Turkish Preservice Primary School Teachers' Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs and Attitudes Toward Science: The Effect of a Primary Teacher Education Program

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a primary teacher education program in improving science teaching efficacy beliefs (personal science teaching efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancy beliefs) of preservice primary school teachers. The study also investigated whether the program has an effect on student teachers' attitudes toward science. Data were collected by administering the “Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument” and “Attitudes toward Science Scale” to 282 preservice primary teachers (147 freshmen, 135 seniors). Statistical techniques such as means and t‐test were used to analyze the data. Results of the study showed that the primary teacher education program has a medium positive effect on science teaching efficacy beliefs of the primary preservice teachers (t = 4.791, p = .000) and that there were no gender differences in terms of efficacy beliefs. Results also indicated that preservice primary teachers' attitudes toward science were moderately positive and differ by class level. Fourth‐year preservice teachers' attitudes toward science were found to be significantly more positive than the first years (t = 5.494, p = .000). There were no gender differences in attitudes toward science.     

Further Development and Validation of the Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) Instrument

The purpose of this study was to further develop and validate the Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) Instrument, an instrument designed to measure the self‐efficacy beliefs of preservice teachers in regards to the teaching of science as inquiry. Based on the validation processes and the associated data analysis, the TSI demonstrates continued content and construct validity with high internal reliability when used with prospective elementary science teachers.     

Science Talk: Preservice Teachers Facilitating Science Learning in Diverse Afterschool Environments

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact a community‐based service learning program might have on preservice teachers' science instruction during student teaching. Designed to promote science inquiry, preservice teachers learned how to offer students more opportunities to develop their own ways of thinking through utilization of an afterschool science program that provided them extended opportunities to practice their science teaching skills. Three preservice teachers were followed to examine and evaluate the transfer of this experience to their student teaching classroom. Investigation methods included field observations and semi‐structured, individual interviews. Findings indicate that preservice teachers expanded their ideas of science inquiry instruction to include multiple modes of formative assessment, while also struggling with the desire to give students the correct answer. While the participants' experiences are few in number, the potential of afterschool teaching experience serving as an effective learning experience in preservice teacher preparation is significant. With the constraints of high‐stakes testing, community‐based service learning teaching opportunities for elementary and middle‐school preservice teachers can support both the development and refinement of inquiry instruction skills.     

Service Learning Within a Secondary Math and Science Teacher Education Program: Preservice MAT Teachers’ Perspectives

Previous literature suggests that service learning may offer new opportunities to support the development of preservice science and math teachers, but few studies examine service learning beyond isolated teaching events. In this qualitative study, we attempt to improve upon this literature by following Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students’ views of their service learning experiences throughout their MAT program and first two years teaching. Data sources included audiotaped individual interviews, focus group field notes, and surveys with seven preservice teachers over a three‐year period. Three major findings emerged from the data analysis. First, participants identified characteristics of service learning teaching events that made them particularly useful, and these included the timing of events, targeted grade level, exposure to high‐needs contexts, and opportunities to practice pedagogical skills. Second, participation in the service learning events improved preservice teachers’ confidence and comfort teaching in high‐needs contexts, but several concerns and deficit perspectives about teaching in high‐needs contexts remained. Third, participants indicated specific ways that the service learning teaching events impacted their readiness to teach in high‐needs contexts. These findings may inform other science and math teacher educators seeking to embed service learning opportunities into their programs.     

