Across Content and Pedagogy: Seeking Coherence in NOS Instruction in Teacher Education Programs

This conference paper was presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching in New Orleans, LA.While reforms emphasize understanding the nature of science (NOS), a challenge in meeting the vision of the reforms is that teachers lack understandings consistent with contemporary views of NOS. Though teacher educators have successfully improved prospective teachers' views of NOS within science methods courses (Akerson et al., 2000) and specialized science content courses for teachers (Abd-El-Khalick, 2001; Hanuscin, et al., 2004), recent work questions whether such single-course efforts are sufficient to promote retention of improved views (Akerson, et al., 2006). From a conceptual change perspective, we examined the development of preservice elementary teachers' views of NOS across their program of study. Utilizing the VNOS-C (Lederman, et al., 2002), we conducted a pretest posttest for treated and comparison groups of both science content (physics) and pedagogy (methods) courses. 76% of participants who received NOS instruction in their science content course exhibited improved views, while only 14% of participants enrolled in a comparison section did so. Those who later enrolled in a methods course that emphasized NOS retained or further improved their views, while those who enrolled in a methods course in which NOS was not a primary focus reverted to their original views. Our findings underscore the importance of coherence in NOS instruction throughout teacher education

Challenges and scaffolds for helping prospective teachers design science lessons using the 5E instructional mode

This conference paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education in Clearwater, FL.The Learning Cycle was developed in 1967 by Karplus and Thier for the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). This inquiry-based teaching approach is based on three distinct phases of instruction: 1) exploration provides students with firsthand experiences with science phenomena; 2) concept introduction allows students to build science ideas through interaction with peers, texts, and teachers; (3) concept application asks students to apply these science ideas to new situations or new problems. Since Karplus and Thier introduced the Learning Cycle, several variations including different numbers of phases have been proposed; however, regardless of the number of phases they include, “each new version retains the essence of the original Learning Cycle—exploration before concept introduction” (Brown & Abell, 2007). A popular version of the Learning Cycle is the 5-E model--Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate (Bybee, 1997). It incorporates the three original Learning Cycle phases while adding two more: the Engage phase of the 5-E is designed to captivate students' attention and uncover their prior knowledge about the concept(s), while the Evaluate phase is an opportunity for the teacher to assess students' progress, as well as for students to reflect on their new understandings

Teaching Against the Mystique of Science: Literature Based Approaches in Elementary Teacher Education

This conference paper was presented presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Science Teacher Education in Clearwater, FL.School science experiences shape learners' attitudes and beliefs about science. Yet, school experiences often consist of reading from a text, memorizing scientific facts, or conducting “verification” type laboratories, and thus may fail to accurately portray the nature of science. Lemke (1990) refers to this as the “mystique of science” in which teachers, often without realizing it, reinforce a set of harmful myths that impersonalize science and alienate learners. Our own reading of preservice teachers' science autobiographies (Koch, 1990) confirms that the images of science they hold are often inaccurate and oversimplified versions of this rich human and social endeavor. Indeed, when asked to “Draw A Scientist” (Chambers, 1983) our preservice elementary teachers overwhelmingly represent scientists as the stereotypical white male in a lab coat, similar to students and teachers in national studies (Barman, 1997; Moseley & Norris, 1999). Thus, they are likely to perpetuate such images through their own instruction, which can have profound consequences

Elementary Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching the Nature of Science: An examination of Teachers Who are Effective in Improving their Students' Views

This conference paper was presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research on Science Teaching in Baltimore, MD in April 2008.This study explored components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of three teachers who were found successful at improving elementary students' views of NOS. Assuming PCK for NOS to be similar to PCK for other science topics, we drew from the model of PCK developed by Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko (1999). Our efforts reflect a critical re-examination of data from a previous study, or what Heaton (1998) refers to as secondary analysis, and relied on the following data sources (1) field notes and transcripts from professional development sessions, (2) videos, lesson plans, and field notes from observations of teachers' classroom teaching of NOS (3) video stimulated-recall interviews conducted with teachers following classroom observations (4) videos and transcripts from teachers' presentations of their teaching experiences and professional conferences, (5) teachers' written contributions to professional publications, and (6) a focus-group session held with teachers at the conclusion of the project. We found teachers held strong intentions to teach NOS, used strategies modeled for them in workshops with their students, adapted their curricula to emphasize NOS, supported student discourse about NOS using “kidfriendly” language, and used a variety of instructional strategies. Though the teachers informally assessed NOS views, they were less effective in formally assessing students' understandings

