Secondary Science Methods Courses Research Articles

“This Type of Teaching Moves Beyond Academic Achievement on Tests as the Only Measure of a Good Science Education and Student Achievement”: Exploring Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Conceptualizations of Justice-Centered Science Pedagogy Through a Class Social Justice Project

ABSTRACT Science content, teaching, and teacher preparation are all political acts. However, accepting the political nature of science as well as that of science teaching has proven to be a hard shift for many in the science community. In this paper, we suggest a shift away from an apolitical teaching of science toward a system of practices that transforms the purposes of science education through a justice-centered science pedagogy approach. For science teachers to engage their students in this type of transformative teaching and learning, we argue that the science teachers themselves need to be immersed in conditions under which their learning experiences foregrounds the transformative power of justice centered science pedagogy. In this study, we explore a residency program, and in particular, a secondary science methods course in which pre-service teachers engaged in a social justice project exploring social justice science issues to illustrate preservice teachers’ conceptualizations of justice-centered science teaching and learning.

Becoming Ambitious: How a Practice-based Methods Course and “Macroteaching” Shaped Beginning Teachers’ Critical Pedagogical Discourses

ABSTRACT This study reports on eleven second-year teachers who were all students in the same practice-based secondary science methods courses framed around ambitious science teaching. In this qualitative embedded single case study, we examined if, how, and why novice teachers linked their current critical pedagogical discourses and instruction back to any practice-based learning opportunities from the methods courses, especially an opportunity termed “macroteaching.” We found that ten out of the eleven participants expressed similar critical discourses about what counts as good teaching, positioned themselves as “becoming ambitious,” and linked such critical discourses back to the shared methods class. One participant provides counter-examples. We conclude with lingering questions and research suggestions for the field.

Secondary Science Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Engineering: A Learner Analysis

The purpose of this study was to describe how US secondary science preservice teachers, or those preparing to teach middle and high school science, at one university, perceive engineering and teaching engineering within an epistemological framework of required domain components pre- and post-instruction (intervention) as well as over three cohort years. Their perceptions reveal relevant prior beliefs helpful for designing instruction to address an external need to prepare secondary science teachers to teach disciplinary content ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and science and engineering practices to meet the Next Generation Science Standards. Questionnaires administered pre- and post-instruction (intervention), as well as over three years, asked participants to decide whether various scenarios qualified as engineering and then to provide reasoning. Intervention instruction included whole-class discussions of engineering design practices. The responses to the questionnaire were analyzed for thematic content. The results indicate that the secondary science preservice teachers (n = 43) have a novice understanding of engineering and teaching engineering. They gain an emerging understanding during the secondary science methods courses, consistent in all three years with expanding perspectives from narrow discipline views. As their perceptions are refined, however, there are risks of oversimplification, which may lead to forming misconceptions. The recommendations for designing instruction such as secondary science methods courses and early career professional development include creating opportunities for preservice and early career teachers to explore and challenge their perceptions of engineering design practices integrated within science and engineering practices.

“It’s 1000 Degrees in Here When I Teach”: Providing Preservice Teachers With an Extended Opportunity to Approximate Ambitious Instruction

Teacher educators have a challenging task of designing opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to learn ambitious science teaching (AST). However, with limited time in methods courses and the complexities of AST, opportunities for PSTs to “try out” ambitious instruction are difficult to construct and analyze. To address this problem, we describe our enactment of a type of extended pedagogical rehearsal that we call “macroteaching” in a secondary science methods course. Framed as a design experiment, we codeveloped macroteaching with the PSTs during methods class, examining how we all learned about AST given the extended learning opportunity. The results of this study, including that PSTs are not afraid of the uncertainty about what students might say and do, suggest that extended rehearsals of AST provide PSTs and the course instructors with opportunities to advance their teaching and vision of the profession in a methods class.

Developing a Global Perspective in / FOR Science Teacher Education: The Case of Pollination

Science educators at all levels continuously struggle to keep pace with the rapidly developing understanding of the causes and potential solutions to current environmental issues while also trying to enthuse a new generation of passionate and knowledgeable scientists. However, how can future science teachers make science education more attractive ad meaningful to their students? The present paper describes (in a narrative style) an instructional practice that has been performed within a secondary science methods course in a teacher preparation program in Canada. More specifically, it draws on ideas presented in Agenda 21 and the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals to study the (often neglected) socio-environmental aspects of pollination. Ultimately, the proposed activity aims at promoting the ability of pre-service high school biology teachers to adopt a global education perspective on the science curriculum by (a) recognizing the unintended negative ecological impact caused by humanity’s pursuit of sustainable development and sustainability and (b) reexamining traditional conceptions of scientific and ecological literacies.

