Science Instruction in the Middle and Secondary Schools

This text provides the initial scaffolding needed by novice teachers to understand and enact the basics of science teaching—purpose, planning, assessing, teaching, and managing. Included is information on the foundational areas of science education, with numerous vignettes and examples of effective classroom practices in action. The focus is on preparing those entering or new to the science teaching profession to use their understanding of science and engineering to prepare the next generation of Americans for life in the 2st century. It provides ideas and knowledge about how to help students see science and engineering as ways of thinking about and investigating the world around them, and to recognize the relationship between science and engineering in their everyday lives

Mentoring in Support of Reform-Based Science Teaching

The International Handbook of Science Education is a two volume edition pertaining to the most significant issues in science education. It is a follow-up to the first Handbook, published in 1998, which is seen as the most authoritative resource ever produced in science education. The chapters in this edition are reviews of research in science education and retain the strong international flavor of the project. It covers the diverse theories and methods that have been a foundation for science education and continue to characterize this field. Each section contains a lead chapter that provides an overview and synthesis of the field and related chapters that provide a narrower focus on research and current thinking on the key issues in that field. Leading researchers from around the world have participated as authors and consultants to produce a resource that is comprehensive, detailed and up to date. The chapters provide the most recent and advanced thinking in science education making the Handbook again the most authoritative resource in science education

Naturalistic Inquiry in Exploring Conference Effectiveness

For the past three years, Georgia Southern has hosted the Scholarship of STEM Teaching and Learning Conference, and its organisers wanted to explore the impact of conference participation on USG STEM faculty teaching and thinking practices. With motives grounded in the principles of pragmatism (Peirce, 1958), we have adopted a framework of naturalistic inquiry (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, 1986) to explore this question and to guide the planning of subsequent conferences. We present our findings here

Science Conference Presenters\u27 Images of Inquiry

Inquiry-focused professional development and conceptions of inquiry held by eight professional development leaders were investigated within the context of a state science teacher conference. The prominent session format involved session leaders modeling classroom experiences. In all sessions, classroom inquiry was portrayed as a teacher-guided activity with the primary goal being to increase motivation for engaging students in classroom inquiry. The leaders\u27 conceptualized inquiry primarily as a teaching approach with various goals, characteristics, and potential barriers. The findings of this study provide evidence of how inquiry, a prominent feature of science education reform, was portrayed in sessions at a conference sponsored by a state affiliate of the National Science Teachers Association and thought about by persons who led these sessions. The findings have implications for teacher learning from conference-based professional development and its potential influence on science teacher thinking and practice

Teachers\u27 Awareness of Their Diverse Classrooms: The Nature of Elementary Teachers\u27 Reflections on Their Science Teaching Practice

This multiple case study examined the reflections of elementary teachers as they taught science to English language learners (ELLs). The six participants in this study developed explanations about their science teaching with ELLs as they engaged in reflective practice using video-based tools during a professional development experience. Open coding was used to analyze the data and cross-case comparison identified similarities and differences among the participants’ cases. Participants’ reflections indicated that knowledge of their students’ culture and backgrounds influenced their teaching practices and the focus of their reflections. Themes that emerged from participants’ reflections related to navigating the school world, managing the technical classroom, negotiating barriers, nurturing all students, and understanding learning. Findings illustrate the importance of examining teachers’ reflective writings in order to develop an understanding of how they use students’ backgrounds to inform their teaching practice and how they develop their science teaching practice with ELLs

Teacher Thinking Associated With Science-Specific Mentor Preparation

Framed by sociocultural theory, the purpose of the study was to understand the cultural tools used by science teachers when leaning to mentor and how tool use may lead to the construction of new understandings about mentoring. The participants were 37 experienced teachers enrolled in a federally funded science-specific mentor preparation program. Data took the form of interview transcripts, electronic bulletin board postings, and written cases. Program participants were found to use a range of tools to mediate their thinking about science teacher mentoring. Analysis of data revealed that the participants used the discourse of science teaching as well as such tools as classroom observation strategies and interpersonal mentoring approaches, to mediate their thinking about mentoring. The participants tools also included images that mediated their responses to specific mentoring challenges and dilemmas that highlighted for them contradictions in their thinking about mentoring. The cultural tools used by the science teachers when learning to mentor provide insight into how they think about science teacher mentoring and the nature of the professional learning experiences needed to enable them to develop as mentor

Evolution of Field-based Education for Geology Majors Into Place-based Education for K-12 Teachers

Field-based learning is embraced at Georgia Southern University as an emphasis applied to courses for geology majors for over 40 years and to teacher education programs for over 30 years. Building upon this foundation of field education for geology majors in geology courses, we transferred the concepts to in-service education majors. From limited summer teacher workshops coupling lectures to field site visits, a comprehensive field-intensive program evolved to strengthen the capability and knowledge content of middle school science teachers. Courses integrated lecture, lab and field-based learning, providing teachers with education in physical geology and fundamentals of historical geology, supported by collections of minerals, rocks, ores and fossils. These materials, collected by the teachers for use in their classrooms, were tied to regional geology and supplemented with maps, posters, field guides and textbooks. The St. Catherines Island Sea Turtle program developed concurrently as part of that program, and in 2009, marks 19 years of integrating Conservation, Research, and Education in a program that conserves loggerhead sea turtles and incorporates modeling and practice of field science, technology integration, and pedagogy through student-centered activities. Fourteen teacher-interns per summer investigate loggerhead ecology, human history, and geologic evolution of St. Catherines Island, practice journaling in experiential place-based inquiry-based learning, make abundant digital images for use in their teaching, and make natural history collections for their classrooms. New skills, knowledge and collections enhance teaching units on sea turtles or other endangered species or habitats that are developed in a spring follow up course to match curriculum needs of each student\u27s classroom. Field and instructional technologies are integrated for regular use, including GPS, thermal data loggers, temperature and moisture probes, ground radar, photography, websites and pod casts, plus note taking and field sketching. Geologists, education professors, experienced teacher mentors, and local content experts collaborate to produce one of the most successful teacher education programs in Georgia with respect to continuity of funding and positive teacher and programmatic feedback