Abstract
This study examined the beliefs and rationale pre-service elementary teachers used to choose activities for upper-elementary students in a 1-week intensive science camp. Six undergraduate elementary pre-service teachers were observed as they took a semester-long science methods class that culminated in a 1-week science camp. This qualitative, phenomenological study found that counselors chose activities with the possibility of fun being a priority rather than teaching content, even after they were confronted with campers who demanded more content. Additionally, all six of the counselors agreed that activities involving variable manipulation were the most successful, even though content knowledge was not required to complete the activities. The counselors felt the variable manipulation activities were successful because students were constructing products and therefore getting to the end of the activity. Implications include building an awareness of the complexity of self-efficacy of science teaching and outcome expectancy to improve teacher education programs.
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Peters-Burton, E.E., Hiller, S.E. Fun Science: The Use of Variable Manipulation to Avoid Content Instruction. J Sci Teacher Educ 24, 199–217 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-012-9269-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-012-9269-0