The importance of affective learning goals: lessons learned from the design and evolution of a geoscience course for preservice primary teachers

Abstract

The challenges of teaching science to preservice elementary teachers include an overall negative attitude about science that translates to future teachers who do not teach science confidently and/or teach it superficially and hurriedly compared to other subjects. College-level science courses for preservice teachers have an opportunity to reverse this trend and help create teachers who are knowledgeable about science and enjoy teaching it. In this paper, we discuss the hybrid model of an online course and a hands-on, inquiry-based lab that was developed, implemented, and evolved over eight years. The lab activities, in particular, were developed to address both content and affective goals. These goals were to provide students with a solid foundation in Earth and Space Science content and to make them comfortable teaching science. An assessment of these goals shows that this course increased preservice teachers’ level of confidence to teach these topics, and students generally found the course to be enjoyable and the content to be useful to their future careers. More work needs to be done to assess the content knowledge of this group of students, highlighting the need for developing a validated instrument that covers the breadth of Earth and Space Science content included in the NGSS for elementary grades.