacy and each one’s relative significance compared to other sources. The findings of this study imply that the camp-based course increased pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy by providing not only various mastery experiences, but also unique experiences that afforded reflection and mentoring, and drew camp participants’ positive reactions. This study highlights the potential of informal science education settings as field experience sites especially for elementary science methods courses.

Shaping Preservice Teachers’ Understandings of STEM: A Collaborative Math and Science Methods Approach

ABSTRACTScience, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education has become an international focus of science education curricular reforms. However, few K–12 teachers have the background to authentically teach STEM in an integrated way. This is especially true of elementary teachers, who are often less confident or prepared to teach STEM disciplines independently. Most methods courses for preservice elementary teachers are taught independently by content area (math, science, language arts, and social studies), and seldom model integrated teaching strategies. Preservice teachers should have opportunities to experience and create developmentally appropriate curricula that integrate STEM disciplines. This study sought to bridge elementary preservice math and science methods courses through the modeling of integrated STEM lessons. The researchers who served as course instructors codesigned a STEM unit and collaborated throughout the semester. After explicit modeling and practice, surveys and lesson plans were used to determine the preservice elementary teachers’ understandings of STEM and their ability to plan integrated STEM lessons. In both the science and mathematics methods courses, the month-long unit on STEM education included explicitly modeled STEM lessons and culminated with preservice teachers planning, teaching, and reflecting on their own integrated lessons. Although misconceptions that a STEM lesson needed to address every discipline remained, the teachers’ ability to recognize and design lessons improved. This study supports the value of collaboratively taught elementary math and science methods courses to provide the experiences teachers will need to deliver STEM instruction in their classrooms.

Preservice teachers’ self-efficacy to teach primary science based on ‘science learner’ typology

ABSTRACTAccording to international benchmarks [Thomson, S., Wernert, N., O'Grady, E., & Rodrigues, S. (2017). TIMSS 2015: Reporting Australia's results. Retrieved from Camberwell, Victoria: www.acer.edu.au/timss], Australia’s science education is still in decline and so the need for further investigation into preservice teachers is warranted. Utilising data from a broader mixed methods doctoral study [Norris, C. M. (2017). Exploring the impact of postgraduate preservice primary science education on students’ self-efficacy. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2040], this paper investigates the type of science learner entering into postgraduate preservice primary teacher education and how different learner types influence teacher self-efficacy and their effectiveness to teach science [Bleicher, R. (2009). Variable relationships among different science learners in elementary science-methods courses. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7(2), 293–313. doi:10.1007/s10763-007-9121-8]. In this study, data was derived from a modified STEBI-B questionnaire and focus group discussions that provided a deeper insight into the survey data. Participants (N = 274) were from a one-year Australian Graduate Diploma of Education Primary (GDEP) program. Bleicher’s (2009) research on ‘science learner types’, which included Fearful, Disinterested, Successful and Enthusiastic learners, was used as a theoretical framework to categorise the participants. The study identified a new type of learner (Not Clearly Identifiable, n = 68), located in the middle of the other four categories, where individuals’ attitudes and beliefs towards science had changed due to life experiences between secondary school and their GDEP program. Statistical analysis showed science learner types did influence participants’ science teaching self-efficacy (STSE), giving suggestions for how this may affect tertiary teacher education courses.

An exploratory study of student teachers’ conceptions of teaching life science outdoors

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate elementary student teachers’ conceptions of teaching life science outdoors. The study involved 99 student teachers who were enrolled in an elementary science methods course at a large public university in the United States of America. The study utilised drawings, and narratives to investigate the nature of these teachers’ conceptions. Data analysis revealed that three conceptions of teaching life science were common among the participants: (1) teaching life science is predominantly conceptualised as being situated in the schoolyard, (2) teaching life science outdoors is teacher-directed, and (3) teaching life science outdoors is disconnected from in-class science instruction. Implications include the need for (1) teacher education programmes to provide reflective supports that explicate student teachers’ conceptualisation of teaching life science and thus exposing prior frameworks; and (2) teacher educators to examine student teachers’ prior frameworks for teaching life science outdoors and provide knowledgeable theory and practice platforms that will serve as frameworks for student teachers to adopt, connect and routinize outdoor life science teaching with in-school teaching of life science.

Preservice and Inservice Teachers’ Ideas of Multiculturalism: Explorations Across Two Science Methods Courses in Two Different Contexts

ABSTRACTIn this exploratory study, we use Banks’s typology on multicultural curriculum reform as 1 strategy for developing multicultural, culturally relevant science teachers. Banks’s typology discusses 4 approaches for integrating multicultural content into the school and university curriculum. In order to support the development of multicultural science teachers and multicultural science curricula, we were interested in knowing how preservice teachers (PSTs) and in-service teachers (ISTs) understand these ideas. We gathered comments across 2 different contexts: a graduate-level elementary science methods course in the northeastern United States and a graduate-level secondary science induction course in the Midwestern United States. Both groups participated in an interactive multicultural education PowerPoint lesson focused on culturally relevant teaching and Banks’s 4 approaches. The lesson was taught face to face in the 1st setting and via Skype in the 2nd setting by the same science teacher educator. Our primary data sources were responses to 3 prompts made by the PSTs and ISTs during the lesson. We analyzed all responses qualitatively using methods of constructivist grounded theory. Findings indicated that both PSTs and ISTs initially understood multicultural science education as connecting to students’ experiences and critiquing dominant cultures but rarely associated it with social action, the highest level of Banks’s typology. We discuss implications in terms of making explicit connections to multicultural approaches in science teacher education.

