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Descriptors:
Elementary School Teachers; Science Fairs; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Science Instruction; Case Method (Teaching Technique); Science Projects; Student Projects; Inservice Teacher Education; Methods Courses

Abstract:
This research is about using two different instruction models, "theory course combined with sample introduction" and "theory course combined with case method teaching", to instruct elementary teachers on how to guide the science fair product in two courses (16 and 12 teachers in each class) and observe their guiding tactics after the instructed classes. The results show that: (1) Elementary teachers who have taken "theory course combined with sample introduction" course consider that: (a) Introducing the samples can let them clearly understand the process of how to guide students to do their science fair project; and (b) Following the description sample to make their science fair project topic, extend these topic form original science courses, draw the conception map and flow table, handle the scientific experiment, and then teach students to be familiar with the content of science fairs project; (2) In-service teachers who have chosen "theory course combined with case method teaching" course consider that: (a) Case-method teaching helps them understand the contents of the curricula; and (b) It provides them models to observe and imitate. With such an increase of awareness, knowledge transference had been brought out. Thus, professional knowledge would be promoted. Both teachers who have accepted these courses had hiatus when guiding students to develop their product: (1) Teachers are inadequately comprehending the basic scientific theory of subjects of their science fair project; (2) Scientific verification is not scientificalness; (3) Verify facts which are already known; and (4) Be careless about the control variable. (Contains 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Educational Technology; Environmental Education; Environmental Research; Concept Mapping; Methods Courses; Program Implementation; Course Evaluation; Social Theories; Scoring Rubrics; Computer Assisted Instruction; Teaching Methods; College Instruction; Instructional Effectiveness

Abstract:
What is environment? The answer to this question is fundamental to how we teach environmental studies and sciences (ESS). We follow recent scholarly literature in approaching environment as connection, not as some category of reality, and consider pedagogical implications via concept mapping, a new learning technology. Concept maps potentially offer a visually explicit means of representing and analyzing the hybrid connections between actors that define environmental issues. We explore the utility of concept mapping as pioneered by Joseph Novak and others via the Cmap Tools application, in which concept maps (cmaps) consist of concepts connected by propositions; both can include linked resources, and the resultant cmap can be collaboratively edited and shared online. We evaluate concept mapping in the context of a sophomore-level environmental methods course taught annually at Lewis & Clark College. The course includes adaptations of concept mapping drawing on Novak's work and actor-network theory, designed for students to reflect on their environmental perspectives, synthesize course material, and explore a proposed topic for environmental research. These exercises were evaluated in fall 2010 using self-reports, assessment rubrics, and open-ended student responses. Results showed that higher achieving students generally found concept mapping more demanding and attained more sophisticated understandings of connections. This suggests that concept mapping helps facilitate the intellectual struggle that characterizes engaged learning, yet also that not all students embrace this struggle to fully grasp environment-as-connection. In a larger sense, the study illustrates challenges in cultivating new approaches to environment in the ESS community. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Teaching Methods; Statistical Analysis; Constructivism (Learning); Scores; Methods Courses; Preservice Teachers; Elementary School Teachers; Mixed Methods Research; Science Education; Preservice Teacher Education; Retention (Psychology); Models; Elementary School Science; Science Instruction; Scientific Concepts; College Instruction; Instructional Effectiveness; Surveys; Qualitative Research; Pretests Posttests

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to explore a group of prospective primary teachers' conceptual understanding of diffusion and osmosis as they implemented a 5E constructivist model and related materials in a science methods course. Fifty prospective primary teachers' ideas were elicited using a pre- and post-test and delayed post-test survey consisting of ten two-tier questions of which an explanatory part was integral. Individual interviews were conducted with six prospective teachers at the end of the implementation of the unit using four questions. Test scores were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Post-instructional interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA of student test scores pointed to statistically significant differences between pre- and post- and delayed post-test (p less than 0.05). A qualitative analysis of the prospective teachers' explanations in the two-tier questions revealed changes in their ideas overtime. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that the teaching activities promoted students' conceptual understanding. No statistically significant differences were found between post-test and delayed post-test scores, suggesting that the teaching activities based on 5E model enabled students to retain their new conceptual understanding. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Teaching Methods; Older Adults; Foreign Countries; Social Work; Outreach Programs; Models; Program Descriptions; Methods Courses; Aging Education; Caseworker Approach; Active Learning; Intergenerational Programs; Intergroup Education; Educational Gerontology

