Science Education

The switch to remote teaching and learning consequentially pushing educators in rapid adaptation of technology platforms has made it essential to build knowledge and understanding of how elementary teachers learn to use various technology tools to enhance student learning. For effective science instruction and sustaining student engagement, preservice science teachers need to know the proper utilization of technology tools, and coaching partnerships can assist them in achieving that goal. Utilizing a single case study design, this study focused on understanding a preservice elementary science teacher’s implementation of Flip (formerly Flipgrid) in a third-grade classroom, specifically, exploring how this preservice elementary science teacher, with the help of her instructional coach, learned to implement Flip to reinforce her students’ engagement through 5E learning experiences. Findings shed light on her transition while incorporating Flip into her classroom, where it started as a challenging task but gradually evolved into a more successful implementation. This paper demonstrates the detailed trajectory of how the preservice science teacher learned to implement the tool. With guidance, practice, and resources, Flip manifested as a supportive tool for engaging students with their science content.

The COVID-19 outbreak had massive impacts in many areas, including education, all over the world. This pandemic forced education systems to make an emergency shift to remote teaching. The Turkish education system was affected by the pandemic, and all schools were forced to shut down in March 2020. Approximately 18 million students in Türkiye continued their education through distance teaching. Distance education, as a response to this compulsory transition, was carried out through the Education Informatics Network (EBA) and Turkish Radio and Television Corporation Educational Information Network (TRT EBA TV) channels. However, it was not known whether teachers were ready for this compulsory transition and online teaching process. This study aimed to investigate science teachers’ perceptions of the compulsory distance education process and the difficulties they encountered during online teaching. Four science teachers working in a private school during the pandemic voluntarily participated in the study. A semistructured interview was used for data collection. Standard qualitative analysis methods were used. The results revealed the participant teachers were not fully ready for this compulsory transition. They frequently encountered internet access problems, parent/teacher communication issues, problems with the delivery platform, and outdated hardware technologies. Teachers proposed effective professional development programs for developing their capabilities to use online education platforms more effectively.

Science education professional development (PD) experiences are important for developing effective teaching practices aligned to reform-based principles using innovative approaches, such as the Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) framework. The ability of schools and other organizations to provide high quality science education PD was challenged recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, some providers reimagined their PD experiences using online and remotely delivered mediums. In this study, the authors examined a remotely delivered, 3-day PD science teaching workshop to determine any changes to in-service teachers’ beliefs regarding their ability to implement AST practices. Using a pre/post survey design, the research questions guiding this study were as follows: (a) To what extent and in what direction did teachers’ beliefs about their ability to implement AST practices change before and after a remotely delivered PD experience? and (b) To what extent do teachers’ beliefs in their ability to implement AST practices differ as a function of teaching experience, education level, or certification area? Analysis of in-service teachers’ responses indicated a statistically significant increase in their confidence to implement AST practices over the course of the workshop, with no significant differences across compared groups. These results suggest that remotely delivered PD experiences may be a viable option for improving AST-based teaching practices.

Despite the increasing number of coding initiatives to promote computational thinking (CT), their main focus on in-service teachers in large school districts of the big cities far from exemplifies opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to learn how to promote it in rural elementary school settings. As a preliminary step, this research examined how a specific workshop, designed to infuse CT in a science methods course, influenced PSTs’ motivation, skill, and usage access to CT. A pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design guided the research. The two intact classroom sections of an elementary education science method course (N=43) were randomly assigned to either a control group or an experimental group. After the covariates were controlled for, attending the workshop increased PSTs skill and usage access as well as their likelihood to incorporate CT in their lesson modifications. PSTs’ deeper discussion of CT processes and affordances of CT in relation to the phases of 5E Model is essential to helping them connect CT to the science pedagogy.

Though science teachers use curricular materials from a range of sources, the nature of the science education materials that exist in the public domain or that are licensed for free use has not been the focus of much prior research. In this study, Open Educational Resources (OER) that can be accessed through the OER Commons platform were examined in terms of their characteristics and use using public Internet data mining methods. The author evaluated 8,937 life science, physical science, and applied science resources in terms of their material type, grade level, license type, number of endorsements by approved organizations (e.g., a state department of education), alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and number of views. Many resources were readings and laboratory investigations, and most were for postsecondary science classes, though many were intended for high school, middle school, and elementary classrooms. Relatively few resources were endorsed, and fewer still were explicitly aligned with the NGSS, suggesting the need for greater alignment of standards across states. To provide a richer set of accessible curricular resources for educators, several implications for practice and policy are considered.

As computing becomes an essential component of professional practice across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, integration of computing across content areas in K-12 classrooms is also becoming important. Particularly within science classrooms, computer science and computational thinking (CS/CT) are novel and necessary skills for modeling, working with data, and other foundational science skills. Finding ways to engage students in practicing and learning CT within authentic science learning is challenging for most teachers. In this article, the authors report on one teacher’s efforts to engage high school students in maker-based physics education, integrating computational thinking by designing and building escape rooms. Escape rooms are puzzle rooms,  wherein participants solve a series of linked puzzles to “escape” a locked room. The puzzles were a year-end activity and utilized the physics content students learned throughout the school year. The authors conducted a text analysis of student reflective journals and teacher reflections to understand the affordances and challenges for students with engaging CS/CT in their science class. Findings indicated high levels of student satisfaction with their puzzles and varying degrees of challenge when coding the microprocessors. Students believed that being able to code responses to physics phenomena enriched their peers’ experiences of learning physics.

The purpose of this research study was to examine in-service teachers’ perceptions about, attention to, and use of two different types of written formative feedback designed to support them in developing their ability to engage in one core teaching practice: facilitating discussions that engage students in scientific argumentation. This core teaching practice has been nominated as important for building students’ scientific literacy and has been perennially difficult for teachers to learn how to engage in successfully. This study used an online, simulated classroom made up of five upper elementary student avatars as the practice-based space where the participating in-service teachers facilitated two science discussions. Following the first discussion, each teacher received one of two types of written formative feedback (namely, specific feedback or scoring level feedback) based on their discussion. Findings indicated that the teachers perceived both types of feedback as useful and strongly attended to areas of improvement suggested in the written feedback, regardless of feedback condition. Study results suggest that the use of specific or scoring level feedback can serve as one valuable mechanism to support improvement when using online simulations with elementary science teachers.

Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are used in collegiate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and in preservice teacher education, yet there is a dearth of research on the use of ePortfolios for in-service teacher professional development (PD). This article presents the results of using ePortfolios as both a model for teachers to incorporate in their classes and an evaluation tool for an integrated STEM PD. Participants for this study were K-16 faculty members who participated in the National Science Foundation-funded STEM Guitar Faculty PD Institutes. Data were obtained from three sources: faculty participants’ ePortfolios, alumni retrospective survey responses, and focus group data. Emergent themes included the importance of being willing to try new things, new skills learned, students’ ability to build guitars, and identifying curricular connections to the guitar. Quantitative survey responses are reported using descriptive statistics. Two thirds (67.65%) of faculty members referred to their portfolios as they implemented the program. Over half showed their ePortfolios to their students (56%) or other teachers or administration (59%). Over a quarter (27%) of teachers used ePortfolios in their classroom. These results have implications for PD providers. ePortfolios an informative and useful evaluation tool for PD providers. They are useful for faculty members beyond the PD.

