One foot on the dock and one foot on the boat: Differences among preservice science teachers' interpretations of field‐based science methods in culturally diverse contexts

Abstract

Abstract To support lasting change in science classrooms, efforts must be made to assist teachers in understanding the outcomes of their pedagogical choices. The process of reflection is not limited to experienced teachers' experiences, though we must recognize that preservice teachers do not draw upon the same vast repertoire and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' beliefs about science teaching and learning through reflections on their own teaching with lower track science students. Using the major data sources of videotapes of teaching, stimulated recall interviews, and student journals we studied preservice teachers enrolled in a field based secondary science methods course working predominantly with rural Black children. Initially, preservice science teachers demonstrated similar practices, made similar inferences about teaching and learning, and relied upon similar domains of knowledge to gauge their teaching. By the end of the study, two discrete categories of preservice teachers emerged: (1) those who demonstrated an ability to reflect on and revise their practices and engage in the production of new teacher knowledge and (2) those who seemingly deflected efforts to shift their thinking and instead reproduced their own educational experience with a new student population. Implications for teacher education and research are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 87:390–418, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/sce.10057

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