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Problematizing the Practicum to Integrate Practical Knowledge

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Abstract

This article examines the influence of a practicum teaching experience on two pre-service science teachers. The research is focused on examining a practicum in a secondary science department that actively promotes the teaching and learning of science as inquiry. We investigated the process through which the pre-service science teachers integrated their practical knowledge, and examined this in the context of the quantified reformed instruction they enacted. Using a mixed methods design, we have quantified these pre-service science teachers’ practice using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (Piburn et al. 2000), in concert with a narrative methodology drawn from in-depth interviews. Our analysis of the data indicates two important conclusions. The first is the importance of a consistently reformed image of science education being presented and practiced by both science teacher educators and cooperating teachers. The second is the recognition that a consistently reformed image may not be sufficient, of itself, to challenge pre-service teachers’ views of science education. Pre-service teachers appear to be heavily influenced by their biographies and own science education. Consequently, it appears the extent to which a pre-service teacher identifies problems of teaching and learning, and then works toward possible resolution, influences their progress in shaping reformed views of science education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada

    Wayne Melville, Antonio Stefanile & Nicholas Tkaczyk

  2. University of Connecticut, 249 Glenbrook Rd, Unit 3033, Storrs, CT, 06269-3033, USA

    Todd Campbell

  3. Brock University, Catharines, Canada

    Xavier Fazio

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  1. Wayne Melville
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  2. Todd Campbell
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  4. Antonio Stefanile
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  5. Nicholas Tkaczyk
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Correspondence to Todd Campbell.

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Melville, W., Campbell, T., Fazio, X. et al. Problematizing the Practicum to Integrate Practical Knowledge. Res Sci Educ 44, 751–775 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-014-9404-3

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