Teachers Understanding of the Nature of Science and Classroom Practice: Factors That Facilitate or I

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Teachers Understanding of the Nature of Science
and Classroom Practice Factors That Facilitate
or Impede the RelationshipAuthor Norman G.
Lederman

• PowerPoint Presentation
• by
• Rogsilenia Fernandez

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Purpose

• Investigate the relationship of teachers
  conceptions of the nature of science and
  classroom practice in order to outline factors
  that facilitate or impede a relationship.

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Research Questions

• Do teachers understandings of the nature of
  science influence classroom practice?
• What factors facilitate or impede the influence
  of teachers understandings on classroom
  practice?

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What is science?

• Science is a way of knowing about the natural
  world, based on reproducible observations,
  experiments and theory.

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• What do you do in a science class thats
  different from philosophy or dance class?

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Connection to the Nature of Science
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Aspects of the Nature of Science

• Scientific Knowledge
• Empirically based
• Subjective
• Involves inferences, imagination and creativity
• Combination of observation and inferences
• Socially and culturally embedded

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Sample

• Five biology teacher
• 3 males
• 2 females
• Possessed a wide range in experience
• 2 beginning teachers had 2 and 4 years
• 3 experienced teachers had 9, 14 and 15 years

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Method

• Year-long assessment of the classroom practices
  and goals of 5 teachers
• Interview
• Open-ended questionnaires
• Classroom observations
• Lesson plans
• Instructional materials
• Periodic informal interviews/discussions
• Student sample and interviews

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Results

• Model of Analytical Induction
• Profiling teachers classroom practices.
• Unbiased assessments between classroom practice
  and teachers beliefs.

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Conceptions of the Nature of Science

• Teachers expressed a clear understanding that
  scientific knowledge is tentative, based at
  least partially on human creativity and
  imagination, and subject yet based at least
  partially on empirical evidence.

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Instructional Practices and Teachers Conceptions

• Beginning Teachers
• Struggling with the structure of the course.
• Frustration with accomplishments.
• Inconsistency
• Experienced Teachers
• Implicit versus explicit
• Consistency

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Students Understanding of the Nature of Science

• Explicit emphasis during instruction for
  students to develop an understanding of the
  nature of science.
• Enhancing the learning environment

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Implications for Science Teacher Education

• Teachers conceptions of the nature of science do
  not necessarily influence classroom practice
• Lack of Professional development in the nature of
  science
• Classroom management
• Implicit approaches
• Aligned with specific learning goals and
  benchmarks

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Conclusion
Implicit

• Student will know
• and
• students will be able to
• As educators we need to encourage our students to
  learn how to think and to solve scientific
  problems to become more informed consumers of
  science literacy.

Explicit
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Reference

• Lerderman, N. G. (1999). Teachers understanding
  of the nature of science and classroom Practice
  Factors That Facilitate or Impede the
  Relationship. Journal of Research in Science
  Teaching. 36(8) 916-929.