Science content, teaching, and teacher preparation are all political acts. However, accepting the political nature of science as well as that of science teaching has proven to be a hard shift for many in the science community. In this paper, we suggest a shift away from an apolitical teaching of science toward a system of practices that transforms…

Research has revealed that teachers find teaching and assessing socioscientific argumentation (SSA) to be challenging. In this study, ten pre-service science teachers (PSTs) tested a new Practical Assessment of Socioscientific Argumentation Model (PASM) that was developed to enhance skills in assessing SSA. The models' design is based on the…

This study reports on eleven second-year teachers who were all students in the same practice-based secondary science methods courses framed around ambitious science teaching. In this qualitative embedded single case study, we examined if, how, and why novice teachers linked their current critical pedagogical discourses and instruction back to any…

The purpose of this study was to describe "what" and "how" secondary science preservice teachers (SSPST) implemented technology, in student teaching residency, that they had planned in previous science methods courses. A collective case study approach with purposeful sampling was used to gain understanding of multiple…

Recent adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) across the United States has prompted teacher educators to reexamine effective strategies to improve science teaching practices that align with the principles of the NGSS. Past research attempted to address changing teaching practices by examining the alignment--or lack thereof--with…

The teaching of socioscientific issues (SSI) holds promise for advancing functional scientific literacy, promoting critical thinking, and providing an interesting context for learning required science content, but few teachers actually employ this teaching method in K-12 classrooms. One common reason cited by teachers is their concern about the…

We studied how the practices of modeling supported preservice teachers (PSTs) as a reflection tool for knowledge integration in their science methods courses. In this exploratory study, elementary (n = 4) and middle/secondary (n = 7) PSTs drew models of the process of teaching and learning, including what occurred before, during, and after…

Grounded in the expectancy-value and hope theories, the present study was conducted to examine the extent to which self-efficacy, task value, and academic hope predict persistence among science teacher-trainees in Uganda. The sample consisted of 278 undergraduate science teacher-trainees selected from a large public university in northern Uganda.…

The overall purpose of this multifocused study was to explore how participation in genuine mentored scientific research experiences impacts in-service science teachers and the knowledge and skills needed for their own science teaching. The research experiences resulted from a partnership between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha…