Teaching the Nature of Science Through Inquiry: The Results of a Three-year Professional Development Program

This conference paper was presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research on Science Teaching in Dallas, TX in April 2005.This study assessed the components of a three year professional development program on participants' views nature of science (NOS), instructional practice to promote students' appropriate NOS views, and the influence of participants' instruction on elementary student NOS views. Using the VNOS-B and associated interviews the researchers tracked the changes in NOS views of teacher participants throughout the professional development program. The teachers participated in an explicit-reflective activities, embedded in a program that emphasized scientific inquiry, along with training in pedagogy, to help them improve their own elementary students' views of NOS. Elementary students were interviewed using a modified VNOS-B to track changes in their NOS views, using classroom observations to note teacher influences on student ideas. Analysis of the VNOS-B and modified VNOS-B showed that teachers and most grades of elementary students improved their views of NOS. The teachers also improved in their science pedagogy, as evidenced by analysis of their teaching. Implications for teacher professional development programs are made

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

Developing an Online/Onsite Community of Practice to Support K-8 Teachers’ Improvement in Nature of Science Conceptions

Publisher's, offprint versionResearch shows that teachers do not have adequate conceptions of science as inquiry and must be exposed to both content and pedagogical demands of inquiry to effectively teach using inquiry (Anderson, 2002). These results are especially unfortunate for the teacher and the learner because understanding of science as inquiry is reciprocally related to understanding important aspects of the nature of science (NOS) (Akerson, et al., 2008). This problem is coupled with the need to teach NOS and inquiry throughout all elementary grades (NSTA, 2000). Most elementary teacher preparation programs do not include specific courses on NOS or inquiry, and what teachers learn is usually embedded in a science methods course (Backus & Thompson, 2006). Certainly teachers can conceptualize and teach NOS once they understand it, are convinced of its importance, and have strategies to teach it to their own students. Professional development programs can help teachers attain these goals. We have found communities of practice (CoP) (Wenger, 1998) especially useful when working with inservice teachers in terms of helping them conceptualize and to teach NOS when used in an on-site professional development program (Akerson et al, 2009; Wenger, 2002). The CoP enabled the teachers to be committed to a vision of reform in their teaching, and to share ideas and provide peer feedback. To develop a COP there must be mutual engagement around a shared theme in which participants are engaged with colleagues, and share and respond to ideas in the context of the theme (in our case, NOS). In addition, a CoP should have a shared mission (joint enterprise) in which the community works toward a common purpose (for us, improving science teaching). Also, a CoP must include a shared repertoire of ideas, techniques, practices, terminology, as a needed outcome for the CoP and its participants (for us, shared strategies for NOS instruction) (Kerwald, 2008; Wenger, 1998; Wenger, 2006)

Disentangling the meaning of STEM: implications for science education and science teacher education

We have a wide variety of teaching experiences, from formal settings in elementary school, high school, higher education, and teacher education to international settings and also to informal settings. Despite our multiple teaching settings and experiences, and the fact that all of us have been responsible for teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in one fashion or another, none of us could really define any characteristics of STEM that would indicate it was a separate discipline. If we were supposed to teach STEM, then there should be some indication of what STEM would actually be. Although all but one of us are science educators, none of us has ever taken an engineering course, though we are familiar with the engineering standards in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). We did a bit of research and found that Bybee (2013) suggested that the meaning of STEM is ambiguous and could even be considered political. It could be seen as a buzzword to gain attention and funding. Instead of stating that their work is in STEM education, researchers could share their STEM project, which could gain attention and possibly more funding as it connects to the newest buzzword. Is STEM (or any of its variations) more than a buzzword? How can we include all of the components of STEM in education in an integrated and meaningful fashion, and how can we help prepare teachers to do so? We decided to do a bit more research. We focused on describing and defining the natures of the disciplines that make up STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and then attempted to combine these characteristics to define the nature of STEM (Peters-Burton, 2014). To provide ourselves with some background knowledge, we broke off into pairs or worked individually and conducted research on the natures of the individual disciplines. Of course, if we had had a team that had included math educators and engineering educators we would have asked them to take the lead on the natures of mathematics and engineering. So first, we briefly describe the natures of these individual disciplines, from our perspectives as (mostly) science educators from Indiana University. Though we are an international group, with half of us being from outside of the United States, we take a U.S. perspective simply because we are all currently at Indiana University. We are speaking from our context at Indiana University and acknowledge that reactions and work in conceptualizing STEM may be different in other settings

Using children's literature in the middle school science class to teach nature of science preservice teachers' development of sources