Abstract:
This article describes an innovative model for teaching gerontological social work that has been introduced into the social work methods curriculum in the Department of Social Work at a college in northern Israel. The basic concept of the model is to create an alternative learning environment by including older persons as full participants in the classroom. As experts on old age, they provide social work students with a hands-on learning experience intended to facilitate their understanding of aging. The changing needs of this growing population place a complex and pressing burden on the social systems that provide services to older adults, and on the families that care for them. To meet these needs, it is predicted that there will be a substantial increase in the demand for social workers in the field of gerontology. At present, there is a shortage of social workers who wish to work with this population as a result of negative perceptions and stereotypes relating to old age. This calls for a different approach to teaching gerontological social work, one that will adapt the study of aging to today's older population while addressing the misconceptions and anxieties of social work students. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Mathematics Achievement; Educational Strategies; Teaching Methods; Kindergarten; Teacher Certification; Teacher Characteristics; Mathematics Instruction; Inferences; Grade 1; Instructional Effectiveness; Longitudinal Studies; Elementary School Students; Models; Methods Courses; Graduate Study; Manipulative Materials; Worksheets; Problem Solving; Textbooks; Predictor Variables

Abstract:
This study investigates the impact of teacher characteristics and instructional strategies on the mathematics achievement of students in kindergarten and first grade and tackles the question of how best to use longitudinal survey data to elicit causal inference in the face of potential threats to validity due to nonrandom assignment to treatment. We develop a step-by-step approach to selecting a modeling and estimation strategy and find that teacher certification and courses in methods of teaching mathematics have a slightly negative effect on student achievement in kindergarten, whereas postgraduate education has a positive effect in first grade. Various teaching modalities, such as working with counting manipulatives, using math worksheets, and completing problems on the chalkboard, have positive effects on achievement in kindergarten, and pedagogical practices relating to explaining problem solving and working on problems from textbooks have positive effects on achievement in first grade. We show that the conclusions drawn depend on the estimation and modeling choices made and that several prior studies of teacher effects using longitudinal survey data likely neglected important features needed to establish causal inference. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure, and 20 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Science Education; Vocabulary; Elementary School Teachers; Elementary School Science; Peer Teaching; Methods Courses; Preservice Teachers; Microteaching; Vocabulary Development; Science Instruction; Preservice Teacher Education; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Instructional Effectiveness

Abstract:
Science vocabulary knowledge plays a role in understanding science concepts, and science knowledge is measured in part by correct use of science vocabulary (Lee et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 32(8):797-816, 1995). Elementary school students have growing vocabularies and many are learning English as a secondary language or depend on schools to learn academic English. Teachers must have a clear understanding of science vocabulary in order to communicate and evaluate these understandings with students. The present study measured preservice teachers' vocabulary knowledge during a science methods course and documented their use of science vocabulary during peer teaching. The data indicate that the course positively impacted the preservice teachers' knowledge of select elementary science vocabulary; however, use of science terms was inconsistent in microteaching lessons. Recommendations include providing multiple vocabulary instruction strategies in teacher preparation. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Preservice Teacher Education; Interaction; Verbal Communication; Student Teachers; Methods Courses; Interpersonal Relationship; Interpersonal Communication; Mathematics Education; Group Activities; Cognitive Processes; Social Influences

Abstract:
This paper focuses on the study of student teachers' verbal interaction in learning situations generated in a classroom corresponding to a mathematics methods course. In our work, we incorporate two "ways of seeing" a group: as an entity or as a set composed of individualities. We present an analytical framework that considers two dimensions connected with these ways of seeing the group and four variables corresponding to these dimensions, through which the verbal interaction between student teachers in a group can be considered. As regards the first dimension, the variables included are specific language, cognitive processing, social processing; the second dimension considers the relational variable. We describe each of the different variables that form the framework, and how this framework allows us to analyse the verbal interaction in three groups of student teachers. We believe that building analytic frameworks that allow the study of verbal interaction in detail is worthwhile in the educational field due to their important role in the analysis of learning-teaching processes. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Teaching Methods; Science Education; Science Instruction; Elementary Secondary Education; Teacher Educators; Methods Courses; Preservice Teachers; Textbooks; Microteaching; Minority Group Students; Student Attitudes; Freehand Drawing; Personal Narratives; Interviews; Observation

