More than 400 educators in the Miami-Dade County, Florida, school system take part in a professional-development and curriculum program that attempts to build students' science knowledge while also helping them master English. Developed by researchers at the University of Miami, the Promoting Science among English Language Learners program…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a summer science camp teaching experience on preservice elementary teachers' science teaching efficacy, science content knowledge, and understanding of the nature of science. Master's degree students enrolled in the elementary Fairfax Partnership Schools (FPS, n = 21) cohort served as the…

This study examined changes in personal science teaching self-efficacy (PSTE), outcome expectancy (STOE), and science conceptual understanding and relationships among these in preservice teachers. Seventy preservice teachers enrolled in science teaching methods courses participated in this study. PSTE, STOE, and science conceptual understanding…

The specialist knowledge and skills of science teachers is far too easily overlooked and undervalued, due, in part, to the tacit nature of the knowledge that underpins expert science teachers' practice. For science teachers to better recognize, describe, and share their professional knowledge there is a need to develop new and meaningful ways…

Explores how children's ideas in science affect elementary science instruction by investigating whether and how three primary teachers recognize and react to student ideas. Finds that the experienced teacher with the highest level of content knowledge had the largest repertoire for eliciting and addressing student ideas, and the intern teacher's…

Examines changes in the science content representations of two prospective elementary teachers during their first year in an experimental teacher preparation program. Finds that opportunities to engage in cycles of instruction guided by structured considerations for content representation contributed to improvements in the teachers' science…

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the knowledge base of prospective science teachers. An important part of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) consists of concerns about teaching. Most of the research on these concerns is focused on rather general teaching issues, and little is known about their concerns dealing with…

This book was written for practicing primary (elementary) school teachers and for anyone concerned with inservice or preservice science teacher education. The overall purpose of the book is to identify ways in which ideas about electricity and simple circuits can be taught effectively in primary school classrooms. This book is based on in-depth…