Sandra K. Abell

Development of Professional Knowledge in Learning to Teach Elementary Science.

The purpose of this research was to understand how preservice elementary teacher experi- ences within the context of reflective science teacher education influence the development of profession- al knowledge. We conducted a case analysis to investigate one preservice teachers beliefs about science teaching and learning, identify the tensions with which she grappled in learning to teach elementary sci- ence, understand the frames from which she identified problems of practice, and discern how her experi- ences played a role in framing and reframing problems of practice. The teacher, Barbara, encountered ten- sions in thinking about science teaching and learning as a result of inconsistencies between her vision of science teaching and her practice. Confronting these tensions between ideals and realities prompted Bar- bara to rethink the connections between her classroom actions and students learning and create new per- spectives for viewing her practice. Through reframing, she was able to consider and begin implementing alternative practices more resonant with her beliefs. Barbaras case illustrates the value of understanding prospective teachers beliefs, their experiences, and the relationship between beliefs and classroom actions. Furthermore, the findings underscore the significance of offering reflective experience as professionals early in the careers of prospective teachers.

What is science?: preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science

Science for All Americans declares that an understanding of the nature of science is one criterion of scientific literacy. Unfortunately practising science teachers often misunderstand and misrepresent the nature of their disciplines. In this study we have attempted to construct an understanding of preservice elementary teachers views by analysing their written responses to questions about the nature of science. We used analytic induction to derive categories and themes from the data and then formulated generalizations from these themes. Our findings reveal that out students have realist and positivist views of the scientific enterprise, and that they place little emphasis on the social or creative dimensions of the discipline. These preservice teachers will soon offer young children their first experiences with school science; their beliefs about the nature of science have implications for their science teaching and for their students science learning.

Investigating preservice elementary science teacher reflective thinking using integrated media case‐based instruction in elementary science teacher preparation

To improve the preparation of future teachers, we must come to understand their personal theories about teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice elementary teachers theories about science teaching and learning through their reflections on integrated media case-based instruction, and subsequently to reflect upon and reform our own practice. Students in an elementary science methods course participated in a series of written and oral reflection tasks in response to integrated media instruction. Specifically, they responded to a videodisc case of a first grade teacher teaching a conceptual change unit about seeds and eggs. Considering their responses to the reflection tasks, we constructed a profile of these elementary preservice teachers. This profile consists of their images of themselves as future science teachers, the characteristics of their personal theories of teaching and learning, and the ways in which they frame classroom -problems. Our findings led to reforms in our methods course instruction and have implications for the preparation and continuing education of elementary science teachers.

“Somebody to count on”: Mentor/intern relationships in a beginning teacher internship program☆

Abstract The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to illuminate mentor and intern participants relationships in one state-mandated beginning teacher internship program. We analyzed interview data from 29 mentors and interns using within- and cross-case analysis and generated categories and properties with supporting interview excerpts to show how mentors and interns interpreted and adapted their roles. Findings of the study indicate that mentors and interns jointly construct their relationships; these relationships are undergirded by the respect and trust the two individuals have for each other. Furthermore, interns appear to need mentors who first, and foremost, support them as fledgling teachers. Interns also need mentors who assume flexible roles and who adapt their roles based on interns needs.

Reconceptualizing the Elementary Science Methods Course Using a Reflection Orientation.

(1997). Reconceptualizing the Elementary Science Methods Course Using a Reflection Orientation. Journal of Science Teacher Education: Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 153-166.

'That's what scientists have to do': Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the nature of science during a moon investigation

In a science methods course for elementary education majors, students investigated the phases of the moon for six weeks. The moon investigation emphasized that scientific knowledge: a) is empirically based; b) involves the invention of explanations; and c) is socially embedded. After the moon investigation, students realized that scientists make observations and generate patterns, but failed to recognize that observation could precede or follow theory building. Students could separate the processes of observing from creating explanations in their learning, but did not articulate the role of invention in science. Similarly, students valued the social dimensions of learning, but were unable to apply them to the activity of scientists. Although our teaching was explicit about students science learning, we did not help them make direct connections between their science learning activities and the nature of science [NOS]. We provide a set of recommendations for making the NOS more explicit in the moon investigation.

Reflections on a fifth‐grade life science lesson: making sense of children's understanding of scientific models

In this study a teaching/research collaboration between a fifth‐grade teacher and a university science educator was implemented to examine conceptual change teaching and learning. The authors reflected on one classroom lesson to better understand their own teaching and student sense‐making about trophic relations in a terrarium community. Many children thought the pyramid model of trophic levels represented space needs of the organisms rather than energy relationships. Yet when the authors, as teachers, abandoned the scientific model and allowed students to construct their own, it was found that they did have reasonable ideas about number relationships in a community. It was also learned that, even with strong philosophical commitments to conceptual change teaching, teaching behaviours were sometimes in conflict with teachers’ beliefs. The findings have implications for teacher education and indicate that more work is needed to understand and elucidate conceptual change teaching strategies that will help ...

From professor to colleague: Creating a professional identity as collaborator in elementary science

This self-study of collaboration examines the lived experiences of a university researcher and a classroom teacher who shared the work of teaching 6th grade science. Sharing teaching involved planning, enacting, assessing, and reflecting upon instruction, and became the context for telling stories of collaboration. I interpreted these stories using models of social identity that employ performance metaphors in the construction/deconstruction of multiple identities. The analysis uncovered several tensions in building a collaborative relationship: a) The tension created by my assumption of multiple roles including new teacher, researcher, and collaborator; b) the tension between my desired role of collaborator and the role of professor ascribed to me by the classroom teacher; and c) the tension of an outsider searching for a comfort zone in an established classroom community. The meanings of collaboration that emerged from this study have implications for others who embark upon university/school partnerships.

Developing a graduate level science education course on the nature of science

The purpose of this report is to outline our experiences designing and teaching a course on the nature of science to science education graduate students. By addressing questions related to the creation of a new university course, the design of the course syllabus, and the transformation of the syllabus into instruction, we hope to make our craft knowledge more accessible to others who create such courses.

Helping science methods students construct meaning from text

ConclusionThe pursuit of meaning through reflection is an ultimate goal of teacher education. The reading reaction sheet strategy is one way to help methods students construct meaning about science teaching and learning, and is applicable to other college courses where considerable reading is expected. Furthermore, through instructor modeling (Kyle, Abell, & Shymansky, 1989; Yeany & Padilla, 1986), preservice teachers are more likely to employ techniques for reading in the content area in their own teaching. Thus the reading reaction sheet strategy illustrates the integration of research in reading, writing, and science education and its application to classroom practice.