Search

The current US science education reforms call for integrating engineering design in science instruction requires teachers to develop and teach engineering design-integrated science (EDIS) lessons. However, very few teachers have received training in engineering and how to integrate engineering design into science lessons. In response to this challenge, our teacher education program has been training secondary pre-service science teachers in engineering design and how to develop EDIS instructional materials. Thus, this study reports on the representation of science and engineering practices and engineering design skills in the EDIS instructional units developed by participant pre-service teachers, in aggregate and by science discipline and by different sections within the units. Results show that all science and engineering practices and design skills were included in the units. However, engineering practices and design skills were covered more than science practices in the EDIS instructional units. Pre-service teachers did not treat engineering design as an add-on or culminating activity. Instead, they planned the units to teach science through engineering design process, which was consistent to the model of our intervention, and the Next Generation Science Standards. We conclude that instruction on engineering design process and how to integrate it in science instruction through intensive professional development activities can enhance pre-service science teachers' abilities to develop EDIS instructional units, even for science subjects like life science.

This study explored pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding and performance on science process skills. A sample comprised 91 elementary pre-service teachers at a university in the Midwest of the USA. Participants were enrolled in two science education courses; introductory science teaching methods course and advanced science methods course. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Results showed that pre-service teachers had limited conceptual understanding of science process skills. On the other hand, they had higher performance on the science process skills. Whilst majority of the participants were unable to provide correct definitions of the science process skills, they performed well on the test that involved novel situations of the process skills. The findings have implications for science teaching, learning and teacher education. (Contains 8 tables.)

This study diagnosed the understanding about energy and biological-context energy concepts held by 90 first-year South African university biology students. In particular, students' explanations of energy in a biological context, how energy is involved in different biological situations and whether energy is present and what types of energy are involved in diagrams depicting biological phenomena were investigated. The pencil-and-paper diagnostic test, specifically designed for this study, was used to elicit students' understanding using test items involving biological phenomena. The results showed that many students had problems in understanding energy and energy-related concepts in the following areas: First, the majority of the students provided "definitions" of energy rather than the "explanations" they were asked to provide, and the definition could have been rote-learned. Second, although nearly all students knew the energy conservation principle (energy cannot be created or destroyed), many of them were unable to apply this concept to biological contexts. Third, many students erroneously claimed that the energy for metabolism and life processes is made available during photosynthesis in plants, during digestion in animals or that this energy comes "directly" from the sun. Fourth, about two thirds of the students erroneously indicated that there is no energy involved/present in inanimate objects such as a statue. The implications for the teaching and learning of energy and its related concepts and recommendations for further research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the new Zambian high school physics syllabus and practical examinations for levels of inquiry and inquiry skills. Several inquiry skills are explicitly emphasized in the introduction, aims, content objectives and assessment sections in the national high school physics syllabus. However, the syllabus is less explicit on levels of inquiry. The syllabus has no suggested inquiry activities and guidelines for inquiry-based teaching. As such, teachers are expected to create inquiry activities for their physics lessons to address the content and inquiry skills outlined in the syllabus. The experiments in the practical examinations were restricted to structured and confirmation/verification inquiry levels. The inquiry skills emphasized in the practical examinations were the same as those outlined in the physics syllabus. Implications for science teaching, learning, and curriculum design have been stated.

