Barbara S. Spector 
Constructing Meaning in a Science Methods Course for Prospective Elementary Teachers [PDF ebook] 
A Case Study

How do prospective elementary science teachers think? This case study 






• reveals thinking patterns common to preservice elementary teachers;


• identifies their behavioral characteristics while learning to teach science which are not commonly noted in current literature;


• provides change strategies to accelerate preservice elementary teachers embracing the holistic, constructivist, inquiry/practice-based paradigm consistent with the standards set by the curriculum.






The chapters in this book immerse the reader in a sequence of episodes in this science methods course, and reveal the adventure of turning theory into practice while analyzing student-student/student-instructor interactions and their outcomes in an inquiry-driven, flipped classroom. 






Strategies presented empower preservice elementary teachers to






• implement national and state standards;


• change science learning/teaching from “business as usual” to applying science and engineering practices in the classroom;


• make cognitive and behavioral changes required to shift paradigms and eliminate science anxiety;


• pass through stages of grief inherent in the loss of dominant mechanistic paradigm.






This book will interest a wide readership including science educators;


scientists and engineers; administrators, supervisors, and elementary teachers in a clinical education setting; preservice elementary teachers; and anyone seeking to improve STEM education in elementary schools.      

Mục lục

Preface.- Prologue.- National Context.- Theoretical Framework.- Change Principles.- Resistance to Change.- Method.- About the Course.- Course Premise.- Flipped Classroom.- Course Scaffolding.- Formats for Sharing Products.- Assignments as Learning Opportunities.- Use of Community.- Variants in Context from Earlier Courses.- Findings about Course Participants.- Experiential Learners.- Student-Student Interactions and Relationships as a Cohort.- Receptivity to Change.- Student-Instructor Interaction: Cause and Effect Deficit.- Following Directions.- Living Student-Centered Schooling.- Students’ Grade Obsession: A Key.- Responses to an A Grade at Mid-Semester.- Interventions.- Attenuating the Grade Obsession: Deconditioning.- Self-Assessment/Self-Evaluation.- Delayed Grading.- Structure of the Mid-Semester “Test” Episode as a Learning Opportunity.- Critical Event Episode.- Accelerating Passage through Stages of Grief.- Responses to Instructor’s Reflections.- Applying Constructed Knowledge: Outcomes after Mid-Semester.- Presentations.- Site Visit Exploration Episode.- Recognize Science Could Be Found Anywhere.- Interactions Created a Productive Community.- Recognizing Benefits of Open Discussion.- Testing Inquiry in Elementary Schools.- Final Unit Plans.- Tying It All Together.- Advice to Future Preservice Teachers.- Change Principles in Action.- Conclusion.- Future Studies.- Epilogue.- Appendix A: Next Generation Science Standards.- Appendix B: Common Core Standards from the National Governors Association & Council of Chief State School Officers (2009).- Appendix C: The Clash of the Culture of Science and the Culture of Traditional Preservice Students.- Appendix D: More Emphases – Less Emphases NSES Charts.- Appendix E: More Advice to Future Students and Other Student Perspectives.- References.- About the Author.