A phenomenological inquiry of five place-aware biology teachers was conducted to determine how teachers’ lived experiences in place influence their pedagogy, if at all. High school biology teachers from one public and private school in Victoria, British Columbia were recruited through volunteer sampling. Through in-depth interviews, journal writings and artefacts representative of lived experiences of place, teachers were invited to share their lived experience narratives of places of meaning and teaching experiences of place. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s embodiment phenomenology, a case-by-case thematic analysis was first conducted per informant, followed by analyses of commonalities across informants as appropriate. It was found that teachers shared similar experiences in different places of meaning: a sense of mystery that there is always something to be revealed, an experience of the vastness and complexity of places, a sense of care for nature as the Other and a feeling of fondness for places as shared through close family and community members. However, the degree and manner in which such experiences transferred into teachers’ pedagogies differed, as some teachers demonstrated a stronger intentionality of place-consciousness than others. The study highlights the humanness of teachers and the unique styles that individual teachers bring into their practices. I suggest that the complex and multidimensional notion of places as revealed through the study opens possibilities for holistic approaches in science education, with a focus on embodied, caring consciousness for the places that we inhabit. / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to explore pre-service science teachers&rsquo / (PST) argumentation in the context of inquiry-oriented laboratory work. Specifically, this study investigated the kinds of argumentation schemes PSTs use as they perform inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks, and how argumentation schemes generated by PSTs vary by tasks as well as by experimentation and critical discussion sessions. The participants in this study were 35 pre-service elementary teachers, who will teach middle school science from 6th through 8th grade students after graduation. In this study, participants were engaged in six inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks. The performance of laboratory tasks consisted of two stages. Through the experimentation stage, PSTs planned and developed their own hypotheses, carried out an experiment and collected data, and processed their data to verify their hypotheses. Through the critical discussion stage, one of the research groups presented their hypotheses, methods, and results orally to the other research groups. Each presentation was followed by a class discussion of weak and strong aspects of the experimentation. The data of this study were collected through video- and audio-recording. The data were the transcribed from video- and audio-recordings of the PSTs&rsquo / discourse during the performance of the laboratory tasks. For the analysis of PSTs&rsquo / discourse pre-determined argumentation schemes by Walton (1996) were employed. The results illustrated that PSTs applied varied premises rather than only observations or reliable sources, to ground their claims or to argue for a case or an action. The interpretation of the frequency data and the kind of the most frequent argumentation schemes can be seen as a positive indication that the inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks that were employed in this study are effective toward promoting presumptive reasoning discourse. Another result of this study, which is worthy of notice is the construction and evaluation of scientific knowledge claims that resulted in different number and kinds of arguments. Results of this study suggest the following implications for improving science education. First, designing inquiry-oriented laboratory environments, which are enriched with critical discussion, provides discourse opportunities that can support argumentation. Second, both the number of arguments and the use of various scientific argumentation schemes can be enhanced by specific task structures. Third, &ldquo / argumentation schemes for presumptive reasoning&rdquo / is a promising analysis framework to reveal the argumentation patterns in scientific settings. Last, pre-service teachers can be encouraged to support and promote argumentation in their future science classrooms if they engage in argumentation integrated instructional strategies.

This dissertation explores what cooperating secondary science teachers attend to during observations of pre-service teachers as they enact lessons in their classrooms and how they make sense of what they see. This study applies the teacher noticing framework, recently used in research with mathematics, to the secondary science context and uses it to describe teacher attention. The study also aims to determine if cooperating teachers use the act of noticing to engage in pedagogical reasoning and draw connections to their own teaching practice. As an interpretive qualitative study, the format for data collection and analysis utilized a case-study methodology with cross-case analysis, and used semi-structured interviews, lesson debriefs, collected artifacts, and classroom observations. Data on the four study participants was collected over the 2011-2012 school year. Findings support several conclusions. First, the cooperating science teachers in this study regularly engaged in reflection and pedagogical reasoning through the act of noticing. Second, the cooperating teachers made regular connections to their own practice in the form of vicarious suggestions, reflective questions, comparisons of practice, and perspective shifts. These connections fostered the emergence of "pivotal moments" or times when the cooperating science teacher self-identified a desire to change their current practice. Third, cooperating teachers used observations of pre-service teachers in their classrooms as a form of professional experimentation and built knowledge in practice through the experience. Lastly, the findings suggest that observations of pre-service teachers be added to the list of professional development activities, like video analysis and lesson study, that help teachers reflect on their own practice. For science teacher educators, this study demonstrates the importance of attending to field experiences as a learning opportunity for the science cooperating teacher. It provides a new way of looking at classroom observations as professional development opportunities and it recommends that teacher preparation programs reconceptualize the tasks they ask cooperating teachers to engage in. Suggestions include designing observation tools that direct teacher noticing toward student learning in science, viewing cooperating science teachers as learners, including metacognitive activities for cooperating science teachers, and reorienting lesson debriefs toward a notion of classroom inquiry. / text

