Professional development has long been viewed as crucial to sustained improvement in the quality of primary science education. This paper considers professional development beyond the context of a specific program by examining how the science teaching efficacy beliefs and practices vary between teachers who both have and have not engaged with…

Eighteen primary teachers across three conditions (Representational Fluency, Representational Agency, Comparison) received two days of training around an inquiry unit on plate tectonics replete with representations. The Representational Agency group also received training around the semiotic and material affordances of representations while the…

The present article analyses the changes in practices, ideas, and attitudes proposed by a group of novice science teachers during a further education teacher training program. The research on which it is based is focused on monitoring the training program and its impact on the participating teachers. The training program has as its starting point…

There has been a call for effective professional learning to improve the quality of the science teaching of primary teachers in Australia. It seems from the literature that teaching science effectively is a challenging endeavour for primary teachers. Professional learning based on the instructional core framework is an emerging approach that has…

This paper reports on a partnership approach preparing pre-service primary teachers to teach science. Partnerships involving pre-service teachers and volunteer in-service colleagues were formed to teach science in the classroom of the colleague, with support from the science education lecturer. Each pre-service teacher collaboratively planned and…

Implementing an Australian National Curriculum will require targeting both teachers and preservice teachers. Classroom teachers in their roles as mentors are well situated for developing preservice teachers. This mixed-method study presents mentors' reports on their mentoring of primary preservice teachers (mentees) in mathematics (n=43) and…

This paper reports research from a three-year Australian science teacher professional learning project, the Science Teaching and Learning (STaL) Project, in which groups of science teacher participants (across years K-12) worked with academics over a one-year period as teacher researchers. Through reflecting on their experiences within the STaL…

The high expectations for scientific literacy for all students demands a certain quality of science education in lower secondary education. This program focuses on supporting teachers in implementing this new curriculum. There are three interconnecting components of the program: (1) curriculum resources; (2) professional development; and (3)…

Conducted a study to show in an audiovisual form how technological activities can be planned and implemented successfully at the primary school level. Demonstrates how science and technology can be linked in the curriculum. Reports that designing a unit that takes advantage of the symbiotic relationship between science and technology can lead to…

Explores the science content knowledge of elementary school teachers and its possible role in helping them teach effectively. Studies the issues in the context of an investigation of the views of elementary school teachers (n=106) who had participated in professional development courses that focused on the topic "natural and processed…

Indonesian primary school children are taught to memorize science facts and learn only routine skills. School science lessons focus on low-order thinking as required on the frequent district formative tests and a national year six examination. Because of this emphasis on testing, students show little interest in asking questions about everyday…

Summarizes a report about professional credentials presented to the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA). Presents a rationale for the involvement of ASTA in the development of science teaching standards, a summary of the state of teacher evaluation, and a discussion of future options for ASTA's involvement in standards. (DDR)

Summarizes the events that took place at the Primary Science Seminar held by the Science Teachers' Association of Western Australia (STAWA). Features instructions for seven time-related activities taught at the seminar including Sundials, Water Clock, Sand Timer, Pendulum, Tornado Timer, Marble Timer, and A Matter of Timing. (WRM)

This collection of essays describes practices in environmental education and points to possibilities in the field. The intention is to appraise selected practices in order to prepare the ground for a consideration of alternative images of environmental education that may shape future action. The following articles are included: (1) "A…

Teaching in a remote town has its drawbacks with regard to Professional Development (PD), which becomes extremely costly, so each staff member is probably limited to one decent PD once a year. This means choosing PD extremely carefully to ensure "value for money" and hopefully that it will provide the teacher concerned with…