This study employed a sequential mixed methods explanatory research design to explore the influence of mentoring in the self-efficacy-forming experiences of primary school teachers who participated in a variety of professional development projects on science teaching. In the quantitative phase, survey data drawn from primary school teachers…

This study reports findings from an interview study with eleven teacher educators from a physics teacher training program in Finland. They represented the four training environments that students encounter during their education, i.e. the Department of Physics, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, the Department of General…

Climate change is a growing global crisis with short and long-term physical and human impacts. Although climate change is a global occurrence, the impacts of climate change are not felt equally among all locations and all groups of people. Climate justice education is a form of social justice education that invites students to consider how the…

Learning to teach is a culturally situated activity. As teachers learn, it is important to understand not only what teachers learn, but how they learn. This article describes a qualitative case study of a subset of four teachers' learning during a professional development surrounding a plate tectonics curriculum. Using qualitative methods, this…

Traditional teacher professional development (PD) programs frequently lack sufficient face-to-face preparation time to adequately support the implementation of evidence-based pedagogical strategies in classrooms, with teachers citing insufficient preparedness and training time for new methods. To investigate potentials for online PD methods to…

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been a key element in science education for the past decade and should therefore be a key element of pre-service teacher (PST) education as well. This study aims to explore how IBSE is implemented in teacher education for primary and lower secondary levels (years 1-10) to prepare PSTs for their…

In this study, we present a conceptual tool for guiding teachers' principled pedagogical actions toward equitable instruction, referred to as the "Transforming Science Learning" (TSL) framework. The TSL framework was developed to address the challenges of enacting an ideological commitment in local contexts--promoting equity and justice…

Despite growing interest in inclusive education, there has been little attention to the inclusion of students with disabilities in teacher education. Research by educators with disabilities about teachers with disabilities can provide vital information that may help improve support services for teachers with disabilities. As a teacher educator who…

National reform documents and shifts in educational standards have continued to highlight the importance of engineering and engineering practices within science literacy. High-quality engineering opportunities must be present in formal education due to their association with problem-solving and critical thinking. Given this directive to reach…

This design-based research investigated the context and impact of a three-year practice-based professional development (PD) project introducing science teachers to pedagogical shifts required for full implementation and synergy among disciplinary literacy components of "Next Generation Science Standards" and "Common Core State…

The onset of the Next-Generation Science Standards [NGSS] has created a need for elementary teachers to develop purposeful, multi-dimensional formative assessments (FAs). In order to promote this process, we utilized teacher learning communities (TLCs) and practice-based professional development focused on key aspects of the reform while…

Evolution is a difficult topic to teach; teachers admit not having enough knowledge of evolution and they face student opposition to learning evolution, especially based on religious grounds. Teachers are therefore motivated to gain knowledge in the field of evolution. We conducted a 30-hour evolution teacher training course, which included…

This study explored how preservice teachers engaged in collaborative inquiry with elementary students to facilitate social justice and equity in science education. By inviting elementary students as key stakeholders into collaborative inquiry, we examined how preservice teachers uncovered critical problems of science education in underserved…

There is a high need for well-qualified teachers across all STEM content areas, especially in secondary physics. Our work examines why individuals choose to pursue physics teaching. This study, at a primarily undergraduate institution in the Northeastern United States, uses a modified version of Watt and Richardson's Factors Influencing Teacher…

The issue of science teacher turnover has been examined in many national studies, yet most educational policies related to teacher preparation and student performance are determined at the state level. There has been a lack of research that explores this issue in specific science domains. The present nonexperimental longitudinal study examined…