Elementary preservice teachers' beliefs about the nature of science and the influence on classroom practice
Date
2001
Authors
Bright, Patricia Gayle
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study was designed to examine preservice elementary teachers' beliefs about the nature of science, elucidate changes in beliefs through a science methods course, and assess the impact of preservice teachers ' beliefs about the nature of science on their classroom practice. This study used a pre-test and post-test case study design to measure 50 elementary preservice teachers' beliefs about the nature of science prior to and after participation in an 18 week elementary science methods course and intervening teaching practicum. The design also employed qualitative methods of multiple classroom observations of a purposeful sample of six volunteer preservice teachers. During the classroom observations, an attempt was made to record the types of questions that the preservice teachers' asked, the responses the students gave to these questions, as well as handouts and assignments given by the preservice teacher. Further documentation of the study subjects' classroom practice included unit overviews, lesson plans, and assignments that were collected and analyzed to provide triangulation of the qualitative aspects of this design.
Significant gains were made between the pre-test and the post-test scores for the preservice teachers' beliefs on the creative, developmental, unified subscales, and the total score on the Nature of Science Knowledge Survey (Rubba & Andersen, 1978). The concepts of each of these three subscales had been explicitly addressed through a variety of instructional components associated with the subscales in the science methods class.
Results from the classroom observations indicated that the preservice teachers' beliefs about the nature of science were not clearly related to their classroom practice. Despite indications in their planning, the preservice teachers were unable to successfully implement the elements of a constructivist-based teaching approach ( engage, explore, consolidate, and assess) and productive questioning strategies in their science lessons during their initial six week practicum.