Preparing Preservice Early Childhood Teachers to Teach Nature of Science: Writing Children’s Books

by Valarie L. Akerson, Indiana University; Naime Elcan Kaynak, Erciyes University; & Banu Avsar Erumit, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University
Abstract

Preparing preservice early childhood teachers to teach about Nature of Science (NOS) in their science lessons can provide challenges to the methods course instructor. Early childhood science methods course instructors generally agree that early childhood preservice teachers enjoy using children’s literature in their instruction. Preservice teachers can write and design children’s books that can help them to not only refine their own understandings of NOS aspects, but also to consider how to introduce these ideas to young children through their stories. These stories can support the teaching of NOS through hands-on activities in the classroom. The authors tracked a class of early childhood preservice teachers over the course of a semester to determine their ideas about NOS and their depictions of NOS in a storybook they designed for young children. The authors determined whether these NOS ideas were depicted accurately and in a way that could be conceptualized by young children. It was found that nearly all of the preservice teachers were able to portray the NOS aspects accurately through their stories, and that not only did the stories hold promise of introducing these NOS ideas in an engaging manner for early childhood students, but the preservice early childhood teachers also refined their own understandings of NOS through the assignment.

Theory to Process to Practice: A Collaborative, Reflective, Practical Strategy Supporting Inservice Teacher Growth

by Martha Inouye, University of Wyoming; & Ana Houseal, University of Wyoming
Abstract

To successfully implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), more than 3.4 million in-service educators in the United States will have to understand the instructional shifts needed to adopt these new standards. Here, based on our recent experiences with teachers, we introduce a professional learning (PL) strategy that employs collaborative video analysis to help teachers adjust their instruction to promote the vision and learning objectives of the Standards. Building on effective professional development characteristics, we created and piloted it with teachers who were working on making student thinking visible. In our setting, it has been effective in providing relevant, sustainable changes to in-service teachers' classroom instruction.

Increasing Science Teacher Candidates’ Ability To Become Lifelong Learners Through A Professional Online Learning Community

by William Veal, College of Charleston; Kathy Malone, The Ohio State University; Julianne A. Wenner, Boise State University; Michael Odell, University of Texas at Tyler; & S. Maxwell Hines, Winston Salem State University
Abstract

This article describes the use of an online professional learning community within the context of K-8 science education methods courses. The article describes the unique usage of the learning community with preservice teachers at different certification levels within the context of five distinct universities. While each approach is different there exists commonalities of usage. Specifically, the site is used to develop mastery of science content, exposure to pedagogical content knowledge, and classroom activities that focus on authentic science practices. Each case provides specific details of how the preservice teachers were immersed into a learning community that can serve them throughout their teaching career.