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Cultural Studies of Science Education

, Volume 12, Issue 2, pp 331–353 | Cite as

A well-started beginning elementary teacher’s beliefs and practices in relation to reform recommendations about inquiry-based science

  • Lucy Avraamidou
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Given reform recommendations emphasizing scientific inquiry and empirical evidence pointing to the difficulties beginning teachers face in enacting inquiry-based science, this study explores a well-started beginning elementary teacher’s (Sofia) beliefs about inquiry-based science and related instructional practices. In order to explore Sofia’s beliefs and instructional practices, several kinds of data were collected in a period of 9 months: a self-portrait and an accompanying narrative, a personal philosophy assignment, three interviews, three journal entries, ten lesson plans, and ten videotaped classroom observations. The analysis of these data showed that Sofia’s beliefs and instructional practices were reform-minded. She articulated contemporary beliefs about scientific inquiry and how children learn science and was able to translate these beliefs into practice. Central to Sofia’s beliefs about science teaching were scientific inquiry and engaging students in investigations with authentic data, with a prevalent emphasis on the role of evidence in the construction of scientific claims. These findings are important to research aiming at supporting teachers, especially beginning ones, to embrace reform recommendations.

Keywords

Beginning elementary teachers Inquiry-based science Reform recommendations 

Περίληψη

Η παρούσα εργασία στηρίζεται σε σύγχρονες εισηγήσεις για εκπαιδευτική μεταρρύμιση στις Φυσικές Επιστήμες, οι οποίες δίνουν έμφαση στη μάθηση μέσω διερεύνησης, καθώς επίσης και σε ερευνητικά ευρήματα τα οποία καταδεικνύουν τις δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίζουν οι νέοι εκπαιδευτικοί δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης. Βασισμένη στη μεθοδολογική προσέγγιση της μελέτης περίπτωσης, η εργασία αυτή εξετάζει τις πεποιθήσεις και τις διδακτικές πρακτικές μίας εξαίρετης εκπαιδευτικού, της Σοφίας, για τη μάθηση μέσω διερεύνησης. Σε χρονική περίοδο εννέα μηνών, είχαν συλλεχθεί δεδομένα από ποικιλία μεθόδων: προσωπικό πορτραίτο και γραπτή εργασία, προσωπική φιλοσοφία διδασκαλίας, τρεις συνεντεύξεις, τρία αναστοχαστικά ημερολόγια, δέκα σχέδια μαθήματος και δέκα βιντεοσκοπημένα μαθήματα. Η ανάλυση των δεδομένων υποδεικνύει πως τόσο οι αντιλήψεις όσο και οι διδακτικές πρακτικές της Σοφίας εμπεριείχαν χαρακτηριστικά πλαισιωμένα από μεταρρυθμιστικές εισηγήσεις. Στο επίκεντρο των πεποιθήσεων της Σοφίας βρισκόταν η εμπλοκή των μαθητών σε επιστημονικές διερευνήσεις με αυθεντικά δεδομένα με σκοπό την ανάπτυξη επιστημονικών επεξηγήσεων και εξαγωγή συμπερασμάτων. Τα ευρήματα αυτά είναι σημαντικά ειδικά για ερευνητές που ασχολούνται με την κατάρτιση των εκπαιδευτικών και θέματα μεταρρύθμισης στις Φυσικές Επιστήμες.

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© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of NicosiaNicosiaCyprus

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