scholarly journals Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Views of the Nature of STEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-366
Author(s):  
Chatree Faikhamta ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Service Science ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Impact

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education plays an important role in teaching and learning for the 21st century. Science teacher education is making great efforts to prepare STEM teachers for modern classroom practice and enable them to adapt their STEM knowledge and practices to the needs of students’ contexts. However, before developing STEM teaching practices, it is important for pre-service teachers to understand the “nature of STEM” (NOSTEM). This study explored pre-service teachers’ views of the NOSTEM from both individual and integrative perspectives. The sample consisted of 428 Thai pre-service science teachers who were enrolled in science teacher-education programs. A NOSTEM questionnaire comprising Likert-type items and open-ended questions was used as a research tool. The findings indicated that pre-service teachers had inadequate understandings of NOSTEM definitions, epistemological perspectives, and the impact of culture and society on each STEM discipline. Each STEM discipline has its own characteristics, but the disciplines are similar in terms of their usefulness, processes, and required knowledge. In terms of the integration of STEM, technology uses the application of science, mathematical knowledge, and engineering processes to create tools and utensils. This paper discusses the implications of this study for science teacher-education programs and developing STEM teachers.

From salvation to inquiry: Preservice teachers’ conceptions of race

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-384
Author(s):  
Lucinda Grace Heimer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Future Teacher ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
The Impact

Race is a marker hiding more complex narratives. Children identify the social cues that continue to segregate based on race, yet too often teachers fail to provide support for making sense of these worlds. Current critical scholarship highlights the importance of addressing issues of race, culture, and social justice with future teachers. The timing of this work is urgent as health, social and civil unrest due to systemic racism in the U.S. raise critiques and also open possibilities to reimagine early childhood education. Classroom teachers feel pressure to standardize pedagogy and outcomes yet meet myriad student needs and talents in complex settings. This study builds on the current literature as it uses one case study to explore institutional messages and student perceptions in a future teacher education program that centers race, culture, identity, and social justice. Teaching as a caring profession is explored to illuminate the impact authentic, aesthetic, and rhetorical care may have in classrooms. Using key tenets of Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool enhanced the case study process by focusing the inquiry on identity within a racist society. Four themes are highlighted related to institutional values, rigorous coursework, white privilege, and connecting individual racial and cultural understanding with classroom practice. With consideration of ethical relationality, teacher education programs begin to address the impact of racist histories. This work calls for individualized critical inquiry regarding future teacher understanding of “self” in new contexts as well as an investigation of how teacher education programs fit into larger institutional philosophies.

Peer Assessment for Development of Preservice Teachers

2011 ◽  
pp. 263-280
Author(s):  
Lorraine Gilpin ◽  
Yasar Bodur ◽  
Kathleen Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Peer Observation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
The Impact

Peer assessment holds tremendous potential to positively impact the development of preservice teachers. The purpose of this chapter is to describe our findings on the impact of different forms of peer observation and feedback on preservice teachers’ skills in analyzing classroom teaching and their perceptions of their experience with peer assessment. In addition to reporting our findings, we draw from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning literature to present peer assessment as a medium to overcome structured isolation that is present in the practice of teaching. According to our study, peer observation and feedback is beneficial to preservice teachers’ learning. However, to maximize its effectiveness, a culture of peer assessment should be established in teacher education programs.

scholarly journals Building Community in Triads Involved in Science Teacher Education: An Innovative Professional Development Model

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Service Science ◽  
The Impact

This article describes a pre-service and in-service science teacher joint professional development pilot project. It is intended to strengthen the community and facilitate professional growth for triad members involved in the professional development of pre-service science teachers. Through a summer workshop and follow-up monthly meetings, this project connected the clinical experiences of the pre-service teachers with the joint professional development of both the pre- and in-service teachers. A mixed-methods research design was used to investigate the impact of this project. Results indicated that this model was successful in aligning with characteristics of effective professional development derived from national standards documents and professional development literature. Additionally, through engaging pre- and in-service teachers in the co-creation of modules, which were subsequently enacted in classrooms, collaborative positioning occurred whereby the pre- and in-service teachers were found more equally sharing and co-negotiating responsibilities in the classroom. This article describes the need for this project and provides an in-depth description of each component of the project enacted, as well as additional findings supportive of its effectiveness.

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