The science teacher education community plays a prominent role in teacher preparation programs. Particularly, science methods courses emphasize modeling instructional strategies to promote inquiry-based practices.  Integrating appropriate educational technology to enhance and support classroom practices should be embedded in these courses. The recommendations in this paper, specific to science methods, consist of designing the proper use of educational technology using three domains: (a) supporting the process of learning, (b) catalyzing the acquisition of information, and (c) communicating acquired knowledge. The three proposed domains are illustrated at different levels of the PICRAT technology integration model (Kimmons, 2016), with examples that can be quickly adapted to both elementary and secondary science methods courses. The authors aim to help inform science methods instructional practice, the design of related activities, and the application of education technology.

The study sought to analyze the effects of the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) program on the relationship between preservice elementary school teachers (n = 194) and the variables of their gender. Quantitative data collected during the fall semesters of 2018 and 2019 were statistically analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test to compare the teachers’ attitudes toward convergence, TPACK, and science teaching efficacy beliefs according to group variables. The comparison of attitudes toward convergence indicated gender-specific differences in Year 1 in knowledge, personal relevance, social relevance, interest, and overall scores. No significant differences were found in most components in Year 2. The pre- and posttest TPACK results revealed significant gender-specific differences in Year 1 for Technological Knowledge (TK), Content Knowledge (CK) of Science, Content Knowledge of Korean, Pedagogical Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge, TPACK, and overall scores. In Year 2, gender-specific differences were present in TK, CK of Mathematics, CK of Social studies, CK of Science, and TPACK. Analysis of Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) by gender indicated that the overall scores and personal science teaching efficacy of female student teachers improved in Year 1. In Year 2, no significant gender-specific differences were found in the STEBI-B in the pre- and posttest results.

Induction programs are an important component of teacher education aimed at developing teachers as lifelong learners who can make use of reflective and self-regulatory learning practices. The online induction program in this study uses reflective learning cycles to promote the development of reflective practice. A multiple case study of three beginning science teachers was used to explore their self-regulatory processes in developing reflective practice. The authors contend that beginning teacher education programs must engage beginning teachers in self-regulatory learning in order to become reflective practitioners.

The use of technology in assessment continues to evolve the field of educational measurement. This article reports on development and use of new accessible, technology-enhanced assessments designed to measure the three-dimensional science abilities of middle school students. The assessments were piloted with over 70 teachers and 8,000 students throughout the United States over a 3-year period. The adoption and implementation of technology-enhanced assessments is potentially challenging for educators, and numerous factors can influence whether new tools are successful in classroom contexts. The authors describe the assessments alongside insights from project surveys into the conditions that supported or hindered teachers’ successful implementation and use of the new assessments in classroom settings. Results indicate that teachers found the assessments useful for supporting the transition to instruction based on Next Generation Science Standards and preparing students for new state science tests. Successful uptake of the materials in the classroom was supported by professional learning that anticipated teachers’ content, technology, and pedagogical needs. While the assessments were overall successful, areas for potential improvement are also described, including improved reporting formats that are more teacher and student friendly.

Engineering design provides students with an authentic context to apply science and mathematics to solving problems and motivates them to learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Thus, teachers need to experience and become familiar with engineering design. However, little is known about how preservice teachers learn to do engineering design work. This study examined the engineering design practices of preservice teachers as they worked on a technology-enhanced design activity. The authors video-recorded a group activity in which preservice teachers designed, built, and programmed robots and then analyzed their discourse using verbal protocol analysis. The authors examined what design activities were practiced and how they were practiced and analyzed design-related conversational moves, which yielded an understanding of how preservice teachers collaboratively constructed knowledge during their engineering design process. The findings showed that preservice teachers frequently generated ideas to solve problems and evaluated their ideas. Their least frequent activities were judging the feasibility of solutions and modeling. Furthermore, they seldom disagreed with their partners after an idea was generated. Suggestions for preparing preservice teachers to incorporate engineering design into K-12 classrooms include providing engineering design opportunities, exposing preservice teachers to design examples, and creating design tasks that require the application of science and mathematics knowledge.

In this report of an action research study, the authors describe how one elementary science teacher educator used transcript coding of simulated classroom discussions as a pedagogical approach to learn about her elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) abilities to notice key aspects of scientific argumentation discussions. Elementary PSTs (n = 19) enrolled in a science methods course engaged in transcript coding before and after facilitating their own argumentation discussions in the Mursion® simulated classroom environment with five upper-elementary student avatars. The first transcript was from a PST outside of the course; the second was from PSTs’ own discussions. The study examined how PSTs’ coding of the transcripts could provide the teacher educator with insights regarding PSTs’ noticing about engaging students in argument construction and critique. The study also aimed to investigate PSTs’ perspectives on the utility of transcript coding. Findings showed that PSTs can code with accuracy, yet they may be more apt to miss coding teacher prompts that encourage students to share reasoning. Results also revealed that PSTs sometimes coded nonexamples of argument construction and critique, suggesting a need for more targeted learning experiences to connect teaching principles with classroom interactions, and the PSTs perceived coding their own and other’s transcripts as uniquely valuable learning experiences.

This research analyzed two years of data from a 5-year NSF-funded informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program. Our program aims to support development and maintenance of STEM identities in intergenerational teams learning geospatial technologies and conservation science to develop and implement community land-use projects. The conservation science and technology identity (CSTI) surveys were developed as a potential method to characterize and quantify a person’s STEM identity. The surveys examined five identity constructs for science and technology: competence, performance, external recognition, self-recognition, and ways of seeing and being. CSTI was administered before the workshop to evaluate the participants’ historical STEM identity, and after to determine the workshop’s impact on science and technology competences and ways of seeing and being. CSTI was also administered as a delayed-postsurvey after the year-long project was completed. This work is needed due to (a) the importance of the development and maintenance of STEM identity for persistence in engaging in science-related work, (b) the lack of reliable, quantitative measures supported by research on the constructs of identity, and (c) the need for development of empirical instruments to determine the impact of informal science learning programs on STEM identification.

This article describes a pilot study on the use of a computer supported collaborative citizen project with elementary school students. From public data available on the web, the researchers sought to understand how students engaged in science practices within a citizen science project. In addition, the researchers examined the different roles that emerged within the citizen science community. A social media feed, including posts and comments, was collected from one project within the citizen science site and analyzed qualitatively using a content analysis and role analysis. The results were contextualized to determine what guidance is needed to help teachers set up this type of project in their classrooms. The recommendations include scaffolding science practices, providing expectations for students on how to post on social media sites, and establishing productive partnerships with scientists in the community. Incorporating these guidelines within teacher education and professional development programs may help teachers provide their students with authentic research experiences through citizen science projects.

To address a statewide demand for elementary teachers, a midsized Midwestern (U.S.A.) university created an undergraduate licensure program for para-educators, nontraditional students who are already working full-time in schools. Although fieldwork experiences and mentoring occur in the schools where they work, the para-educator preservice teachers (PSTs) completed all college coursework via online classes with course readings, writings, videos, discussion board, home activities, and videoconference class sessions. Their coursework included an inquiry-based science methods course, taught asynchronously over 8 weeks in the summer, emphasizing the 5E Learning Cycle Model (Bybee, 2002; Bybee et al., 2006; Contant et al., 2018) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Pre- and posttest measures were collected from the participating PSTs (N = 57), including the STEBI-B (Enochs & Riggs, 1990) to analyze self-efficacy beliefs about teaching science. Findings between pre- and postassessments included statistically significant increases with large effect sizes in both STEBI-B subscales (Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy; Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief). Responding to open-ended follow-up questions, participants perceived writing lesson plans and doing at-home science activities as the most helpful course elements in their confidence about teaching science.