Abstract:
This study explores five minority preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching science and identifies the sources of their strategies for helping students learn science. Perspectives from the literature on conceptions of teaching science and on the role constructs used to describe and distinguish minority preservice teachers from their mainstream White peers served as the framework to identify minority preservice teachers' instructional ideas, meanings, and actions for teaching science. Data included drawings, narratives, observations and self-review reports of microteaching, and interviews. A thematic analysis of data revealed that the minority preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching science were a specific set of beliefs-driven instructional ideas about how science content is linked to home experiences, students' ideas, hands-on activities, about how science teaching must include group work and not be based solely on textbooks, and about how learning science involves the concept of all students can learn science, and acknowledging and respecting students' ideas about science. Implications for teacher educators include the need to establish supportive environments within methods courses for minority preservice teachers to express their K-12 experiences and acknowledge and examine how these experiences shape their conceptions of teaching science, and to recognize that minority preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching science reveal the multiple ways through which they see and envision science instruction. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teaching Methods; Social Studies; Discipline; Teacher Educators; Methods Courses; Grade 3; History Instruction; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; History; Elementary School Students; Preservice Teachers; Teacher Education; Elementary School Teachers

Abstract:
In an examination of how content knowledge influenced her initial third grade social studies teaching experiences, Suzanne Wilson found that it, among other things, helped her "to hear what students say" and in her students' comments were "often...the seeds of complex and sophisticated historical ideas." She also found content knowledge to be critical in engaging her students in "genuine social science and historical problems." But content knowledge, by itself, was insufficient; knowledge of other domains like curriculum and how students learn were also necessary. In other words, Wilson found content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to effectively engage and challenge her students in learning history and social studies. Both of these knowledge domains include an understanding not only of the products of the historical discipline, but also of its processes--an understanding of what many call "historical thinking." If preparing teachers to teach for historical thinking is wise practice, as argued in the previous essays of this edition of "The History Teacher," then this cannot be an approach only for secondary teacher education. It is also necessary to involve teacher educators preparing multiple-subjects candidates--the future elementary teaching force. In this article, the author reports on her first experiences with preparing preservice candidates to teach elementary students both disciplinary processes of history and the products of those processes. She first describes contexts for her course and how they shaped her instructional goals. She then describes some of her instruction and curriculum focused on these goals. She explains four key ways she conceptualized aspects of historical thinking (multiple stories, historical context, fact versus fiction, and the claim-evidence connection) and argues for the necessity of such framing. These concepts fulfill a variety of purposes in encouraging and allowing candidates to teach for historical thinking, including illuminating discipline-specific literacy practices. Finally, she discusses some student work in relation to her approach. (Contains 50 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Teaching Methods; Preservice Teacher Education; Methods Courses; Preservice Teachers; Historiography; History Instruction; Teacher Educators; Field Trips; Local History

Abstract:
Despite more than a decade of groundbreaking research on the advantages and need for more historical thinking and historiography in middle and high school history classrooms, many students continue to receive only modest exposure to these teaching concepts and related strategies. Research indicates that middle and high school students who are not regularly engaged in historical thinking, including the practice of historiographic analysis, often lack skills to process, analyze, or evaluate the past. Perhaps it is not surprising that studies also show students commonly respond to history content and concepts with a general apathetic detachment, and may fail to develop critical understandings of the human condition, past and present. Evidence suggests this apathetic response among students may be traced to testing schedules and the manner in which massive amounts of seemingly disjointed history content is presented. However, it may also be traced to preservice teacher preparation. Although it is likely most secondary social studies methods instructors now introduce concepts and strategies related to historical thinking and historiography, many preservice teachers continue to encounter barriers that dissuade and distract them from honing these skills when they enter the classroom. There are two overarching problems that continue to obstruct a broad implementation of these new ways of perceiving and studying history: (1) many preservice teachers do not have deep backgrounds in historical thinking and historiography; and (2) many middle and high schools do not present preservice teachers with an environment conducive to new or nontraditional--and often time-consuming--strategies. This paper is intended to discuss these and other challenges the author has encountered as a methods course instructor when training preservice teachers in the use of historical thinking and historiography, and to share a project developed to encourage preservice teachers to think historically and engage in historiographic analysis on their own, so to better enable them to engage their students with these dynamic strategies. (Contains 1 figure and 15 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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