Longitudinal Development of Science Teacher Educators’ Sense-Making Skills

Abstract

Teachers are the single most important school-based factor that influences students’ learning, and arguably, science teacher educators (STEs) exert a comparable influence on the quality of science teacher education. Very little is known, however, about which STE practices ought to be emulated and how these practices develop. Research, to date, rarely includes real-time analysis of STEs at work. This chapter is a study of three STEs over multiple semesters (four to seven terms) as they worked to learn and effectively practice their sense-making skills with preservice teachers (PSTs) during oral final exams in an elementary science methods course. Findings revealed that the greatest challenge for STEs occurred when attempting to respond to PST thinking. In early semesters, STEs displayed an imitative phase where they copied a mentor’s practices, followed by a digression as they attempted independently to scaffold PSTs toward deeper understanding. Later, in semesters 4 and 5, STEs began to design more sophisticated sense-making episodes using authentic teaching scenarios which exposed PSTs’ contradictory thinking and challenged them to negotiate these contradictions. STE effectiveness in generating useful sense-making experiences for PSTs was positively influenced by consistent support from a more knowledgeable other.