Patrick L. Brown

The Development of Prospective Secondary Biology Teachers PCK

In order to understand how prospective teachers develop knowledge for teaching, researchers must identify the types of knowledge that are integral to effective science teaching. This case study investigated how 4 prospective secondary biology teachers’ science teaching orientations, knowledge of science learners, and knowledge of instructional sequence, developed during a post-baccalaureate teacher education program. Data sources included a lesson planning task and two interview-observation cycles during the participants’ year-long internship. Over the course of a year, the participants’ science teaching orientations were based primarily on their K-16 learning experiences, and were robust and highly resistant to change. The prospective teachers became more aware of student learning difficulties, and therefore, developed more elaborated knowledge of the requirements of learning. They consistently sequenced instruction in ways that gave priority to transmitting information to students. Prospective teachers’ development of knowledge of student understanding of science and instructional sequence were congruent with their science teaching orientations. Implications are given for teacher education and future research.

Transforming Osmosis: Labs to Address Standards for Inquiry

A priority for all biology teachers must be for students to leave the classroom with a broad knowledge and understanding of science. Students need to be critical of science, analyze science, and relate new science knowledge to their daily lives. Unfortunately, many students are not reaching this goal. One strategy for making science laboratories more student-centered and to meet the National Science Education Standards for inquiry is to convert verification activities to inquiry-based investigations. The authors provide teachers with simple strategies to convert a confirmation-type osmosis laboratory into an inquiry investigation.

Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge and learning in a middle school science classroom

ABSTRACT This study investigated eighth-grade science students’ (13–14-year-olds) perceptions of their vocabulary knowledge, learning, and content achievement. Data sources included pre- and posttest of students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge, students’ perceptions of vocabulary and reading strategies surveys, and a content achievement test. Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge were compared before and after instruction to see whether students believed they gained knowledge and the ability to explain categories of technical science terms. Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge increased as a result of instruction. The participants had favorable views of the vocabulary and reading strategies implemented and believed the literacy approaches were important for their developing science knowledge. In addition, students’ content achievement was compared to a national data set. Students in this study outperformed a national data set on all content knowledge items assessed. Students’ perceptions of their knowledge and vocabulary and reading strategies were congruent with their content achievement. This study is one of the first to highlight the pivotal role students’ perception of vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary and reading strategies plays in science content learning.

Enhancing Elementary Students' Experiences Learning about Circuits Using an Exploration-Explanation Instructional Sequence.

ABSTRACT Using an exploration–explanation sequence of science instruction helps teachers unveil students’ prior knowledge about circuits and engage them in minds-on science learning. In these lessons, fourth grade students make predictions and test their ideas about circuits in series through hands-on investigations. The teacher helps students make connections between their hands-on experiences collecting data and new terms. This lesson shows how teachers can incorporate formative assessments such as checkpoints, self tests, and exit slips into the explanation phase of instruction so students can evaluate and self-monitor their understanding of circuits in series. These activities meet the National Science Education Standards for active, student-center learning environments that cultivate the critical thinking skills necessary to learn science.

Teaching Bernoulli's Principle through Demonstrations

ABSTRACT One proven strategy to help students make sense of abstract concepts is to sequence instruction so students have exploratory opportunities to investigate science before being introduced to new science explanations (Abraham and Renner 1986; Renner, Abraham, and Birnie 1988). To help physical science teachers make sense of how to effectively sequence lessons, this article summarizes our experiences using an exploration–explanation sequence of instruction to teach Bernoullis principle to prospective middle and secondary science teachers in a science methods course. We use demonstrations during our Bernoulli unit to help students go back and forth between their observations of phenomenon and what occurs on the microscopic level with what we have termed molecular talk. Students engage in guiding questions, consider their old and new understandings of science, and use evidence to construct new ideas during all stages of the lesson.

How Interests, self-efficacy, and self-regulation impacted six undergraduate pre-engineering students’ persistence

ABSTRACT Researchers examined six undergraduate pre-engineering majors’ self-regulatory behaviours, ability to self-regulate, self-efficacy beliefs, and intentions to persist using a qualitative methodology. The data collection procedure relied heavily on interviews focusing on participants’ engineering interests, beliefs in their abilities to successfully complete an engineering degree, beliefs in their ability to self-regulate, sources of self-efficacy, and self-regulatory behaviour. Through transcription analysis, coding, and cross-coding processes, our findings indicate that the triadic and cyclical nature self-regulation was fundamental to pre-engineering majors’ persistence. Students’ prior mastery experiences, beliefs in their ability to self-regulate, vicarious experiences, and verbal persuasions contributed to students’ self-efficacy beliefs and engineering interests. Time management, prioritising, help-seeking behaviour, knowing professors’ expectations, and critical self-evaluation were essential behaviours for pre-engineering students’ persistence.

Windmills by design: Purposeful curriculum design to meet next generation science standards in a 9–12 physics classroom

ABSTRACT The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenges science teachers to think beyond specific content standards when considering how to design and implement curriculum. This lesson, “Windmills by Design,” is an insightful lesson in how science teachers can create and implement a cross-cutting lesson to teach the concepts of force, motion, and Bernoullis principle. This 9–12 lesson requires students to consider the science behind windmill design by engineering windmill blades that can produce the most power in a class competition. The lesson is designed as a 5E lesson incorporating essential features of inquiry-based instruction.

Students’ Investigations in Temperature and Pressure

ABSTRACT Why does a balloon deflate when it is left in a cold car; or why does one have to pump up his or her bike tires in the spring after leaving them in the garage all winter? To answer these questions, students must understand the relationships among temperature, pressure, and volume of a gas. The purpose of the Predict, Share, Observe, and Explain (PSOE) activity is for students to connect the relationships among temperature, pressure, and the amount of gas. Students have many everyday experiences with these relationships, such as pumping up a basketball, but may have never thought of air in terms of pressure and temperature.

Elementary Students' Investigations in Natural Selection.

ABSTRACT Students love learning about animals: how animals behave, what animals eat, why some animals are more dangerous than others are, and why animals look the way they do. In this 5E lesson, students investigate why some animals look the way they do—specifically, the advantages of camouflage and mimicry. What are an animals advantages of being camouflaged? How do animals become camouflaged? As the former driving questions suggest, this lesson is intended for third-to-fifth grade students to investigate camouflage and natural selection. Second, this 3-day (three 50-min class periods) lesson addresses why some animals mimic more dangerous organisms.

What's There to Debate about Nuclear Energy? Promoting Multidimensional Science Literacy by Implementing STS Strategies

ABSTRACT In this lesson, the teacher begins by reviewing some key energy topics with the students. Next, students are asked to focus closely on nuclear energy as a viable resource by closely reading, highlighting, and annotating an article regarding the future of nuclear energy. The culminating activity and evaluation of students understanding of energy and energy resources is accomplished by collecting and grading students’ journals. In addition, students create a poster and write a letter to their senator to either encourage the proliferation of nuclear energy in their state or discourage its use.