This paper describes disciplinary computational thinking (CT) interventions within mathematics and science methods courses, an instructional technology course, and a practicum placement for elementary preservice teachers (PSTs). The population included two cohorts of elementary PSTs from fall 2018 (n = 9) and fall 2019 (n = 12). Curricular interventions included opportunities for PSTs to practice using, teaching, and reflecting upon disciplinary CT activities with educational robotics, 3D printing, and maker-centered tasks. Results indicate statistically significant increases in self-perceptions of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK), Personal Science Teaching Efficacy as measured by the STEBI instrument, and CT-efficacy for teaching as a result of participation in coursework. The PSTs were also able to describe specific ways they could use CT tools and practices for teaching elementary content and logically apply aspects of TPACK, Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition, and the CT in Mathematics and Science Taxonomy practices to their instruction (Weintrop et al., 2016). Recommendations include a progression of activities within courses that can serve as a model for other teacher educators in preparing PSTs to use disciplinary CT.

This paper describes a 54-hour summer institute for grades 6-12 mathematics and science teachers (N = 19) with a comprehensive approach to preparing teachers to use computational thinking (CT) in their classrooms, including training in Python computer programming with Lego® Mindstorms® robotics, mathematics content sessions, and opportunities to solve real-world robotics challenges. Results of an assessment used to measure content knowledge and CT skills and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge survey both yielded statistically significant increases. Participant reflections revealed they developed an enhanced understanding of programming and the ability to integrate programming into the curriculum. The authors propose an innovative approach to teaching disciplinary CT within the context of programming robots capable of interacting with the outside world to address real-world challenges.

The STEM Literacy in the Classroom to Enable Societal Change project provided professional development for 24 mathematics, science, and science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics (STEM) teachers of grades 6-12. The project included a 2-week summer institute and one follow-up Saturday during the fall semester, for a total of 54 contact hours. Training focused on the use of engineering challenges that address current societal issues as a means to develop middle and high school teachers’ knowledge and use of coding, robotics, 3D printing and modeling, technical reading and writing (LaTeX), statistical analysis skills, and content and pedagogical skills. Results indicated statistically significant increases in content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge and transfer of the use of 3D printing and methods for flipping instruction such as creating screencasts in the classroom. Although participants did not describe specific instances of using technical reading and writing in their classrooms, they felt better prepared to use and teach these skills. The authors propose an innovative approach to teaching disciplinary computational thinking (CT) with the use of real-world challenges. Recommendations for integrated STEM professional development include developing teachers’ disciplinary CT skills within the context of problem-based activities in mathematics and science classrooms rather than within standalone computer science courses and providing opportunities for teachers to coach others within their school system to encourage sustainability of training.

This article describes a professional development (PD) model, the CT-Integration Cycle, that supports teachers in learning to integrate computational thinking (CT) and computer science principles into their middle school science and STEM instruction. The PD model outlined here includes collaborative design (codesign; Voogt et al., 2015) of curricular units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that use programmable sensors. Specifically, teachers can develop or modify curricular materials to ensure a focus on coherent, student-driven instruction through the investigation of scientific phenomena that are relevant to students and integrate CT and sensor technology. Teachers can implement these storylines and collaboratively reflect on their instructional practices and student learning. Throughout this process, teachers may develop expertise in CT-integrated science instruction as they plan and use instructional practices aligned with the NGSS and foreground CT. This paper describes an examination of a group of five middle school teachers’ experiences during one iteration of the CT-Integration Cycle, including their learning, planning, implementation, and reflection on a unit they codesigned. Throughout their participation in the PD, the teachers expanded their capacity to engage deeply with CT practices and thoughtfully facilitated a CT-integrated unit with their students.

Making is an iterative process of designing, building, tinkering, and problem-solving, resulting in the creation of personally meaningful artifacts. Fueled by recent developments in affordable, safe, and easy to use digital fabrication technologies, making has been embraced by educators the world over. While educational scholarship is developing an increasingly complex understanding of the practices and pedagogies needed to support making in the classroom, there has been limited research associated with the preparation of teachers and their development of maker-centered instructional practices. In this embedded case study, the authors examined artifacts produced by 13 secondary preservice and in-service science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) classroom teachers engaged in long-term maker professional development as part of a microcredentialing program. Analysis of these artifacts uncovered an array of motivations for engaging with classroom making, illustrated how participants implemented their maker philosophies in secondary STEM classrooms, and suggested the need for additional research on and models of maker-centered programs in teacher preparation.

As part of an embedded mixed-method study, qualitative research was conducted to understand how Engineering Is Elementary (EiE) professional development influenced the self-efficacy of K-5 elementary teachers required to teach engineering in a rural school in Southeastern, North Carolina. In fall 2016, proportional stratified sampling was used to select 14 teachers by grade level and specialty area who participated in EiE training. Teachers were interviewed to obtain in-depth information about their perceived self-efficacy. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for content by person, by interview questions, and across all interviews using narrative data analysis methods. The data showed three themes: (a) teachers feel preparation programs lack STEM training, (b) integrating engineering is achievable in the K-5 classroom, and (c) professional support is an issue in improving this engineering initiative. The results demonstrated how elementary educators’ self-efficacy evolved while engaging in professional development to prepare to teach engineering. Implications for educational practice and research are provided.

This study investigated the influence of Engineering Is Elementary (EiE) professional development on teachers’ self-efficacy of integrating engineering into the K-5 curriculum in a rural school district in southeastern North Carolina. In fall 2016, the researchers conducted an embedded mixed-method study. The focus of this paper is the quantitative aspect of the study, which involved using the engineering components of the T-STEM survey to measure teachers’ self-efficacy via Qualtrics. The survey was used to compare teachers’ self-efficacy before and following EiE professional development and 4 weeks after the last EiE intervention. Forty-three teachers completed these online questionnaires. Across the three intervals, the results of the repeated measures were statistically significant. There were increases in teachers’ (a) engineering teaching efficacy and beliefs, (b) engineering teaching outcome expectancy, and (c) engineering instruction. Teachers’ self-efficacy toward engineering was likely influenced by EiE professional development. The findings suggest that elementary teachers’ self-efficacy about integrating engineering into the curriculum can increase by offering EiE professional development over time. This study can help inform future education policy, practice, and research.

The lack of a definition of the T in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) acronym is pervasive, and it is often the teachers of STEM disciplines who inherit the task of defining the role of technology within their K-12 classrooms. These definitions often vary significantly, and they have profound implications for curricular and instructional goals within science and STEM classrooms. This theoretical paper summarizes of technology initiatives across science and STEM education from the past 30 years to present perspectives on the role of technology in science-focused STEM education. The most prominent perspectives describe technology as the following: (a) vocational education, industrial arts, or the product of engineering, (b) educational or instructional technology, (c) computing or computational thinking, and (d) the tools and practices used by practitioners of science, mathematics, and engineering. We have identified the fourth perspective as the most salient with respect to K-12 science and STEM education. This particular perspective is in many ways compatible with the other three perspectives, but this depends heavily on the beliefs, prior experiences, and instructional goals of teachers who use technology in their science or STEM classroom.

This paper shares findings from the first of its kind quasi-experimental mixed methods study exploring the potential impacts on teacher instruction through engagement with making and e-textiles. Because engagement in hands-on inquiry has demonstrated strong promise for increasing student interest and engagement in STEM careers, finding curricular approaches that engage students in project-based learning remains important. As such, the Maker Movement and making has gained traction as a possible effort to improve such outcomes. This study shares outcomes from analyses of one teacher’s first engagement with teaching eighth-grade science through e-textiles. Four of his classes were taught using his traditional science curriculum while four of his classes were taught with an equivalently designed e-textiles curriculum. Findings indicated that his instruction during e-textiles classes was different in terms of classroom discourse opportunities and engagement. Specifically, students taught in classes with e-textile were afforded more opportunities to engage their own questions with the teacher and engage on a more personal level with him.

