Integration of Secondary Mathematics and Science Methods Courses: A Model

This paper defines correlation, describes the Mix It Up program, discusses the teachers' beliefs about the value of correlating mathematics and science prior to program participation, and identifies problems teachers associated with correlation before and during the program. Teachers' beliefs about the value of correlation and about the problems associated with correlation are based on results from both quantitative and qualitative methods used to evaluate the program. Results indicate that teachers believe correlating mathematics and science strengthens students' content knowledge in mathematics and science, bridges the gap between mathematics and science, enhances motivation, and increases students' flexibility in problem solving. Additionally, the areas identified by teachers to be most problematic were time, planning for instruction as a team, and exposure to correlation in the past. The most important finding from the program evaluation indicates that although teachers did not identify content knowledge weaknesses before participating in the program, they did recognize gaps in their own content knowledge during program participation, and more importantly they made connections among these gaps, classroom instruction, and their own students' performance in mathematics and science.

Section: Why Do Teachers Believe It Is Important To Correlate Mathemasupporting

confidence: 85%

Mix It Up: Teachers' Beliefs on Mixing Mathematics and Science

Offer¹,

Mireles²

2009

“…In the same way, some of the traditional topics taught in a science methods course may also be “time‐tested” strategies that will continue to benefit teachers. This phenomena is consistent with the Singletary (in Haigh & Rehfeld, 1995) study. Five of the six answers with the lowest means in the current study correspond to topics that teachers in that study ranked in the top half of concepts for inclusion in a methods course.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…A few studies have asked secondary science teachers their recommendations for science methods course content. Singletary (in Haigh & Rehfeld, 1995) asked secondary teachers to rank order 14 methods course topics. Haigh and Rehfeld (1995) consulted seven secondary science and math teachers about what topics they believed should compose an integrated science/ mathematics methods course.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparing Science Teachers in an Era of Reform: Practitioners' Perspectives of Methods Courses

Letts

Bailey

Scantlebury

1997

With recent national calls for the reform of science education have come standards that delineate not only science content but also assessment, pedagogy, and teachers’ professional development. If teachers must teach science differently, then teacher preparation must change. This study asked 31 inservice secondary science teachers to complete a survey about topics for inclusion in a secondary science methods course. Respondents ranked a list of prespecified topics and had an opportunity to suggest other topics for inclusion in the course. Results showed that the majority of prespecified potential topics were judged important enough by these teachers to warrant inclusion in a methods course, though no individual added topic appeared on more than two surveys. Results demonstrate that these teachers believe teaching many of the traditional topics in science methods courses is still needed. In addition, they advocated the inclusion of several topics that either represent recent technological and theoretical advances, or longstanding ideas that have recently received considerable attention.

“…Some studies explore teacher education programs designed to foster integrated teaching at elementary and secondary school levels (e.g., Haigh & Rehfeld, 1995; Lonning & DeFranco, 1994; Stuessy, 1995). Such studies address the subject matter content to be taught, ways of assessment, and students' attitudes toward integration.…”

Section: Exploring Teacher Education Programs For Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Integration of Science and Mathematics: Implications for Further Research

Jeongsuk¹,

Good²

2000

112

Building on the earlier analysis by Berlin (1991), this paper reviews various studies on integrating mathematics and science in the 1990s and provides some implications for further research. The areas identified for further exploration include comparison of the nature of mathematics and science, epistemological debates in mathematics and in science education, the bases used to emphasize science over mathematics or vice versa, empirical evidence of effectiveness of integration, connections between teacher education programs for integration and teachers' subsequent classroom teaching practices, perceptions of integration on the part of teacher educators, contextual difficulties in implementing integrated approaches and possible solutions, and rationales of integrating mathematics and science through technology. In order to help all students become scientifically literate, which most reform documents call for, more focused attention on integration of curriculum and instruction is necessary.