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Student achievement is rooted in a teacher’s ability to identify and assess student understanding of material. This is particularly challenging in classroom settings, which are dynamic and full of distractions, especially in science classrooms where discussion and inquiry are paramount. In mathematics education, the concept of professional noticing of children’s thinking refers to a teacher attending to, interpreting, and responding to student content understanding throughout a class period (Jacobs, Lamb, & Philipp, 2010). This skill is equally important when teaching other content, such as science, and is a key component of responsive and reflective practice used by excellent educators as outlined by reform standards for science (National Research Council [NRC], 1996, 2012; NGSS Lead States, 2013). Before a teacher can adapt to student needs, they must first identify critical moments of student sense-making and interpret the student’s ideas. Only then can they respond effectively. This set of teaching skills can be learned, and then later improved upon with practice and reflection. Recent research suggests that preservice science teachers can learn the fundamentals of noticing skills during specialized courses (Barnhart & van Es, 2015) and are able to carry forward this learning into their teaching experiences as full-time teachers (Amador, Carter, Hudson, & Galindo, 2017). However, little is known about the role of different aspects of preservice teacher education program experiences in laying the foundation for life-long development of noticing skills. This study used a multiple case study design to explore the experiences of six preservice science teachers, as related to professional teacher noticing of student thinking about science, during the semester before their full-time student teaching experience. Based on a situated learning framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991), this study centered on the university- and field-based experiences associated with a middle and secondary teacher education program at a large, Mid-Atlantic, urban university. Participants were enrolled in a teacher residency program. Observations, semistructured interviews, and artifact analysis were used to identify opportunities for and experiences with learning professional teacher noticing of student thinking about science content throughout the first semester of this residency program. Analysis of data included the use of a combination of a priori codes about the degree of teacher noticing of student thinking about science (Barnhart & van Es, 2015) and emergent codes of contextual events relating to opportunities for preservice science teachers to notice student thinking during field experiences. Case studies were developed, and a cross-case analysis performed to identify themes and trends in the learning experiences and development of the participants around noticing practices. Broadly, I found that the most access residents have to noticing is in their field experiences, and that their opportunities to learn to notice may be primarily mediated by their mentors’ abilities to “unpack” their own practice, communicate effectively with the resident, and help residents hone in on the content goals of lessons. This study provides a unique examination of preservice science teacher learning opportunities at the interface of education coursework and field experiences. Assertions developed from this multiple case study analysis provide insight into which experiences have the most impact on the development of preservice teachers’ attention to student thinking. / Math & Science Education