The authors describe their study of a curricular module on computational thinking (CT) implemented within an elementary science methods course and reported insights on preservice science teachers’ (PSTs’) beliefs about CT integration. The research question was, “Following participation in a curricular module on CT, what is the nature of PSTs’ beliefs about CT integration in their elementary science classrooms?” The authors designed and implemented a three-class-session CT module within an undergraduate elementary science methods course. They observed and collected field notes on PSTs’ (N = 39) participation in the module, along with class artifacts. They examined the data to gain insight into PSTs’ perceptions of CT integration in elementary science education, its feasibility, and its value for their own teaching practice. They found that PSTs overwhelmingly supported the pedagogical innovation of integrating CT in their science teaching; they appreciated that CT modernized and made science education engaging for young learners; and, they generally believed that CT integration supported the implementation of what they understood as good science teaching practice. However, the PSTs believed they would face a variety of challenges in their efforts to integrate CT into their science teaching. Implications for CT teacher education are discussed.

Positioned in the context of experiential learning, this paper reports findings of a virtual reality field trip (VRFT) in conjunction with an in-person field trip involving preservice teachers in an elementary science methods course to a local natural history museum. Findings included that virtual reality (VR) is best used after a field trip to encourage student recall of the experience, but only when done for a limited time to avoid VR fatigue. The types of experiences that preservice teachers thought VR would be good for in their science classrooms included the ability to visit either inaccessible or unsafe locations, to explore scales of size that are either too big or too small, and to witness different eras or events at varying temporal scales. Furthermore, this study uncovered potential equity issues related to VRFTs being seen as a viable alternative if students could not afford to go on field trips. Further research needs to be conducted to better understand the impact of VRFTs on student learning outcomes and take advantage of recent improvements in VR technology.

This qualitative study examined how preservice elementary teachers integrated robotics into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) lesson designs and why they designed their lessons in a particular way. Participants’ lesson designs were collected, and semistructured interviews were conducted. The authors analyzed lesson designs to examine how participants integrated robotics into their lesson designs and interviews to explore why they designed their lessons in a particular way. Our findings suggest that, in general, preservice elementary teachers designed lessons for student learning with technology. Only one lesson was for student learning from technology. The rest were for student learning with technology or applied a mixed approach that supported both student learning with and from technology. Preservice teachers’ lesson designs seemed to have been influenced by their pleasant struggles during robot design, collaboration experience, robotics integration knowledge, STEM content knowledge, and conception of STEM integration. Implications for teacher education are presented.

The exploratory case study described in this paper examined the experiences of an elementary science teacher as he integrated iPads into his teaching. With the intent of finding a purposeful use for the district’s 1:1 iPad initiative in his science classroom, he adopted digital science notebooks for the first time. During planning sessions alongside an instructional coach, this teacher worked to harness the maximum potential of the digital notebooks’ capabilities to support his students’ science learning. Data collected from coaching conversations, observations, student notebooks, and a stimulated recall interview uncovered the ways the teacher planned for digital science notebooks and how he could use them to support student science learning. Findings show that structured page templates for students’ notebooks modified from previous work helped this teacher successfully incorporate the digital notebooks to enhance his students’ learning beyond what a traditional composition notebook can provide. Furthermore, the teacher’s perceptions of his experience with digital notebooks was overwhelmingly positive. He considered the value of digital notebooks to be superior to traditional notebooks and shared recommendations for other teachers who may also be considering using digital science notebooks for the first time.

Meaningful integration of multimedia technology into the three-dimensional learning promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards (i.e., Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas) is critical in helping students to understand science. Furthermore, preservice teachers need to be able to engage in argument from evidence, as recommended by the National Research Council, before they can help students develop argumentation in the classroom setting. This study explored the dialogic arguments and conversations of five female African American preservice graduate elementary education students enrolled in a science methods course. Students carried out a Crime Scene Investigation Toolkit in Earth science that was created by the New York Hall of Science. Schema theory and Marshall’s (1995) knowledge types provide an explanatory framework to explore and explain participants’ dialogue. The findings show that schema theory has implications for understanding participants’ cognitive resources during an activity that integrated multimedia technology resources within a three-dimensional science investigation. The use of schema theory as a framework shed light on participants’ dialogues and was important in understanding how to integrate multimedia technology meaningfully into the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards.

The purpose of this study is to examine reflections of the design process of the Rube Goldberg machines on prospective science teachers’ STEM awareness. A mixed design approach was opted for in this research. Data were obtained using learning diaries and a STEM awareness scale. Quantitative data was analyzed using a paired samples test. Content analysis was also used for dealing with the qualitative data. The results showed that, based on the findings obtained from both forms of data, Rube Goldberg machines have a positive influence on the STEM awareness of prospective science teachers. The prospective science teachers who took part in this research explained that Rube Goldberg machines are particularly effective in learning science concepts related to simple machines, although it was not one of the purposes of this research. Consequently, future research could be conducted to examine the effectiveness of Rube Goldberg machines in learning basic science concepts related to simple machines.

This article describes key features of a hybrid professional development (PD) program that was designed to prepare elementary classroom teachers to mentor preservice teachers for effective science instruction. Five classroom teachers who were new to our mentor training participated in the study to document the impacts of the PD sequence. The PD combined an in-person immersion into the components of effective science instruction with online modules centered on learner-supportive mentoring practices. The authors detail key aspects of this hybrid program and discuss its impacts on the cooperating teachers’ ability to facilitate effective mentoring conversations with preservice teachers. Findings indicated that mentors who engaged in the hybrid face-to-face and online PD more effectively coached their mentees and displayed specific shifts in their approach to mentor conversations. Participants showed statistically significant increases in their ability to use coaching as a default mentoring stance, to focus on evidence of students’ science learning, and to draw on a consistent framework for effective science instruction for their conversations. These findings support a hybrid model of PD for mentoring and create potential for exploring a fully online sequence to promote effective mentoring in future work.

This study used the framework of technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) to examine how elementary education preservice teachers integrated technology in science units that they designed after completing courses on science education and technology integration. The findings indicate that technologies included at the end of lessons were associated with higher order thinking, while those included at the beginning or middle of lessons were focused more on lower order thinking and presenting content. Further, frequently used technology-rich activities such as viewing videos and PowerPoint presentations were associated with lower order thinking, while activities such as completing an interactive whiteboard activity or having students make presentations or videos included more opportunities to develop higher order thinking. Implications from this research suggest that science educators and teacher educators should focus more on technologies that support higher -order thinking and support course work with special attention to technology in the context of designing engaging science instruction.

As part of a graduate course for supporting K-12 teachers’ use of technology in teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, teachers worked in teams to create workshops for youth at a Boys & Girls Club site. Teachers used curriculum kits from the Engineering is Elementary project of the Museum of Science, Boston, together with technological resources including iPads, to plan and conduct workshops with four sessions of 8 hours each. A mixed-methods evaluation examined perceptions of 36 youth regarding science and engineering. The youth (Grades 2 to 8) self-identified as 47% African-American, 33% Hispanic/Latino, 3% Asian, and 17% as other/Caucasian/mixed ethnicity. After the workshops, boys and girls more strongly agreed with an engineering-related question, that they liked thinking of new and better ways of doing things, and they agreed more strongly that they knew what scientists did for their jobs. Also after the workshops, girls more strongly agreed they knew what engineers did for their jobs, reaching a similar level as boys, whose responses did not change significantly.  Focus group data aligned with the survey responses for most questions.  Overall, the study suggested benefits of the program to participating youth, an indicator supporting this teacher preparation model.

