While recent research has examined students' and teachers' understanding of models and modeling, few studies have focused on how teacher educators can support preservice elementary science teachers in envisioning enriched learning processes and outcomes for their students while engaging in modeling practices. Informed by reflective practices…

Literature suggests the transfer of understanding the nature of science to instructional practice requires preservice teachers to value teaching about the nature of science. Despite decades of research developing preservice teachers' views of nature of science, there is still a disconnect between their understanding and instructional practice.…

The study aimed to explore the integration of lesson study into science teacher education programs to enhance preservice science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for STEM. The lesson study cycle encompassed planning, teaching, reflecting, re-teaching, and re-reflecting phases, and the participants' experiences regarding PCK for STEM…

This study investigated the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development among 22 prospective teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The nature of prospective teachers' PCK development was investigated in relation to their experiences in planning, enacting, and reflecting upon a Physical science lesson. The…

Science teaching efficacy belief (STEB) is of paramount importance as it motivates teachers to teach science or hinders them from teaching science. Preservice teachers' efficacy beliefs may change during their method courses. Knowing how pre-service teachers' beliefs change over time can significantly contribute to teacher educators to improve…

This study investigated how preservice teachers develop collective efficacy when preparing lesson plans for a science methods course, and how this collective efficacy changed over time. The data were collected from four preservice science teachers working in a group to fulfil the requirements of the course. Findings revealed that four factors,…

In an effort to better prepare science teachers to engage in high-leverage practices, this study investigates the choices and rationales of preservice science teachers in planning elicitation strategies and describes how their understandings about the elicitation of students' ideas changed over time. Four cohorts of preservice science teachers…

There is a current national emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Additionally, many states are transitioning to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which encourage teachers to incorporate engineering in science classrooms as well as have their students learn science by doing science. Methods courses are…

The high attrition rate of new science teachers demonstrates the urgent need to incorporate effective practices in teacher preparation programs to better equip preservice science teachers. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate a way to enrich preservice science teachers' preparation by incorporating informal science teaching practice into…

We studied how the practices of modeling supported preservice teachers (PSTs) as a reflection tool for knowledge integration in their science methods courses. In this exploratory study, elementary (n = 4) and middle/secondary (n = 7) PSTs drew models of the process of teaching and learning, including what occurred before, during, and after…

Early childhood educators teach science to all students, including students with disabilities. Strategies for accommodating students with disabilities in science, including familiarity with equitable frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are therefore a critical aspect of early childhood teacher candidates' pedagogical content…

Recent reforms in science education require teachers to improve their notions of scientific inquiry and design effective inquiry-based lessons. This is a challenging task particularly for preservice teachers (PTs) who may not have experienced inquiry learning themselves, and who do not possess a large repertoire of teaching strategies or knowledge…

With the goal of producing scientifically literate citizens who are able to make informed decisions and reason critically when science intersects with their everyday lives, the National Research Council (NRC) has produced two recent documents that call for a new approach to K-12 science education that is based on scientific practices, crosscutting…

The purpose of this case study was to investigate how pre-service chemistry teachers' science teaching orientations change during a two-semester intervention designed to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching the nature of science (NOS). Moreover, the way that pre-service chemistry teachers translated their change in…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the ways former professional scientists who are learning to become teachers understand the planning and implementation of instructional design 1) while they are in a university program learning to become teachers and 2) during their first year of full-time teaching in a secondary classroom. The study used…