Dayle Anderson

Development of syntactic subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for science by a generalist elementary teacher

The nature of knowledge needed for teaching elementary science and the development of such knowledge is a focus of ongoing research in science education. Internationally, there is a move to include scientific literacy as an aim of science education curricula. In order to teach such curricula teachers need two types of subject matter knowledge (SMK): knowledge of science and knowledge about science. Knowledge of science refers to the knowledge produced by science (substantive knowledge). Knowledge about science refers to the nature of science (NOS): the principles and means by which scientific knowledge develops and becomes accepted (syntactic or epistemic knowledge). In addition, teachers need to know how to teach both these kinds of SMK effectively (pedagogical content knowledge [PCK]). This case study analyses the practice of a New Zealand generalist elementary teacher using a framework developed from the literature based on Shulman’s conceptualisation of teacher knowledge. It describes the nature and development of syntactic aspects of her SMK and PCK as she planned and taught a unit on science investigation. Analysis of student learning indicates some success in transfer of syntactic knowledge. The teacher used the limited connections she had with scientific communities of practice and documentation of scientific practice to develop her syntactic science knowledge. She applied strategies used in her general practice to teach syntactic aspects of science. Reflection on the effectiveness of these learning experiences built new PCK, supporting theories about the transformative development of PCK from other knowledge domains. Access to knowledge about the NOS is raised as a possible problem for generalist elementary teachers implementing curriculum with scientific literacy as a goal.

The use of questions within in-the-moment coaching in initial mathematics teacher education: enhancing participation, reflection, and co-construction in rehearsals of practice

ABSTRACT Managing mathematical discussion is known to be challenging for novice teachers. Coaching within student teacher rehearsals of teaching has been shown to develop mathematics teaching practice, but can be time consuming. To examine how coaching using questions could assist novice teachers to promote mathematical thinking and discussions within time-constrained programmes, videos of rehearsals, reflective debriefs, and student teacher surveys were collected across a range of courses over 4 years. Findings included that student teacher roles in rehearsals were enhanced through coaching with questions and co-construction was enabled. Coaching questions exposed effective practice, particularly in relation to orchestrating mathematical discussion, enabling student teachers to reflect, discuss, make decisions, and immediately trial teaching strategies. Questions appeared to lengthen rehearsals but improved their effectiveness through enhancing participation and enabling co-construction of meaning. Findings indicate that questions used in coaching of rehearsals inform and empower novice teachers, essential factors within initial teacher education for equitable and ambitious mathematics teaching.

Science Investigation in Secondary School: Changes to Teacher Practice

We have observed that just like the primary school teachers in the previous chapter, secondary school science teachers continually make changes to their practice to support student learning more effectively through a process of reflection and review. However, this process does not tend to be informed by published research. As in Chap. 5, our interest was to find out how access to published research evidence added to teachers’ reflection and the impacts it had on how they use science investigations in their classes. In this parallel chapter, we describe what happened when participating secondary school teachers made research evidence-based changes to their practice of science investigation.

Science Investigation in Secondary School

New Zealand aspires to be a country where science and technology play a vital role in its economic growth and the well-being of its citizens, and science education is an integral part of this vision. The educational curriculum requires students to engage with, explore and experience the natural and physical world with the aim of enabling them to ‘become critical, informed and responsible citizens’ (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 17). Here, we draw upon case study research investigating the teaching and learning of science investigation in a secondary school with a focus on the complexity of teaching and learning science investigation to gain deeper insights into what teachers believe science investigation to be, how they teach it and what students learn from investigation.

Introduction: School Science Investigation—What Research Says?

It seems logical to include science investigation in school science education programmes, after all, it is through practical investigation that scientists have developed scientific theories and ideas about how the world works. However, what counts as science investigation? Are all hands-on practical activities investigation? How does school science investigation reflect investigation carried out by scientists? Why should science investigation be part of school science? What do we hope students will learn? And importantly, what is our current understanding of what students actually learn from investigation in school science? In this chapter, we review the recent literature relevant to these questions.

Enhancing Learning Through School Science Investigation

In this chapter, we reflect on our findings and their implications. We consider the nature of student learning that we observed and the teachers’ beliefs and practices that supported this learning. We discuss changes in practice and what is needed to support such change. We review the role of school science investigation and the potential it has for supporting/scaffolding/driving student learning, and present a model, developing further the thinking of others, that summarises teacher strategies which support different types of learning through science investigation.

Science Investigation in Primary School

In this chapter, we examine the beliefs about science investigation held by the two primary teachers who participated in the study and consider how these beliefs translated into their practice. A description of each teacher’s practice of science investigation during Phase 1 of the project is provided along with findings from analysis of observations. We identify strategies these teachers were already incorporating into their teaching in the three key areas that were the focus of the study: supporting students to investigate scientifically; connecting students’ practical experiences to key scientific concepts and making learning about the nature of science explicit. Finally, we consider how practices impacted student learning through an analysis of student interviews and work samples, discussing some of the challenges that were identified during each set of observations.

The New Zealand Context and Research Design

In this chapter, we describe the research project that forms the basis of this book. We begin by outlining the New Zealand educational context. We then present an overview of the New Zealand curriculum before moving on to describe the research design and methodology.