In this study, we report the results of the content analysis of preservice middle school science teachers' own written science storybooks and middle school female students' reflections of five of the books. The participants of this study were 50 preservice middle school science teachers taking a history and nature of science course and 13 sixth-grade female students in a school in Turkey. We report representations of nature of science (NOS) aspects included in the preservice teachers' own written storybooks. Observation and inference was the most commonly included aspect among the NOS aspects, followed by the tentative NOS. We used a qualitative analysis of transcribed classroom discussions around five storybooks used by five preservice teachers in their field experiences. We found that the teachers facilitated explicit reflections about NOS aspects and science content covered in the books. Our findings build on research showing that appropriately designed children's science books can be used as classroom tools for supporting NOS instruction. We found that writing their storybooks and refining their NOS ideas through discussions provides a powerful tool for developing preservice teachers' knowledge about NOS. Preservice teachers facilitated discussions promoting explicit student reflections about NOS aspects and science content using these books

The Elementary Science Teacher as Researcher

It can reasonably be argued that the primary role of elementary teachers is to prepare their students to be literate adults, and thus many are literacy specialists. Often these teachers lack confidence in science and avoid it because it is not their specialty. Most elementary teachers have never conducted a scientific inquiry, yet they are being asked to teach science as inquiry. Though an action research project is not the same as a scientific inquiry, it can still provide an experience similar to scientific inquiry for teachers. Therefore, an appropriate strategy for fulfilling both a need to engage in inquiry and a need for professional development in science teaching would be to prepare teachers to use action or teacher research in their teaching practice. This paper describes the action research projects completed as part of a Masters in Teaching two-year program. The projects focus on investigating a specific teaching strategy or approach. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/MVL

Third Graders' Identities as "Persons Who Understand Nature of Science" through an Electricity Unit

The purpose of this study is to explore third grade elementary students' Nature of Science (NOS) identities as a result of participating in a unit on electricity. The study took place in the context of a diverse third grade "at risk" (as identified by state regulations) classroom. Videotapes were made of all aspects of the electricity lessons, including pre-lesson class discussions, activities engaged in by students, and follow-up class discussions at the conclusion of each lesson. Findings revealed that third graders began to develop identities of persons who conceptualize NOS. Even though through one unit they did not address all aspects of NOS, they showed great development in their identities for young third grade students

The influence of guided inquiry and explicit instruction on K-6 teachers\u27 views of nature of science

This study assessed the influence of guided inquiry and explicit reflective instruction on K-6 teachers\u27 views of nature of science (NOS). Using the Views of Nature of Science Elementary School Version 2 (VNOS-D2), and associated interviews we tracked the changes in NOS views of teacher participants prior to and following a summer professional development program. The teachers participated in guided inquiry to improve physics knowledge, and explicit-reflective NOS activities to improve their views of NOS. Videotaped records of the workshop ensured that explicit reflective NOS instruction took place in conjunction with physics inquiry instruction. Analysis indicated that teachers improved their NOS views by the conclusion of the institute Implications for providing professional development combining inquiry and NOS instruction are made. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc

Teaching Nature of Science through children's literature: an early childhood preservice teacher study

This study incorporated Nature of Science (NOS) within children's literature in a science methods course to aid preservice early childhood teachers in improving their NOS understandings and abilities to transfer NOS into formats accessible to early childhood students. Through a qualitative research design, researchers collected data including pre and post VNOS-B responses, lesson plans, lesson reflections, and copies of NOS children's books developed by preservice early childhood teachers. The instructor modelled use of children's literature, debriefing of inquiry lessons, and reflection to teach young children about NOS. Results showed that preservice teachers not only refined their conceptions of NOS, but were able to conceptualise ways to teach NOS to young children. They were able to plan, deliver, and reflect upon their teaching, and design a children's picture book to teach about NOS. The researchers found nearly all of the preservice teachers portrayed NOS aspects accurately through their stories, and the stories could introduce these NOS ideas to early childhood students. The preservice early childhood teachers refined their own understandings of NOS through the assignment. Incorporating children's literature and reflective writing seems a powerful tool for teaching about NOS to early childhood teachers, and to portray NOS to early childhood students

Experienced Teachers\u27 Strategies for Assessing Nature of Science Conceptions in the Elementary Classroom

This study explored the nature of science (NOS) assessments K-4 classroom teachers developed for measuring students\u27 understandings of NOS elements. We used the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire-Form VNOS-D2 (Views of Nature of Science Elementary School Version 2) and interviews to verify that teachers\u27 conceptions of NOS were sufficient to enable them to teach and assess NOS. We collected copies of teachers\u27 action research designs, lesson plans, and assessment tools, conducted classroom observations and made field notes of their science instruction and assessments. We videotaped conversations at monthly workshops to note discussion surrounding teaching and assessing NOS in K-4 classrooms. We found that experienced teachers designed a variety of strategies for assessing NOS conceptions that differed by grade level. © 2010 The Association for Science Teacher Education, USA