Using Notebooks to Explicitly Distinguish Multiple Perspectives in the Elementary Science Methods Course

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore an approach to an elementary science methods course that utilized a science notebook to physically distinguished multiple perspectives of science teaching and learning. We conceptualized teacher candidates’ (TCs’) thinking within a framework titled Exploring Multiple Perspectives in the Methods Course, focusing on a student perspective and a teacher perspective. We examined the pre/post drawings of a science teacher, which included reflections on the drawings, and end-of-semester focus group responses of 30 TCs from two sections of the methods course. Nineteen TCs either included notebooks in their post-drawings or indicated their value in their reflections. Focus group responses suggested the impact of taking the student perspective and the teacher perspective in the methods course. Furthermore, TCs discussed the notebook as a reference and reflection tool for students and teachers, as a tool for assessment and recording thinking, and notebook use as an elementary teacher. The findings of this study add to the literature by examining how TCs perceive and talk about using the science notebook when it serves as a tool to support explicit attention to student and teacher perspectives in the methods course.

Appendices

Appendix A

Focus Group Interview Protocol (approximately 30 minutes)

Please look at your pre- and post- “Draw a Science, Health, and Engineering Teacher” drawings and re-read your pre- and post-drawing reflections.

• 1. What elements of this class have contributed to your vision for how you will teach science, health, and engineering in your future classroom?

• 2. What models have you seen in your field placements of how you want to teach science, health, and engineering?

• 3. What did you gain (if anything) from creating a Science, Health, and Engineering Notebook this semester?

• 4. Do you plan on using notebooks in your future classroom? If so, how?

• 5. How confident are you in using notebooks in your future classroom? Why?

• 6. What might you need to feel more confident in teaching science, health and engineering in your future classroom?

Appendix B

Vignette of Student Side and Teacher Side Activities (see Carter & Schliemann, 2020)

In week 2, on the “student side,” TCs engaged in the Picture-Perfect Science Lesson on force and motion titled Sheep in a Jeep (Ansberry & Morgan, 2010). The instructor omitted various aspects of the lesson for brevity, but still followed the 5E learning cycle. She read the book Sheep in a Jeep, introduced the inquiry experience of setting up ramps and collecting data related to the distance a toy car went down the ramp by changing the height of the ramp and then the surface of the ramp (tile floor versus sandpaper). After each investigation (changing the height of the ramp as the Explore phase and examining the effect of sandpaper as the Elaborate phase), the instructor facilitated a class discussion to share data and make sense of the concepts of force and motion. Teacher candidates had been assigned reading on the Science and Engineering Practices for the week, so after the Sheep in the Jeep lesson, thus on the “teacher side,” TCs were asked to summarize each SEP and then discuss with their table groups and record in their notebooks if and how they were engaging in each of the SEPs. The purpose of this activity was for TCs to consider how various SEPs can be facilitated with students, while some of the practices evident in a particular lesson can be foregrounded and others backgrounded (Bybee, 2013).