Source: Journal of Science Teacher Education, Volume 22, Issue 8, p. 745-768. December 2011
This case study of a fifth-year elementary intern’s pathway in learning to teach science focused on her science methods course, placement science teaching, and reflections as a first-year teacher.
The authors studied the sociocultural contexts within which the intern learned, their affordances and constraints, and participants’ perspectives on their roles and responsibilities, and her learning.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with all participants.
Data were collected through audiotapes of the science methods class, videotapes of her science teaching, and field notes.
Data were transcribed and searched for affordances or constraints within contexts, perspectives on roles and responsibilities, and how views of her progress changed.
Findings show the intern’s substantial progress, the ways in which affordances sometimes became constraints, and participants’ sometimes contradictory perspectives.