High-School Biology Today and Tomorrow (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Part V: Teacher Preparation
Part V: Teacher Preparation
Pages 195-242
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PART V Teacher Preparation
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Education in biology, among the sciences, is in a key and pivotal position to alleviate the current situation key, because it is the only science studied by the vast majority of our students, and pivotal, because study of biology may provide the motivation, stimulation, skills, and interest that encourage a child to elect optional science courses, such as those in chemistry and physics. Therefore, biology teacher education may be the panacea or the pitfall as we attempt to reform science education in our schools.
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Both the type of course and the level of competition may be radically different, depending on the organization of the teacher education program within the university. Furthermore, biology teachers may be certified by religious colleges and universities that do not recognize or teach evolution as the unifying theme of biology.
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We need to provide perspective and suggestions as we strive for ways th make biology teacher education a model for science education. REFERENCES AACl ~ (American Association of Colleges for leacher Education)
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and the Disk Force on Caching as a Profession (1986) , address twin goals: to reform teacher education and to reform the teaching profession.
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As a result, one sees a tension between the generalist approach and the specialist approach to teacher preparation and certification. The trend nationally in all states is to certify generalist science teachers-despite the efforts of professional organizations, such as the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
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There is much room for improvement in the colleges of arts and sciences of our universities as regards their part of teacher education. Unintegrated programs in general education, excessively narrow subject-area majors (depth of subject without breadth of subject)
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We owe a lot to Shulman (1986) for successfully and pointedly calling our attention to pedagogical knowledge of content as a fundamentally important element of teaching and teacher preparation: for the most regularly taught topics in one's subject area, the most useful forms of representation of those ideas, the most powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations, and demonstrations in a word, the ways of representing and formulating the subject that make it comprehensible to others.
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For one thing, it is not clear whether primary responsibility for pedagogical knowledge of content in university teacher education programs lies in the college of arts and sciences or in the school or college of education. Both education and arts and sciences have a role, but the degree of emphasis may differ.
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Faculties are choosing to add "common experiences" for all prospective teachers, rather than several diverse subject-specific or otherwise specialized approaches. More and more, institutions call attention to their respective teacher education programs, emphasizing generic characteristics, while few call attention to programs preparing subject-specific high-school teachers of biology, mathematics, physics, or chemistry.
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It is clear that the initial preparation of teachers must be followed by additional professional development. The structure of our graduate teacher education programs at the University of Georgia illustrates the foregoing discussion.
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On the other hand, teacher education students do not take any content knowledge courses in the College of Education. All these offerings are in the College of Arts and Sciences.
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This view of teaching hardly allows for autonomy and discretion. Teachers often complain that the conditions they find in their schools do not allow them to use all the worthwhile skills and knowledge they acquired in their teacher preparation programs.
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reported the example of the social-science teacher who collected dolls during her American and international travels and used them in her classes. The dolls, dressed in clothes of the particular region or country, helped raise many questions about people elsewhere.
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For one thing, they promoted the integration of content and pedagogy in science education to a degree unheard of before or since. They were especially strong in the area of pedagogical knowledge of content long before Shulman (1986)
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I believe that the re-establishment of the NSF institutes, especially those promoting full-time, in-depth study during the academic year or summer, would be a significant step in support of the current movement to strengthen teaching as a profession. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a pleasure to acknowledge the significant contributions to this paper of Patricia Simmons and Russell Yeany of the University of Georgia College of Education's Department of Science Education.
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Currently, there is a shortage of science teachers in general and an acute shortage of science teachers with current backgrounds in the subjects they teach (National Journal, 1987~. But in our nation's biology classrooms we are not only training future biologists, technicians, and educators, but also educating the majority, the future citizens of an increasingly technological society and threatened world.
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In the absence of teacher training and analysis, teachers teach as they were taught (Galleger, 1967~. Many of our nation's science teachers may not have been presented with good models when they were science students.
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Programs like those of the Research Corporation and the Industry Initiatives for Science and Mathematics Education-Los Angeles (IISME-LA) match science teachers with university researchers for summer internships that provide experiences that enhance the background of science teachers and produce ideas for classroom laboratory activities.
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Another in-service model in the LAUSD, funded by Public Law 98-377, uses lead advanced-placement biology teachers to teach first-year collegelevel content and process much as they are taught in advanced-placement classes to teachers deficient in particular content areas. Both basic content and good classroom practices are taught.
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All the stakeholders In science education have their own objectives, but it is only through collaboration that we can begin to attack the enormous challenge facing us all. REFERENCES Deboer, G
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1986. Raining science teachers to utilize better teaching strategies: A research synthesis.
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He chaired the National Science Teachers Association committee that developed the association's Standards for the Preparation and Certification of Secondary School Teachers of Science.