O objetivo de investigaÃÃo à interpretar as compreensÃes teÃricas e prÃticas de licenciandos de CiÃncias BiolÃgicas e FÃsica, sobre os conhecimentos cientÃficos, pedagÃgicos e tecnolÃgicos digitais, bem como as integraÃÃes que estabelecem entre eles, segundo uma abordagem metodolÃgica transdisciplinar. Para tanto, efetivou-se uma pesquisa de campo, por meio da realizaÃÃo de aulas presenciais e a distÃncia, durante o semestre 2011.2. A pesquisa, de carÃter qualitativo, baseou-se no Estudo de Caso. Possui um pÃblico alvo de sete licenciandos em CiÃncias BiolÃgicas e FÃsica da Universidade Federal do CearÃ, cursando a disciplina InformÃtica Aplicada ao Ensino de CiÃncias, ofertada pelo Departamento de ComputaÃÃo. A pesquisa se subdivide em trÃs fases: planejamento, coleta e anÃlise de dados. Na primeira, adaptou-se a ementa da disciplina para a inserÃÃo de uma proposta metodolÃgica transdisciplinar. Na segunda, investigou-se a compreensÃo dos licenciandos sobre a integraÃÃo dos conhecimentos cientÃficos, pedagÃgicos e tecnolÃgicos digitais. As produÃÃes escritas dos sujeitos foram coletadas em cinco etapas: conhecimentos prÃvios; compreensÃo sobre o uso das TDIC no contexto do ensino e da aprendizagem de CiÃncias; compreensÃo sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem de CiÃncias; relaÃÃes estabelecidas entre os saberes a partir da construÃÃo de mapas conceituais; aplicaÃÃo dos conhecimentos adquiridos em planejamento de aula. Na terceira, os dados foram analisados com o uso das tÃcnicas da AnÃlise Textual Discursiva e da AnÃlise de Dados Multidimensionais utilizando-se o software de mapeamento de dados multidimensionais CHIC. Os instrumentos de coleta pautaram-se no uso de tecnologias digitais: questionÃrios disponibilizados no Google Docs, fÃruns de discussÃo do Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem TelEduc, desenvolvimento de mapas conceituais no software CmapTools e planos de aula compartilhados e armazenados em PortfÃlios do TelEduc. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que os licenciandos enfatizam os aspectos vinculados ao ensino mais do que aqueles relacionados à aprendizagem, fazendo ou nÃo uso das TDIC em propostas de prÃticas docentes. Os licenciandos estabeleceram integraÃÃes conceituais entre os conhecimentos cientÃficos, pedagÃgicos e tecnolÃgicos digitais. Mostraram reconhecer dificuldades de formaÃÃo acadÃmica. Manifestaram a necessidade de uma formaÃÃo que contemple as TDIC no contexto do ensino e da aprendizagem de CiÃncias. Como consequÃncia, foram apresentadas recomendaÃÃes de trabalho docente e mudanÃa curricular que possibilitem a integraÃÃo dos diferentes saberes necessÃrios à docÃncia. / The objective of this research is interpret the theoretical understandings and practices of undergraduates in Biological and Physical Sciences, concerning scientific, pedagogical and digital technological knowledge, as well as the integrations established among these, from a transdisciplinary methodological approach. A field research was carried out by conducting face to face and distance learning classes, during the semester 2011.2.The research, which has a qualitative approach, was based on Case Study. The target audience consists of seven pre-service teachers, undergraduates in Biological and Physical Sciences from the Federal University of CearÃ, offered by the Department of Computer Science. The research is divided into three phases: planning, data collection and analysis. In the first phase, we adapted the course syllabus to insert a transdisciplinary methodological approach. In the second one, it was investigated the pre-service teachersâ understanding of integrations among scientific, educational and digital technology knowledge. The written productions of the subjects were collected in five stages: prior knowledge; understanding of the use of TDIC in the context of Science teaching and learning; understanding of Science teaching and learning; relations established among the knowledge areas from the construction of concept maps; application of constructed knowledge in lesson planning. In the third phase, the collected data were analyzed through the techniques of the Textual Discourse Analysis and Multidimensional Data Analysis approach, using the software for multidimensional data mapping CHIC. The data collection tools made use of digital technologies: surveys were available on Google Docs, discussion boards were available on the Virtual Learning Environment TelEduc, concept maps were developed using the CMap Tools software and lesson plans were shared by the pre-service teachers and stored in the Portfolios area in TelEduc. The results revealed that pre-service teachers emphasized aspects related to teaching more than those related to learning, making use of TDIC or not in proposed teaching practices. The pre-service teachers established conceptual integrations among the scientific educational and digital technology knowledge. They revealed that they recognize the difficulties of academic education. They expressed the need for teaching education that incorporates the TDIC in the context of Science teaching and learning. As a consequence, proposals for teaching work and curriculum change that allow the integration of different types of knowledge needed for teaching were presented.

Both of the national reform efforts (AAAS, 1993; NRC, 1996) encouraged teachers to engage in professional development that included authentic scientific research experiences. The Department of Energy developed a program to match teachers with mentor scientists at national laboratories for three consecutive summers. Teachers produced and presented a poster summarizing their research at the conclusion of each summer. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to better understand how scientific research experiences impacted teachers. Six dimensions were examined: trajectory of participation, content knowledge development, mentor relationships, beliefs about the nature of science, teacher confidence, and classroom practice. These six dimensions were integrated into three research questions which guided the research: the teachers’ ability to increase their level of participation from the first to the last summer of research, the teachers’ changes in their understanding of the nature of science (NOS), and any changes in the teachers’ classroom teaching because of their involvement in the program. In-depth interviews were triangulated with teachers’ posters to provide insights into teachers’ legitimate peripheral participation in the research laboratory. The VNOS-C (Lederman et al., 2002) was administered pre/post to the teachers. Evidence of more informed, developing, and more naive understandings of each of the tenets of NOS was collected and compared to identify changes in teachers’ beliefs. Interviews and follow-up correspondence informed the study of changes in classroom teaching. The teachers became very familiar with their mentors’ research, increased their subject content knowledge, and contributed to their mentor’s work. Mentors utilized teachers’ expertise as communicators when presenting research and hosting other student groups. The teachers’ understanding of the NOS did not change as a result of their immersion in the culture of the laboratory. The lens through which the teachers viewed science influenced how they perceived and interpreted their research experiences. Teachers who held positivist views reinforced them, while the lone teacher who held post-positivist views reinforced their positions. The teachers developed confidence in their ability to facilitate classroom inquiry, increased the number of inquiry-based in their curriculum, introduced advanced placement and scientific research courses, and rejuvenated their enthusiasm for teaching.

