"Think outside the box" is a very common phrase, routinely used to convey the idea of finding creative and unconventional solutions to problems. Although widely used as a cliche in the business world, this phrase is significantly applicable to people who do science for a living, because scientists are constantly developing and testing new ideas.…

This paper is a response to Hoban and Neilsen's (2010) Five Rs model for understanding how learners engage with slowmation. An alternative model (the Learning MMAEPER Model) that builds on the 5Rs model is explained in terms of its use in secondary science preservice teacher education. To probe into the surface and deep learning that can occur…

Inscriptions play a critical role in the creation and communication of scientific knowledge, yet are afforded little status in traditional science education research and practice. In the vast majority of science classrooms, K-12 and university alike, inscriptions are treated as transparent, unproblematic illustrations of the "content" rather than…

Trevor Owens' paper provides a critique of the role of gender and authority in selected children's books that presented biographies of Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. In the context of discussing Trevor's (2009) article about children's literature, this forum explores issues related to the (a) representation and construction of gender, science,…

Assessing the potential impact and utility of course assignments are often a matter of informed, yet personal judgment. Here, in this article, doing our own assignments before assigning them to students is explored as a quality assurance measure and as a means to ensure an empathetic and critical approach to developing course work.

American science teachers in elementary and middle school face a dilemma as they prepare students for high school physics and advanced placement classes. The dilemma lies in ensuring that these students are equipped with the high-level science content they need to thrive in such classes. Aside from life sciences and chemistry sciences, how are our…

Pre-service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre-service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre-conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior…

Showing evidence of planing multicultural education in curricula is required by the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) for accreditation of professional education programs. This paper presents discussions on this issue over the last three decades, points out the increasingly diverse student population in the United…

This paper presents debates on the need to examine teacher education programs and discusses the importance and impact of mentoring on the learning outcomes of the science teacher educator (STE). The position is taken that a mentoring program for preservice teacher education should be a part of all advanced graduate programs. A lack of research on…

It is not unusual for an instructional model or approach to be misinterpreted in practice. Madeline Hunter bemoaned the way her Mastery Teaching approach was reduced to a seven step lesson plan. Although the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model of sheltered instruction for English language learners (ELLs) was developed fairly…

Although one role of computers in science education is to help students learn specific science concepts, computers are especially intriguing as a vehicle for fostering the development of epistemological knowledge about the nature of scientific knowledge--what it means to "know" in a scientific sense (diSessa, 1985). In this vein, the…

Implementing true inquiry teaching is challenging. Many teachers confuse hands-on activities with inquiry and fail to provide opportunities for students to think critically and analytically. As with any teaching, teachers must guide, focus, challenge, and encourage students to continue questioning and exploring. The level of inquiry that a teacher…

Introduces two national studies designed for K-8 preservice and inservice teachers. The first study concerns students' views of science and scientists, while the second study examines students' ideas about animals. Points out the importance of having teachers conduct classroom research, which is a part of professional development. (YDS)

Prevention, not detection, is the best way to reduce plagiarism, the author writes. In this article he shares his own hard-won experience in coming to this view. By adopting this new view, some will regain their role as mentor teachers and will not be reduced to policers of plagiarists.

The authors explored the perceived effects of an environmental expressive writing exercise by using a modified phenomenological method. The authors asked preservice teachers enrolled in a required public university science and society education course to compose multigenre compositions describing personal environmental impacts, followed by written…