Source: Journal of Science Teacher Education, Vol. 27, No. 8, p. 799–818, (December, 2016)
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)
This study investigates the development of prospective elementary teachers’ practical knowledge of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSSs) in the context of a science methods course and innovative field experience.
Methods
The participants were 19 elementary education majors. The participants consisted of 18 females and one male.
The authors collected data from multiple sources: students' artifacts of practice, students' written reflections, and the participants' final self-evaluations of the semester.
Discussion
The authors present three issues related to how prospective teachers viewed and utilized the standards:
(a) prospective teachers perceived the standards as providing guidance for planning.
(b) the participants can build practical knowledge for using the NGSS as a tool to self-assess the effectiveness of their instruction in relation to their students’ progress toward meeting the standards.
and (c) the participants developed the belief that the standards were achievable for both themselves and their students. The authors argue that the capacity-building model, which used in this study, made clear the link between prospective teachers’ instruction and students’ learning.
Based on the findings of this study, the authors argue that elementary teacher education programs can design field experience structures to offer a unique affordance of practice as a means to support prospective teachers in achieving success and developing expertise related to implementing new standards.