The Importance Of Science Teacher Educators

They were interviewed at the beginning and end of the school year. The interviews were coded for quanitative analysis. The participants were practicing science teachers from a large urban school district in the western United States. The district’s student population was ethnically diverse Participants were recruited by an email to all high school Earth science teachers. Benchmark exams that measure student progress on important Earth science concepts at the beginning and end of each school year to provide a standard of focus.

In order to fully develop critical thinking skills necessary to function in the world of science, and the world in general, science teachers must incorporate more robust authentic inquiry activities, as part of their overall science curriculum. However, in my experience as a science teacher (18 years) and a science program director (3 years) in inner-city high schools in Boston, students do not have the opportunity to engage in robust authentic inquiry activities. Using my years’ experience in the public education system, it is clear to me that factors, such as teachers’ inadequate content knowledge, lack of motivation to implement inquiry, pressure to teach to high stake standardized tests, lack of experience

Throughout this fall semester, as a Preservice Middle Level Educator, I have been observing and engaging in Ms. Mahdi’s 7th grade Science class. It is at this placement that I have collected artifacts for a portfolio to illustrate a competency and achievement related to the Association for Middle Level Education standards. In this portfolio summary you will find various artifacts that help demonstrate these AMLE standards. The AMLE standards as a whole, cover academic growth and set an expectation for middle school teachers to be mindful that their middle school students are continuously experiencing social and cognitive changes that should be addressed thoughtfully, just as much as their academic needs.

These resources can be repurposed into something new and different by creating a website for professional training tailored for teachers and administrators interested in the problem-centered science curriculum. The website can include:

The purpose of this article is to inspect the possible link between teachers’ visions of the growth of scientific knowledge and the methods they use to help students construct a knowledge of science. Teachers’ views about science influenced not only lessons about the nature of science but also shaped an implicit curriculum concerning the nature of scientific knowledge. The study used sampling to find seven teachers. During the interview, the teachers were questioned about their syntactical knowledge. Syntactical knowledge refers to by Brickhouse as the methods used in a discipline to construct knowledge (e. g. , how experimentation and evidence influence the generation of scientific theories, how theories are used in generating new knowledge,

2. My mission as a high school science teacher is to inspire a passion for learning by making education relevant and fun. In order to accomplish this, I want to motivate and encourage students to discover and explore scientific concepts that shape and define the world around them. My goal is to create a safe, positive, and open environment that promotes life-long learning by providing students with the resources and knowledge neccessary to help them question the world around them through scientific inquiry. In addition to creating a fun and engaging environment that encourages students to explore the the

Scientific literacy is being able to think scientifically and understand scientific views of the world. Science and math work well together because science provides a platform for students to use their math skills such as graphing, measuring, counting, estimating, and data observation. Teachers need to incorporate more science and math education starting in elementary schools. As a teacher, I want to teach my students the value of science and math education. I can incorporate hands-on experiments in my class that will get children excited to learn about science. I can also explain to the students how science and math work hand-in-hand by providing experiments that allow the students to exercise their scientific literacy as well as their math

Introduction The purpose of science education is not a straightforward concept, as it is ever evolving and dynamic to meet the needs of society’s expectations and values at that point in time (Ferrari, 2010). Science education should be nurturing, engaging and challenging in the 21st century classroom, catering for all students. We as teachers should encourage out students to explore the world, by providing motivation, engagement and education about the wonder and potential of science, we need to move the focus of our teaching away from the fact finding, memorising and formula driven practical that capture what school has become to our students today (Ferrari, 2010). Science provides a practical way of answering questions about our everyday lives, whether that is biological, physical or technological world around us ("The Australian Curriculum v7.2 Science: Rationale," n.d.).