Revisiting the STEBI‐B: Measuring Self‐Efficacy in Preservice Elementary Teachers

The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument‐Preservice (STEBI‐B) has been used in many studies to measure science teaching self‐efficacy and outcome expectancy in preservice elementary teachers. Since its development in 1990, there have been no studies that have re‐examined its internal validity and reliability. The purpose of this study was to do so. Two hundred ninety preservice elementary teachers participated in this study. The STEBI‐B was administered at the beginning of science methods courses. A factor analysis established that the two subscales, Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief (PSTE) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE), on the STEBI‐B were homogeneous, and loadings were comparable to those reported by Enochs and Riggs (1990) . Two items on the STOE were found to exhibit cross‐loading on the factor analysis, as well as low item‐total correlations. These two items were modified and the revised instrument administered to 86 new participants. Both revised items loaded more clearly on the STOE subscale, and item‐total correlations were stronger. Comparison of means analyses showed that gender, number of science courses taken, and school science experiences had significant associations with PSTE. The STEBI‐B continues to be employed in hundreds of studies to measure science teaching self‐efficacy. It is important to continue to monitor its reliability and validity, as well as check on associations with various background variables. The modified STEBI‐B is included in an appendix with this article.     

Voices from the Front Lines: Exemplary Science Teachers on Education Reform

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the experiences that nationally award‐winning, exemplary science teachers have had over their career and examine the alignment of their responses with calls for K‐12 science education reform from a selection of prominent commissioned government reports since 1980. From an assessment of the alignment of exemplary teachers, calls for reform have had a limited effect and highlight the weakness of using national reports as a wide‐scale, nationalized approach to science education reform. Findings are focused on seven different areas of teacher development: classroom issues, teaching scientific inquiry, use of technology, preservice experiences, professional development of in‐service teachers, vertical articulation, and science education reform over time. Among other issues, the teachers indicated one of the biggest barriers to inquiry teaching is the pressure to conform to high‐stakes testing and the lack of examples of inquiry teaching during teacher education experiences.     

An Extended Examination of Preservice Elementary Teachers' Science Teaching Self‐Efficacy

The purpose of this study was to examine programmatic factors that positively impact changes in elementary preservice teachers' teaching self‐efficacy beliefs. Specifically, it examined the impact of science methods courses, student teaching, and science content courses on elementary preservice teachers' science teaching self‐efficacy. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument Form B was administered, using a pre/post design, to undergraduate elementary education majors in specific education and science content courses. A total of 399 responses were collected, of which 172 had matching pre/post surveys suitable for analysis. Students in the science content courses and student teaching seminar showed no significant change in either the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) or the Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy scales during the time they were enrolled in the classes. Significant gains in PSTE were found for students enrolled in the science methods course. The specific design of the education program and methods course may be responsible for these changes.     

Interpreting Middle School Students' Proportional Reasoning Strategies: Observations From Preservice Teachers

This paper reports the findings of an investigation of 11 preservice secondary school teachers' interpretations of the development of proportional reasoning strategies used by middle school students. The preservice teachers examined samples of solution strategies generated by middle school students in proportional reasoning situations and prepared written responses of their views concerning the developmental levels indicated in the students' work. Each preservice teacher also participated in an hour‐long interview, in which the researchers asked for elaboration and clarification of the written responses and, in some cases, challenged the preservice teachers to consider alternative interpretations for the middle school students' work. The interviews were audiotaped for later analysis by the investigators, and key aspects of both the written and audiotaped responses were entered into a spreadsheet and later tabulated into categories indicating trends in the preservice teachers' interpretations. Some implications for the preparation of preservice middle school science and mathematics teachers are included.     

Authentic and Simulated Professional Development: Teachers Reflect What is Modeled

Science is a dynamic discipline, representative of the nature of science. Yet, young science students continue to think everything is already discovered. In this study, we examine why students are not actively doing science. From professional development to student engagement, how are classrooms and students changing as we increase teachers' content knowledge? Teaching practices modeled in professional development can change what occurs in the classroom. Our study was designed to probe differences in two different types of professional development programs both focused on content knowledge. We found that what is modeled by the professional developers has a profound effect on the direction of the classroom. This matched controlled study found that teachers reflect the teaching practice modeled by professional developers through their individual classroom teaching practices. A significant difference was found in cognitive activities and questioning skills between teachers in a professional development program modeling authentic inquiry versus the teachers in a professional development modeling simulated inquiry. While both groups increased the amount of overall inquiry used in the classroom, students whose teachers were in authentic inquiry professional development were engaged in higher cognitive activities and questioning skills. If students are engaged in dynamic classrooms, searching for answers to students' questions, perhaps they will understand that science is a dynamic discipline.     

