Why research in the service of science teacher education is needed

Adams, Paul; Tillotson, John

doi:10.1002/tea.3660320503

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Multiple studies of preservice science teachers have found that, despite methods courses and teacher preparation programs based on constructivist learning theory, students find it difficult to implement appropriate instructional practices to support constructivist learning in their classrooms (Adams & Tillotson, 1995;Haney & MacArthur, 2002;Marion et al, 1999;Meyer et al, 1999). Whether the methods courses have focused on particular instructional strategies such as conceptual change (Martens & Crosier, 1994;Shymansky, 1992;Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1999), or offered a diverse set of constructivist instructional practices (Erickson et al, 1994;Northfield, Gunstone, & Erickson, 1996;Salish, 1997) few beginning teachers are able to make effective use of them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

Meyer

2004

Science Education

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-385) in relationship to prior knowledge underpins the study. Six teachers were selected to participate in the case studies based upon their level experience teaching science and their willingness to take part. The comparative case studies of the novice and expert teachers provide insights into (a) how novice and expert teachers understand the concept of prior knowledge and (b) how they use this knowledge to make instructional decisions. Data collection consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings suggest that novice teachers hold insufficient conceptions of prior knowledge and its role in instruction to effectively implement constructivist teaching practices. While expert teachers hold a complex conception of prior knowledge and make use of their students' prior knowledge in significant ways during instruction. A second finding was an apparent mismatch between the novice teachers' beliefs about their urban students' life experiences and prior knowledge and the wealth of knowledge the expert teachers found to draw upon.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

Meyer

2004

Science Education

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“…Much of this research is, however, of limited value since it is narrowly focused and conducted over the short term. What is needed are comprehensive studies that are longitudinal and have a broad context.It was within this context that the Salish I Research Project was conducted by a national research collaborative (Adams & Tillotson, 1995). This 3-year study was funded and conducted under the auspices of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education.…”

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Beginning Teachers: Beliefs and Classroom Actions

Simmons

Emory

Carter

et al. 1999

J. Res. Sci. Teach.

245

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The current national priority for systemic approaches to the reform of science and mathematics education has led to unprecedented interest in research on the efficacy of science and mathematics teacher preparation programs. In response to this priority, a focus on collaborative approaches to educational reform and to research on educational reform resulted in a national collaborative research consortium of insitutions of higher education. The consortium was formed to investigate the following question about secondary science teacher education: What are the perceptions, beliefs, and classroom performances of beginning secondary teachers as related to their philosophies of teaching and their content pedagogical skills? The research design and instrumentation yielded detailed descriptions that elicited knowledge and beliefs held by beginning teachers about science, the nature of teaching and learning, and their philosophy of teaching. An analysis of video portfolios of beginning teachers provided classroom-based evidence of their performance in both subject matter and pedagogical dimensions of teaching. Among the findings from this 3-year exploratory study were that teachers graduated from their teacher preparation programs with a range of knowledge and beliefs about: how teachers should interact with subject content and processes, what teachers should be doing in the classroom, what students should be doing in the classroom, philosophies of teaching, and how they perceived themselves as classroom teachers. Beginning teachers described their practices as very student-centered. Observations of these teaching practices contrasted starkly with teacher beliefs: While teachers professed student-centered beliefs, they behaved in teacher-centered ways. Undertaking intensive, collaborative studies such as the one described in this article, is the beginning of efforts through which the science and mathematics education communities can strive to address the needs of students, teachers, teacher educators, and other stakeholders working to establish a common vision for excellent instruction and systemic, long-lasting reform. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 930 -954, 1999 Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), testified ". . . In an enterprise such as education . . . research is the best hope we have of distinguishing between fads and facts, prejudices and informed judgment, habits and insights. Without systematic inquiry, development, and testing, we will continue to have the same babble of arguments and practices concerning what works or ought to work. Without good research, we will continue on an endless cycle of mistakes . . . an endless reinvention of mousetraps, the same rehashing of controversies, and in the end, the same faltering school system" (AFT conference, 1993). The current national priority for systemic approaches to the reform of science and mathematics education has led to unprecedented interest in research on the efficacy of science and m...

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“…We can find much research on the influence of teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning, but it is the images of teaching and learning by students, parents, and other "partners in education" and their influence on pedagogy that we need to be informed of. Adams and Tillotson (1995) wondered if the induction phase is the dominant force influencing teacher behaviors. We suggest that novice teachers are pushed by the tides of transmissivist or market-economy ideologies, and pulled by the craft guild model of teaching.…”

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confidence: 99%

Research, practice, and teacher internship

McGoey

Ross

1999

J. Res. Sci. Teach.

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In the February 1996 JRST editorial, Pekarek, Krockover, and Shepardson despaired over the lack of teachers' application of research in informing their day-to-day practice. We agree that such a theory-practice (or research-practice) gap by science teachers deserves their concern. We would like the research community to know that some practitioners are listening. Researchers calling for greater participation in action research: please keep calling. You are being heard. Do not, however, look to the status quo to implement your cutting edge ideas. For those researchers out on your edge of theory, here is a response from some practitioners who are out on our edge of classroom teaching.As a brief introduction, we are science teachers in a high school in London, Ontario, Canada. In our practice over the past few years, we have become increasingly involved with conceptual change (CC) pedagogy (e.g., Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzhog, 1982;Wittrock, 1994) and a teacher-as-researcher ethos. We would like to report to the research community where advances in research have taken us, and where we would appreciate future research to be directed.Our classroom is directed at student representations of phenomena. We have found several effective ways of teaching students to commit their notions to paper in pictures and words. We then use their pictures, plus discussion and confounding experiments, to generate cognitive conflict. As an interesting aside, we have found that the size of the picture matters: large diagrams are much more effective at promoting cognitive conflict than postage-stamp diagrams. The balance of our classroom research is devoted to clarifying age-appropriate unifying principles, and finding effective ways of representing those principles.In addition, we have extended these ideas into our work with student teachers. We have developed a model of internship in which we encourage novice teachers to use CC pedagogy in dealing with students' naive ideas about science. At the same time, we use CC theory to disequilibrate student teachers' naive ideas about learning science.

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Why research in the service of science teacher education is needed

Cited by 12 publications

References 3 publications

Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

Novice and expert teachers' conceptions of learners' prior knowledge

Beginning Teachers: Beliefs and Classroom Actions

Research, practice, and teacher internship

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