Pathways to Teaching Science for Understanding in Diverse Schools: Merging Inquiry-Based Science and Sociocultural Constructivism with Multicultural Education

在过去的二十年里，我们看到越来越多的证据表明，教师教育计划对副教师的教学和学习的原始概念几乎没有影响。因此，必须为兼职教师提供更好的机会，将他们在大学环境中学到的东西与学校环境联系起来。这个问题在科学教育中更为紧迫，因为人们呼吁找到有效的方法来培养中学科学教师，以满足日益多样化的学生群体的需求。因此，本研究试图探讨以下研究问题：1.在不同的中学课堂上，合作和合作的教师在试图实施社会变革的建构主义取向时遇到了什么困难（即，一个将基于好奇心的科学教学与社会文化建构主义和多元文化教育相结合的方向）？2.社会变革的建构主义教学取向在哪些方面增强了合作型和合作型教师为多样性和理解而教授科学的能力？3.社会变革建构主义教学取向在哪些方面提高了学生对科学的态度和学习成绩？为了探讨这些研究问题，将进行为期三年的实证研究，包括三个部分。第一部分包括一个为期两周的暑期研究所，为20名中学教师提供的实践和思考活动将被用来说明如何在课堂上实施社会变革的建构主义取向。首席研究员和两名教师（来自当地）将提供指导。该项目的第二部分将包括配对副教师与教师谁参加了夏季讲习班。到这个时候，副教授们已经完成了一门必修的科学方法课，这门课的基础是指导暑期研究所的相同理论框架。该项目的第三部分将包括对副教师毕业并找到教学工作后的后续研究。新毕业生将在头两年的教学中接受跟踪调查。两个夏季会议将与合作和新手教师举行，以加强正在进行的指导和专业发展的努力。将使用人种学方法分析研究所有阶段的数据。因此，研究团队将定期拜访合作和任职前的科学教师及其学生焦点小组，并进行持续的深入采访和课堂观察。一些课程将被录像，各种教师和学生制作的作品将被收集起来，以增加更多的背景和机会来对比新兴的主题和类别。这项研究的结果应该丰富我们对如何有效地准备科学教师在日益多样化的学校中为理解而教的理解。同样，本研究将增加关于如何提高不同的中学生的学习成绩和对科学的态度的见解。

In the last twenty years, we have seen increasing evidence thatteacher education programs have little or no impact on preservice teachers'original conceptions of teaching and learning. Therefore, it is imperativethat preservice teachers are offered better opportunities to connect whatthey learn in the university context to the school context. This issue iseven more urgent in science education when one considers the calls forfinding effective ways to prepare secondary science teachers to meet theneeds of an increasingly diverse pupil population. Hence, the study proposed here seeks to explore the followingresearch questions:1. What are the difficulties cooperating and preservice teachers encounterwhile trying to implement a sociotransformative constructivist orientationin diverse middle school classrooms (i.e., an orientation that intersectsinquiry-based science teaching with sociocultural constructivism andmulticultural education)?2. In what ways does a sociotransformative constructivist orientation toteaching enhance cooperating and preservice teachers' abilities to teachscience for diversity and for understanding?3. In what ways does a sociotransformative constructivist orientation toteaching enhance pupils' attitudes toward and academic performance inscience? To explore these research questions, a three-year longitudinalstudy will be conducted, and will include three parts. The first partconsists of a two-week summer institute for twenty middle school teachers.The hands-on and minds-on activities offered at the institute will be usedto illustrate how a sociotransformative constructivist orientation can beimplemented in the classroom. The principal investigator and two masterteachers (from the local area) will offer instruction. The second part ofthe project will consist of pairing preservice teachers with the teacherswho participated in the summer workshop. By this time, the preserviceteachers would have completed a required science methods class based on thesame theoretical frameworks that guided the summer institute. The thirdpart of the project will consist of a follow-up study of the preserviceteachers after they graduate and secure teaching jobs. The new graduateswill be followed up for the first two years of teaching. Two summerconferences will be held with cooperating and novice teachers to strengthenthe on-going efforts for mentorship and professional development. Data for all stages of the study will be analyzed using anethnographic approach. Thus, cooperating and preservice science teachersand a focus group of their pupils will be visited regularly by the researchteam, and on-going in-depth interviews and classroom observations will beconducted. Some lessons will be videotaped and a variety of teacher- andstudent-produced work will be gathered to add more context andopportunities to contrast emerging themes and categories. The results of this study should enrich our understanding of how toeffectively prepare science teachers to teach for understanding inincreasingly diverse schools. Similarly, this study will add insights onhow to enhance the academic performance and attitude toward science ofdiverse middle school pupils.