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

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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.

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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Lucy Avraamidou

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  1. Lucy Avraamidou
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Correspondence to Lucy Avraamidou.

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Lead Editor: M. Espinet.

Appendix

Appendix

First semi-structured interview protocol

  • Tell me about yourself as a teacher of science. How do you envision yourself to be teaching science?

  • How will your classroom look like?

  • What kind of approaches will you be using?

  • What does your self-portrait show? Provide explanations

  • Elaborate on your personal science teaching philosophy. Provide explanations.

  • How do you think learn science best?

  • What’s your view about reform recommendations emphasizing scientific inquiry?

  • What are advantages of the inquiry-based approach to science teaching?

Second semi-structured interview protocol

  • Describe your experience as a substitute teacher so far? How is the school culture?

  • What are the goals of this unit?

  • How does the design of this unit relate to your personal science teaching philosophy?

  • Do you feel confident, ready and well-prepared to teach this unit?

  • Do you feel confident in teaching this unit using an inquiry-based approach?

  • Did you follow the curriculum when designing this unit? If you made modifications what kinds of modifications did you make?

  • Do you have any worries or concerns about enacting this unit?

This semi-structured interview protocol

  • How do you rate the overall enactment of the unit? Was it successful or not? Explain.

  • Were the goals of the unit met? Provide examples.

  • What in your opinion were the strengths of the unit? Provide examples.

  • What in your opinion were the weakenesses of the unit? Provide examples

  • What things you would do differently? Explain why.

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Avraamidou, L. A well-started beginning elementary teacher’s beliefs and practices in relation to reform recommendations about inquiry-based science. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 12, 331–353 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-015-9700-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-015-9700-x

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