Pedagogy of Science Teaching Tests: Formative assessments of science teaching orientations

Abstract

A critical aspect of teacher education is gaining pedagogical content knowledge of how to teach science for conceptual understanding. Given the time limitations of college methods courses, it is difficult to touch on more than a fraction of the science topics potentially taught across grades K-8, particularly in the context of relevant pedagogies. This research and development work centers on constructing a formative assessment resource to help expose pre-service teachers to a greater number of science topics within teaching episodes using various modes of instruction. To this end, 100 problem-based, science pedagogy assessment items were developed via expert group discussions and pilot testing. Each item contains a classroom vignette followed by response choices carefully crafted to include four basic pedagogies (didactic direct, active direct, guided inquiry, and open inquiry). The brief but numerous items allow a substantial increase in the number of science topics that pre-service students may consider. The intention is that students and teachers will be able to share and discuss particular responses to individual items, or else record their responses to collections of items and thereby create a snapshot profile of their teaching orientations. Subsets of items were piloted with students in pre-service science methods courses, and the quantitative results of student responses were spread sufficiently to suggest that the items can be effective for their intended purpose.

Comparison of two alternative approaches to quality STEM teacher preparation: Fast‐track licensure and embedded residency programs

“…The Pedagogy of Science Teaching Test ( POSTT ) was used to gauge teacher science teaching orientation (Cobern, Schuster, Adams, Skjold, Muğaloğlu, Bentz, & Sparks, ). The items on the instruments are posed as case‐based teaching problems.…”

An Indonesian Translation and Adaptation of the POSTT: A Science Teacher Pedagogical Orientation, Formative Assessment Device

“…This being the case, science educators in other countries may also wish to employ transadapted POSTT items for preservice science teacher education purposes. (Cobern et al, 2014).…”

“…An example of an item is shown in Figure 1. Guided Inquiry, and Open Inquiry (Cobern et al, 2014). This instrument provides realistic classroom vignettes and then asks teachers to choose from one of four teaching orientations in order to indicate how they would prefer to teach in that scenario (see Figure 1).…”

On Improving the Experiment Methodology in Pedagogical Research

“…Many pedagogical researchers (e.g. Cobern et al, (2014); Antony, Sivanathan & Gijo (2014)) carry out pre-research which is a reduced model of the actual research itself and which serves for verifying the properties of research tools and techniques, for testing the hypotheses, and for statistical processing of results without arriving to general conclusions. Furthermore, Garner et al (2009) distinguish between actual ex-post-facto research and experiments, and he points out that experiment is more suitable for examining the process of education because at least one independent variable which is under the control of the researcher is used.…”

“…Rynne and Gaughran (2008) described the models of quality and efficiency on the pedagogic level. One of the frequently observed aspects of the efficiency of education is the efficiency of methods of teaching (Cobern et al, 2014), e.g. working with texts.…”