We describe an inquiry-based course in physics and chemistry for preservice K-8 teachers developed at California State University Fullerton. The course is one of three developed primarily to enhance the science content understanding of prospective teachers. The course incorporates a number of innovative instructional strategies and is somewhat…

According to the National Research Council (NRC 2007), three critical components significantly influence students' science learning: teacher knowledge, teachers' opportunities to learn, and instructional systems. If students' science achievement is strongly correlated with teachers' science competence, and core competencies are central to…

Despite the long history of the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), two facts remain obvious. First, there are almost as many conceptions regarding the definition of PCK as there are researchers interested in it. Second, it is largely unclear which methods enable teacher educators to best prepare teacher candidates to use PCK. Recently,…

Using primarily online interaction, we worked with a grade one teacher to help her develop an understanding of community in her own classroom. Using an interpretive interactionist methodology, we theorized four domains in her view of classroom community: trust, membership, power, and capacity. The teacher's perceived success in creating community…