Teaching Contexts That Influence Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Teacher and Science Teacher Identity Development

Chen, Jessica L.; Mensah, Felicia Moore

doi:10.1080/1046560x.2018.1469187

Cited by 56 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…It also makes high demands on teachers' subject matter knowledge and their in-depth understanding of subjects [23]. Therefore, based on Shulman's initial concept [24], research on the professional development of teachers has mainly focused on three domains of professional knowledge: content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK) [25][26][27][28][29].…”

Section: Teaching and Learning For Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

et al. 2019

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Teachers need knowledge of species and species identification skills for teaching the structure and function of ecosystems, and the principles of biodiversity and its role in sustainability. The aim of this study is to analyze Nordic student teachers’ views on the most efficient methods and strategies to teach and learn species and species identification, and to find some trends about how well their views are reflected in a species identification test. Student teachers in Finland, Norway, and Sweden (N = 426) answered a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open-ended questions, and a species identification test. An analysis of variance, Chi-Square, and t-test were used for quantitative data and an inductive content analysis for qualitative data. Results showed that outdoor teaching and learning methods are more efficient than indoor methods. The majority of student teachers considered outdoor experiential learning with living organisms as the most efficient teaching and learning method. Student teachers who highlighted outdoor experiential learning and outdoor project work as their most efficient methods received significantly better results in the species identification test than the others. Field trips and fieldwork were emphasized as the most important sources in schools and universities, while the Internet was the most important source among media. The student teachers underlined teachers’ expertise in the form of in-depth understanding of subjects and supervising skills for efficient teaching both outdoors and indoors. Therefore, teaching and learning of species and species identification as the practical part of biodiversity and sustainability education is emphasized as an integral part of teacher education programs.

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Section: Teaching and Learning For Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

et al. 2019

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“…In Israeli elementary schools, as in the United States, science teaching is typically marginalized relative to literacy and mathematics teaching. Accordingly, elementary science teachers are often general teachers (teaching other subjects as well), with very limited disciplinary training and expertise, underdeveloped identification as science teachers, and consequently, limited reform orientation (Berg & Mensah, ; Chen & Mensah, ; Danielsson & Warwick, ). This obviously has implications for students' science learning and their identity development at school, as well as for bridging between museum science and school science.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ME training for school visits would be different (and perhaps more difficult) than other informal educator training because it should involve training to bridge between the formal and informal cultures, expectations, and goals without undermining the unique benefits of each context. It should also consider the elementary school science‐learning environment: the limited preparation for fieldtrips; the marginalization of science; and the generalist nature of science teachers, their lack of disciplinary training and expertise, and their difficulty in identifying as science teachers (Berg & Mensah, ; Chen & Mensah, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science identity trajectories throughout school visits to a science museum

Shaby

Vedder‐Weiss

2019

J Res Sci Teach

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Research has repeatedly demonstrated how informal learning environments afford science‐identity development by fostering a broader array of interactions and recognizing more varied participation modes and roles, as compared to the classroom. Thus, science teachers are encouraged to take students to field trips in informal environments, including science museums. However, the question of whether and how informal environments indeed support science identities also in a schooling context (i.e., in field trips) has not yet been explored. This case study addresses this question by analyzing identity trajectories of three students throughout six school visits to an Israeli science museum. We observed and recorded these students in the museum over the course of 3 years (fourth to sixth grade). We also visited their school and interviewed them after each visit. Drawing on a sociocultural interactional approach to identity, we analyzed 18 hr of video and audio recordings, tracking the participation of the three students across time and contexts, comparing between the students, points in time and settings, including structured (museum lab), semi‐structured (riddle‐solving activities in exhibition halls), and unstructured settings (free exploration). We employed linguistic ethnographic methods and microanalysis to examine the ways in which the students participated and their positioning by self and others. While we found differences between settings within the museum, overall, the findings show that the museum reproduced the school's interaction, positioning, and roles. The “(non)science person” in school was also the “(non)science person” in the museum, and thus, the museum visits did not appear to shift identity trajectories. These findings challenge the premise that informal environments support the development of science identities also in a schooling context and call for a more critical view of such fieldtrips in terms of their pedagogical and physical design, facilitation approach, and consideration of peers' social interaction.

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“…While this is difficult at the secondary level, the challenge is more extreme at the elementary level. Pre-service elementary teachers frequently lack confidence in teaching science due to their low levels of scientific knowledge and preexisting negative perceptions of the nature of teaching science [1]. To better prepare teachers, teacher preparation programs should be examined for how they impact future teachers' science identities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most work on science teacher identity has focused on future secondary teachers. However, the development of the science teacher identity of preservice elementary teachers has also been explored [1]. Science teacher identity has been characterized by a range of components including confidence, recognition by others, subject matter knowledge, emotions, interest, view of self as a science teacher, beliefs about science teaching, and membership in a community of colleagues [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the Next GEN PET Curriculum on science identity

Lock¹,

Dusen²,

Maier³

et al. 2020

2019 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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The Next Gen Physical Science and Everyday Thinking (PET) curriculum was designed for physical science courses for future elementary teachers. However, this curriculum may also be used in general education conceptual science courses. The materials are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and use a guided-inquiry approach. Next Gen PET is currently being implemented at many universities nationwide. We examine the impact of this curriculum on students' science identities at a subset of these universities. The identity framework consists of three dimensions. Recognition is the extent to which a student believes that parents, peers, and professors view them as a science person. Interest describes their enjoyment of science. Finally, performance/competence represents a student's belief in their abilities to understand science and complete science related tasks. The shift in science identities was measured with items adapted from a previously developed physics identity instrument. We found positive shifts in the science identities of students enrolled in face-to-face courses targeted at pre-service teachers using the Next Gen PET curriculum, but a slight negative shift in the science identity of students enrolled in an online course targeted at non-science majors which did not use the Next Gen PET curriculum.

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Teaching Contexts That Influence Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Teacher and Science Teacher Identity Development

Cited by 56 publications

References 30 publications

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Most Efficient Teaching and Learning Methods for Species and Species Identification

Science identity trajectories throughout school visits to a science museum

Impact of the Next GEN PET Curriculum on science identity

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