Identity development in career-changing beginning teachers : a qualitative study of professional scientists becoming school teachers

This qualitative study provides a critical case to analyse the identity development of professionals who already have a strong sense of identity as scientists and have decided to relinquish their professional careers to become teachers. The study followed a group of professionals who undertook a one-year teacher education course and were assigned to secondary and middle-years schools on graduation. Their experiences were examined through the lens of self-determination theory, which posits that autonomy, confidence and relationships are important in achieving job satisfaction. The findings indicated that those teachers who were able to achieve this sense of autonomy and confidence, and had established strong relationships with colleagues generated a positive professional identity as a teacher. The failure to establish supportive relationships was a decisive event that challenged their capacity to develop a strong sense of identity as a teacher

Use of On-Line Resources by Teachers Of Science: An Analysis of Socci Market Research Project Data

This study reports on the findings of the Schools On-line Curriculum Content Initiative (SOCCI) market research project conducted in 2001 concerning the use of on-line technology by science teachers. Specifically the study sought to define the patterns of usage, teaching and learning strategies, and conditions that favoured or inhibited the use of on-line technology. Qualitative data were drawn from classroom observations and interviews with nominated teachers and quantitative data derived from an on-line survey. Several key findings will be discussed. First, although science teachers tend to use on-line resources to develop their own dedicated teaching materials, the more enthusiastic teachers are spending considerable time preparing resources but may have reached a saturation point where the outcomes were not worth the effort. Lack of support and contextual factors within schools are significant impediments. Second, there is clear indication that students in science are using on-line technology mostly for research and information retrieval. Most science teachers in secondary schools seem to have easy access to computers and are tending to use them in science teaching spaces. Third, common software, especially word processors, is being used to support both teachers’ professional work and student learning. Fourth, teachers’ assessment of the current state of computers, their access, quantity and quality seemed to be favourable. The paper will discuss these findings and the related range of issues and conditions that support or inhibit the use of on-line facilities

From Kansas to Queensland: Global learning in preservice elementary teacher education

Communication of information between groups of humans has been extended through out history progressing from smoke signals, drum beats, message couriers, post, telegraph, telephone and now the ICT. The time between the utterance of a message and the reception of that message has progressively decreased. We are now able to communicate relatively cheaply, simultaneously sharing and responding to ideas and thoughts on a scale never previously possible. Although the technology exists to make possible easy access to people in all parts of the world, we still lack understandings of the aspirations and sensitivities of other cultures with whom we can communicate. This project supported pre-service elementary teachers in two countries – Australia and the United States – to engage in collaborative learning through Internet communications. The purpose of the project was to develop greater understanding of other’s cultures, and practices in teaching elementary students. Students attending an Australian preservice primary science methods course were matched with a cohort of undergraduate preservice elementary student teachers from a university in the United States studying an integrated mathematics science methods course. Over a six-week period the students engaged in the computer-mediated communication and were encouraged to learn about mutual cultural practices and primary/elementary science education in both countries. The outcomes demonstrated that students involved in the project benefited from an array of different and enriching learning experiences. Students benefited through enhanced understanding of the teaching of science and an appreciation of the common problems confronting science education in both countries. However, there was little engagement in debate or discussion of individual differences and the cultural context of each other’s country even when opportunities presented themselves. Nevertheless, the on-line tasks provided the pre-service teachers with the experience and confidence to engage their own students in similar global learning initiatives when they become teachers

From Scientist to Science Teacher: A Career Change Teacher in Transition

One method of addressing the shortage of science and mathematics teachers is to train scientists and other science-related professionals to become teachers. Advocates argue that these career changers as discipline experts can relate the subject matter knowledge to various contexts and applications. In this paper, through interviews with a former scientist and her students, we examine how one career changer used her expertise in microbiology to teach microscopy. These interviews provided the basis for a description of the teacher’s instruction which was then analysed for components of domain knowledge for teaching. Consistent with the literature, the findings revealed that this career changer needed to develop her pedagogical knowledge. However, an interesting finding was that the teacher’s subject matter as a science teacher differed substantively from her knowledge as a scientist. This finding challenges the assumption that subject matter is transferable across professions and provides insight into how to better support career changers to transition from scientist to science teacher

