Faculty Publications

Changes in Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions About Matter

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of College Science Teaching

Volume

50

Issue

2

First Page

49

Last Page

57

Abstract

While research has investigated elementary teachers’ understanding of science content, such research is often limited to topics typically not addressed in elementary school curricula. Yet, research has illustrated that many elementary teachers struggle to accurately articulate and teach science concepts and professional development (PD) is needed. Therefore, this qualitative study sought to describe changes in in-service elementary teachers’ thinking about matter during a professional development targeting Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) related to matter Our findings indicate that participants entered the PD holding a wide range of conceptions, including those that were described as vague and inaccurate, as well as a variety of ways to articulate accurate conceptions. After the PD, participants’ vague and inaccurate conceptions typically improved to accurate conceptions, but the variety of ways to articulate accurate conceptions often reduced to only the ways discussed in the PD. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Department

Department of Biology

Original Publication Date

1-1-2020

DOI of published version

10.1080/0047231X.2020.12290684

Link to Full Text

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