Taking risks with a growth mindset: long-term influence of an elementary pre-service after school science practicum

ABSTRACTIn this study, we present the long-term influence of an after school science practicum associated with an elementary science methods course. The practicum or field experience could be considered a community-based service learning programme as it is situated both within and for the community. Study participants included eight third- and fifth-grade teachers who had participated in elementary science methods courses; four of these teachers participated in the after school teaching practicum while four participants experienced a more traditional observation-based elementary science practicum. All of these teachers were in their second or third year teaching which was 3–4 years after taking the methods course. Investigation methods included questionnaires, field observations and semi-structured, individual interviews. Teachers more regularly utilised reform-based teaching strategies and cited the after school teaching practicum as preparing them to use these strategies in their own classrooms. All teachers exhibited a growth mindset to some degree, but the after school practicum participants did demonstrate a wider use of reformed-based teaching strategies and a higher growth mindset. Elementary teachers perceive risk associated with these key aspects of instruction: (1) managing instruction and classroom management, (2) teaching science through guided inquiry, and (3) overcoming adoptions in other ‘mandated’ curriculum like math and reading.

Whiteness as Property in Science Teacher Education

Background/ContextThe disparity between the race and ethnicity of teachers and students is expected to increase as our nation and classrooms continue to become more racially, ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse. It is extremely important to think about not only the educational needs of such a diverse student population within schools but also who will teach these students. However, when looking at subject-matter specificity for the retention of Teachers of Color, such as science teachers, the picture becomes extremely serious when we understand teachers’ paths into and out of science and teaching.PurposeThe purpose of the study is to analyze the experiences of preservice Teachers of Color (PTOC) enrolled in an elementary science methods course as they gain access to science as White property. Our analysis provides evidence that PTOC can break the perpetual cycle of alienation, exclusion, and inequity in science when they are given opportunities to engage in science as learners and teachers. In addition, we also offer insights regarding the role science teacher educators may play in preparing teachers and especially TOC for urban schools.Setting/Research DesignThe context of this study was a graduate-level preservice elementary science methods course at a large urban university in New York City. Multiple data sources included pre-post surveys, semester observation journals, final course papers, and a post-course questionnaire. Utilizing constructivist grounded during the initial phase of analysis and themes from critical race theory (CRT), our unique voices of color and positionalities allowed us to interpret the data from a CRT perspective and arrive at findings relevant to making science inclusive to PTOC.Conclusions/RecommendationsIn order to push the field of science teacher education toward social justice issues of access, opportunity, and enjoyment, efforts must focus on increasing representation of Teachers of Color in science education. The transformation of science teacher education to grant equitable learning experiences for Teachers of Color is needed. Further research on the experiences of science Teachers of Color, as well as Faculty of Color and their relationship with students, is highly encouraged. Both teacher preparation and science education must be open to interrogate and reveal structural forms of race, racism, and power that manifest through curriculum, structure, and pedagogy that cause alienation and exclusion for Teachers of Color. Therefore, we encourage science teacher educators to examine their own course curriculum, structure, and pedagogy through self-study and refection. Overall practices in teacher preparation must empower rather than impede progress toward important goals of CRT, and this may be achieved through building stronger relationships with PTOC and Faculty of Color across teacher preparation courses in support of these goals.

CHANGES IN PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ SCIENCE TEACHING SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the inquiry-based science methods course on preservice elementary teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about science teaching. Eighty-six preservice elementary education majors enrolled in the elementary science methods course participated in the study. Data were collected through Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument- Form B (STEBI-B), a participant information form, and semi-structured interviews. Findings from the quantitative data revealed that there was significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores on both the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE), which are two subscales of STEBI-B. The qualitative findings of the study were utilized to further clarify the quantitative results. Overall, findings from the study indicated a positive relationship between participating in the elementary science methods course and changes in science teaching self- efficacy beliefs. Article visualizations:

Embedding Probeware Technology in the Context of Ocean Acidification in Elementary Science Methods Courses

Research indicates that preservice teacher (PT) education programs can positively impact perceptions of scientific probeware use in K-8 environments. Despite the potential of probeware to improve science instruction and student engagement, its use in elementary education has been limited. Sixty-seven PT enrolled across three sections of an elementary science methods course participated in a mixed-methods study through which they utilized probeware in a thematic experience on ocean acidification. One-way repeated measures ANOVA of pre and post survey data measuring subscales of utility, ability, and intent to use probeware demonstrated a statistically significant increase with medium to large effect sizes for all subscales across all sections $$ \left(p<0.01,\kern0.5em {\eta}_p^2=0.384;\kern0.5em p<0.001,\kern0.5em {\eta}_p^2=0.517;\kern0.0em p<0.001,\kern0.0em {\eta}_p^2=0.214\right) $$ . Analysis of reflective journals revealed over 60% felt the multiple capabilities (notably graphing) of probeware make it a useful classroom tool, and almost one-half believed that its use makes science more enjoyable and engaging. Mapping of the unitized data from the journals on the Next Generation Science Standards suggested that probeware use especially engages learners in planning and carrying out investigations and in analyzing and interpreting data. Journals also revealed that despite PT having prior experience with probeware in science courses, its use in their future elementary classroom is conditional on having a positive experience with probeware in a science methods course. Further, embedding a probeware experience in a unit on ocean acidification provides PT with strategies for addressing climate change and engaging in argument from evidence.