Norman G. Lederman

Relationship between Instructional Context and Views of Nature of Science.

The study investigated the relationship between instructional context (integrated and non‐integrated) that explicitly teaches about nature of science (NOS) and students’ view of NOS across different disciplines. Participants were three teachers and their students, which comprised six classes of 89 ninth‐graders and 40 10th/11th‐graders. Each teacher taught two intact sections of the same grade level within a specific science discipline. The treatment for all groups involved teaching a 5–6 week unit that included the science content and NOS. The two intact groups learned about same content; the only difference was the context of NOS instruction (integrated or non‐integrated). An open‐ended questionnaire, followed by interviews, was used to assess change in participants’ views. Results showed improvement in students’ NOS views regardless of whether NOS instruction was embedded within the content. Therefore, it was not possible to make claims about whether one instructional context is more effective than another in general terms.

The Impact of Exhibit-Based Professional Development on Teachers’Pck

Many university graduate programs have come to recognize the value of teacher interactions and have systematically planned these networking opportunities in their courses of study. Throughout the United States, and many locations internationally, primary and middle level teachers are being required to pursue discipline specific endorsements for subjects they are assigned to teach exclusively. This chapter will provide a detailed description of a science professional development program that is collaboratively administered by a science centre and a university and targets the learning of subject matter, pedagogy and curriculum within subject specific museum exhibits.