Title Year Author Journal Volume Issue Pages

: Beginning Elementary Teachers Development as Teachers of Science : 2002 : Appleton, Ken; Kindt, Ian : Journal of Science Teacher Education : 13 :1 : 18

Start Page Date

: 2002

Keywords
Teacher Collaboration; Science Content Knowledge; New Teachers; Follow-up; Interview; Informal Observations; Case Study; Teacher Autonomy; Social Constructivism; International Education; Elementary Science; Activities that Work

Abstract
In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, there has been ongoing concern about the poor state of elementary science teaching. This has resulted in demands to change preservice teacher education. However, difficulties experienced by elementary teachers in teaching science are often described in terms of their being deficient in science content. Recommended solutions focus on providing increased science content knowledge during preservice teacher education programs. This report locates aspectes of the problems associated with science teaching in a far wider context of the professional development of the beginning teacher.

Research Notes
Teacher Collaboration - Relating to how teacher interaction can play a role in professional development - One new teacher explained that she felt much more confident in teaching science after participating in a science committee. Other beginning teachers stated interaction from mentors and more experienced teachers as helpful in developing their science teaching strategies. Science Content Knowledge - teacher knowledge about science - The author acknowledged that many of these beginning primary teachers lacked science content knowledge and needed development in that area. However, he brought out the teachers' needs in the area of pedagogy and resources. He claimed that teacher preparation programs should provide training for teachers about how to teach

specific topics and units so that teachers can enter their teaching assignment with a level of confidence in science teaching in at least one area. New Teachers - Relating to the specific needs and difficulties of beginning teachers - The author brought out the fact that these beginning primary teachers in general had developed an identity of themselves as teachers, but not science teachers and that science teaching, in fact, was a stressful endeavor for many teachers. They mentioned a lack of resources, both curricular and equipment, as one reason they were uncomfortable with science teaching. They also mentioned a lack of experience with the content. The researchers also observed that some beginning teachers considered themselves experts in another curriular area such as reading, mathematics or socials studies. Because these are the areas in which primary teachers tend to have the greatest experience, they will often use pedagogical techniques from these other disciplines in their teaching of science. This does not align with the Australian syllabus for science teaching or the standards that have been developed in other countries. Follow-up - The need to follow up on professional development training with ongoing support - The authors showed that the introduction of inquiry based teaching practices and science content in the teacher preparation programs was not sufficient to assure quality science teaching in the classroom. All students in this study had been high achievers in their preservice science methods classes, and yet very few of them used inquiry teaching and constructivist principles in their practice. Very few even attempted hands-on activities with their students. The researchers suggest that this indicates the need for ongoing follow-up professional development for teachers in science specifically. They claim that teachers will never move from tentative science teachers to confident inquiry teachers without some type of professional development experience. Interview - Interviewing participants to obtain data. This could be by prescriptive questioning or open questioning that is subject to changes. - All nine participants in this study were interviewed about their science teaching practice. The researchers asked questions about how they taught science and what factors influenced their science teaching. Informal Observations - Collecting data through untaped observation and field notes. - In addition to the interview data, the researchers took field notes on the types of science teaching that was performed by the new teachers during the researcher's visit. Case Study - A study in which the researcher describes a specific case in a school or other setting, but the case does not fit into another category such as ethnography, comparative study or evaluation. - This study was made up of nine individual case studies of new teachers and their science teaching methods. Teacher Autonomy - The ability of teachers to decide their own procedures of how to run a classroom. - The researchers made a note of the high level of autonomy in the teachers' contexts with respect to how they chose to teach science. They mentioned that this autonomy in the individual classroom led some teachers to avoid

science teaching when possible, and others to freely practice quality science teaching nearly every day. Social Constructivism - Dealing with the psychological theory that knowledge is constructed based on social interaction and context. - The researchers noticed in their observations that most teachers were not constructing their science teaching in a way that allowed for constructivist learning. This is because there was limited use of group and pair sharing and there was also a lot of disjointed curriculum. The teachers that attempted activities and hands-on experiments in their classrooms generally did not build upon prior experiments, but instead treated each investigation as an individual activity. International Education - Studies are conducted or refer to educational programs of countries other than the U.S. - This study occured in Australia (Queensland). Elementary Science - Relating to the needs and specific problems of teaching science to elementary students; also includes the need for adequate preparation for secondary school. - All the teachers interviewed and observed in this study were teachers of 5-12 year old students. Activities that Work - A class of science activities described by elementary school teachers. These activities engage and interest students around meaningful science content, while also being manageable in the classroom. - The first technique that the researchers identified in the beginning science teachers' behavior was the phenomenon of "activities that work." In other words, these were activities that kept students engaged and were manageable in the new teacher's classrooms. The researchers found that these activities were helpful for increasing new teachers' confidence in teaching science, but they did not conform to the constructivist and inquiry-based ideals of the new Australian science syllabus.

URL
http://www.springerlink.com/content/rq30u7bkej4evvb9/fulltext.pdf