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8 Supporting Educators to Center Children, Investigation, and Design
Pages 183-214

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From page 183...
... • To support teachers in enacting science and engineering in struction that is responsive to and supportive of the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the children in their classrooms, a growing body of research highlights the importance of di versifying the teacher educator workforce, placing preservice teachers in supportive field placements involving children from a range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and using sus tained professional learning experiences synergistically with educative curriculum materials.
From page 184...
... Furthermore, as noted elsewhere in the report, they may lack the time and resources for engaging in the work; this is particularly true of teachers working in underresourced schools, which, as has been shown, typically serve larger numbers of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other children of color. Throughout this chapter, the committee is oriented toward the assets preschool and elementary teachers bring to the work of teaching science and engineering to young children (Zembal-Saul, Carlone, and Brown, 2020; see also Gray, McDonald, and Stroupe, 2021)
From page 185...
... Identities, dispositions, and beliefs are seen as potentially central with this population, because the standard narrative would paint preschool and elementary teachers as, if not antiscience, at least antiscience teaching. The key constructs used in this chapter are defined as follows: • Identity: "the ways in which a teacher represents herself/himself through her/his views, orientations, attitudes, knowledge, and be liefs about science teaching, the kind of science teacher she/he envi sions to be, and the ways in which she/he is recognized by others" (Avraamidou, 2016, p.
From page 186...
... Elementary teachers are often celebrated for their compliance, nurturing, and people pleasing, and also thrive from positive recognition from administrators who, too, are often hesitant to work against established norms (Carlone, Haun-Frank, and Kimmel, 2010)
From page 187...
... , and the model is used in this chapter in exploring the literature on how teacher education and professional learning experiences can support preschool and elementary educators' learning. Connecting teacher learning to teacher outcomes and children's outcomes is not linear; rather, learning is both iterative and dynamic and "embedded in contexts what teachers learn and how they exercise their knowledge and skill" (NASEM, 2015, p.
From page 188...
... . She should be able to draw on existing curriculum materials to help her devise these experi ences -- her district's curriculum materials, although not perfect, are an important starting place for her.
From page 189...
... , and move children toward constructing their consensus model. She will make sure to highlight the work of some of her emergent mul tilingual learners, to make their contributions public.
From page 190...
... . (Although these data stem from studies of elementary teachers, there is little reason to believe that preschool teachers are any more likely to have strong science backgrounds.)
From page 191...
... showed that preservice elementary teachers were able to make up for not having a strong science subject-matter background by having positive dispositions. Specifically, four preservice elementary teachers in a teacher education program were studied, and each had dispositions that supported them in being able to use reform-based curriculum materials, such as inquisitiveness, investigation, and the inclination to learn alongside the learners in the classroom.
From page 192...
... has shown that the adoption of reform-based science teaching practices by in-service elementary teachers is linked to self-efficacy, confidence, and support from colleagues. Scholarship has looked at preservice and in-service elementary teachers' self-efficacy beliefs for teaching science (e.g., Bautista, 2011; Cartwright and Atwood, 2014; Gunning and Mensah, 2011; Menon and Sadler, 2016; Palmer, 2011; Sackes et al., 2012)
From page 193...
... tested the validity of an assessment instrument for measuring pedagogical content knowledge with 28 preservice elementary teachers. The authors found that the preservice teachers were able to make reasonable choices about different instructional approaches regardless of their science subject-matter knowledge, suggesting that elementary teachers may successfully compensate for shaky subjectmatter knowledge.
From page 194...
... It is important to note that there is less research examining the preparation of preschool teachers. In general, the reviewed research shows that most work in teacher education focuses on supporting preservice teachers' knowledge and beliefs, and less on their actual practice.
From page 195...
... Science Content Courses and Related Experiences A key finding related to the role of science content courses is that they can support a range of outcomes, not just the development of subjectmatter knowledge. This research explores a number of foci for teachers' needs, including how science content courses seem to • build preservice teachers' subject-matter knowledge (e.g., Parker and Heywood, 2013)
From page 196...
... Some of these studies focus on how science methods courses can affect (typically improve) aspects that matter in preservice teachers learning, including their • beliefs and attitudes about science and science teaching (e.g., Avraamidou, 2013, 2015; Frisch, 2018; Wagler, 2010)
From page 197...
... A third group of studies explore effects of more specific features of the science methods courses themselves, including: • innovative uses of technology (e.g., Bautista, 2011; Bautista and Boone, 2015; Dalvi and Wendell, 2017; Olson, Bruxvoort, and Haar, 2016) , • approximations of practice and other features of practice-based teacher education and preservice teachers' characteristics (e.g., Bautista and Boone, 2015; Bottoms, Ciechanowski, and Hartman, 2015; d'Alessio, 2018; Wenner and Kittleson, 2018)
From page 198...
