Eric R. Banilower

The First Five Years

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) puts forth an ambitious vision for K–12 science instruction. The success of the NGSS will be judged in large part by how they are implemented in classrooms. Yet the ability of teachers to implement the NGSS successfully depends on a large number of factors including the development of new instructional and assessment materials, rethinking and revising preservice programs for prospective science teachers, and providing ongoing and in-depth professional development for inservice teachers.

SITUATING BELIEFS IN THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

In this chapter, we describe the development of the Teacher Beliefs about Effective Science Teaching (TBEST) survey, a new instrument designed to fill a gap in the collection of extant beliefs measures. The survey was originally designed for a study investigating relationships among science teacher attributes, classroom practice, and student learning. The TBEST draws upon Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (2012, 1985), which posits a model for how beliefs influence actions.