On board sampling of the rockfish and lingcod commerical passenger fishing vessel industry in northern and central California, May 1987 to December 1991

From May 1987 to June 1990 and from August to December 1991 Fishery Technicians sampled catches on board 690 Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel (CPFV) trips targeting rockfish and lingcod from the general port areas of Fort Bragg, Bodega Bay, San Francisco, Monterey, and Morro Bay. Data are presented for species composition by port area, year, and month, for catch-per-unit-effort, mean length, and length frequency of lingcod and the 18 most frequently observed rockfish species, and for trends in fishing effort related to fishing time, depth, and distance from port. Total catch estimates are presented based on unadjusted logbook records, logbook records adjusted by sampling data and compliance rates, and effort data from a marine recreational fishing statistics survey. Average catch of kept fish per angler day was 11.8 and average catch of kept fish per angler hour was 3.7. A trend of an increasing frequency of trips to deep (>40 fm) locations was observed in the Bodega Bay, San Francisco, and Monterey areas from 1988 to 1990-91. No trend was evident relative to trip frequency and distance from port. A total of 74 species was observed caught during the study. Rockfishes comprised 88.5% to 97.9% by number of the observed catch by port area. The five most frequently observed species were chilipepper, blue, yellowtail, and widow rockfishes, and bocaccio, with lingcod ranking seventh. In general, mean length and catch-per-angler-hour of sport fishes caught by CPFV anglers varied considerably and did not show steady declines during the study period. However, port-specific areas of major concern were identified for chilipepper, lingcod, and black rockfish, and to a lesser extent brown, canary, vermilion, yelloweye, olive, and widow rockfish. These areas of concern included steadily declining catch rate, steadily declining mean length, and a high percentage of sexually immature fish in the sampled-catch. Recent sampling of the commercial hook-and-line fishery in northern and central California indicated that most species of rockfishes taken by CPFV anglers are also harvested commercially. (261pp.

The Effects of Low and High Gravity on Neurospora Crassa

We studied the effects of different gravity levels on Neurospora crassa and its morphology. This research was conducted by simulating low and high gravity effects in different operating procedures. For the low gravity simulation, the experiment was conducted by using a clinostat to constantly disorient the samples at a very slow rate. For the high gravity simulation, N. crassa was subjected to different amounts of g forces by placing the samples in a centrifuge and subjected the samples to increasing amounts of revolutions per minute. The results of these experiments conclude that in low-gravity situations, the N. crassa showed sparse growth and some cytoplasmic failure. In the high gravity situations, the samples showed that at around 1,000 to 2,000 RPMs, there were no changes in the morphology, but at higher RPMs like 3,000 or 4,000, there were some signs of cytoplasmic failure but no noticeable changes to morphology

Accelerated Thermokarst Formation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Thermokarst is a land surface lowered and disrupted by melting ground ice. Thermokarst is a major driver of landscape change in the Arctic, but has been considered to be a minor process in Antarctica. Here, we use ground-based and airborne LiDAR coupled with timelapse imaging and meteorological data to show that 1) thermokarst formation has accelerated in Garwood Valley, Antarctica; 2) the rate of thermokarst erosion is presently,10 times the average Holocene rate; and 3) the increased rate of thermokarst formation is driven most strongly by increasing insolation and sediment/albedo feedbacks. This suggests that sediment enhancement of insolation-driven melting may act similarly to expected increases in Antarctic air temperature (presently occurring along the Antarctic Peninsula), and may serve as a leading indicator of imminent landscape change in Antarctica that will generate thermokarst landforms similar to those in Arctic periglacial terrains