As enthusiastic as it sounds to have soon the new k-12 science standards in place, it is frustrating and overwhelming for a future teacher that is enrolled in an eight-week, k-8 science class. According to Livescience contributor Michael Dhar Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are designed to meliorate U.S. students’ achievement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects (Dhar, 2013). Per the statistics of the 2012 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) U.S. ranked the 23rd in Science, 30th in Math and 20th in Reading Literacy, out of the 65 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) education system. Instead, 54% of high school graduates failed to meet the ACT

There have not been many significant literature reviews about teachers using inquiry based instructional strategies to teach science and to plan units and meet curriculum demands. However, most literature that was found suggests that teachers that use instructional strategies in their unit plans and lessons give teachers an opportunity to meet curriculum demands. Doing unit plans and lessons with an inquiry-based approach works very well because of limited time elementary teachers have. A lot of times teacher can create integrated or cross curricular unit plans, which helps meet the demands of the curriculum.

Teachers have been proven to be more motivated in teaching a subject they feel comfortable teaching rather than teaching and creating lessons on a subject they personally dislike or don’t find interesting/ important. The subject of science is not a subject many teachers feel efficacious when teaching (Howitt, 2007). Despite two decades of research in the area Palmer (2011) pronounces that lack of efficacy for teaching science is “still very much alive” (p. 2). Therefore, teachers lack in their classrooms efficient amounts of science lessons and ideals that

Inquiry is the process that governs how students learn within the contents of science education. The textbook defined inquiry as the process that students should use to learn science (Martin, Sexton, Franklin, Gerlovich, & McElory 2009). They should be able to ask questions, use their questions to plan and conduct a scientific investigation, use appropriate science tools and scientific techniques, evaluate evidence and use it logically to construct several alternative explanations, and communicate their conclusions scientifically (Martin, et. Al., 2009). In essence, students should grasp the knowledge that is taught in science class, as well as share the finding in an educated manner with others. As we examine inquiry, we will discuss what research says about inquiry, determine how inquiry looks inside the classroom setting, discuss challenges that may arise teachers use inquiry based teaching in the classroom setting, and share a personal reflection on the benefits of inquiry teaching and learning based on the research presented.

Science has never been my favorite subject but a lot of my favorite memories from elementary school are about science. As I grew older, science became less and less fun for me and I began to lose my understanding of it all together. I think that science was more intriguing to me when we were using hands on approaches and conducting experiments that we, ourselves, had created. My concept of science is that it is difficult and boring but when I am engaged in a creative and hands-on experience, I have a tendency to forget that I am actually doing science. I hope that as a future educator, I can create that fun environment for the students who are like me and aren’t as intrigued by science right off the bat.

In contemporary science education, there are numerous issues presently faced by educators, students and science professionals. These include the misuse of information and communication technology, the depth of disciplinary action, the image of science pedagogy, student attitudes, the science curriculum ‘belonging to the past’, and the hardships of focusing on science as ‘an art’, rather than as an objective, logical method of pedagogy. (Appleton, 2013; McFarlane, 2013; Tytler, 2007)

In teacher preparation programs, most preservice teachers enter the program with the goals of making a difference in the lives of students, to become “agents of change” (Manuel & Hughes, 2006, p. 16) or to give students what they did not receive as students (Wright & Tuska, 1968). However, they are unaware of how their educational experiences have shaped their beliefs about teaching and learning and how these beliefs contribute to social reproduction in schools which is counterproductive to the goal of most preservice teachers (Holt-Reynolds, 1992; Joram, 1997; Manuel & Hughes, 2006; Kagan, 1992; Zichner & Gore, 1990). Thus, when these preservice teachers are taught theories, methods, and strategies in their education courses, they do not see the relevance in what is being taught because they are oftentimes blind to their own beliefs about teaching and learning (Holt-Reynolds, 1992; Joram, 1997; Kagan, 1992). Due to this, they rely on their previous teacher’s methods, experiences, and beliefs about teaching and learning to make decisions about what to teach and how to teach in the classroom (Joram, 1997; Lortie, 1975). In other words, many of them think that if it worked for them as a student, it will work for their students, which can contribute to the cycle of poor teaching and social reproduction in schools (Joram, 1997). Due to this, teacher preparation programs must find ways to become aware of preservice teachers beliefs about teaching and