Understanding Noyce Scholars’ Epistemological Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics

• In Event: Developing Content Area Pedagogy During Induction: Studies of New Math, Science, and Language Arts Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate aspiring and then novice mathematics and science teachers’ development of their domain-specific epistemological beliefs. Seven aspiring teachers majoring in mathematics and science responded to the Epistemological Belief Questionnaire and Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire at three different times in a time span of 2 years. A focus group interview was conducted in May 2011 as four participants taught for a year. Analyses of data focused on how educational experiences (i.e., coursework, internship in schools, and the field studies) help facilitate the development of participating teachers’ desirable epistemological beliefs and to what extent such experiences contribute to their epistemological belief changes about teaching and learning in urban middle schools.

Authors

• Gaoyin Qian, Lehman College - CUNY

• Serigne Mbaye Gningue, Lehman College - CUNY

• Angela M. Kelly, Stony Brook University - SUNY

• Liqing Tao, College of Staten Island - CUNY