Teachers Need to Be Smarter than a 5th Grader: What Elementary Pre-Service Teachers Know about Density

Autor/inn/en	Harrell, Pamela Esprivalo; Subramaniam, Karthigeyan
Titel	Teachers Need to Be Smarter than a 5th Grader: What Elementary Pre-Service Teachers Know about Density
Quelle	In: Electronic Journal of Science Education, 18 (2014) 6, (23 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1087-3430
Schlagwörter	Preservice Teachers; Elementary Education; Scientific Concepts; Knowledge Level; Prior Learning; Misconceptions; Intervention; Science Instruction; Preservice Teacher Education; Concept Mapping; Pretests Posttests + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Elementarunterricht; Wissensbasis; Vorkenntnisse; Missverständnis; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Lehramtsstudiengang; Lehrerausbildung; Concept Map
Abstract	This article details a study that investigated 55 elementary pre-service teachers' content knowledge about density. Using a mixed-methods approach, pre/post face-to-face interviews and pre/post concepts maps (Cmaps) were used as data to document changes in teacher knowledge which occurred over a 15-week science methods course. Thematic analysis was used to capture patterns within the interview data and a paired-sample t-test was conducted to compare pre/post Cmap scores. Results before instruction indicate a weak framework of prior knowledge about density which was a mosaic of alternative conceptions and a few learned concepts. Many participants focused on a single aspect of density and were unable to engage in relational causality which involves the consideration of two variables simultaneously. After instruction, robust alternative conceptions continued to be observed (e.g., density is buoyancy and density is the same as heaviness, mass, or weight) and learned concepts were concrete and rote. The most common learned concept was the density algorithm (~40%) followed by the learned concept that density is an intensive property of matter (22%) and demonstrated understandings of proportional reasoning (7%). Results of the paired sample t-test demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the total proposition accuracy scores for pre/post Cmaps (t = -3.178, p < 0.002) with the instructional intervention larger for post-Cmap scores (M = 1.02; SD = 1.063) than for pre-Cmap scores (M = 0.55; SD = 0.812). The effect size was medium. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Southwestern University and Texas Christian University. TCU Box 297900, Fort Worth, TX 76129. Tel: 817-257-6115; e-mail: ejse@southwestern.edu; Web site: http://ejse.southwestern.edu
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01