Technology cannot be effective in the classroom without teachers who are knowledgeable about both the technology itself and its implementation to meet educational goals. While technology use in the classroom is increasing, improving learning through its application should remain the goal. In this study, the authors explored 74 middle school teachers’ beliefs about and use of technology through a technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) lens. They sought to understand how middle school teachers use and perceive technology in practice and the factors influencing their pedagogical decisions to incorporate technology into their practice. Data included surveys, administered after a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach program and teacher interviews. Findings revealed that both internal and external barriers were present and influenced how teachers situated their pedagogy in terms of technology integration. It was also found that teachers were confident in content, pedagogy, and technology; however, most viewed technology as a tool rather than an embedded part of the learning process. This study contributes knowledge about professional development initiatives and the need to address not technology knowledge as much as the interdependence of technology, pedagogy, and subject content matter.

Recent policy reports and standards documents advocate for science teachers to adopt more student-centered instructional practices. Four secondary science teachers from one school district participated in a semester-long video club focused on honing attention to students’ evidence-based reasoning and creating opportunities to make students’ reasoning visible in practice. Although all participants expressed value in attending to students’ ideas and shifting autonomy to students in the classroom, they experienced varying levels and types of integration in their practice. Analysis revealed that teachers’ goals and commitments influenced the incremental ways in which participants integrated learning from the video club. Sustained and substantial changes to practice likely require support through multiple cycles of shifting visions of what is possible, coupled with collaborative attempts to work through challenges of implementation.

A group of preservice science teachers edited video footage of their practice teaching to identify and isolate critical incidents. They then wrote guided reflection papers on those critical incidents using different forms of media prompts while they wrote. The authors used a counterbalanced research design to compare the quality of writing that participants produced when they had access to either their edited video clip of the incident, audio from the clip only, or their memory of the incident alone while writing. All reflection papers were evaluated using a rubric developed by Ward and McCotter (2004). An analysis of variance among paper scores showed that participants wrote significantly higher quality papers on several indicators when prompted by video than when prompted by audio. There was also a difference in means between their reflections when prompted by video and when they worked from memory alone.

With a national emphasis on integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in K-16 courses, incorporating technology in a meaningful way is critical. This research examines whether STEM and non-STEM teachers were able to incorporate technology in STEM courses successfully with sufficient professional development. The teachers in this study consisted of faculty from middle schools, high schools, and colleges recruited for STEM Guitar Building institutes held between 2013 and 2016. Each teacher participated in a 50-hour professional development opportunity in the manufacture of a solid-body electric guitar and received instruction on how to teach integrated STEM Modular Learning Activities (MLAs), which are aligned with the Common Core mathematics standards and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The data collected include pre- and postassessment from 769 students in three grade bands (grades 6-8, 9-12, and undergraduate level from 15 states). The results showed statistically significant gains at the p < 0.05 level across all 12 of the core MLAs, with no statistically significant difference between STEM and non-STEM instructors for all except two MLAs. The two MLAs that did reveal a statistically significant difference were more technical—Set Up and Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing Systems (CAD/CAM). These results show non-STEM and STEM teachers alike in this study were able to successfully incorporate technology in NGSS-aligned integrated STEM lessons, as evidenced by student learning gains.

While iPads and other mobile devices are gaining popularity in educational settings, challenges associated with teachers’ use of technology continue to hold true. Preparing preservice teachers within teacher preparation programs to gain experience learning and teaching science using mobile technologies is critical for them to develop positive beliefs and self-efficacy for future technology integration. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in preservice elementary teachers’ technology self-efficacy during their participation in a specialized science content course that utilized a mobile technology-based physics curriculum, Exploring Physics. The Exploring Physics curriculum is available as a hybrid online-offline application running on multiple platforms (iOS, Android, PC/Mac). Participants included 34 preservice elementary teachers who participated in pre- and post-implementation of a technology self-efficacy survey. Data sources also included two focus-group and individual interviews with six participants, weekly classroom observations, and artifacts. Results showed significant positive changes in participants’ technology self-efficacy regarding the use of mobile technologies in science teaching. Factors that supported participants’ technology self-efficacy included: (a) firsthand experiences with iPads, (b) enhanced science content understandings, (c) high interactivity and engagement, and (c) instructor modeling the use of technology. Findings have implications for preservice teacher preparation for technology integration in science teaching.

This study describes a personal science story podcasting assignment that was developed to help preservice teachers reflect on their use of everyday and academic vocabulary in the context of science, as well as how to communicate effectively with their students. Podcasting assignments were collected from 16 elementary education candidates and nine Master of Arts in Teaching candidates. The kinds of personal science stories they wrote were categorized, along with the extent to which they used the podcasts to demonstrate their understandings of the contexts of their students and the relationship between academic and everyday vocabulary.

Teacher images can impact numerous perceptions in educational settings, as well as through popular media. The portrayal of effective science teaching is especially challenging to specify, given the complex nature of science inquiry and other standards-based practices. The present study examined the litany of representations of science teachers available via a Google Images search. Initial data collected included image type (photograph, cartoon/clip art, text/graphic) and demographic information of the depicted science teachers. Common themes were detected and documented, including science teachers’ attire, actions, materials and equipment, and interactions with students. The potential impact of these images is discussed, including comparisons with science education literature. Implications include ways science teacher educators can use these images to foster reflection and dialogue among preservice and in-service teachers. Furthermore, an examination of stereotypes may need to be addressed and overcome in order to recruit, prepare, and support science teachers successfully.

Science teachers’ experiences, attitudes, perceptions, concerns, and support needs related to the use of educational computer games were investigated in this study. Data were collected from an online survey, which was completed by 111 science teachers. The results showed that 73% of participants had used computer games in teaching. Participants who had used computer games in teaching had more positive attitudes toward the use of educational computer games in the classroom than those who had not used games. Middle school teachers were more confident and reported a higher level of perceived benefits than did high school teachers. Potential distractions appeared to be the major concern the participants had about using computer games in the classroom. The major barriers to integrating educational computer games into the classroom included lack of computers, lack of time, time needed for preparation for school and national high-stakes testing, and lack of knowledge about science games. Participants indicated their greatest needs were computers and access to trial versions of games to integrate educational computer games effectively in their classrooms. Participants reported that a computer game must be aligned with state and national standards, free, compatible with school computers, fun, challenging, proven to be effective, and easy to use in order to be used in their classroom.

This study was conducted to investigate eighth-grade science teachers’ self-efficacy during the implementation of a new, problem-based science curriculum.  The curriculum included applications of LEGO® robotics, a new technology for these teachers.  Teachers’ responded to structured journaling activities designed to collect information about their self-efficacy for teaching with the curriculum and, later, to a survey designed to probe their self-efficacy for enacting specific elements of the curriculum.  Participants reported high confidence levels throughout the study but expressed some concerns related to their local contexts.

This case study described teachers with varying technology skills who were implementing the use of geospatial technology (GST) within project-based instruction (PBI) at varying grade levels and contexts 1 to 2 years following professional development. The sample consisted of 10 fifth- to ninth-grade teachers. Data sources included artifacts, observations, interviews, and a GST performance assessment and were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Teachers’ teaching actions, beliefs, context, and technology skills were categorized. Results indicated that all of the teachers had high beliefs, but their context and level of technology skills strongly influenced their teaching actions. Two types of teachers persisting in practices from professional development were identified:  innovators and adapters.  Persistence of practice and implementation of the integration of GST within PBI must continue after professional development ends, or the sustainability of the positive results experienced during the professional development will not persist.

