Carla Zembal-Saul

Scaffolding Reflection and Articulation of Scientific Explanations in a Data-Rich, Project-Based Learning Environment: An Investigation of Progress Portfolio

In this study, we examined how learners developed scientific explanations about light with the assistance of various technology-based scaffolds. The study emphasis was on scaffolding processes of reflection and articulation. We used a content-neutral software program (Progress Portfolio) to create the instructional scaffolds. A qualitative research design was used to investigate two pairs of prospective teachers in a science content course in engineering. Our findings suggested that the computer-based scaffolds used in our study were useful to support articulation, reflection, and revision of explanations, when certain conditions were met. A major theme of our findings relates to interacting effects among learner characteristics, teacher coaching, software scaffolding design, and task characteristics.

Scaffolding Preservice Science Teachers' Evidence-Based Arguments During an Investigation of Natural Selection

In this qualitative case study, preservice science teachers (PSTs) enrolled in their advanced methods course participated in a complex, data-rich investigation based on an adapted version of the Struggle for Survival curriculum. Fundamental to the investigation was the use of the Galapagos Finches software and an emphasis on giving priority to evidence and constructing evidence-based arguments. The questions that guided the research were: (1) What is the nature of the scientific arguments developed by PSTs? (2) How do PSTs go about constructing scientific arguments (emphasis on processes and strategies)? (3) In what ways do the scaffolds embedded in the Galapagos Finches software influence the development of PSTs arguments? Two pairs of PSTs were selected for in-depth examination. The primary sources of data were the electronic artifacts generated in the Galapagos Finches software environment and the videotaped interactions of both pairs as they investigated the data set, constructed and revised their arguments, engaged in peer review sessions, and presented their arguments to the class at the end of the unit. Four major patterns emerged through analysis of the data. First, using the software, PSTs consistently constructed claims that were linked to evidence from the investigation. Second, although PSTs consistently grounded their arguments in evidence, they still exhibited a number of limitations reported in the literature. Third, the software served as a powerful vehicle for revealing PSTs knowledge of evolution and natural selection. Finally, the PSTs approach to the task had a strong influence on the way they used the software.

Web-Based Portfolios: A Vehicle for Examining Prospective Elementary Teachers' Developing Understandings of Teaching Science

What does it mean to teach science for understanding? How does one engage children in doing science? What role should science as inquiry play in the elementary classroom? In this study, prospective elementary teachers constructed web-based teaching portfolios during their elementary science methods course and concurrent field experience to demonstrate their developing understandings of supporting children’s science learning. The implementation of web-based portfolios in the course was based on the literature associated with teaching portfolios and hypermedia authoring. This literature is reviewed in the section below.

Developing New Understandings of PDS Work: Better Problems, Better Questions

Abstract Through sharing examples, the authors demonstrate how the analysis of long-term Professional Development School (PDS) problems and their evolution can serve as one indicator of growth in the PDS. Three persistent problem areas are identified: (a) building trust and relationships between university and school personnel, (b) reconceptualizing existing coursework to fit in the PDS context, and (3) making inquiry a central feature of the PDS. The historical evolution of these problem areas is traced through three phases of PDS development over a six-year period, including PDS Planning, PDS Pilot Year, and PDS Institutionalization. The authors conclude that, through careful analysis, PDS problems can be celebrated and utilized as one measurement of growth in PDS work rather than bemoaned and utilized to characterize PDS work as unstable and fragile. Finally, the authors call for other PDS practitioners across the nation to share their PDS problems publicly, beginning a national dialogue about the ways in which PDS problems lead to new and better PDS work.

Educate at Penn State: preparing beginning teachers with powerful digital tools

University based teacher education programs are slowly beginning to catch up to other professional programs that use modern digital tools to prepare students to enter professional fields. This discussion looks at how one teacher education program reached the conclusion that students and faculty would use notebook computers. Frequently referred to as one-to-one initiatives, there is ample evidence that Penn State College of Education’s program is not another false summit in the pursuit to have technology transform teaching and learning.

Using Hypermedia to Represent Emerging Student Understanding: Science Learners and Preservice Teachers

Publisher Summary The rationale for engaging students in constructing hypermedia artifacts is grounded in recent research on learning that emphasizes the active role of the learner, the importance of collaboration, and the need for authentic or meaningful contexts for problem solving. Building artifacts are one possible means for helping students develop conceptual understanding. Students engage in many elements of design when building artifacts. As students design and construct artifacts, they integrate new information into their existing conceptual framework, developing relationships among ideas. The degree to which students illustrate relationships among ideas within their artifacts provides insights regarding their level of understanding. Constructing artifacts provides the aforementioned learning opportunities both for science learners and preservice science teachers. Artifact building engages students in selecting and organizing concepts, representing those concepts, and developing connections among them. Technological tools and software offer new opportunities for creating artifacts. Technology enhances the value of student-constructed artifacts by allowing easy incorporation and linking multiple representations, interactive testing, and document revision.

Implications of Framing Teacher Development as Identity Construction for Science Teacher Education Research and Practice

This volume represents a comprehensive collection of the work of scholars who are leading the field in the area of science teacher identity. The focus on science teachers’ identities and identity work is relatively recent (Avraamidou, 2014) in contrast to studies of science identity and identity work in educational research more generally (e.g., Calabrese-Barton et al., 2013; Carlone & Johsnon, 2007; Roth & Tobin, 2007; Varelas, 2012). Thus, to have a collection of studies that demonstrates the multidimensional lenses (i.e., theoretical, methodological, and empirical) available for making sense of science teacher identity construction is an important contribution that lays the groundwork for subsequent consequential scholarship in this area.