Connecting Science and Mathematics: Using Inquiry Investigations to Learn About Data Collection,Analysis, and Display

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of providing preservice teachers the opportunity to collect real data in a science methods inquiry investigation and using the data, design data displays in their mathematics methods course. The research questions focused on how preservice teachers' understandings of data displays, research design, and the specific content addressed improved when they used these displays to attempt to communicate the data they had collected themselves in their inquiry investigations. The 46 preservice teachers were given questionnaires at the beginning and end of the courses, twelve were interviewed both pre and post, all written work pertaining to data displays and the inquiry investigations was collected, methods class sessions were audio and videotaped, and the final data display and science investigation projects were photocopied. The findings show that by creating and scrutinizing their data displays, the preservice teachers were able to recognize the limitations of their inquiry investigation design. Through working with data in the context of inquiry projects of their own design, the preservice teachers realized meaningful connections and commonalities that exist in mathematics and science while strengthening their knowledge and skills in both disciplines.     

Exploring Graduate‐Level Scientists' Participation in a Sustained K‐12 Teaching Collaboration

To increase scientific literacy in America, the National Science Foundation has implemented the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K‐12 Initiative (GK‐12). In these programs graduate level scientists, known as Graduate Teaching Fellows (GTFs), act as resources for science teachers (Partner Teachers). This research examines the influence of participation in this program on the GTFs involved in one GK‐12 sustained collaboration that emphasizes the codevelopment and co‐implementation of hands‐on, inquiry‐based activities. Qualitative data in the form of interviews and observations were collected from a single cohort of Partner Teachers, GTFs, and the academic advisors of the GTFs for one academic year. The GTFs identified three benefits they received from working in the GK‐12 program: enhanced understanding of science content, fuller understanding of the complexities of teaching science, and understanding of inquiry‐based science teaching and its value. At the same time the GTFs experienced tensions related to differing views of science and science teaching held by the GTFs and the Partner Teachers. The GTFs also experienced professional risks in at least two ways due to their involvement in this program. One risk was the result of the time commitment required to be a GTF. The other was the result of what was termed competing foci. Illustrated in this case by the difficulties encountered as GTFs attempted to learn how to teach in a secondary science classroom while still learning to become research scientists.     

Teaching Science as Science Is Practiced: Opportunities and Limits for Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers' Self‐Efficacy for Science and Science Teaching

Science teaching in elementary schools, or the lack thereof, continues to be an area of concern and criticism. Preservice elementary teachers' lack of confidence in teaching science is a major part of this problem. In this mixed‐methods study, we report the impacts of an inquiry‐based science course on preservice elementary teachers' self‐efficacy for science and science teaching, understanding of science, and willingness to teach it in their future careers. Our findings suggest that for some students, the inquiry‐based science course positively influenced their self‐efficacy for science and science teaching. Gains were made in a majority of students' conceptual understanding of science, understanding of the science process and scientific research, and confidence with science and science teaching. The subjects did not experience the course uniformly, however. Rather, there appeared to be two distinct groups, one on a trajectory of improving their outlook on science teaching and one worsening. The results presented here therefore provoke some interesting questions regarding preservice elementary teachers' preparation for science teaching.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Teaching Efficacy and Cultural Efficacy of Novice Science Teachers in High‐Needs Schools

This qualitative case study sought to investigate what relationship exists between teaching efficacy and cultural efficacy of novice science teachers in high‐needs, high‐minority urban schools. One major theme—the importance of establishing positive teacher–student relationships—surrounding teaching efficacy in the context of cultural efficacy emerged. The data sources included: (a) teachers' responses to a focus group interview conducted at the end of their first year, (b) written reports and documentation from university‐based field supervisors' observations during the teachers' first year, and (c) teachers' self‐reported responses on the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument designed to measure science teaching efficacy. Final analysis of the data reflects a strong relationship between teaching efficacy and practice within the context of culture. The results of this study also indicated an existing relationship between teaching efficacy and cultural efficacy through cultural connections with students. Encouraging the development of teacher efficacy in the context of cultural efficacy becomes important at all levels of teacher preparation, especially to ensure the retention of high‐quality science teachers in high‐needs schools.     

