Teachers' beliefs and instructional strategies in science: Pushing analysis further

Laplante, Bernard

doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-237x(199706)81:3<277::aid-sce2>3.0.co;2-a

Cited by 50 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Just as we have seen in our own work with teachers, the research indicates that some teachers are openly embracing reform-oriented practices (Crawford 2000), while others are either unable or unwilling to modify their curriculum or instruction to align more closely with current science initiatives (Davis 2002;Laplante 1997;Yerrick, Parke and Nugent 1997). What accounts for this difference?…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Exploring the Construct of Pedagogical Discontentment: A Tool to Understand Science Teachers’ Openness to Reform

Southerland

Sowell²,

Blanchard

et al. 2010

Res Sci Educ

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It is well established that many teachers are resistant to take up the messages of reform if these messages require them to substantially shift their teaching practices. What accounts for this resistance? One well established explanation is that teachers lacks the selfefficacy required to attempt something new in their teaching-they simply do not feel capable of effectively enacting the messages. However, there are a host of studies describing teachers with high self-efficacy who remain resistant to messages of change. The purpose of this article is to address the gap in the application of self-efficacy to understand the change or lack of change of science teachers' practice through the introduction of a related construct, pedagogical discontentment. This construct reflects a state of cognitive conflict that exists when an individual recognizes a mismatch between her/his science teaching pedagogical goals and classroom practices. One potential result of this mismatch is that a teacher problematizes her teaching practices, prompting an increased receptivity to reform messages. Building on existing literature, we present vignettes of four hypothetical teachers who exemplify variations of pedagogical discontentment. When combined with self-efficacy, pedagogical discontentment provides a useful lens to understand teachers' consideration and adoption of messages of reform.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Teachers' subject matter knowledge and personal practical knowledge (Clandinin 1986) may affect if and how reforms are adopted (Laplante 1997;Wallace and Kang 2004). Teachers may be more willing to embrace reforms than others due to intrinsic psychological attributes (Hopkins 1990).…”

Section: Teacher Thinking Beliefs and Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Construct of Pedagogical Discontentment: A Tool to Understand Science Teachers’ Openness to Reform

Southerland

Sowell²,

Blanchard

et al. 2010

Res Sci Educ

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“…Finally, the fact that a majority of participants in this study were in favour of using similar cases in science classes can not project the future behaviors of these candidates in regard to NOS teaching with any certainty; an actual follow-up of participants is out of the scope of this study. It is well known that teachers' beliefs about the nature of student learning and power relations (Tobin and McRobbie 1997), the mediating effect of the epistemological status of both teachers and students (Laplante 1997), and differences in the explicitly espoused theories and actions of individuals (Argyris and Schon 1974) are powerful factors which all affect the actual instruction implemented by classroom teachers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

Turgut

2010

Sci & Educ

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The aim of developing students' understanding of the nature of science [NOS] has been considered an important aspect of science education. However, the results of previous research indicate that students of various ages and even teachers possess both inaccurate and inappropriate views of the NOS. Such a failure has been explained by the view that perceptions about the NOS are well assimilated into mental structures and resistant to change. Further, the popularization of pseudoscience by the media and the assimilation of pseudoscience into previously established scientific fields have been presented as possible reasons for erroneous popular perceptions of science. Any teaching intervention designed to teach the NOS should first provoke individuals to expose their current ideas in order to provide them the chance to revise or replace these conceptual frameworks. Based on these assumptions, the aim of this study was to determine whether a teaching context based on the issue of demarcation would provide a suitable opportunity for exposing and further developing the NOS understandings of individuals enrolled in a teacher education course. Results indicate that a learning intervention based on the issue of demarcation of science from pseudoscience (in the specific case of astrology) proved an effective instructional strategy, which a majority of teacher candidates claimed to plan to use in their future teachings.

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“…In addition, teachers' experience with science in laboratories and real-world settings (i.e. outside of school) would influence their inquiry practice in the classroom (Laplante 1997;Lotter, Harwood, and Bonner 2007;Smith 2005). Therefore, providing in-service teachers with long-term science experience, for example, throughout the academic year, and helping them to connect school science to real-world science would have a more significant effect on influencing their use of inquiry in their classrooms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Views of primary science teachers towards the use of online resources to support the implementation of inquiry learning

Cheng

Kong

et al. 2012

Education 3-13

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This study investigates Hong Kong primary science teachers' understandings of inquiry learning, perceived difficulties in implementing inquiry learning, as well as their current practices of and resistance to using online resources, in order to identify their needs and propose suggestions to address these needs. An online survey has been used to collect data from the primary science teachers taking part in a professional development course. Simple descriptive analyses of the data show that although the teachers' conceptions of inquiry learning seem to match well with the idea of inquiry learning in general, their misconceptions and high level of perceived difficulties in implementing inquiry learning warrant our attention. As for teachers' use of online resources, it is found that traditional Web 1.0 resources are more commonly used, and when these online resources are used, teachers take the more dominant role in using them to support lecturing and explaining. Moreover, some associations between inquiry practices and use of online resources are observed. Accordingly, ways to overcome challenges in implementing inquiry learning and using online resources for the teaching and learning of science are discussed.

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Teachers' beliefs and instructional strategies in science: Pushing analysis further

Cited by 50 publications

References 17 publications

Exploring the Construct of Pedagogical Discontentment: A Tool to Understand Science Teachers’ Openness to Reform

Exploring the Construct of Pedagogical Discontentment: A Tool to Understand Science Teachers’ Openness to Reform

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

Views of primary science teachers towards the use of online resources to support the implementation of inquiry learning

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