Elementary Science Methods Course Research Articles

Individual Inquiry Investigations in an Elementary Science Methods Course

This study explored how preservice teachers grew in their understanding of inquiry science through conducting an in-depth individual inquiry investigation in their science methods course. Elementary preservice teachers’ understanding about inquiry investigations, their attitudes towards the assignment, and their views towards using individual inquiry investigations in their own classrooms were studied through written reflections, science notebook writings, and researcher field notes. After conducting an out-of-class inquiry investigation based on their own questions and design, the preservice teachers demonstrated a variety of strengths in their understandings of inquiry-based teaching, their attitudes towards doing science, and their projected use of inquiry in their own classrooms. Weak areas included forming researchable questions and superficial experimental design.

Variable Relationships among Different Science Learners in Elementary Science-Methods Courses

Variable Relationships among Different Science Learners in Elementary Science-Methods Courses

Helping elementary preservice teachers learn to use curriculum materials for effective science teaching

AbstractCurriculum analysis, modification, and enactment are core components of teacher practice. Beginning teachers rely heavily on curriculum materials that are often of poor quality to guide their practice. As a result, we argue that preservice teachers need to learn how to use curriculum materials for effective teaching. To address this concern, the authors conducted a study in which three teacher educators taught elementary science methods courses incorporating a major focus on curriculum analysis and modification based on Project 2061 Instructional Analysis Criteria. Analysis of pre–post assessments, classroom artifacts, classroom dialogue, and postcourse interviews indicated that preservice teachers accurately applied and appropriated a modest set of criteria whose intended meanings most closely matched their own understandings, were most closely aligned with their own goals and criteria, or were made accessible through systematic use and attention within the methods sections. However, many did not find the materials analysis criteria useful or comprehensible and based their curricular decisions on their own criteria. Furthermore, some preservice teachers resisted engaging in these practices that may have seemed too analytical, inauthentic, and destabilizing. These findings pointed us toward a revised theoretical framework and new approaches to better support preservice teachers' effective participation with curriculum materials. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 92:345–377, 2008

The Effect of Tenebrio obscurus on Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Content Knowledge, Attitudes, and Self-efficacy

This study explores the extent to which an activity used in an elementary science methods course affected the preservice teachers’ content knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. The participants were 172 students enrolled in five sections of elementary science methods. Students participated in a 9-week investigation on life cycles using mealworms (Tenebrio obscurus). Multiple data sources indicate that most of the students had limited prior content knowledge about mealworms, expressed neutral attitudes toward mealworms upon first exposure to them, and were uncomfortable with the idea of having to teach with and about them. At the end of 9 weeks, content knowledge on mealworms had greatly improved. The preservice teachers’ attitudes about mealworms and their self-efficacy about using mealworms with children had also improved.

Examining Reflective Thinking: A Study of Changes in Methods Students’ Conceptions and Understandings of Inquiry Teaching

This study has resulted in an elementary science methods course that facilitates the identification and description of the changes in students’ conceptions and understanding of inquiry teaching, and the cultural influences, reflections, and situational factors influencing these changes. Written responses to open-ended questions, reflective journals, teaching plans, and videotapes of lessons were used as data sources. Results of the written responses and the lesson plans indicated that an elementary science methods course with social-constructivist and reflective assessment strategies appears to enhance methods students’ conceptual changes regarding inquiry teaching. The significance of this study lies in the provision of insights into three apparent explanations: impacts of cultural myths, conditions for critical reflection, and unit design as performance of understanding. By identifying the elementary methods students’ reflections and situations, the elementary science methods course provides knowledge for teacher educators about how such students expressed their conceptions and understanding of inquiry teaching and, therefore, potentially provides indications about appropriate teaching strategies for science methods courses.

An Exploration of the Relationship Between Case Study Methodology and Learning Style Preference

The purpose of this study was to look at the use of the case method approach in relation to the preferred learning style of students in an elementary science methods course. Ninety-seven students enrolled in an elementary and elementary/middle level science methods course at Midwest university participated in this study. Participants completed a Barsch Learning Styles Inventory to determine learning style preference. At the end of the semester, students were asked to rate the eight identified teaching methods utilized throughout the semester as to their effectiveness. This research shows that pre-service teachers found the use of case studies as potentially useful in helping them learn and process course content no matter what learning style preference the pre-service teacher has.

