HR: 1330h
AN: ED22B-1239    [PDF]
TI: Scientist/educator Collaboration for the Professional Development of High School Science Teachers
AU: * Prime, G
EM: glprime@moac.morgan.edu
AU: Lewis, B
EM: blewis@moac.morgan.edu
AU: Boss‚, M J
EM: mbosse@moac.morgan.edu
AB: Concern over the levels of underachievement in mathematics and science in American schools has given rise to a number of reform initiatives. The most notable of these has been the development of national standards for the teaching of mathematics and science by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Research Council, respectively. However, an indispensable element of any reform effort is teacher quality. This paper reports on an innovative approach to the design of courses to enhance teacher quality in mathematics and science. In 2002, Morgan State University, the designated urban university for the state of Maryland, successfully proposed to the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the establishment of Master of Science degrees in mathematics education and science education. The courses developed by the approach described in this paper are designed for inclusion in these programs. There is growing recognition in the teacher education literature that effective teaching requires that teachers have knowledge in at least three distinct domains: disciplinary or content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. The last of these is a fairly recently proposed construct and it is this aspect of teacher education that forms the conceptual basis of the innovation that is described in this paper. The approach involved eight scientists, four mathematics and science educators, and three high school mathematics and science teachers, in two weeks of intense collaboration to design courses that combine content and pedagogy. The content of the courses was closely aligned to the high school mathematics and science curricula, and the courses were designed to emphasize: Depth of content knowledge; Authentic scientific activity; Modeling of appropriate pedagogy; Promotion of children's mathematics and science concept development; and Team-teaching by mathematicians or scientists and educators. Such courses represent a departure from traditional teacher preparation programs, which typically offer science and mathematics content courses in departments of mathematics and science, and courses in pedagogy in schools or departments of education. The authors contend that the traditional model does not foster the development of pedagogical content knowledge. By combining content and pedagogy, these courses facilitate the transformation of mathematics and science content knowledge for effective teaching and hence, enhanced student learning. The interaction of scientists, mathematicians and schoolteachers in a two-week course-writing workshop raised a number of issues that are pertinent to the nature of science teaching. The paper discusses these issues, and describes the approach to science and mathematics teacher preparation which is exemplified by the courses.
DE: 9800 GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS
DE: 9805 Instruments useful in three or more fields
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting