Background Details of the Study

In designing this study, there were two groups of participants. The first group was the wider cohort of preservice teachers enrolled in the Primary Science unit. The second group was a small group of 10 individuals from this cohort, who were involved in longitudinal in-depth interviews. The following discussion provides contextual information about the preservice teacher cohort enrolled in the unit.

There were approximately 140 preservice teachers enrolled in the unit Primary Science, consisting of Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) students, Bachelor of Education (Primary Students), Master of Teaching (Primary) students and Graduate Diploma (Primary Conversion) students. The researcher of this study was the unit coordinator of Primary Science which was designed as a science methods unit. The focus of the unit was on balancing the enhancement of science content knowledge with an explicit emphasis on how to teach science. A summary of the purpose, structure and assessment of the unit is described in Table 3.1 and a more detailed description of the unit outline and assessment is included as Appendix 1.

For the preservice teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Education, this unit was in the second semester of their third year, following a 10-week practical experience. Preservice teachers enrolled in the Master of Teaching degree, which is a two-year degree for students with another undergraduate degree, completed the unit in the second semester of their first year, also following a 10-week practical experience. The Graduate Diploma was a one-year degree and the science methods unit was an optional unit that they could take in the second semester of the year. Preservice teachers may have been in various stages of completion of their degree for reasons such as mid-year enrolments or failing units. A summary of the degrees involved in the Primary Science unit are described in Table 3.2

Table 3.1

Primary Science: The Purpose, Structure and Assessment of the Science Methods Unit.

Aspects of Unit

Description

Purpose At the completion of this unit a student will be able to demonstrate and explain:

• Why Science is important

• Content associated with each of the concept strands in Science

• Various interactive teaching techniques • How to plan lessons for science

• Various resources available in the area of Science- particularly Primary Connections

• The value of excursions/incursions in Western Australia • Assessment and evaluation techniques suitable for Science • The health and safety issues associated with Science • The ethics and values that are inherent in Science

Structure Students attend a two-hour weekly workshop for 13 weeks. Each workshop includes a range of different activities including presentations, experiments, incursions, hands on activities, lectures and collaborative work.

Assessment The following assessment was completed as part of the course: • Lesson Presentation - 15%. Students chose a science topic or

concept and designed an interactive lesson to teach the essential elements of that topic.

• Forward Planning Document - 45%. Students developed a program of work based around the science topic taught in the lesson. This included a rationale, a program that included 5 lessons and assessment strategies.

• Exam - 40%. The exam included multiple-choice questions on science content covered in the unit and written answers relating to science pedagogical issues focused on.

Table 3.2

A Summary of the Different Degrees Enrolled in the Unit Primary Science.

Bachelor of Education

(Early Childhood) Bachelor of Education (Primary) Master of Teaching (Primary) Graduate Diploma (Primary Conversion) Summary of

degree

A degree that allows students to become skilled and qualified to teach children from 0- 8 years

A degree that allows students to become skilled and qualified to teach children in the Primary years (Years 1-6 in Western Australia)

An intensive degree that qualifies students as teachers. These students have already successfully completed a previous undergraduate degree

A degree that allows students to be qualified to also teach Primary students (Years 1-6 in Western Australia)

Duration of degree Four years Four years Two years One year Prerequisite to

admission

ATAR Score of approximately 70 or university bridging course and successful interview with School of Education staff member

ATAR Score of approximately 70 or university bridging course and successful interview with School of Education staff member

Previous undergraduate degree and successful interview with School of Education staff member

Previous Secondary Education degree and successful interview with School of Education staff member

Practical Experience included with the degree

32 weeks- first year two weeks, second year 10 weeks, third year 10 weeks, fourth year 10- week internship

32 weeks- first year two weeks, second year 10 weeks, third year 10 weeks, fourth year 10- week internship

20 weeks- first year 10 weeks, second year 10 weeks

n/a

Placement of science methods unit within degree

Third year- second semester Following second 10-week practical experience

Third year- second semester Following second 10-week practical experience

Third year- second semester Following first 10-week practical experience

Optional unit

Second semester of the year

The following discussion summarises the demographical information of the wider preservice cohort for the unit Primary Science. This information was collected with the initial completion of the STEBI-B questionnaire at the beginning of the unit. The number of preservice teachers who completed the questionnaire at the beginning of the unit was 136, of whom 115 were female and 21 were male. A breakdown of the number of preservice teachers enrolled in the different degrees are as follows: 41 preservice teachers were completing a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Care 0-8 years); 67 were completing a Bachelor of Education (Primary); 16 were completing a Master of Teaching (Primary); and 12 were enrolled in another degree, most of which were enrolled in the Graduate Diploma.

For the preservice teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree, the preservice teachers were required to specialise in English, Mathematics, Science, Society and Environment, Special Needs, Theatre Arts, and Service Learning and Social Justice. Of the 67 Bachelor of Education (Primary) respondents, the majority specialised in Mathematics (26) and Special Needs (20), with only six preservice teachers specialising in Science.

The preservice teachers were also asked about their previous backgrounds in the area of science. Seventy-one preservice teachers in the cohort had completed a unit called Environmental Science and Technology at university, which was a requisite unit in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree. However, very few preservice teachers had completed any other tertiary level science units. Five students had completed a human biology unit and one student had completed a biology unit. Two preservice teachers had completed chemistry or physics units at tertiary level.

The cohort was also asked about the science units completed in Year 12 of high school. Of the cohort, 45 preservice teachers had completed human biology in Year 12, 11 preservice teachers had completed biology, four has studied chemistry and one had studied physics.