Studying Topography, Orographic Rainfall, and Ecosystems with Geospatial Information Technology (STORE), a 4.5-year National Science Foundation funded project, explored the strategies that stimulate teacher commitment to the project’s driving innovation: having students use geospatial information technology (GIT) to learn about weather, climate, and ecosystems. The GIT in STORE was a combination of freely available place-based geospatial data sets and visualization tools. The goal was to structure the innovation and its professional development so that participating teachers plan for and enact effective instruction with the innovation then achieve optimal impacts on student learning and engagement. The article describes how STORE addressed challenges about how to get teachers to persist with the innovation and use it skillfully. Most teachers persisted through multiple implementations. In addition, they developed and enacted a diverse set of curricula and instructional strategies, resulting in the innovation reaching diverse middle school, high school, and community college students in a wide range of science courses.

This article details a new, free resource for continuous video assessment named YouDemo. The tool enables real time rating of uploaded YouTube videos for use in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and beyond. The authors discuss trends of preservice science teachers’ assessments of self- and peer-created videos using the tool. The trends were identified from over 900 assessments of 170 videos, with over 131 unique users. Included in this data set is a 2-year study focusing on 27 preservice science teachers (from a 5-year study of 76 total science preservice teachers) and their use of the tool. The authors collected both quantitative (numerical scores) and qualitative data (open-ended questions) from the 27 participants. Findings show that (a) rating two metrics had a non-zero bias between the two metrics; (b) preservice teachers found continuous video rating beneficial in enabling video assessment, promoting critical thinking, and increasing engagement; and (c) preservice teacher’s self-assessment was uncorrelated with their peers’ assessment. Additionally, the elements to enable skill improvement were met, including (a) a well defined task, (b) a challenging task, (c) immediate feedback, (d) error correction, and (e) practice. Implications include improvement in preservice teacher reflection and discussions, especially related to STEM content and pedagogy.

This study investigated the effect of an intervention regarding the use of simulations in science teaching on primary school preservice science teachers’ (n = 36) self-assessed technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). The connection of their self-assessed TPACK on their views on the usefulness of simulations in science teaching and on their disposition toward integrating simulations in their teaching was also studied. The results showed statistically significant differences between preservice teachers’ pre- and posttests in content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and TPACK domains. Preservice science teachers’ technological knowledge correlated with their views on the usefulness of simulation and disposition toward integrating simulations in teaching. The implication for science teacher training is that more attention should be paid to developing preservice teachers’ beliefs about their technological knowledge throughout their teacher training in order to encourage them to use simulations in science teaching.

With the emergence of mobile technologies, students’ access to computing devices is omnipresent, as is their ability to collaborate through multiple modalities. This 21st-century affordance has generated a shift in the way preservice teachers are prepared to use, understand. and interact with social media (e.g., blogs) during their academic years.  This paradigmatic shift involves a movement toward a participatory culture using Web 2.0 technologies—dynamic environments that are not limited to the interactions of academic classrooms.  These changes present both new types of challenges and vast opportunities for teacher educators.  Based on repeated observation of minimal interaction amongst members of a peer cohort, a research study was conducted to analyze the interactions of three students who consistently posted comments on each other’s blogs in contrast to the trends found in their cohort.  Analysis of their posts and comments illuminated preservice teacher expectations for science teaching roles and how preservice teachers applied their expectations when commenting on their peers.  These interactions were professional in nature and revealed that previously established interpersonal relationships did not alter the type of interactions that occurred.

Many schools are beginning to adopt one-to-one computing with the goal of developing students’ 21st-century skills, which allow students not only to learn content but to acquire critical skills (e.g., creativity, collaboration, and digital literacy) that will lead to future careers. Technology offers teachers the ability to transform the quality of instruction—to achieve a more student-centered learning environment, have more differentiated instruction, and develop problem- or project-based learning, and demand higher order thinking skills. A number of barriers and influences have emerged from the findings of this study on teachers’ practice and integration of technology into their classrooms.  This study examines how these barriers, both internal and external, influence classroom pedagogy. Using a technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework, this paper examines the classroom practice of two middle grades mathematics and science teachers integrating a 1:1 initiative and the ways they dealt with the barriers in their classroom practices.

Using a mixed-methods approach the authors compared the associated practices of senior physics teachers (n = 7) and students (n = 53) in a 1:1 laptop environment with those of senior biology teachers (n = 10) and students (n = 125) also in a 1:1 laptop environment, in seven high schools in Sydney, NSW, Australia. They found that the physics teachers and students reported more use of their laptops than did their biology counterparts, particularly in regard to higher order, engaging activities such as simulations. This disparity is consistent with the differences between the prescribed NSW physics and biology curriculum documents. The physics curriculum specifies that students should engage with various technologies (especially simulations) frequently within the course content, while the biology curriculum makes only generic statements within the course outline. Due to the curriculum mandate, physics teachers seemed to be capitalizing on the opportunities afforded by the 1:1 laptop environment, whereas the biology teachers had less of a mandate and, consequently, incorporated less technology in their teaching.

This paper presents a case study of a technology professional development initiative and illustrates how a workshop approach based on technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) was adapted for professional learning at a school site. The case further documents how three middle school science teacher participants developed knowledge about how to teach with technology as they planned and implemented a blog activity in science over a 4-week period. The design of the professional development was informed by the underlying assumptions of the TPACK framework and characteristics for effective professional development for science and technology-enhanced teaching. To obtain insights into the particular experiences of teachers as they participated in the onsite professional development, a naturalistic case study design was used. Data collection procedures included researcher field notes during workshop sessions and lessons, videotaped classroom observations, audiotaped interviews, and teacher and student lesson artifacts. Data on teachers’ planning and lesson implementation of the blog activity to Grade 8 students were analyzed using content analysis. Overall, the results indicate that TPACK is developed through a combination of workshop experiences and immediate application of knowledge gained in the workshop into practice in the real-life teaching context.

This paper reports the results of a 3-year longitudinal study on the perceived utility of supplying elementary science teacher interns with four asynchronous tools to assist them in creating their first lesson plan of a constructivist nature. The research accessed qualitative and quantitative measures to sample intern reaction to the notion of a flipped classroom. As cited by the Flipped Learning Network (FLN, 2014), “Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.” Of the flipped resources supplied to support the constructivist lesson framework of Driver and Oldham (1986), students found the handbook on formative assessment strategies to be the most helpful. Overall the implementation of the four supplemental resources in a flipped classroom mode culminated in at least 10% better grades on the first lesson plan (over 3 years) by comparison to the 2 years prior to the intervention.

The prevalence of computers in the classroom is compelling teachers to develop new instructional skills. This paper provides a theoretical perspective on an innovative pedagogical approach to science teaching that takes advantage of technology to create a connected classroom. In the connected classroom, students collaborate and share ideas in multiple ways producing a record of work that is persistent and accessible via networked-based computing (i.e., “the cloud”). The instruction method, called Computer Supported Collaborative Science (CSCS), uses web-based resources to engage all learners in the collection, analysis, and collaborative interpretation of classroom data that turns hands-on classroom activities into authentic scientific experiences. This paper describes CSCS and how it corresponds to key parts of the Next Generation Science Standards.

Data-driven decision making is essential in K-12 education today, but teachers often do not know how to make use of extensive data sets. Research shows that teachers are not taught how to use extensive data (i.e., multiple data sets) to reflect on student progress or to differentiate instruction. This paper presents a process used in an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project to help middle-grade science teachers use elaborate and diverse data from virtual environment game modules designed for assessment of science inquiry. The NSF-funded project dashboard is presented, along with results showing promise for a model of training teachers to use data from the dashboard and data-driven decision making principles, to identify science misunderstandings, and to use the data to design lesson options to address those misunderstandings.

