Changing Teacher Behavior Through Staff Development: Implementing the Teaching and Content Standards in Science

For the last five years, the Center for Precollege Programs of the New Jersey Institute of Technology has operated the Urban Elementary Outreach Program, a staff development program intended to bring improved math and science education to the elementary schools of Newark, New Jersey. Teachers in urban settings have been hampered in their efforts to provide enriching, student-centered and constructivist science and math teaching ( Huinker, 1996 ). The Outreach Program has attempted to provide teachers with sustained support through training and direct classroom assistance in an effort to develop a sense of self-efficacy ( Bandura, 1982 ) in relation to desired teaching and student behaviors that are part of a standards-based learning experience. Traditional training approaches for teachers are supplemented by weekly classroom visits by graduate assistants, who both model standards-based science teaching and assist the teacher in assuming effective instructional methods. The combination of workshops, orientations, newsletters, and weekly classroom visits make up a staff development program of two years in duration for teacher participants. Through this intensive program, we intend to change teaching behaviors in the many complex ways identified in the National Science Education Standards.     

Teachers Describe Epistemologies of Science Instruction Through Q Methodology

Creating scientifically literate students is a common goal among educational stakeholders. An understanding of nature of science is an important component of scientific literacy in K‐12 science education. Q methodology was used to investigate the opinions of preservice and in‐service teachers on how they intend to teach or currently teach science. Q methodology is a measurement tool designed to capture personal beliefs. Participants included 40 preservice and in‐service elementary and secondary science teachers who sorted 40 self‐referential statements regarding science instruction. The results identified three epistemologies toward teaching science: A Changing World, My Beliefs, and Tried and True. Participants with the A Changing World epistemology believe evidence is reliable, scientific knowledge is generated in multiple ways, and science changes in light of new evidence. The My Beliefs epistemology reflects that scientific knowledge is subject to change due to embedded bias, science is affected by culture and religion, and evolution should not be taught in the classroom. The Tried and True epistemology views a scientific method as an exact method to prove science, believes experiments are crucial for scientific discoveries, absolute truth exists in scientific knowledge, and society and cultural factors can be eliminated from investigations. Implications for preservice teacher education programs and in‐service teacher professional development are addressed.     

Prospective Elementary Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching Science as Argument: A Case Study

The National Research Council emphasizes the centrality of discourse and practices associated with constructing, evaluating, and using scientific explanations. These expectations increase already daunting challenges for those who teach science at the elementary school level. This study followed a multiparticipant case study approach examining prospective elementary teachers' self‐reports of teaching science as argument. Findings yield that the presence of opportunities for physical experimentation with firsthand data during science instruction helped participants increase their emphasis on evidence‐based explanations. Participants also viewed science talks as essential and fundamental for engaging students in evidence‐based explanations. Finally, participants demonstrated attention to scientific subject matter. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for teacher education.     

Bridging Engineering and Science Teaching: A Collaborative Effort to Design Instruction for College Students

Reformers seeking to increase student understanding and interest are looking to collaborative partnerships to support improved science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching. At the college level, partnerships across colleges are encouraged by reformers in order to provide all students with strong content understanding, model recommended practices for future teachers, and increase participation by underrepresented groups in STEM careers. Collaborative curriculum development, however, is not a trivial undertaking and success is not guaranteed. A better understanding of how partners with different backgrounds interact and what types of instructional changes can be expected from initial attempts will facilitate this potentially powerful approach to instructional change. In this project, 2 engineers and 2 science educators worked jointly to develop a design‐based core engineering course to meet the needs and interests of future engineers and science educators. Interaction among planners and development progress were documented by written meeting records and reflections, emails, and records of planning stages and products. Analysis characterized interactions between engineers and educators and the resulting instructional changes. In spite of a strong interest in partners' topics and mutual goals, specialized language and professional cultural differences presented obstacles to understanding and development progress. Also described are the types of instructional changes reasonable to expect in initial development efforts.     

Next Generation Science Standards: A National Mixed‐Methods Study on Teacher Readiness

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practices are ways of eliciting the reasoning and applying foundational ideas in science. As research has revealed barriers to states and schools adopting the NGSS, this mixed‐methods study attempts to identify characteristics of professional development (PD) that will support NGSS adoption and to improve teacher readiness. In‐service science teachers from across the nation were targeted for the survey and responses represented 38 states. Research questions included: How motivated and prepared are in‐service 7–12 teachers to use NGSS science and engineering practices? What is the profile of 7–12 in‐service teachers who are motivated and feel prepared to use NGSS science and engineering practices? The study revealed that teachers identified engineering most frequently as a PD need to improve their NGSS readiness. High school teachers rated themselves as more prepared than middle school and all teachers who use Modeling Instruction expressed higher NGSS readiness. These findings and their specificity contribute to current knowledge, and can be utilized by districts in selecting PD to support teachers in preparing to implement the NGSS successfully.     

数学文化融入《复变函数与积分变换》的教学案例研究与设计

从数学文化视角对《复变函数与积分变换》课程进行了"数学史"、"数学思想方法"、"数学思维方法"、"数学家的相关故事"、"数学美"及"用数学知识解决实际问题"的教学案例的研究与设计,并将教学案例融入该课程的实践教学中,使教学过程关注的不仅仅是数学知识,而是包括数学知识在内的整个数学文化,让学生学习知识的同时受到数学文化的熏陶,最终目标是培养大学生具有深厚底蕴的数学文化综合素养.     

Blended Science: The Rewards and Challenges of Integrating the Science Disciplines for Instruction

This paper provides an overview of blended science instruction, a term used to represent instructional plans by which the science disciplines are connected to each other and occasionally to other school subjects. The central rationales for such instruction, the historical development of blended instructional plans, and a review of the current proponents and forms of such instruction are provided. The primary varieties of blended instruction, including integrated, unified, and coordinated science, are compared and contrasted. Special attention is given to the major recommendations in support of blended science coming from philosophical, psychological, pedagogical, and pragmatic domains. The conclusions section includes some of the challenges facing those who plan an integrated teaching focus.