Awakening the Scientist Inside: Global Climate Change and the Nature of Science in an Elementary Science Methods Course

This investigation assessed the impact of situating explicit nature of science (NOS) instruction within the issues surrounding global climate change and global warming (GCC/GW). Participants in the study were 15 preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a science methods course. The instructional intervention included explicit NOS instruction combined with explicit GCC/GW instruction situated within the normal elementary science methods curriculum. Participants’ conceptions of NOS and GCC/GW were assessed with pre- and postadministrations of open-ended questionnaires and interviews. Results indicated that participants’ conceptions of NOS and GCC/GW improved over the course of the semester. Furthermore, participants were able to apply their conceptions to decision making about socioscientific issues. The results provide support for context-based NOS instruction in an elementary science methods course.

Technology, Pedagogy, and Epistemology: Opportunities and Challenges of Using Computer Modeling and Simulation Tools in Elementary Science Methods

This study infused computer modeling and simulation tools in a 1-semester undergraduate elementary science methods course to advance preservice teachers’ understandings of computer software use in science teaching and to help them learn important aspects of pedagogy and epistemology. Preservice teachers used computer modeling and simulation tools within their own science investigations; discussed general technology issues; and explored, evaluated, and taught their peers about a particular modeling tool. Preservice teachers expanded their vision of the software available and the role that software can play in science teaching, but desired fun, easy-to-use software with scientifically accurate information within a clear, familiar learning task. Such conflict provided a fruitful platform for discussion and for potentially advancing preservice teachers’ pedagogical and epistemological understandings.

Using Self-Efficacy as a Construct for Evaluating Science and Mathematics Methods Courses

The focus of this study was elementary preservice teachers’ development as effective teachers of science and mathematics as influenced by their participation in elementary science and mathematics methods courses. Preservice teachers’ reports of factors that influenced their perception of their teaching abilities were analyzed according to Bandura’s (1994) 4 sources of efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and stress reduction. This investigation allowed the researchers to evaluate the courses based on these sources. The analysis indicated all 4 sources influenced preservice teachers’ teaching self-efficacy beliefs, with mastery experiences considered the most influential. Embedded within discussions of mastery experiences were references to the other sources of efficacy, which suggest an interrelationship between mastery experiences and the other sources.

School’s in for summer: An alternative field experience for elementary science methods students

Field experiences are critical to teacher learning and enhance the effectiveness of methods courses; however, when methods courses are offered in the summer, traditional school-based field experiences are not possible. This article describes an alternative campus-based experience created as part of an elementary science methods course. The Summer Kids’ Inquiry Program in Science (SKIPS) provided an authentic context in which teachers had the opportunity to plan and instruct science lessons in both whole-class and small-group settings, as well as observe the teaching of their peers. This model allowed us to overcome many challenges to implementing traditional field-based experiences.

Peer Assessment of Elementary Science Teaching Skills

In this study, peer assessment was applied in assessing elementary science teaching skills. Preservice teachers taught a science topic as a team to their peers in an elementary science methods course. The peers participating in the science lesson assessed teacher-groups’ elementary science teaching skills on an assessment form provided by the instructor. The peer scores were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and linear regression. To analyze the reliability and validity of peer assessment, t-test statistics and one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) procedures were applied. The results revealed that, although peer scores were considerably higher than the instructor scores, they significantly correlated with the instructor scores. Reliability analysis revealed that the students assessed their peers’ science teaching performance reliably.

Preservice teachers’ thinking within a research-based framework: what informs decisions?

A research-based framework for teaching science is a heuristic tool used to help preservice teachers conceptualize many complexities of teaching while making explicit the strategy to use a research-based body of professional knowledge to inform instructional decision-making (Clough, 2003, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science, St. Louis, MO). Elementary preservice teachers frequently struggle to apply this knowledge to classroom decisions (Madsen, 2002, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the North Central Association for the Education of Teachers of Science, Bettendorf, IA). This study examined the effects of using a video case-analysis within an elementary science methods course focused on the development of a research-based framework. Students in two course sections completed a unit plan, and students in one section completed the video analysis. Video analysis students’ performance on an oral defense with the instructor was compared with oral defense performance from students in the unit plan group. Video analysis students outperformed their peers on questions related to how learning theories influence decisions of selecting content, explaining the use of questioning, and the use of self assessment strategies. Despite these differences, students in both groups still perceive teaching as primarily accomplished through activities and have difficulties understanding the critical role of the teacher in promoting student goals. This study raises issues regarding teachers’ knowledge development during preservice experiences.

