Practice-Based Teacher Education and School Contexts: Supporting Novice Elementary Teachers' Science Knowledge for Teaching

• In Event: 77.058 - MTCC Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: 77.058-7 - Teaching Students to Think Like It: Disciplinary Literacy

Abstract

Most studies use preservice teacher evaluations or syllabi to analyze teacher education programs. The current study extends the literature by investigating the opportunities to learn within a practice-based teacher education program and schools for supporting novice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching science. We analyzed a range of course materials and interviews to develop in-depth descriptions of how the opportunities supported novice teachers’ knowledge development. Overall, the program opportunities mainly supported the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, minimally supported their subject matter knowledge, and rarely supported their understanding of science applications and how science relates to other disciplines. Analyzing opportunities to learn can inform evidence-based decisions for improving teacher education that supports novice teachers’ content knowledge for teaching science.

Authors

• Amber Schultz Bismack, University of Michigan

• Elizabeth A. Davis, University of Michigan

• Annemarie S. Palincsar, University of Michigan