Innovation is a term that has become widely used in education; especially as it pertains to technology infusion. Applying the corporate theory of diffusing innovation to educational practice is an innovation in itself. This mixed-methods study examined 38 teachers in a science educational gaming professional development program that provided baseline characteristics about personal technology use and post professional development workshop experiences to ascertain characteristics that align with diffusion of innovation theory and educational game development as a new innovation in current pedagogical practices. The posttest-only design tested correlation (ANOVA) between factors, following scale conversion employing Rasch modeling, using the established Ocean Explorers workshop survey to collect data. Results suggested that while none of the demographic factors were significantly correlated with participant perceptions of the workshop, participants’ perceptions of the presentation of the material were strongly correlated to their perceptions of the opportunities afforded by the workshop and the level of technological pedagogical content knowledge learning that took place. Frequencies of response ranges from the survey, for each scale, were paired with qualitative data to propose a fit to Rogers’ innovation adoption curve and provide a richer description of participant perceptions. Additionally, the findings from this study serve as a framework for professional development of innovative educational technologies for subsequent studies.

The authors investigated how prospective teachers enrolled in an undergraduate physical science course participated in an online forum in which they posted reactions to video episodes of children talking about science. Using Positioning Theory (Harré & Van Langenhove, 1991) as a lens, the authors analyzed 108 online posts from 26 prospective teachers as they completed six prompts from a Unit Task about force. Prospective teachers compared their own current ideas about physics topics to their prior understandings as well as to ideas articulated by the children in the video clips. Additionally, within these posts the prospective teachers positioned themselves as knowledgeable about how physics ideas develop, an important aspect of teaching science. As the prospective teachers wrote about the videos in their online posts, the videos may have served as a point of comparison with which they could document their understanding of physics concepts as well as the process of learning physics.

Many science educators emphasize the need for meaningful science learning experiences and promote the idea of social constructivism in their methods classes, usually with inquiry-based activities that include physical manipulatives. However, the proliferation of technology in the nation’s schools suggests the need to incorporate this trend into inquiry-based elementary classrooms. This paper describes a shared common course assignment on forces and motion in an elementary science methods course, in which the iPad was introduced to preservice teachers as a tool for developing understanding of key concepts and processes. The study focused on the aspects of iPad use that 98 elementary preservice teachers perceived as beneficial in the forces and motion unit. Participants discussed the utility of the iPad for recording and replaying test data, its potential for visualizing science phenomena, and its value for communicating science understanding. Additionally, participants described how the iPad influenced instructional efficiency, engagement, and social learning. The implications of these findings are described given the scientific and engineering practices outlined in the new Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012).

Distance education has potential to reach teachers from diverse areas, but the challenges of building community and promoting reflection in these settings can be considerable. In this study, photonarratives were used as an assignment in a distance education course to promote reflection on science teaching. Twenty science teachers (half from rural areas) produced photonarratives that included photos and descriptions of helping and hindering factors related to their science teaching. Analysis of the photonarratives showed that two primary categories of factors were both helpful and hindering and included geographic factors (proximity to a community college or facilities) and available technologies (such as probeware or document cameras). A third category, colleagues, came across as a theme among the helping factors alone. The photonarratives served as a tool to empower the teachers by giving them the control to identify and document issues related to their unique science teaching context while also promoting insight into shared issues across the group. The power of photos embedded in personal narratives as a tool for teacher reflection and developing community is discussed.

In New Zealand and internationally claims are being made about the potential for information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform teaching and learning. However, the theoretical underpinnings explaining the complex interplay between the content, pedagogy and technology a teacher needs to consider must be expanded. This article explicates theoretical and practical ideas related to teachers’ application of their ICT technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) in science. The article unpacks the social and technological dimensions of teachers’ use of TPACK when they use digital videos to scaffold learning. It showcases the intricate interplay between teachers’ knowledge about content, digital video technology, and students’ learning needs based on a qualitative study of two science teachers and their students in a New Zealand primary school.

The integration of technology in teaching is still challenging for most teachers, even though there has been a historical growth of Internet access and available educational technology tools in schools. Teachers have not incorporated technology into their teaching for various reasons, such as lack of knowledge of technology, time, and support. In this study, three beginning science teachers who successfully achieved technology integration were followed for 3 years to investigate how their beliefs, knowledge, and identity contributed to their uses of technology in their classroom instruction. The findings demonstrate that the participating teachers were all intrinsically motivated to use technology in their teaching and this motivation allowed them to enjoy using technology in their instruction and kept them engaged in technology use. The major findings of the study are displayed in a model, which indicates that the internalization of the technology use comes from reflection and that teachers’ use of technology in classroom instruction is constructed jointly by their technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge; beliefs; identity; and the resources that are available to them. The study has implications for teachers and teacher educators for successful technology integration into science classrooms.

This study addresses preservice teachers’ perceptions toward online experiences, specifically, their perceptions about utilizing an online science methods curriculum versus a traditional methods curriculum.  Thirty-eight senior level preservice teachers at a midwestern U.S. university completed surveys about their experiences during their methods course that included a module for online content learning, videos of fourth- and fifth-grade elementary student in situ learning, and exploration of pedagogical skills embedded in an electricity module.  Survey and focus group data indicate that the preservice teachers valued and wanted more online experiences, but not as a total replacement of traditional methods experiences.  Teacher education preparation programs must identify with and address preservice teacher expectations about the value placed upon online experiences.  Specifically, online experiences can help focus instruction and enhance student interaction about life in an elementary classroom.  Implications of this study help address professional movements for incorporating online experiences for in-service K-12 teachers and schools.

The iQUEST (investigations for Quality Understanding and Engagement for Students and Teachers) project is designed to promote student interest and attitudes toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project targets seventh- and eighth-grade science classrooms that serve high percentages of Hispanic students. The project design, student summer camp program, and professional development model have led to successful increases in student performance. The iQUEST student summer camp findings show that underserved populations of both female and male students experienced increased interest and attitudes toward science and technology. The iQUEST professional development model seeks to transform middle school science teachers from digital immigrants to advocates for technology being a critical part of student learning through integration of innovative technology experiences in formal science settings. Classroom observations illustrate how teachers have successfully implemented lessons that engage students in hands-on investigations, leading to deeper understanding of science and, therefore improving the potential of underrepresented students competing in STEM fields.

This article reports the phases of design and use of video editing technology as a medium for creatively expressing science content knowledge in an elementary science methods course. Teacher candidates communicated their understanding of standards-based core science concepts through the creation of original digital movies. The movies were assigned as a component of an elementary science methods course to help teacher candidates frame their understandings of science ideas and science content through the medium of movie-making technology. A mixed method analysis of the movie-making process was conducted through open-ended questionnaires and interviews. Results revealed that the project was valuable, as it provided an opportunity for students to think about science concepts from a new and deeper perspective. Further, the movie-making experience included the learning and utilization of iMovie technology, increasing candidate comfort and confidence in using the technology, which candidates reported will carry over to their own classrooms. This study has implications within science methods courses for the relationship between creative expression and core science concepts.

Advances in digital video technology create opportunities for more detailed qualitative analyses of actual teaching practice in science and other subject areas.  User-friendly digital cameras and highly developed, flexible video-analysis software programs have made the tasks of video capture, editing, transcription, and subsequent data analysis more convenient, accurate, and reliable than ever before. Although such technological developments offer a myriad of opportunities for advancements in research and training, especially in the area of preservice science teacher education, a number of technical challenges and unforeseen difficulties may arise when relying on video-based methodologies. If unanticipated, these challenges can compromise the overall integrity of research data and detract from training effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges and opportunities specific to incorporating video technology into the research on preservice science teacher education within the context of relevant literature. Lessons learned from an ongoing longitudinal study of preservice elementary science teachers are discussed, including practical guidelines for use of digital video for research and professional development.