TakeCARE, a Video to Promote Bystander Behavior on College Campuses: Replication and Extension

Previous research has demonstrated that college students who view TakeCARE, a video bystander program designed to encourage students to take action to prevent sexual and relationship violence (i.e., bystander behavior), display more bystander behavior relative to students who view a control video. The current study aimed to replicate and extend these findings by testing two different methods of administering TakeCARE and examining moderators of TakeCARE’s effects on bystander behavior. Students at four universities (n = 557) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) view TakeCARE in a monitored computer lab, (b) view TakeCARE at their own convenience after receiving an email link to the video, or (c) view a video about study skills (control group). Participants completed measures of bystander behavior at baseline and at a 1-month follow-up. Participants in both TakeCARE conditions reported more bystander behavior at follow-up assessments, compared with participants in the control condition. The beneficial effect of TakeCARE did not differ significantly across administration methods. However, the effects of TakeCARE on bystander behavior were moderated by students’ perceptions of campus responsiveness to sexual violence, with more potent effects when students perceived their institution as responsive to reports of sexual violence

Microbiological alterations in the conjunctiva of hot tub-soaking ophthalmologists (MACHO): a randomized double-blind clinical trial

Background: To determine if there is a difference in the quantity of microbial flora of the conjunctiva in individuals practicing head submersion (“dunkâ€) versus no head submersion (“no-dunkâ€) during hot tub use. Methods: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, healthy volunteers aged ≥ 18 years were recruited. Participants were randomized to head submersion versus no head submersion during a 15-minute hot tub soak. Study personnel, masked to the dunk or no-dunk group assignment, obtained conjunctival cultures before and immediately after hot tub use. De-identified specimens were submitted to the clinical microbiology laboratory for culture and analysis. The main outcome measure was the difference in the quantity of organisms cultured from the conjunctiva before and after hot tub exposure, as determined using a defined ordinal scale. A two-tailed Student’s t-test was performed to compare the total microbial colony counts between the two arms. Simpson’s diversity was used to measure the changes in organism diversity between the arms. Results: Of 36 enrolled subjects, 19 were randomly assigned to the dunk and 17 were assigned to the no-dunk groups. Water samples obtained from all hot tubs were culture negative. Eleven of 19 eyes (58%) from the dunk group and eight of 17 eyes (47%) from the no-dunk group had negative conjunctival bacterial cultures before and after hot tub exposure. However, six of 19 eyes (32%) and four of 17 eyes (24%) of the dunk and no-dunk groups, respectively, were culture-positive after, but not before hot tub exposure. The quantity of organisms before and after hot tub exposure was not significantly different between the two arms (P = 0.12). However, the dunk group only showed a small increase in the quantity of organisms after as compared to before hot tub use (P = 0.03). None of the samples from subjects or hot tubs were culture-positive for Acanthamoeba. Conclusion: Head submersion in a public hot tubs during a 15-minute soak does not appear to change conjunctival flora, as determined by culture plate yield

Preparing the Next Generation of Science Teacher Educators: A Model for Developing PCK for Teaching Science Teachers

DOI:10.1007/s10972-008-9115-6 http://www.springerlink.com/content/a1j4p781335r2548/fulltext.pdfScience education doctoral programs often fail to address a critical piece—the explicit attention to the preparation of future science teacher educators. In this article, we argue that, in addition to developing skills and a knowledge base for research, doctoral students must be given the opportunity to observe, practice, and reflect on the pedagogical knowledge necessary to instruct science teachers. In particular, we contend that the construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can be adapted to the context of knowledge for teaching science teachers. We use the PCK construct to propose a model for the development of knowledge for teaching science teachers, grounded in our experiences as doctoral students and faculty mentors. We end by recommending a vision for doctoral preparation and a new standard to be included in the ASTE Professional Knowledge Standards for Science Teacher Educators