Linking Preservice Teachers' Mathematics Self‐Efficacy and Mathematics Teaching Efficacy to Their Mathematical Performance

This study examined preservice teachers' mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy and compared them to their mathematical performance. Participants included 89 early childhood preservice teachers at a Midwestern university. Instruments included the Mathematics Self‐Efficacy Scale (MSES), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI), and the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS) Basic Skills Test. The results indicate that preservice teachers' mathematics self‐efficacy is positively correlated to their personal mathematics teaching efficacy. In addition, their mathematical performance is related to their mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy. In regard to affecting student outcomes, only those preservice teachers who are very confident in their ability to teach believe they can have an effect on their students. Implications on teacher education programs are discussed.     

Beginning Secondary Science Teachers' Conceptualization and Enactment of Inquiry‐Based Instruction

This study investigates the conceptions and use of inquiry during classroom instruction among beginning secondary science teachers. The 44 participants were beginning secondary science teachers in their first year of teaching. In order to capture the participants' conceptions of inquiry, the teachers were interviewed and observed during the school year. The interviews consisted of questions about inquiry instruction, while the observations documented the teachers' use of inquiry. All of the interviews were transcribed or coded in order to understand the conceptions of inquiry held by the teachers, and all of the observations were analyzed in order to determine the presence of inquiry during the lesson. The standard for assessing inquiry came from the National Science Education Standards. A quantitative analysis of the data indicated that the teachers frequently talked about implementing “scientific questions” and giving “priority to evidence.” This study found a consistency between the way new teachers talked about inquiry and the way they practiced it in their classrooms. Overall, our observations and interviews revealed that the beginning secondary science teachers tended to enact teacher‐centered forms of inquiry, and could benefit from induction programs focused on inquiry instruction.     

Preservice Mathematics and Science Teachers' Case Studies of a Diverse Population of Workers

Sixteen preservice science and mathematics teachers in the last term of a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program completed case studies of workers from a variety of settings including a radio station, department store, manufacturing plant, health care facility, water treatment plant, and engineering firm. These preservice teachers then examined their findings and reflected about the knowledge and skills necessary for high school graduates to be successful in the present day workplace. Finally, the preservice teachers examined how they could personally contribute to these desirable student outcomes within the high school science or mathematics curriculum for which they will eventually be responsible in their future teaching situations.     

Building Teacher‐Scientist Partnerships: Teaching About Energy Through Inquiry

This study evaluated the effectiveness of teacher‐scientist partnerships for increasing the use. of inquiry in precollege classrooms. It assessed the influence of the Teaching About Energy Through Inquiry Institutes for middle and high school teachers and energy scientists on participants' attitudes about science and science education, use of inquiry instructional techniques, and student attitudes about their classroom environments. Participant surveys, institute and classroom observations, lesson plans, and interviews indicated increased appreciation for inquiry, greater confidence in teaching using inquiry, and greater use of inquiry in the classroom. Student surveys and classroom observations pointed to higher levels of student satisfaction and less friction among classmates during inquiry‐based investigations implemented after the institutes. Moreover, scientist partners reported increased familiarity with principles of science education and best teaching practice, which are essential skills and knowledge for disseminating results of scientific research to nonscientific audiences, as well as their own students. These results suggest that collaborations between teachers and research scientists can positively affect the environment for learning science in precollege and college classes. Successful collaborations are most likely to occur when equal status for teachers and scientists in the partnership is stressed and partners have the opportunity to explore inquiry‐based curricula together.