This longitudinal study tracks primary participants over 3 years from their last year of university preservice teaching training through their second year of in-service teaching via surveys, interviews, and teaching observations. The study employs a descriptive case study design to examine the transfer of preservice content, pedagogy, and video technology learning into teaching practice. The study places the model case studies within the larger context of analyzed observational and artifact data from 7 years of preservice teachers’ learning about (re)anchored, video-centered engagement.

This mixed methods study examined the effects of inserting laptops and science technology tools in middle school environments. Working together with a local university, middle school science teaching faculty members wrote and aligned curricula, explored relevant science education literature, tested lessons with summer school students, and prepared evaluation measures for their year-long implementation of laptops, probeware, and other scientific hardware and software.  This quasi-experimental study revealed differences in student achievement, responses to pedagogy, and effectiveness of tools implemented by teachers over the course of the year.  Implications are discussed for the effectiveness of laptops in science, as well as future studies identifying differences in instructional practices associated with technology tools.

The purpose of this study was to explore preservice science teachers’ use of an interactive display system (IDS), consisting of a computer, digital projector, interactive white board, and Internet connection, to support science teaching and learning.  Participants included 9 preservice biology teachers enrolled in a master of teaching program during their full-time student teaching experience. Each participant had access to an IDS for the duration of the investigation. The research questions guiding the investigation included (a) whether teachers would use the IDS for instructional purposes, (b) what form this instruction would take, and (c) whether the instruction would reflect the recommendations of current science education reform documents. Analytic induction was used to analyze the wide variety of collected data, including classroom observation notes, entrance and exit interviews, lesson plans, and reflective essays. Results indicated that student teachers used the IDS in substantial ways to facilitate teaching reforms-based science. Furthermore, the results support the use of explicit approaches to preparing preservice teachers to use educational technology for inquiry instruction, modeling of effective uses of digital images and video clips, and specific instruction on whole-class inquiry methods.

This study examines the development of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) in four in-service secondary science teachers as they participated in a professional development program focusing on technology integration into K-12 classrooms to support science as inquiry teaching. In the program, probeware, mind-mapping tools (CMaps), and Internet applications ― computer simulations, digital images, and movies — were introduced to the science teachers. A descriptive multicase study design was employed to track teachers’ development over the yearlong program. Data included interviews, surveys, classroom observations, teachers’ technology integration plans, and action research study reports. The program was found to have positive impacts to varying degrees on teachers’ development of TPACK. Contextual factors and teachers’ pedagogical reasoning affected teachers’ ability to enact in their classrooms what they learned in the program. Suggestions for designing effective professional development programs to improve science teachers’ TPACK are discussed.

High school science teachers and students need interactive, multimedia research-based learning objects that (a) support standards-based teaching, (b) enforce complex thinking and problem solving, (c) embrace research skills, (d) include appropriate assessments to measure student performance, and (e) show “real-world” uses. To meet these five criteria, the CHANCE modules have been purposefully designed to allow students to “learn how things work” using real-world research data. These modules pace students through images and text that help them to interpret biological and ecological principles. Indeed, each module has been carefully field tested with practicing in-service and preservice science teachers and real students to assure its effectiveness. Notably, the integration of authentic scientific research with sequenced, interactive computer simulations create a solid curriculum base of national interest that has laid the groundwork for additional materials collections that capitalize on the resources of communities that surround schools in particular regions of the country.

This article describes the implementation of laptop computers and digital, USB-based microscopes (Proscopes®) in science classes. This technology integration project took place in a rural school district in North Carolina. This school is in a low socio-economic area, with an approximately 60/40 ratio of Caucasian to non-Caucasian students. Additionally, this school has had a comparably low level of access to technology for students and teachers. Traditional science tools (light microscopes) were replaced with four sets of a laptops with ProScopes as technology-enhanced collaborative work areas. With minimal formal technical training, students adapted and used these technologies to examine and explore content in cellular biology and to create electronic lab reports using digital images and motion videos captured during activities. The infusion of technologies in this instructional environment transformed the learning experiences through the powerful combination of science and technology, resulting in enhanced student processes and products.

The role of technology has an increased emphasis in the PK-12 classroom and in the preparation of teachers.  The wide support for the integration of technology in day-to-day instruction is evidenced at many levels and through many organizations. The current study focused on examining and describing the experiences of faculty and interns as they relate to the use of the PDA.  Results indicate that a clear and effective purpose for technology that matched specified outcomes was key for all of informants in this study.  Results also indicated that the simplest, most efficient technology for a particular task was essential.

This study investigated the effectiveness of using point-to-point videoconferencing for a 3-day professional development workshop of elementary school science teachers as part of the Science Co-op Project in rural Missouri. The intentions of this exploratory case study were to provide an overview of the program and to assess the degree to which participating teachers perceived the effective use of distance education technologies to address the challenge of reaching teachers in rural, isolated areas. The sample of teacher participants had participated in at least one traditional, onsite professional development workshop in previous years of the project. An exploratory case study design methodology was used to ascertain new information as it arose during the data collection process. Results suggest that teachers perceived the use of point-to-point videoconferencing to be as effective as their previous experience in traditional workshops.  However, teacher participants overwhelmingly preferred to have the workshop leaders onsite.

This article describes the rationale for and development of a computer-based instrument that helps identify commonly held science misconceptions. The instrument, known as the Science Beliefs Test, is a 47-item instrument that targets topics in chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, and astronomy. The use of an online data collection system aided in developing this instrument and in ascertaining its validity and reliability. Validity was also established through use of expert panels, previously published items, and feedback from pilot tests. Using KR-21, internal consistency was established at 0.77. A test-retest reliability coefficient was established at 0.776, or moderate. As of December 2005, 1,071 respondents participated in this study, including 17 college and university educators, 40 members of the general public, and 41 K-12 educators. Eighty-five graduate students, 254 K-12 students, and 634 undergraduates also took the survey. This instrument continues to be revised to clarify items and add others to further its usefulness.

Although technological innovations have the capability to significantly change how scientific investigations are done and greatly enhance the teaching and learning of science, its use is no more effective than any other resource or innovation when researched-based effective teaching practices are not followed. This paper reviews established guidelines for the effective use of technology in science and mathematics education, and presents several examples of technology products available for physics instruction and research related to their effectiveness.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which preservice elementary teachers were able to construct viable scientific models with a computer-modeling tool, namely Model-It, and design a science lesson with models. The results of the study showed that (a) Model-It, through its scaffolds (i.e., Plan, Build, and Test modes), enabled the majority of preservice teachers to build models that were structurally correct, (b) participants’ models were structurally correct but simplistic, and (c) 65% of the participants preferred to teach science using the explorative modeling method, 27% the expressive method, and only 8% both the explorative and the expressive methods. In essence, Model-It effectively scaffolded preservice teachers’ first modeling experiences and enabled them to quickly build and test their models. It is, however, recognized that systematic efforts need to be undertaken in teacher education departments to adequately prepare prospective teachers to teach science through computer models.

National science and mathematics standards stress the importance of integrating technology use into those fields of study at all levels of education. In order to fulfill these directives, it is necessary to introduce both in-service and preservice teachers to various forms of technology while modeling its appropriate use in investigating “real world” problems and situations. Using the conservation of mechanical energy of a falling and bouncing ball as its context, this paper describes how inexpensive video analysis technology makes possible the investigation of numerous types of motion with detail and precision that would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, without the use of this technology.

A survey of the AETS membership was conducted to examine potential gaps in their current versus desired knowledge about technology uses relative to science teacher education.

Sponsored by the Association
for Science Teacher Education
Volume 3, Issue 2   (2003)   ISSN 1528-5804

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