Preservice Science Teachers' Perceptions of Their Practicum Classrooms

Practicum experiences in schools are highly valued in science teacher education programs. Yet, there are few studies examining secondary preservice science teachers' practicum classrooms. This mixed-methods study explored secondary preservice science teachers' perceptions of their practicum classroom learning environments, interpreted from an open-ended survey questionnaire, as well as from an adapted version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES; Taylor, Fraser, & Fisher, 1997). Twenty-two preservice teachers within secondary science methods courses volunteered to complete the survey. Qualitative survey findings were corroborated by quantitative results from the CLES survey. Overall, the preservice teachers perceived their practicum classrooms to incorporate some constructivist learning environment factors, but the critical constructivist perspective underpinning the survey was not found. Additionally, innovative practices cogent with these practices were not supported by most of their co-operating teachers. Implications of how preservice education programs can better support prospective science teachers' views and practices during practicum are discussed.

Science Teacher Retention in Today's Urban Schools

This study is based on data collected during 6 years (12 semesters) in the secondary science methods courses at an urban university in Southern California. The secondary science credential candidates were teaching on emergency permits or internship credentials in local urban secondary schools. They taught science during the day and pursued their teaching licenses in the late afternoons. Power relationships, urbanity, and critical pedagogy lenses were critical in analyzing the data. Multiple data sources, such as the credential candidates' written assignments, verbal communications, and field notes during classroom observations, were triangulated. Findings suggest that secondary science interns tend to thrive in schools where there is a perceived cohesive vision regarding science education and where efforts of all the stakeholders in the educational community (teachers, students, administration, community, including parents, district personnel, university instructors, and the science education research community) are focused on reaching a common goal. However, efforts are wasted where there is no cohesion, and frustrated players in the educational community tend to blame each other for the lack of positive results. Implications of these situations for the interns' attitudes and actions are further explored.

Mirror, mirrors on the wall, who is the most powerful of all? A self‐study analysis of power relationships in science methods courses

AbstractThis study explored the dynamics of power relationships in secondary science methods courses taught at an urban university in Southern California for credential candidates. Data collection extended over 10 academic semesters. Employing frameworks of power, self‐study, and critical pedagogy, the study analyzes the multifaceted and intricate roads (or multimirrored reflections) of an instructor on her way to becoming a transformative intellectual. Findings suggested that power sources and their use may vary according to the credential candidates' needs and the demands and perceptions of the different tasks performed in class. Perceptions of the instructor's goals and perceived attitudes during classroom tasks seemed to relate to power shifts ultimately influencing classroom dynamics. The major implications of this study was to reemphasize the acute need for instructor self‐studies in science education as a way of improving practice and fulfilling the demands of the changing and challenging science credential candidate population as well as their K–12 students. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1370–1388, 2007

Confronting prospective teachers' ideas of evolution and scientific inquiry using technology and inquiry-based tasks

This study addresses the need for research in three areas: (1) teachers' understandings of scientific inquiry; (2) conceptual understandings of evolutionary processes; and (3) technology-enhanced instruction using an inquiry approach. The purpose of this study was to determine in what ways The Galapagos Finches software–based materials created a context for learning and teaching about the nature of scientific knowledge and evolutionary concepts. The research used a design experiment in which researchers significantly modified a secondary science methods course. The multiple data sources included: audiotaped conversations of two focus pairs of participants as they interacted with the software; written pre- and posttests on concepts of natural selection of the 21 prospective teachers; written pre- and posttests on views of the nature of science; three e-mail journal questions; and videotaped class discussions. Findings indicate that prospective teachers initially demonstrated alternative understandings of evolutionary concepts; there were uninformed understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry; there was little correlation between understandings and disciplines; and even the prospective teachers with research experience failed to understand the diverse methods used by scientists. Following the module there was evidence of enhanced understandings through metacognition, and the potential for interactive software to provide promising context for enhancing content understandings. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Coteaching in a Secondary Science Methods Course: Learning Through a Coteaching Model that Supports Early Teacher Practice

Coteaching as a form of situated learning supports early induction into science teaching. A coteaching model for secondary science methods students and what has been learned from this model is described. Secondary science methods students in pairs were placed with a science teacher to begin teaching as peripheral participants. A cooperative inquiry method was used to study this model. In-depth learning about the model and how to make it work effectively came from a process of “research cycling” over multiple semesters. This learning has been put in practical form as a primer for cooperating teachers and methods students participating in coteaching. Constraints and limitations of this coteaching model are discussed.

