Addressing student conceptions is crucial in science education. Therefore, teachers should be able to notice and interpret situations, in which student conceptions are part of the complex classroom interactions. This study analyzes the skills known as professional vision using an interpretivist research paradigm and a sociocultural perspective.…

Research suggests that students tend to explain the origin of biological traits in terms of needs or purposes and/or as the direct product of genes, rather than as the outcome of evolutionary and developmental processes. We suggest that in order for students to be able to construct scientific explanations, it is important to clearly and explicitly…

The purpose of this research was twofold. The first was to investigate the development of preservice teachers' knowledge base for science teaching on the rate of reaction topic within the 14-week content representation (CoRe)-based mentoring-enriched practicum course. In this course, CoRe design was used as a form of lesson planning and…

This study examined 188 preservice science teachers' professional growth along three dimensions--self-regulated learning (SRL) in a science pedagogical context, pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy in teaching science--comparing four learner-centered, active-learning, peer-collaborative environments for learning to teach higher order…

Although studies have documented teachers' growth in assessing science resulting from professional development or science methods courses, little attention has been given to growth while being prepared to assess a linguistically diverse student population. In this study, the growth of 11 secondary science preservice teachers is documented by…

Investigates the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) within a group of preservice chemistry teachers. Focuses on PCK with respect to the relationship between observable phenomena on the one hand, and their interpretation in terms of corpuscular characteristics on the other. Results indicated a growing awareness among the preservice…

Measures both teaching efficacy and the holding of specific alternative conceptions of preservice elementary teachers (N=619). Uses a survey to determine the relationship between teaching efficacy and certain alternative conceptions. Contains 77 references. (DDR)

Investigates how scientists, from both a practical and epistemological perspective, communicated the nature and relevance of their research to classroom teachers. Determines the congruence and/or dissimilarity in how scientists described their research to teachers and how they viewed their research epistemologically. Concludes that scientists from…

Describes and analyzes two science methods courses at the elementary and secondary levels for how they addressed four ideas: (1) how students learn science; (2) how teachers teach science to students; (3) how prospective science teachers learn about the first two ideas; and (4) how methods instructors teach prospective science teachers about the…

Discusses three prospective elementary teachers' conceptions of teaching science and selected portions of their knowledge base in life science. Explores how these teachers' conceptions, along with their teaching actions, developed during the course of a teacher-education program. Contains 21 references. (Author/WRM)

Discusses three prospective secondary biology teachers' conceptions of teaching science and selected portions of their knowledge base in biology. Explores how these teachers' conceptions, along with their teaching actions, developed during the course of a teacher-education program. Contains 31 references. (Author/WRM)

This study explored preservice teachers' (n = 25) knowledge structures and their mastery of content knowledge in relation to their ability to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of a fourth grader's videotaped explanations of a scientific phenomenon, i.e., molecular kinetic properties of air. Participants' knowledge structures were analyzed…