Developing an Inquiry-Based Physical Science Course For Preservice Elementary Teachers

Abstract

Preservice elementary teachers should experience science through inquiry in order to be effective in teaching science. In addition, inquiry as a mode of teaching is mandated by Kansas and National Science Education Standards. As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers also need to be prepared to include basic skills in reading and mathematics in all instruction. To address these issues, Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is adapting and extending the NSF-developed teacher enhancement materials Operation Primary Physical Science (OPPS) for use in a physical science course for preservice elementary teachers. This paper presents main features of OPPS, describes advantages of using it as a template in developing desired course material and discusses results collected with students enrolled in the adapted course during 2004/2005 academic year .

Learning to Think Like Scientists with the PET Curriculum

“…Shifts toward favorable increased from +4% to +16.5%, which is similar to the shifts found by Allen and Kruse on the EBAPS. Aggregate results from the CLASS study show an average shift of 8.8% in PET and PSET courses compared to average shifts of -6.1% to +1.8% found in other physical science courses (OPPS) designed especially for elementary teachers with enrollments ranging from 14 to 22 students [5]. Table 3 shows comparisons of CLASS pre/post scores and shifts for different curricula and different instructional settings.…”

“…Science education researchers and curriculum developers have responded to this call by developing inquiry-based, physical science curricula especially for the postsecondary, non-science major population. Such curricula include Physics By Inquiry [3], Powerful Ideas in Physical Science [4], Operation Primary Physical Science [5], Physics and Everyday Thinking [6], and Physical Science and Everyday Thinking [7]. In most cases, large conceptual gains have been found to be associated with these specialized curricula [5][8] [9].…”

“…Such curricula include Physics By Inquiry [3], Powerful Ideas in Physical Science [4], Operation Primary Physical Science [5], Physics and Everyday Thinking [6], and Physical Science and Everyday Thinking [7]. In most cases, large conceptual gains have been found to be associated with these specialized curricula [5][8] [9]. However, less work has been done to determine how students' beliefs about learning science and their understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge are impacted by such courses.…”

“…These results suggest that conceptual learning is not necessarily associated with expert-like beliefs about the nature of learning science. Hrepic et al [5] studied a curriculum designed specifically for pre-service elementary teachers, Operation Primary Physical Science Curriculum (OPPS), from both the conceptual and attitudinal perspective. While significant conceptual gains were found using a conceptual instrument designed by the authors of the curriculum, only very small positive shifts in attitudes about science and the nature of science knowledge and learning were measured by the CLASS and in one course CLASS scores deteriorated [5].…”

“…Hrepic et al [5] studied a curriculum designed specifically for pre-service elementary teachers, Operation Primary Physical Science Curriculum (OPPS), from both the conceptual and attitudinal perspective. While significant conceptual gains were found using a conceptual instrument designed by the authors of the curriculum, only very small positive shifts in attitudes about science and the nature of science knowledge and learning were measured by the CLASS and in one course CLASS scores deteriorated [5]. Although the OPPS curriculum was developed for pre-service elementary teachers, it does not appear to explicitly address issues about learning science and the nature of science knowledge.…”