Methods or Madness: Preparing the Next Generation of Elementary Science Teacher Educators

This conference paper was presented at the Association for Science Teacher Education in Clearwater, FL in January 2007. Contains graphs and policy guidelines.In recent surveys of doctoral students in all fields (Fagen & Niebur, 2000; Nyquist & Woodford, 2000), respondents shared concerns that an overemphasis on research led to inadequate preparation for teaching, curricular planning, collegiality, and service. In one study (Davis & Fiske, 1999), 50% of respondents felt they received inadequate preparation as teaching assistants, and 59% felt that faculty in their programs did not emphasize the importance of teaching. A 2001 survey (Golde & Dore) indicated that most current doctoral students are primarily interested in becoming faculty members, even though most will not begin their careers in the types of institutions where they received their doctoral training. We often use such evidence to criticize our colleagues in the sciences about the inadequacies of their doctoral programs in preparing the next generation of university science instructors. However, what happens when we look inward to examine doctoral programs in science education

Spectral Energy Distributions of Local Luminous And Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies

Luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs) are the most extreme star forming galaxies in the universe. The local (U)LIRGs provide a unique opportunity to study their multi-wavelength properties in detail for comparison to their more numerous counterparts at high redshifts. We present common large aperture photometry at radio through X-ray wavelengths, and spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for a sample of 53 nearby LIRGs and 11 ULIRGs spanning log (LIR/Lsun) = 11.14-12.57 from the flux-limited Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). The SEDs for all objects are similar in that they show a broad, thermal stellar peak and a dominant FIR thermal dust peak, where nuLnu(60um) / nuLnu(V) increases from ~2-30 with increasing LIR. When normalized at IRAS-60um, the largest range in the luminosity ratio, R(lambda)=log[nuLnu(lambda)/nuLnu(60um)] observed over the full sample is seen in the Hard X-rays (HX=2-10 keV). A small range is found in the Radio (1.4GHz), where the mean ratio is largest. Total infrared luminosities, LIR(8-1000um), dust temperatures, and dust masses were computed from fitting thermal dust emission modified blackbodies to the mid-infrared (MIR) through submillimeter SEDs. The new results reflect an overall ~0.02 dex lower luminosity than the original IRAS values. Total stellar masses were computed by fitting stellar population synthesis models to the observed near-infrared (NIR) through ultraviolet (UV) SEDs. Mean stellar masses are found to be log(M/Msun) = 10.79+/-0.40. Star formation rates have been determined from the infrared (SFR_IR~45Msun/yr) and from the monochromatic UV luminosities (SFR_UV~1.3Msun/yr), respectively. Multiwavelength AGN indicators have be used to select putative AGN: about 60% of the ULIRGs would have been classified as an AGN by at least one of the selection criteria.Comment: 39 pages, including 12 figures and 11 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

Age as the Second Parameter in NGC 288 / NGC 362? I. Turnoff Ages: a Purely Differential Comparison

We present deep V,I photometry of the globular clusters NGC 288, NGC 362 and NGC 1851 obtained during a single observational run under strictly homogeneous conditions. We use the bimodal horizontal branch (HB) of NGC 1851 as a ``bridge'' to obtain the optimum relative match between the HBs of NGC 288 and NGC 362. In this way we can effectively remove the uncertainties associated with distance, reddening and inhomogeneities in the absolute calibration, thus obtaining a very robust, purely differential estimate of the age difference between these two clusters. According to the bridge test, NGC 288 is found to be older than NGC 362 by 2 +- 1 Gyr. This result is fully confirmed also by all classical differential age diagnostics, either based on the luminosity or color of the main sequence turnoff point.Comment: Accepted by The Astronomical Journal - 30 pages, 6 tables, 14 figures, LaTeX, the emulateapj5.sty macro is used. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are provided in reduced resolution. Full resolution versions available upon request to the first author ([email protected]). Minor changes due to modifications in the companion paper (Pap II