Presents a vignette about Karen, a student teacher in her first attempt at teaching chemical isotopes. Karen focuses on transmitting what she knows. An overview of Schulman's conceptions of pedagogical content knowledge is then provided. Shulman's ideas are employed to frame the experiences of Alan, a student teacher, as he and his cooperating…

Examines the effects of a science methods course on the attitudes of the preservice elementary teachers (n=145) toward teaching science. Results indicated a significant positive change in attitude that was not significantly different for low and high science achievers. (MDH)

Investigates preservice elementary teachers' theories about science teaching and learning through their reflections on integrated media case-based instruction. Constructs a profile of the teachers' images of themselves as future science teachers. Contains 43 references. (DDR)

Describes and analyzes two science methods courses at the elementary and secondary levels for how they addressed four ideas: (1) how students learn science; (2) how teachers teach science to students; (3) how prospective science teachers learn about the first two ideas; and (4) how methods instructors teach prospective science teachers about the…

Explores factors related to preservice teachers' capacity to understand the learning cycle. Finds that understanding of the learning cycle was related to science teaching outcome expectancy, not to personal science teaching efficacy or to attitudes toward science. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/WRM)

This study assessed, and identified factors in participants' learning ecologies that mediated, the effectiveness of an explicit reflective instructional approach that satisfied conditions for learning as conceptual change on preservice elementary teachers' views of nature of science (NOS). Participants were 28 undergraduate students enrolled in an…

Perceptions of mentors' practices related to primary science teaching from nine Australian universities (N = 331 final-year preservice teachers) were gathered through a literature-based instrument. Five factors that characterize effective mentoring practices in primary science teaching were supported by confirmatory factory analysis. These…

Given the important role of science teacher educators in developing science teachers' understandings of nature of science (NOS), this study explores 15 Turkish "prospective" science teacher educators' beliefs about NOS in the context of teacher education reform in Turkey. A reflection-oriented qualitative approach was adopted in the…

Describes the science teacher education program developed by the faculty of Richmond College of the City University of New York, in which a close working relationship has been established with the cooperating teachers. Both student teachers and the cooperating classroom teachers enthusiastically endorse the effectiveness of this student teaching…

Explains the convergent and discriminant validity of two tests of science process skills with two tests of formal reasoning ability. Reports test results from elementary education majors and discusses the tests' intercorrelations. Implications related to instruction are analyzed. (ML)

Examined the effects different communicators (science methods instructors, supervisors, graduate assistants, and others) had on the attitudes of 25 elementary education majors toward science and science teaching, focusing on which communicators were perceived as being the most credible. (DH)

Recommendations from British Columbia teachers in elementary (N=1322) and junior secondary schools (N=309) indicate strong support for emphasis on practical aspects of preservice teacher education. Practice in science teaching, techniques of science teaching, and lesson planning were rated highest. Laboratory safety, reading, and writing should…

Two persuasive communications were constructed and validated. Validity was tested by verifying the presence of supportive and counterarguments. The one-sided communication was shown to contain only supportive arguments, while the two-sided communication contained both supportive and counterarguments. Implications for instruction are addressed. (JN)

This study investigated a way of teaching Israeli student-teachers about the nature of classroom activities in the cognitive domain by training them to observe actual lessons. Observation was limited to the activity of pupils in science classrooms rather than to that of the science teachers. (HM)

Investigated was the relationship between spatial visualization and cognitive development in a sample of 88 Australian freshman teacher education students. Results support the hypothesis that enhanced capacity to visualize is an outcome of overall cognitive development. (HM)