Volume 3: Issue 1 [2018]

ISSN 2472-2553

Supporting Science Teachers In Creating Lessons With Explicit Conceptual Storylines

by Dante Cisterna, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Kelsey Lipsitz, University of Missouri; Deborah Hanuscin, Western Washington University; Zandra de Araujo, University of Missouri; & Delinda van Garderen, University of Missouri
Abstract

We describe a four-step strategy used in our professional development program to help elementary science teachers recognize and create lesson plans with coherent conceptual storylines. The conceptual storyline of a lesson refers to sequencing its scientific concepts and activities to help students develop a main scientific idea and, often, is an implicit component of a lesson plan. The four steps of this learning strategy are, 1) Building awareness of conceptual storylines; (2) Analyze the coherence of the conceptual storyline of existing lessons; (3) Creating an explicit conceptual storyline as part of the planning process; and (4) Promote conceptual coherence throughout the storyline. We provide examples of how these steps were developed in our professional development program as well as evidence of teachers’ learning. We also discuss practical implications for using conceptual storylines in professional development for science teachers.

Designing a Third Space Science Methods Course

by Matthew E. Vick, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Abstract

The third space of teacher education (Zeichner, 2010) bridges the academic pedagogical knowledge of the university and the practical knowledge of the inservice K-12 teacher.  A third space elementary science methods class was taught at a local elementary school with inservice teachers acting as mentors and allowing preservice teachers into their classes each week.  Preservice teachers applied the pedagogical knowledge from the course in their elementary classrooms.  The course has been revised constantly over six semesters to improve its logistics and the pre-service teacher experience.  This article summarizes how the course has been developed and improved.

Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Use of Modeling: Building a Water Purifier

by Young Ae Kim, University of Georgia; & J. Steve Oliver, University of Georgia
Abstract

Research has shown the value of modeling as an instructional practice. As such, instruction that includes modeling can be an authentic and effective means to illustrate scientific and engineering practices as well as a motivating force in science learning. Preservice science teachers need to learn how to incorporate modeling strategies in lessons on specific scientific topics to implement modeling practice effectively. In this article, we share an activity designed to model how the effectiveness and efficiency of a water purifier is impacted by creating a primary purification medium using different grain sizes and different amounts of activated charcoal. We seek for the preservice science teachers to learn how modeling is a process that requires revision in response to evidence. The water purifier activities in this paper were adapted for use in a secondary science teacher preparation program during the fall semesters of 2015 and 2016 as a means to introduce an effective modeling activity that is in the spirit of NGSS. These activities also support preservice teachers’ development of teacher knowledge relative to ‘model-based inquiry’ as well as teaching systems thinking. In addition, preservice science teachers learn how to think of modeling as an assessment tool through which they might gauge students’ understanding. Modeling may be used as a form of authentic assessment where student accomplishment is measured while in the act of constructing a model, revising a model or any of the other modeling related processes.