... For example, in a qualitative study looking at 22 preservice elementary teachers, Kademian and Davis (2018) found that preservice teachers planned to use a range of teaching practices likely to be supportive of leveraging children's contributions and that using carefully designed tools during planning a discussion seemed to support the development of their content knowledge for teaching as well as their teaching practice.
From page 199...
... followed 27 preservice teachers from their science methods class into student teaching. In this mixed-methods study exploring many of the dimensions that shape elementary science teaching, the authors found that most of the preservice teachers' lessons involved inquiry in some way.
From page 200...
... Box 8-3 examines work that explores the supports needed for novice elementary teachers to work toward justice in science teaching -- one focusing on the role of the cooperating teacher (Chen and Mensah, 2018) and the other focusing on the linguistic diversity of the field placement (Rivera Maulucci, 2011)
From page 201...
... examined the role of the cooperating teacher in supporting the identity develop ment of three preservice teachers in a social justice focused elementary teacher education program. The authors found that in this case study the preservice teachers' cooperating teachers had a particularly important role in shaping their identities as science teachers and as social justice teachers.
From page 202...
... The authors were interested in the preservice teachers' self-efficacy and beliefs about science and science teaching. In the "science semester," preservice teachers were immersed in science for a semester of the teacher education program, taking courses in earth, life, and physical science as well as elementary science methods.
From page 203...
... Science content courses can support the development of subject-matter knowledge, knowledge and beliefs about how scientists construct knowledge through engaging in practices, beliefs about science and science teaching, attitudes toward science and science teaching, and science teaching practice. Science methods courses, including practice-based teacher education experiences, can support the development of more positive beliefs, self-efficacy, attitudes, and science identities; knowledge; understanding of and engagement in science and engineering practices; instructional planning and the use of curriculum materials; and engagement in science and engineering instructional practices (including some regarding supporting children of color and emergent bilingual children)
From page 204...
... Build on preservice preschool and elementary teachers' strengths Professional Learning Opportunities for In-service Classroom Teachers4 In Science Teachers Learning (NASEM, 2015) , professional learning was described as being situated in formally organized programs offered by a wide range of individuals and organizations both within and often 4 Portions of this section include content from multiple papers commissioned by the commit tee: "Engineering Education in Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth Grade: An Overview" (Cardella, Svarovsky, and Pattison, 2020)
From page 205...
... report was written. However, with the available evidence, a consensus model of effective professional learning experiences (Science Teachers' Learning Conclusion 5)
From page 206...
... Participating teachers (who included some elementary teachers, as well as middle and high school teachers) became more able to use disciplinary core ideas themselves to explain phenomena and became more confident about their ability to engage in this kind of teaching.
From page 207...
... ; learning to integrate science and engineering with language art; opportunities for preschool teachers; and teaching toward equity and justice in preschool and elementary science and engineering. Engineering Education Professional Learning Experiences Universities and STEM education centers often serve as providers of engineering education professional learning experiences, and a few studies out of those organizations have explored the effects of professional learning experiences aimed at supporting elementary teachers in learning to teach engineering (e.g., Capobianco, DeLisi, and Radloff, 2018; Duncan, Diefes-Dux, and Genry, 2011; Guzey et al., 2014; Sun and Strobel, 2013; Watkins et al., 2018)
From page 208...
... Head Start on Engineering aims at engineering-focused professional learning experiences for preschool teachers. Professional Learning Experiences Supporting Content Integration Numerous scholars have studied professional learning opportunities for elementary teachers to learn to integrate science and literacy.
From page 209...
... study of a professional development project to encourage in-service elementary teachers in rural California to focus on inquiry and language acquisition, researchers found that, initially, the majority of their 24 participants felt well prepared to teach either science or language, but not both. After the professional learning experiences, however, the majority of teachers believed they had improved in the domain initially perceived to be their weak domain.
From page 210...
... These large-scale studies reflect how the consensus model (or extended consensus model) for professional learning experiences, particularly in conjunction with supportive curriculum materials and coaching, can support preschool teachers in their science teaching.
From page 211...
... . Thus, the study connected some of the dots between teacher knowledge, teachers' opportunities to learn via professional learning experiences and educative curriculum materials, and teacher practice.
From page 212...
... shows the importance of diversifying the teacher education workforce. These studies highlight the importance of seeing "people like you" in science teacher education, particularly for preservice elementary teachers.
From page 213...
... These learning opportunities can take a number of forms, but must provide a degree of coherence with teachers' professional contexts. In preservice teacher education, structures including science content courses, science methods courses, field experiences, and programmatic approaches can, collectively, support preservice preschool and elementary teachers in developing their knowledge, beliefs, identities, and practice.
From page 214...
... . preschool and elementary teachers of science and engineering.


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