One foot on the dock and one foot on the boat: Differences among preservice science teachers' interpretations of field‐based science methods in culturally diverse contexts

AbstractTo support lasting change in science classrooms, efforts must be made to assist teachers in understanding the outcomes of their pedagogical choices. The process of reflection is not limited to experienced teachers' experiences, though we must recognize that preservice teachers do not draw upon the same vast repertoire and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' beliefs about science teaching and learning through reflections on their own teaching with lower track science students. Using the major data sources of videotapes of teaching, stimulated recall interviews, and student journals we studied preservice teachers enrolled in a field based secondary science methods course working predominantly with rural Black children. Initially, preservice science teachers demonstrated similar practices, made similar inferences about teaching and learning, and relied upon similar domains of knowledge to gauge their teaching. By the end of the study, two discrete categories of preservice teachers emerged: (1) those who demonstrated an ability to reflect on and revise their practices and engage in the production of new teacher knowledge and (2) those who seemingly deflected efforts to shift their thinking and instead reproduced their own educational experience with a new student population. Implications for teacher education and research are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 87:390–418, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/sce.10057

Coteaching In A Science Methods Course

A situated learning model of coteaching was implemented in the weekly field component of a secondary science methods course. Students cotaught by observing and assisting their teacher for one period followed by taking the lead in teaching the same lesson with their teachers' assistance during the following period. Students were peripheral participants, reflecting on both their teacher's practice and their own practice. Data supported four positive outcomes of this model for the methods students: (a) comfort in learning to teach, (b) critical reflection in modeling the teacher's lesson, (c) development of confidence in teaching and managing students, and (d) positive effect of seeing and doing inquiry in practice. All participants supported the continued practice of teaching from the classroom teachers' existing lesson plans. Future research is suggested on how real-time teacher assistance during this model could help the methods students acquire the teaching strategies and habits of their teacher.

Teaching for conceptual change in elementary and secondary science methods courses

Teaching for conceptual change in elementary and secondary science methods courses

Teaching for conceptual change in elementary and secondary science methods courses

This article describes and analyzes two science methods courses at the elementary and secondary levels. The courses were components of a larger study of a science teacher education program whose goal was to graduate teachers who held conceptual change conceptions of teaching science and were disposed to put them into practice. The methods courses and their accompanying practicum experiences were analyzed in terms of how they dealt with four related ideas: (1) how students learn science; (2) how teachers teach science to students; (3) how prospective science teachers learn about the first two ideas; and (4) how methods instructors teach prospective science teachers about the first two ideas. Data were gathered by observing the methods courses, interviewing the course instructors, and observing prospective teachers teach in practicum settings. The study found that, within the constraints of a three-semester-credit course, each course considered the first three ideas in significant depth, but did so with different emphases on teaching for conceptual change. The elementary instructor modeled complete science lessons followed by pedagogical discussions; the secondary instructor provided extensive written materials and modeled components of conceptual change science lessons. Opportunities for prospective teachers to practice teaching for conceptual change were constrained by their practicum placements. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83:275–307, 1999.

Preparing Science Teachers in an Era of Reform: Practitioners' Perspectives of Methods Courses

With recent national calls for the reform of science education have come standards that delineate not only science content but also assessment, pedagogy, and teachers’ professional development. If teachers must teach science differently, then teacher preparation must change. This study asked 31 inservice secondary science teachers to complete a survey about topics for inclusion in a secondary science methods course. Respondents ranked a list of prespecified topics and had an opportunity to suggest other topics for inclusion in the course. Results showed that the majority of prespecified potential topics were judged important enough by these teachers to warrant inclusion in a methods course, though no individual added topic appeared on more than two surveys. Results demonstrate that these teachers believe teaching many of the traditional topics in science methods courses is still needed. In addition, they advocated the inclusion of several topics that either represent recent technological and theoretical advances, or longstanding ideas that have recently received considerable attention.

An analysis of a science teaching methods course

Science EducationVolume 53, Issue 4 p. 369-372 Article An analysis of a science teaching methods course† William H. Leonard Jr., William H. Leonard Jr. Science Department, Piedmont Hills High School, San Jose, California 95132Search for more papers by this author William H. Leonard Jr., William H. Leonard Jr. Science Department, Piedmont Hills High School, San Jose, California 95132Search for more papers by this author First published: October 1969 https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.3730530417Citations: 1 † Leonard, William H. Jr., “A Study of a Secondary Science Methods Course and Its Effect upon the Classroom Techniques of Student Teachers.” Master's Thesis, San Jose State College, January, 1967. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume53, Issue4October 1969Pages 369-372 RelatedInformation