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Graduate students in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, represent an important link in current reforms emphasizing inquiry-based learning and teaching, as they represent the future of the STEM professoriate. Although graduate students commonly hold teaching assistantships, they rarely receive training on how to teach (Prieto & Meyers, 1999) and even less frequently on inquiry-based teaching methods. Thus this study explored the factors that facilitate the development of inquiry-based teaching skills among 17 STEM graduate students. Graduate students who made gains in inquiry-based teaching skills across an academic year were more likely to regularly discuss their teaching with their mentors, graduate student peers, or practicing K-12 teachers. Graduate students who showed gains in inquiry-related teaching skills also emphasized the importance of having their students' develop their own research questions and engage in critical thinking when unexpected results arise during experimentation. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This study extends research on graduate student development by examining descriptive findings and validity of a self-report survey designed to capture graduate students' assessments of their teaching and research skills. Descriptive findings provide some information about areas of growth among graduate students' in the first years of their graduate studies. Validity is examined using a retrospective think-aloud method and by exploring the relationship between responses to the self-report survey and other measures of participants' teaching and research skills. Findings indicate that several factors contribute to graduate students' perceptions of their research and teaching skills such as their personal values and research and teaching practices. Additionally, participants' self-reported teaching and research skills were inconsistent with the perceptions of their students and researchers, respectively. These findings support previous research indicating that the interpretation of personal efficacy instruments may be problematic (Tshannen-Moran et al., 1998). Research and Teaching Skills Assessment is appended. (Contains 11 tables.)

Much of the science education community has advocated for a new vision of instruction emphasizing inquiry-based teaching (National Research Council, 1996). Unfortunately, as Anderson (2002) notes, many science teachers are not adopting inquiry-based teaching practices for a variety of reasons such as that teachers commonly favor text-book approaches to instruction. To facilitate the adoption of reformed teaching, Luehmann (2007) argues that teacher education must address the development of one's professional identity as a teacher. Unfortunately, little is known about the beliefs, values, experiences, and ways of acting and interacting that teachers in science and related fields use to form their professional teaching identity. Through repeated interviews with 18 graduate students who taught science and related disciplines, this study outlined generalizations defining the developmental trajectory of science educators' professional identity. In general, for less experienced teacher participants, one's own experiences as a student were particularly influential in learning how to teach, while for more experienced teacher participants, coursework, self-reflection, professional development experiences, and the review of professional journals were influential to skill development. Study results generally reflected the trajectory of teacher development (from teacher-centered concerns to student-centered concerns) put forth by Fuller and Bown (1975). More detailed findings indicated, however, that co-teaching experiences may have assisted teachers in moving from more teacher-centered concerns, including a focus on one's personality characteristics and ability to develop and implement engaging instructional activities, to more student-centered concerns, such as adjusting instruction to meet students' needs and facilitating student investigations. Therefore, in this study, participants' co-teaching experiences positively impacted their developing professional identities as inquiry-minded teachers. (Contains 8 tables and 4 footnotes.) [Paper published in: Proceedings of the NARST 2009 Annual Meeting.]

This study evaluated the benefits of item enhancements applied to science-inquiry items for incorporation into an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards for high school students. Six items were included in the cognitive lab sessions involving both students with and without disabilities. The enhancements (e.g., use of visuals, reading support) were intended to improve access to the items for students who had grade-level science content knowledge, but whose disability may impact their ability to answer the items in the original form. Students were asked to think aloud while answering items and answer follow-up questions about specific item-enhancement features. Achievement did not show much improvement but reported cognitive effort suggests reduction in perceived difficulty of enhanced items. (Contains 9 tables.)