The early years of teaching are important for science teachers, but little is known about how science teachers develop professionally in their early years. This mixed methods study took a longitudinal view of the early years of teaching. Following 95 secondary science teachers over a 5-year period, this study examined the beliefs, pedagogical…

This study explored the potential impact of teaching outside of one's field of expertise. This longitudinal cross-case study examined the development of enacted pedagogical content knowledge (ePCK) among a group of in-field and out-of-field (OOF) physical science teachers during their first 3 years of teaching. The components of ePCK investigated…

Although new teachers clearly need resources and support, little is known about the types of resources new science teachers' access during their early years of teaching. To increase knowledge of their needs, the study described in this article focused on the primary resources (i.e., human, material, and social) and secondary resources (i.e.,…

Science teachers must sometimes teach outside of their expertise, and this type of teaching assignment is referred to as being out-of-field. Among newly hired teachers, this type of assignment may have a detrimental impact in the development of their instruction. This study explored the classroom instruction of 17 newly hired teachers who were…

Despite agreement among teacher educators, scholars, and policymakers on the importance of teachers' subject matter knowledge (SMK), existing models provide limited information about the nature of this foundational component of teacher knowledge. The common assumption is that teachers need to know more about the science subject matter than their…

Although studies repeatedly show both the importance of teachers' science subject matter knowledge (SMK) and the fact that teachers have limited SMK, there are few opportunities for teachers to formally enhance their understanding of science after entering the classroom. Therefore, there is significant need for teachers to develop their SMK…

Over the years, the content knowledge that a teacher holds has been viewed as essential to his or her teaching. As a result, researchers are exploring the content knowledge that teachers hold and those in teacher education are crafting programs to improve the content knowledge of teachers. With this ongoing interest in this area, it is important…

Science teachers need to understand the subject matter they teach. While subject matter knowledge (SMK) can improve with classroom teaching experience, it is problematic that many secondary science teachers leave the profession before garnering extensive classroom experience. Furthermore, many new science teachers are assigned to teach science…

"Floating" teachers, or teachers without their own classroom, experience unique affordances and constraints as they develop professionally. To increase the knowledge in this area, this study looks at how traveling to different classrooms affects beginning secondary science teachers' development and instruction. The participants in…

Many new science teachers are assigned to teach subjects in which they have not been prepared, a practice referred to as out-of-field (OOF) teaching. Teaching OOF has been shown to negatively influence instruction and constrain teachers' development. In this study, we explored the extent to which new secondary science teachers were assigned OOF…

The shortage of science teachers has spurred a discussion about their retention and recruitment. While discussion about retaining science teachers has increased dramatically in just the last few years, science teacher educators have not attended to the recruitment of science teachers with the same tenacity. This paper is our effort to initiate…

While many studies focus on why teachers leave the classroom, there remains a need to study why teachers persist in teaching. One area to study is the beliefs of teachers, which may impact persistence in the field. This 5-year mixed-methods study explored whether 35 beginning secondary science teachers' beliefs were related to their persistence in…

This study explored the yearlong learning processes of two first-year secondary science teachers participating in an online mentoring program, through examination of their written dialogues within the program and other data. Using a case study method, this study (a) explored the patterns of written dialogues between the two new teachers and their…

This study investigates the conceptions and use of inquiry during classroom instruction among beginning secondary science teachers. The 44 participants were beginning secondary science teachers in their first year of teaching. In order to capture the participants' conceptions of inquiry, the teachers were interviewed and observed during the…

New teachers are common in the teaching workforce (Ingersoll and Merrill 2012). All new teachers will learn about the school curriculum and school policies in their first years. New science teachers, however, need to attend to the "Next Generation of Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) as they build their instruction and knowledge…