The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards require teachers to integrate engineering design into K-12 science teaching. However, many teachers have no formal preparation in engineering design and how to integrate it into science instruction. Furthermore, few models exist for preparing teachers in engineering design and how to integrate it into science teaching. Therefore, in this paper, we describe the model we have used for the past 8 years to prepare eighty-one (81) secondary pre-service science teachers in engineering design and how to integrate it into science instruction. We have also provided the outcomes and suggestions for implementing this model in science teacher education programs. We believe the model is transferable to other institutions and school districts that are involved in preparing teachers in engineering design integrated science teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing attention in science education reform documents to language and literacy, coupled with the growing linguistic diversity of United States classrooms, means that science teacher educators and researchers are facing an important task of preparing secondary science preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach a language‐ and literacy‐integrated form of science in linguistically diverse classrooms. Unfortunately, research in this field is in its nascency, and while some studies have addressed PSTs' instructional planning for and implementation of language‐ and literacy‐integrated science instruction, none have considered the unique contextual factors that inform PSTs' uptake of these reform‐oriented instructional practices, despite many studies suggesting student‐teaching contexts are a key factor in PSTs' instructional decisions. The purpose of this multiple case study was to consider the unique contextual factors that supported and constrained three PSTs' uptake of language‐ and literacy‐integrated science practices through a Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens. Findings indicated that PSTs' implementation of language‐ and literacy‐integrated science instruction was shaped by interactions among the mediating elements of their student teaching activity systems, including PSTs' division of labor with mentor teachers, the classroom and school norms, PSTs' perceptions of their classroom communities, and PSTs' past life experiences and resources. These findings highlight the roles that different elements of learning‐to‐teach contexts can play in PSTs' enactment of reform‐oriented instruction. Implications for science teacher education, instruction for emergent bilinguals, and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing numbers of English Learners (ELs) in United States science classrooms and recent science education reforms calling for language and literacy integrated science instruction, research is just beginning to address how to prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science to ELs. Using a framework highlighting key structural and task‐related components for preparing PSTs to teach science to ELs, we systematically examined interventions designed to prepare PSTs to teach in linguistically diverse science classrooms for variations in their structures and tasks for learning, and for outcomes. Results indicate that interventions for preparing PSTs to teach science to ELs ranged from parts of science methods courses to integrated programs spanning both science methods courses and field experiences. Most interventions addressed language and literacy integrated instruction, field experiences, skills for language‐integrated science instruction, and identification and use of students' funds of knowledge in the classroom. Integration of language and literacy into science methods instruction, cohesion across program components, instructor modeling of targeted instructional strategies, and opportunities to practice targeted instructional strategies in K‐12 classrooms were found to be common contributing factors to intervention success. However, the studies highlighted difficulties in PSTs' ability to transfer understanding to instruction and integrate students' funds of knowledge into instruction. Further, other parts of the framework, including asking PSTs to examine their beliefs about learners and science learning in linguistically diverse classrooms and development of PSTs' science content knowledge, were under‐studied. Implications for science teacher preparation, science teaching and learning, and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The currentK-12 Science Educationframework andNext Generation Science Standards(NGSS) in the United States emphasise the integration of engineering design in science instruction to promote scientific literacy and engineering design skills among students. As such, many engineering education programmes have developed curriculum materials that are being used in K-12 settings. However, little is known about the nature and extent to which engineering design skills outlined in NGSS are addressed in these K-12 engineering education programme curriculum materials. We analysed nine K-12 engineering education programmes for the nature and extent of engineering design skills coverage. Results show that developing possible solutions and actual designing of prototypes were the highly covered engineering design skills; specification of clear goals, criteria, and constraints received medium coverage; defining and identifying an engineering problem; optimising the design solution; and demonstrating how a prototype works, and making iterations to improve designs were lowly covered. These trends were similar across grade levels and across discipline-specific curriculum materials. These results have implications on engineering design-integrated science teaching and learning in K-12 settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed at elucidating the current state of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in Zambia's high school science curriculum. Therefore, we investigated Zambian teachers' conceptions of inquiry; determined inquiry levels in the national high school science curriculum materials, which include syllabi, textbooks and practical exams; and determined the extent to which inquiry tasks and skills are emphasized in the science curriculum materials. Based on the results, we have proposed ways in which IBSE in Zambia can be improved, particularly in teacher preparation curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. The major results emerging from this study were that teachers' have a narrow conception of inquiry; there is a discrepancy in the coverage of inquiry levels in syllabi, textbooks and practical exams; and there is much emphasis on lower inquiry tasks and skills in textbooks and exams. These findings laid a basis for our proposed plan for improved inquiry-based science education in Zambia, as discussed herein. It is anticipated the proposed plan on IBSE will prove useful to Zambian science teachers, teacher educators, professional development providers and curriculum developers in resituating Zambian's science curriculum to be in line with current IBSE models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science education teacher programs are not providing pre-service science teachers with the type of training needed to effectively teach students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Consequently, pre-service science teachers report that they feel unprepared for teaching science to such students. Described are the goals and philosophies of science education and special education, as well as how collaborative efforts between the two fields could serve as a means to enhance the strategies and techniques that pre-service science teachers could use as they teach in heterogeneous classrooms. The guidelines in this model have been developed by synthesizing relevant studies on integrating special education into general teacher education programs. Science teacher educators must willingly instill the awareness that teaching students with learning disabilities in regular science classroom contexts is inevitable, and that simply ignoring or under representing the issue in teacher training only serves to mislead future science teachers to the possibility of conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored a cohort of the National Science Foundation (NSF) GK-12 Teaching Fellows' instructional planning for K-12 classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]