Learning to Teach through Lesson Study

This article describes the use of a lesson study approach to collaborative professional growth in an elementary science methods course. Preservice candidates designed and taught integrated science-mathematics lessons during the semester before their student teaching. Working in 8 teams of 3 student teachers, participants per team designed a common lesson and taught it in three different classrooms, critiquing and refining the lesson between each episode. Results support the use of lesson study to help preservice teachers develop a critical lens with which to view their practice. It encourages practitioners to take a reflective and engaged approach to teaching, focus on student success in their classrooms, take responsibility for classroom decision making, engage in collaborative practice, and participate as actors in the creation of the knowledge base for teaching.

Perceptions of making connections between science and mathematics in a science methods course

The integration of mathematics and science is a recommended pedagogical strategy made by major reform-based documents. The goal is to enhance learner understandings by recognizing the relationships between the two disciplines. Documented attempts to systematically enact this initiative in teacher preparation remain uncommon. As a result, an elementary science methods course instructor in collaboration with two mathematics education researchers conducted a practitioner-research study that examined his efforts to connect mathematics and science. The perceptions of two groups of interns (those in a specialized program that aimed to make connections between mathematics and science and those who were not in the program but who were concentrating in mathematics or science) were contrasted in regards to the following four elements: (1) an appropriate science learning environment for elementary students, (2) the extent to which their science methods instructor modeled good teaching of science, (3) the extent to which they observed their science methods instructor making connections to mathematics in his teaching, and (4) the rationale for and intent to make connections between science and mathematics in elementary teaching. We found that there were discernible differences between the two groups in their perceptions about the issues under study. An implication for practice is that caution should be exercised when attempting an integrated approach to a science methods course, since interns may perceive the discipline of mathematics in a limited manner.

I didn't know oxygen could boil! What preservice and inservice elementary teachers' answers to ‘simple’ science questions reveals about their subject matter knowledge

In this descriptive study, the science subject matter knowledge of preservice and inservice elementary teachers was examined and compared. Over an eight‐year period, answers to 13 science questions, including 10 from the US National Science Foundation's Survey of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, were collected from a total of 414 preservice and 67 inservice teachers during first‐day discussions in elementary science methods courses. Both groups outperformed average citizens on the 10 survey questions. However, three other questions used to introduce discussion of why students may find learning science difficult revealed lack of conceptual understanding of basic physical and biological phenomena commonly found in most elementary science curricula. Results and implications are discussed in the context of increasing expectations for subject matter competence demanded of ‘highly qualified teachers’ under provisions of the 2001 US Elementary and Secondary Education Act (‘No Child Left Behind Act’).

Learning as conceptual change: Factors mediating the development of preservice elementary teachers' views of nature of science

AbstractThis study assessed, and identified factors in participants' learning ecologies that mediated, the effectiveness of an explicit reflective instructional approach that satisfied conditions for learning as conceptual change on preservice elementary teachers' views of nature of science (NOS). Participants were 28 undergraduate students enrolled in an elementary science methods course. A purposively selected focus group of six participants who showed differential growth in terms of their NOS views were closely followed throughout the study. The Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire‐Form B (VNOS–B) in conjunction with individual interviews was used to assess participants' views prior to and at the conclusion of the study. Other data sources included weekly reflection papers, exit interviews, and an instructor's log. Initially, the greater majority of participants held naïve views of NOS. Substantial and favorable changes in these views were evident as a result of the intervention. An examination of the development of the focus group participants' NOS views indicated that the effectiveness of the intervention was mediated by motivational, cognitive, and worldview factors. These were related to internalizing the importance and utility of teaching and learning about NOS, exhibiting a deep processing approach to learning, and viewing science and religion as two distinct rather than opposing enterprises. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 88:785–810, 2004

Elementary Science Methods Courses and the National Science Education Standards: Are We Adequately Preparing Teachers?

Despite the apparent lack of universally accepted goals or objectives for elementary science methods courses, teacher educators nationally are autonomously designing these classes to prepare prospective teachers to teach science. It is unclear, however, whether science methods courses are preparing teachers to teach science effectively or to implement the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). Using the “Science Teaching Standards” as a framework for analysis, this research proceeded in two phases. During the first phase, the elementary science methods courses, perspectives, and practices of six science teacher educators were examined to determine similarities and differences in the course goals and objectives, overall emphases, and their efforts to prepare their students to implement the Science Teaching Standards. The second phase of the study investigated the elementary science methods courses of a national sample of science teacher educators as reflected in their course syllabi. It was found that universal inclusion of content related to the Science Teaching Standards does not exist, nor are there clear linkages between course goals, activities, and assignments.

