This study explores opportunities for preservice elementary teachers to experience science teaching and learning in informal settings and how this complements their learning in a specialized content course for teachers. ...

This study assessed the components of a three year professional development program on participants' views nature of science (NOS), instructional practice to promote students' appropriate NOS views, and the influence of ...

The improvement of undergraduate science courses remains an ongoing concern of university and college faculty. Blueprints for Reform (AAAS, 1998) and Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in ...

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the impact of a biology-focused science methods course on prospective teachers' preparedness to teach evolution and to explore factors that influence their intentions ...

School science experiences shape learners' attitudes and beliefs about science. Yet, school experiences often consist of reading from a text, memorizing scientific facts, or conducting “verification” type laboratories, and ...

In recent surveys of doctoral students in all fields (Fagen & Niebur, 2000; Nyquist & Woodford, 2000), respondents shared concerns that an overemphasis on research led to inadequate preparation for teaching, curricular ...

This study investigated the effectiveness of integrating explicit-and-reflective NOS instruction into a physics course for pre-service elementary teachers. Reflective discussions, student scenarios, and content-generic NOS ...

The Learning Cycle was developed in 1967 by Karplus and Thier for the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). This inquiry-based teaching approach is based on three distinct phases of instruction: 1) exploration ...

While teacher educators have had some success in helping prospective teachers understand the nature of science (NOS), they have been less effective in helping prospective teachers teach NOS. Though several studies have ...

NSTA initiated the student chapter program in 2001 to “maintain a connection to future teachers as they enter the profession and create a conduit as the 'new' teacher workforce enters the classroom” (NSTA, 2009, p. 1). The ...

This study explored components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of three teachers who were found successful at improving elementary students' views of NOS. Assuming PCK for NOS to be similar to PCK for other science ...

This paper describes an existing early field experience program and discusses strategies implemented by the instructor working within the constraints of the program design. The workshop approach presented provides a structure ...

While reforms emphasize understanding the nature of science (NOS), a challenge in meeting the vision of the reforms is that teachers lack understandings consistent with contemporary views of NOS. Though teacher educators ...

The “nature of science” (NOS) typically refers to understanding science as a way of knowing or the values and assumptions inherent in the construction of scientific knowledge (Lederman, 1992). Science education in the U.S. ...