The purpose of this study was to examine topic-specific nature of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Two experienced chemistry teachers&rsquo / PCK was examined in electrochemistry and radioactivity. To capture participants&rsquo / PCK, all PCK components were studied. To get deep and rich answers to research questions asked, qualitative methodology was used. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling. Data were gathered through card-sorting activity, Content Representation (CoRe), semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and field notes. Results revealed that participants had two types of PCK, namely, PCK A for teaching electrochemistry and PCK B for teaching radioactivity. PCK A included content-based and teacher-centered instruction, many links to other topics in chemistry and in physics. The assessment was coherent which included different types of assessment strategies used at the beginning, during, and at the end of teaching. In PCK B, it was less teacher-centered. The link to other topics was limited. Additionally, teachers used fragmented assessment and were less knowledgeable about learners&rsquo / difficulties and misconceptions in radioactivity than they were in electrochemistry. Differences between PCK A and B may be related to nature of the topics. Learners need to have much pre-requisite knowledge both from chemistry and physics to learn electrochemistry. Also, there are more concepts in electrochemistry than there are in radioactivity. It seems that when teachers have to focus on more concepts to teach, they may have a tendency to teach more-teacher centered to save time. Teacher education programs should focus on topic-specific nature of PCK and provide topic-specific training to teachers.

The purpose of this study was to examine topic-specific nature of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Two experienced chemistry teachers&rsquo / PCK was examined in electrochemistry and radioactivity. To capture participants&rsquo / PCK, all PCK components were studied. To get deep and rich answers to research questions asked, qualitative methodology was used. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling. Data were gathered through card-sorting activity, Content Representation (CoRe), semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and field notes. Results revealed that participants had two types of PCK, namely, PCK A for teaching electrochemistry and PCK B for teaching radioactivity. PCK A included content-based and teacher-centered instruction, many links to other topics in chemistry and in physics. The assessment was coherent which included different types of assessment strategies used at the beginning, during, and at the end of teaching. In PCK B, it was less teacher-centered. The link to other topics was limited. Additionally, teachers used fragmented assessment and were less knowledgeable about learners&rsquo / difficulties and misconceptions in radioactivity than they were in electrochemistry. Differences between PCK A and B may be related to nature of the topics. Learners need to have much pre-requisite knowledge both from chemistry and physics to learn electrochemistry. Also, there are more concepts in electrochemistry than there are in radioactivity. It seems that when teachers have to focus on more concepts to teach, they may have a tendency to teach more-teacher centered to save time. Teacher education programs should focus on topic-specific nature of PCK and provide topic-specific training to teachers.

The EEdnaS study “Development and testing of digitally enriched science-related subject matter teaching in digital teaching-learning labs and university classrooms” aims to promote the professional competencies of prospective teachers that are needed for teaching science content in a world shaped by digitalization. To achieve this goal, university teaching units (seminars) that directly address cognitive components of a teacher’s professional competencies, which are important to teaching science content in primary school education, were developed. In addition, prospective teachers were asked to plan, implement, and evaluate primary school science education with a particular focus on digitization, as well as sharing the developed units as open-educational resources. This article reports on the impact of the first part of the seminar concept, in which the promotion of digitization-related, subject-specific teaching methodology, as well as content-related knowledge (TPaCK) was systematically promoted. In a standardized survey, it could be shown that the prospective teachers demonstrated positive developments, particularly in the components PCK, TCK, TPK, as well as TPaCK, regarding the self-efficacy in cognitive characteristics about one’s own ability within the reference frame of self. Furthermore, the development of knowledge, especially in the areas of TK, PCK, TCK, and TPK, could also be determined, but not in relation to TPaCK itself.