Changes in Belief Orientations of Preservice Teachers and Their Relation to Inquiry Activities

Abstract

Research in science education suggests that teachers’ beliefs are linked to the use of inquiry-based instruction; teachers holding a constructivist belief are more likely to engage in student-centered activities in the classroom. However, there is currently little research on the ways in which teachers’ beliefs change over time, and in particular, the relationship between instructional activities in teacher education programs and their impact on teachers’ beliefs. We examined shifts in secondary preservice teachers’ belief orientations as they progressed through a science methods course. We found that overall many of the preservice teachers progressed in their orientation beliefs from a teacher-centered orientation to more student-centered orientation. We characterized four trajectories of change or clusters that describe how preservice teachers’ beliefs changed over the course of the semester (15 weeks). We also describe the different ways in which preservice teachers reacted to specific instructional activities, and how those activities influenced their belief orientation. In particular, we found that preservice teachers in a cluster that exhibited a particular trajectory (progression or regression toward/away from student-centered belief orientation) reacted differently to some activities compared to preservice teachers in some other clusters. We discuss these shifts as reflecting changes in priorities of beliefs within belief systems. We argue that teacher educators need to think carefully about the interplay of these beliefs when designing activities so that they can respond (i.e., to a reversal in beliefs) during the course rather than waiting until the end.

Appendices

Appendix 1

 

Traditional	Instructive	Transitional	Response	Reform based
“I would lecture to the students and as I am lecturing I would tie it into the idea of cooking.”	“I would open my lesson by posing a question that would spark discussion and introduce the objective of my lesson.”	“The first thing you need when teaching anything is enthusiasm for the topic and a general interest in it. After that, the students need to be fully involved, there has to be a vested interest created.”	“The type of learning students should be involved in is active. This means the students are involved with their learning. They are given a question or determine their own question and are encouraged and guided by the teacher to find the answer.”	“In modeling, the class, as a knowledge building community, exchanges ideas, argues evidence, asks questions of one another, and agrees/disagrees on a public presentation of a model. Through the actions of a scientific community, the students are cognitively engaged to take new information and critically think about how that relates to their understanding.”
“Facts are facts that need to be memorized.”	“I would begin by talking with my students about how living things grow. I would place them into groups and have them draw and describe one stage of cellular division.”	“The problems with current instructional methods are that they are too factual and boring.”	“Therefore a good lesson in science includes students working together to revise their models. The teacher’s role is to guide them in working together to understand the phenomena.”	“The goal for the lesson would be for the students to present a comprehensive model to the class backed up by the evidence they had gathered during their own inquiries.”
“The overall idea behind this lesson is to be able to convey all the information in a lecture.”	“After the topic is covered (through lecture), a real life problem concerning it should be addressed and in groups students can discuss and think of solutions.”	“A good science lesson is one that challenges students and makes them want to engage in the lesson.”	“I know now that teachers are not walking encyclopedias. Instead we are learning guides who are there to help students gain the necessary knowledge to understand things for themselves.”	“As the students vocalize their ideas, write them down on paper, discuss them as a class, and develop them into a model, the students will unknowingly be starting the path of being able to revise their ideas. The students are now able to acknowledge and be actively engaged in their knowledge/learning.”

Appendix 2

 

Beliefs about teacher’s role	Beliefs about student’s role	Beliefs about learning science
“I would open a new lesson by posing a question that would spark discussion and introduce my objectives of the lesson.”	“By mimicking the activities of scientists, students learn the process of science—something they can take away from the class and into their adult lives regardless of the fields they enter.”	“The biggest problem my group is having, aside from the fact none of us have any prior knowledge and a novice understanding of the new “clues” we were given, is actually making the model. I never know how to bridge the gap between what I think might be going on, and what I might even feel pretty confident is going on, and making a representation of it.”
“The overall idea behind this lesson plan is to be able to covey all the information in a lecture without the monotony of a teacher just lecturing.”	“In a good science lesson, the class acts as a knowledge-building community where everybody has a responsibility for successful learning and students are active participants in a teaching process.”	“As I discussed in the entry above, combining models seems to be a very helpful process. By creating an initial model with only my current understanding, and then given just a little bit more information to think about (either by viewing others’ models, or reading some literature on the subject), it is kind of like a scaffolding effect (only the scaffolding comes from peers, not only the instructor). Not only does it give me the opportunity to incorporate others’ knowledge into my own understanding, but I am able to analyze the mistakes they placed in their models (along with my own).”