Project Activities
This experimental program will develop novice teachers' learning of science content and pedagogy through an integrated continuum of teacher education experiences, and analyze the impact on their instructional practice and the learning of students in their classrooms. The Center's culturally responsive Five Pedagogy Standards will be integrated into every stage of teacher preparation and induction from the science teaching methods courses in the post-baccalaureate credential program, to the clinical setting of student teaching and induction in first year of teaching. The program will have three main components: (1) a Five Standards science teaching methods course; (2) coaching in the Five Standards Pedagogy in the student teaching practicum; and (3) practicum placement in an elementary classroom that models the Five Standards Pedagogy.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This project is set in California, in a county characterized by cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity, and low educational attainment.
Sample
Participants will be a minimum of 150 novice teachers drawn from the elementary student teacher cohort admitted to a state teaching college.
This experimental program will develop novice teachers' learning of science content and pedagogy through an integrated continuum of teacher education experiences, and analyze the impact on their instructional practice and the learning of students in their classrooms. The Center's culturally responsive Five Pedagogy Standards will be integrated into every stage of teacher preparation and induction from the science teaching methods courses in the post-baccalaureate credential program, to the clinical setting of student teaching and induction in first year of teaching. The program will have three main components: (1) a Five Standards science teaching methods course; (2) coaching in the Five Standards Pedagogy in the student teaching practicum; and (3) practicum placement in an elementary classroom that models the Five Standards Pedagogy.
Research design and methods
The study will use an experimental design to compare the learning and development of pre-service teaching students. Seventy-five students will be randomly assigned to the experimental program, and 75 to the traditional teaching program. Evidence of program impact will be assessed through: (1) novice teachers' use of the Five Pedagogy Standards in instruction during their student teaching practicum and in the first year of teaching; and (2) the relation between the strength of implementation of the Five Standards in their classrooms during their first year of teaching, and the science learning of their students.
Control condition
The student teachers in the control condition will receive the traditional teaching program.
Key measures
Two measures will be used to assess novice teachers' use of the Five Standards Pedagogy in instruction and its impact on student achievement in program graduates' classrooms-the Standards Performance Continuum, and the California Science Standards Test.
Data analytic strategy
Multiple analytic strategies will be employed; analyses of the achievement data from students of the novice teachers will take into consideration the hierarchical structure of the data.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Products from this project include a teachers' education program for teaching science, and published papers.
Book chapter
Bravo, M.A., and Cervetti, G.N. (2009). Teaching Vocabulary Through Text and Experience. In A.E. Farstrup, and S. Samuels (Eds.), What Research has to say About Vocabulary Instruction(pp. 130-149). Newark, DE: International Reading Association, Inc.
Stoddart, T., Solís, J.L., Tolbert, S., and Bravo, M.A. (2010). A Framework for the Effective Science Teaching of English Language Learners in Elementary Schools. In D.W. Sunal, C.S. Sunal, and E.L. Wright (Eds.), Teaching Science With Hispanic Ells in K-16 Classrooms (pp. 151-182). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Bravo, M.A. (2011). Leveraging Spanish-Speaking Els Native Language to Access Science. National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 3(4): 21-23.
Tolbert, S., and Knox, C. (2016). ‘They might know a lot of things that I don't know': Investigating Differences in Preservice Teachers' Ideas About Contextualizing Science Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms. International Journal of Science Education, 38(7), 1133-1149.
Proceeding
Solis, J.L., Bravo, M.A., and Stoddart, T. (2009). Integrating Science and Diversity Education: A Model for Pre-Service Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs. In Proceedings of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting. Reston, VA: National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST).
** This project was submitted to and funded under Teacher Quality: Mathematics and Science Education in FY 2006.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
