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Examining pre-service elementary school science teachers’ understanding of scientific inquiry

Examining pre-service elementary school science teachers’ understanding of scientific inquiry. Brenda M. Capobianco David Eichinger John Staver Purdue University Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Association of Science Teacher Education, January 9-12, 2008. Purpose of the study.

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Examining pre-service elementary school science teachers’ understanding of scientific inquiry

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  1. Examining pre-service elementary school science teachers’ understanding of scientific inquiry Brenda M. Capobianco David Eichinger John Staver Purdue University Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Association of Science Teacher Education, January 9-12, 2008

  2. Purpose of the study • Identify and analyze students’ conceptions of inquiry at three different points in the elementary teacher ed program; • Identify the nature of students’ conceptions of inquiry; • Describe patterns that emerge across students’ inquiry conceptions

  3. Defining inquiry Degree of teacher Degree of student involvement/direction independence/direction CONFIRMATION STRUCTURED GUIDED INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INQUIRY INQURY Adapted from Brown & Melar, 2006; Crawford, 2007; Keys & Kennedy, 1999, Luera & Otto, 2005; McNeill & Krajcik, 2007; Smolleck, Zembal-Saul & Yoder, 2006; Windschitl, 2003

  4. Theoretical framework • Teacher knowledge • PCK = junction at which knowledge of pedagogy, content, and students converge • Teacher reasoning • can examine how preservice teachers begin to integrate and apply inquiry-based skills, experiences, and knowledge from their science content courses to the elementary science classroom

  5. Context of the study • 1,000 undergraduates in the program • 30 faculty • 5 faculty from the College of Science • 15 credit laboratory-based hrs in science • BIO 205 Biology for elementary school teachers • EAS 312 Environmental science capstone • EDCI 365 Teaching science in the elementary school

  6. Participants • Cohort I (BIO 205) 3 males; 5 females [n=8] * • Cohort II (EAS 312) 3 males; 4 females [n=7] * • Cohort III (EDCI 365) 4 males; 6 females [n=10] • White, Caucasian * Change of major participant

  7. Data collection • Individual semi-structured interview • 2 interviews/semester • 62 interviews (total) • Individual inquiry tasks (stay tuned ) • 4 tasks/semester • 124 tasks (total) • On-line assessment (stay tuned ) • 2 assessments/semester • 62 assessments (total)

  8. Data analysis • Grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) • Triangulation (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) • Trustworthiness (Glesne, 1999; Lincoln & Guba, 1985) • “audit” fieldwork • member checking

  9. Elementary education students’ conceptions of inquiry Cohorts I and II

  10. Examples of inquiry-based experiences Cohorts I and II

  11. Elementary education students’ conceptions of inquiry Cohort III

  12. Conceptualizing and characterizing inquiry Abilities Continuum of how Cohorts I, II, and III conceptualize inquiry Confirmation Structured Guided Open Conceptualizing I (pre) I (post) Inquiry II (pre) II (post) III (pre) III (post)

  13. Conclusions • Students’ conceptions mature as they progress through the program and key courses • Students’ knowledge of inquiry pedagogy is most pronounced by their methods course • Students reported inquiry-based experiences from one of three possible sources: • academic courses * • professional activities • practical experiences

  14. Significance & Implications • By experiencing inquiry curricula and pedagogy in their respective science courses, students’ conceptions of inquiry shifted from a less structured toward a more open inquiry stance • Deepening content knowledge through inquiry needs to be examined • How conceptions translate into practice needs to be explored

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