Thomas R. Koballa

Mentor Advice Giving in an Alternative Certification Program for Secondary Science Teaching: Opportunities and Roadblocks in Developing a Knowledge Base for Teaching

Mentoring is often an important component of alternative certification programs, yet little is known about what novices learn about science teaching through mentoring relationships. This study investigated the advice given by two mentor science teachers to their protégés. Findings indicate that mentors gave more advice related to general pedagogical knowledge than science-specific pedagogical content knowledge. Specifically, there was little to no advice related to the topics of inquiry, the nature of science, or the development of scientific literacy. Implications call for an increase in communication between university teacher education programs and school-based mentors, the development of benchmarks to help guide mentor–protégé interactions, and the importance of a multiyear induction process.

Hispanic-American Studnts' Attitudes Toward Enrolling in High School Chemistry: A Study of Planned Behavior and Belief-Based Change

This study sought to (a) identify the determinants that motivate Hispanic-American students to enroll in high school chemistry and (b) determine if providing belief-based information to students and their parentslguardians increases chemistry registration. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and elaboration likelihood model (ELM) guided the study. Belief-based information about chemistry enrollment was collected from students (n = 69) and was content analyzed. Once identified, the modal salient beliefs and referents were used to develop the Chemistry Interest Questionnaire (CIQ) and audiotaped messages with accompanying information sheets. Messages were presented to one control and three experimental groups (questionnaire as message, student-only message, and student and parent/guardian message). One week later, students (N = 598) completed the CIQ. Shortly thereafter they registered for fall 1990 courses. Findings supported use of the TPB and ELM models to bring about behavior change. Chemistry enrollment for students in the student-only message group exceeded chance expectation.

Conceptions of Science Teacher Mentoring and Mentoring Practice in an Alternative Certification Program

Conceptions of mentoring held by six mentors and six beginning science teachers in an alternative certification program were explored qualitatively by means of case studies and phenomenography. Interviews with the six mentors and six beginning teachers produced 379 statements that were grouped into six conceptual categories. The categories of apprenticeship, personal support, and colearning revealed the variation in how mentors and beginning teachers conceptualized school-based mentoring. The conceptions functioned as referents for their mentoring practice. Mentoring as apprenticeship was the dominant conception among both the beginning teachers and mentors. The findings of this study imply that conceptions of mentoring held by mentors and beginning science teachers should be considered when organizing the school-based component of alternative certification programs.

Does participating in an undergraduate elementary science methods course make a difference

Beginning with the question, does it make a differencewhat skills are developed or inwhat sequence they are introduced, the results of this study show that science teaching skills associated with personal survival are highly visible in both the expectations of prospective teachers and in what they value from a science methods course. It is equally clear that as they become confident in their personal science knowledge base, and competent in translating this into instructional plans for children, prospective teachers become aware of the need to deal with more mature concerns of how to effectively manage children in the learning environment. As an introductory science methods course, this focus on the personal concerns of the prospective teachers makes a difference in the confidence with which they approach teaching science.

Influencing Chinese Prospective Elementary Teachers' Decisions to Teach about the Environment.

Investigated was the persuasiveness of anecdotal and data-summary messages based on Hovland’s learning theory approach to persuasion and Fishbein and Ajzen’s theory of reasoned action. The messages averaged only four pages in length and were read by the majority of the subjects (N=106) in less than 30 minutes. Short-term changes in intention and attitude resulted from the anecdotal message, while changes to individual beliefs were more long lasting. The data-summary message produced no short-term or long-term changes in intention or attitude. A second key finding of the study is that attitude was an important determinant of intention, but social support was not. This implies that changing teachers’ attitudes can be an effective way to change their intentions and, in turn, impact their decisions about science teaching and leaming.

Elementary science education: Looking toward the future

The ideal elementary science curriculum — and its instructional counterpart — are seldom straightforward. Over the past few years the goal of improving science education in the elementary schools has resulted in fundamental changes in both the content and pedagogy of elementary science teaching. Current thought suggests curricular and instructional frameworks that have important implications for improving the quality of teaching in elementary science classrooms. These frameworks offer a reconceptualization of science in the elementary grades and may ultimately determine what will be taught and how. They may serve to guide elementary science into the next century.

Umsetzung der Theorie in die Praxis

Was Naturwissenschaftsdidaktiker mit „Scientific Literacy“ tatsachlich meinen, wird vor allem in den Unterrichtsmethoden deutlich, mit denen sie ihre personlichen Theorien veranschaulichen.31 Die unterschiedlichen Elemente innerhalb einer Unterrichtsstunde, die darauf abzielen, bei den Schulerinnen und Schulern einen hoheren Grad an Scientific Literacy zu erreichen, zeigen nicht nur prazise, wie der Lehrende Scientific Literacy definiert, sondern auch das Ausmas, in dem Praxis genutzt werden kann, um die Anforderungen jeder individuellen Definition zu erfullen.