Learning science is a social enterprise that involves students communicating ideas, observations, and findings. Navigating talk between students about scientific concepts and practices is a complex task for teachers. Traditionally, science educators have used a method called microteaching (teaching to peers) as a context for practicing teaching.…

Understanding Nature of Science (NOS) is a requisite for improving scientific literacy, and as such, it is increasingly being included in science curricula worldwide. It is now therefore important that teachers understand NOS so that intended learning outcomes become visible in the classroom. Pre-service teachers also need an opportunity to…

Teachers' career choice motives are defined as the interests, orientations, and motives of young people that motivate them to aspire the teaching career. Teachers' career choice motives have been shown to impact teaching and job retention. Many studies investigated teachers generic career choice motives but studies on teachers' subject-specific…

It is generally accepted that a robust science education includes knowledge of science, as well as knowledge "about" science, or, in other words, an understanding of the "Nature of Science." However, debates around what Nature of Science is and how to measure it are far from settled, and this compromises our ability to support…

Many studies have argued the need for culturally competent teachers in the classroom as learners' demography shifts toward more diversity. The teaching workforce remains predominantly unchanged, with more White teachers than other races or ethnic groups. Many teacher preparation programs use multicultural education or equity and diversity courses…

Literature suggests the transfer of understanding the nature of science to instructional practice requires preservice teachers to value teaching about the nature of science. Despite decades of research developing preservice teachers' views of nature of science, there is still a disconnect between their understanding and instructional practice.…

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…

Preservice elementary teachers need to be able to engage young students in science practices but may not have extensive experiences with those practices. They also may have contrasting beliefs about them, which inform their teaching practice. To understand preservice teachers' beliefs related to science practices, we focus on the connections they…

It is necessary to foster teachers' ability to design and implement instructions that encourage students to construct evidence and engage in argumentative discourse. The argument of this paper is that the continuous reflection and discussion as well as regular practice on instructional designs will promote pre-service science teachers' (PSSTs')…

This study explored whether, and how, preservice elementary teachers' scientific curiosity related to their confidence for science teaching. A group of 29 preservice, elementary teachers in the U.S. engaged in a curiosity journaling strategy across a 16-week scientific inquiry course. Their expressions of curiosity were coded using Luce and Hsi's…

This study uses Critical Race Theory and the Politics of Domestication as guiding frameworks to investigate the experiences of a Woman Faculty of Color science teacher-educator. The experiences focus on the status quo of race relations in science teacher education and how they are revealed through everyday practices, interactions, and the culture…

Drawing on a sociocultural understanding of identities as multiple and fluid, we investigate how six practicing teachers recruited their biographical resources in constituting their discourse identities in interviews. The South African context allows us to consider how systemic inequality shapes the identity resources available to teachers from…

Scientific knowledge is necessary to make informed decisions about many social issues, but some of the public is skeptical of science and scientific expertise. Teacher education programs are one way to address distrust in science in this generation and the next. Socioscientific issues (SSI) have been advocated as important for teaching about the…

Specialized science courses (SSCs) integrate content knowledge (CK) with pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and prepare pre-service teachers (PSTs) for reform-oriented teaching. Studies of individual SSCs report positive short-term outcomes, including an increase in self-efficacy and CK. However, few studies explore the longer-term impact of SSCs…

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between pre-service teachers' critical thinking skills and their self-efficacy for argumentation. The participants of the research consisted of 858 pre-service teachers (447 female, 411 male) studying in education faculties at five different state universities in Turkey. In this study, the…