Empowering Technology for Teacher Education

STAND still and look until you really see. These simple, but provocative, words were the theme of a 30-year-old environmental education program called the Environmental Studies Project. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project was headed by an innovative educator, Bob Samples - I suspect the words were his as well. Over the last three decades or so, these simple words have become the central undergirding principle of my philosophy of teaching. Here is an example from the elementary science methods course I teach. On the first day of each new science methods class, we go outside for a nature walk. One of the first things we encounter is a pine tree. I ask the class what kind of a tree it is and never get answers much more specific than evergreen or pine tree. I then ask the class to observe the tree more carefully. After a short time, the students usually note that the tree is tall and has rough bark. Occasionally, someone will say it looks sparse. I have to prompt them to observe and describe the length of the needles and the way they look at the end of each branch. After a little discussion, we conclude that the needles are a foot long or longer. I then help them describe the arrangement of needles at the end of a branch, which is like a barber's brush. Then I direct their attention to the size of the terminal branches, which are stubby and never thinner than a cigar. Eventually, someone will notice one of the pinecones either on the tree or on the ground. And the cones are very large: 10 to 15 inches long and of the classic pinecone shape, not long and slender. After about or 10 minutes of such observations, I tell the students that they are looking at a longleaf pine, a tree that once covered the Deep South but that is now becoming endangered. Obviously, this lesson is more about observation than it is about pine trees - although the Lorax might disagree. But the theme of Stand still . continues throughout the methods course and quickly affects how the students view their world. They soon begin to do similar activities with their own children and with their students. By now, you are probably wondering, what does this theme have to do with technology? Well, it's this: technology empowers you to stand still and really look at teaching. Furthermore, I am not sure you can study teaching effectively without using technology. The best lesson I've ever taught was heavily dependent on technology. The lesson was an inquiry lesson in a graduate class called Improvement of Instruction. I should explain that this class differs from the one we call Models of Teaching. The models class deals with instruction at the macro level, studying such things as step-by-step methods of guided discovery. The improvement class studies instruction at the micro level, dealing with such topics as proximics (purposeful movement toward a student or around the classroom) and subtle classroom routines and rituals. The lesson was delivered in a university classroom that had a computer-equipped podium, a fast Internet connection, and a large video projector. To start the lesson, I wrote the following question on the white board: What are some effective and efficient techniques master teachers use to make starting an activity go smoothly? Next, class members offered their hypotheses - closely related, I suspect, to how they started activities in their own classrooms. Here are their hypotheses: 1. Use a signal, for example, clap hands or turn off the lights. 2. Say Give me five (teacher holds up fingers, each of which has a meaning in the classroom). 3. Introduce the lesson and put it in perspective. 4. Have stuff ready. 5. Use a routine. 6. Wait for quiet. The third step in a general-inquiry model is to gather data. For this step, we used the classroom computer and projector to access streaming digital video clips from the Study of Teaching section of my website (www. …

The Pleasure of Movie Making

In this article I discuss my experiences integrating video production into my elementary science methods course. With the accessibility and user friendliness of nonlinear video editing tools such as iMovie (2001), I saw potential for integrating computer technology into my teacher education curriculum in ways that encouraged students to creatively engage with course content. In my elementary science methods course students used digital video production technologies to produce a short video on a science concept in a Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993) format. My experiences with students making short movies indicate that digital video production is a computing tool that allowed students to engage various forms of pleasure as they explored their topic and represented their findings. When pleasure is inserted into the curriculum, or unintentionally found by the students, it is an enabling part of a teacher education program that allows students to engage creatively and meaningfully with the course content.

Using Emerging Technologies to Help Bridge the Gap Between University Theory and Classroom Practice: Challenges and Successes

This article describes and illuminates the challenges that the authors faced as we integrated a web‐supported professional development system into elementary science methods courses housed at three different universities. Using a design experiment framework, the challenges and difficulties encountered while attempting to develop and sustain effective discussions about inquiry‐based teaching are discussed. Three main issues were identified through this analysis: (a) creating meaningful interactions for preservice teachers, (b) supporting preservice teacher reflection and articulation of their belief systems, and (c) technical, social, and institutional challenges of using a World Wide Web based professional development system. The article closes with recommendations concerning the implementation of a web‐based professional development system into elementary methods science courses and describes what appear to be successful strategies for fostering a collaborative atmosphere between teacher educators, preservice teachers, and in‐service teachers.