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USES OF TEACHER PREPARATION AND CERTIFICATION STANDARDS By and large, the most common and important use of professional standards is to protect the public. With regard to biology teaching, the goals are to ensure that institutions do a proper job of preparing teachers to teach the subject and that those entering the profession will be competent biology teachers.
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We see some evidence of the two sides of the debate as we compare two very prestigious statements about the education and certification of biology teachers-those of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA, 1987~.
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The NSTA standards took a giant step forward a few years ago when the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) decided to involve professional organizations, such as NSTA, directly in the accreditation process.
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Science-teacher preparation programs of colleges seeking NCATE accreditation are now being evaluated by NSTA committees, which use the NSTA standards in their deliberations. This gives the NSTA standards the potential to serve as a powerful tool to strengthen college programs for the preparation of science teachers.
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. While this program has yet to have an impact on an impressive proportion of NSTAs membership of almost 50,000, the interest being shown in individual certification seems to indicate that many science teachers see themselves as members of a proud profession and that many of its members want to be recognized for their scholarly and professional attainment.
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Since accelerated programs often are available in large urban school districts, candidates frequently end up in "hard-to-staff" schools. Hardto staff positions receive that designation for a variety of reasons, but it often means serving a particularly difficult population of students.
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1b the extent that these conditions are not met, we risk wasting promising candidates who might under better circumstances develop into excellent science teachers.
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It appears from Weiss's more recent study (1988b) that misassignment in science most typically places science teachers in science classes for which they are but partially prepared.
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Arlington, Va.: National Association of Biology Teachem. National Science Teachers Association.
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198&. Course Background Preparation of Science Teachers.
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HIGH-SCHOOL BIOLOGY APPENDIX A NABT Biology Teaching Standards PROGRAM SCOPE: A biology education program should prepare teachers for both the junior high/middle school and senior high school levels of instruction and should be designed to educate college and university students to teach any secondary biology or other life science courses. The suggested program should include a minimum of 24 semester hours in the biological sciences, including course work to ensure the proficiencies stated below; plus a minimum of 24 semester hours in chemistry and introductory physics; and proficiency in mathematics through college algebra.
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The program should include at least one separate course (~5 semester hours) , and preferably more in science teaching methods and curricula Com~tt^n same and Classroom Management Techniques The program should prepare pres ervice teachers to speak and write effectively and demonstrate effective NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, 1742 CONNECTICUT AVENUE.
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Like other programs in education, biology education will most probably be affected by recent calls for reform in the teaching profession by the Holmes Group, the Carnegie Disk Force on Caching as a Profession, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) , the National Science Board, and others.
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Since most states' requirements for certification lean heavily toward the professional-education component, rather than the subject-matter component, the result is that teacher-education programs tend to be long on professional education, including pedagogy, and short on subject-matter content. This condition has prompted critics of the teaching profession and those involved in the current reform movement to recommend that prospective teachers earn a baccalaureate degree in their subject-matter area before being allowed to enter a professional teacher-education program (Holmes Group, 1986; Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986~.
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What is needed now is a biology faculty that is sensitive to the problems and needs of high-school biology teachers, particularly since the high-school biology teachers prepare the next generation of college biology majors. The biology department faculty can contribute its subject-matter expertise, its knowledge of the structure of the discipline, and its knowledge and understanding of contemporary topics of research and investigation.
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In the revised NCATE-approved curriculum guidelines for biology teacher-education programs, prepared by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) , it is recommended that high-school biology teachers complete a minimum of 32 semester-hours in biology, with the necessary support courses in other sciences, mathematics, and computer science (NSTA, 1987~.
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In concluding the discussion of the first major issue, I strongly suggest that each institution that prepares biology teachers consider establishing a biology teacher-education council consisting of faculty from precessional education, science education, and the biological sciences. The council would be responsible for periodically reviewing the biology teacher-education curriculum to ensure a solid foundation in biology content.
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to the top of the profession. The Holmes Group's recommendation regarding the establishment of a three-tier system within the teaching profession is also expected to have a negative impact on minority-group teacher recruitment.
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The result has been the elimination of large numbers of members of those groups from teaching and from entering the teaching profession. An alarming example of the impact of extensive testing is that which has occurred in Florida and 18 other states where testing is apparently the primary reason for the reduction in the minority-group teaching force since the early 1980s (Smith, 1988~.
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The need for minority-group science teachers is as important as the need for minority-group teachers in general, for minority-group science teachers serve as scientist role models for minority-group students. Therefore, efforts must be made to recruit minority-group members into science teaching.
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1987. NCATE-Approved Curriculum Guidelines for Biology Teacher Education Programs.
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