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Increasing Accessibility to Science in Early Childhood Teacher Education Through Collaboration Between Teacher Educators and Science/Engineering Academics

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Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research

Abstract

The challenge of better preparing pre-service early childhood teachers to deliver appropriate science learning experiences in the classroom poses complex yet relevant issues. An innovative strategy to solve this problem has been a unique cross-discipline and collaborative approach. The purpose of this innovation was to provide pre-service early childhood teachers with the best possible chance of acquiring the requisite science content to merge with their pedagogical skills and thus increase their confidence to teach science in the classroom. The collaborative approach involved teacher educators and science/engineering academics together developing science resources and implementing them through team-teaching within the pre-service teachers’ science methods course. Data collection from the pre-service teachers included pre- and post-questionnaires, open-ended questions, poster analysis and semi-structured interviews. Across the course, the pre-service teachers’ confidence to teach science increased due to being shown how to teach science to young children, the wide range of ideas and activities presented that could be transferred to the early childhood classroom and increased science content knowledge. Science content knowledge increased due to active participation within the science methods course, access to science/engineering academics to explain concepts and information presented within the new science resources. This collaborative approach to developing and implementing science resources within a science methods course increased pre-service teachers’ accessibility to science and encouraged the teaching of science in the early childhood classroom.

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by funding obtained through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Grant Number CG8-724. Thanks are extended to all the pre-service early childhood teachers who participated in this research through the development of the modules and subsequent evaluation in the classroom.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Christine Howitt

  2. Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Elaine Blake & Lesley Parker

  3. School of Engineering and Energy, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Martina Calais

  4. School of Education, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Yvonne Carnellor, Sandra Frid & Len Sparrow

  5. Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Simon W. Lewis & Mauro Mocerino

  6. School of Science, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Jo Ward

  7. Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Marjan G. Zadnik

Authors
  1. Christine Howitt
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  2. Elaine Blake
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  3. Martina Calais
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  4. Yvonne Carnellor
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  5. Sandra Frid
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  6. Simon W. Lewis
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  7. Mauro Mocerino
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  8. Lesley Parker
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  9. Len Sparrow
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  10. Jo Ward
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  11. Marjan G. Zadnik
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine Howitt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Natural Sciences & Science Education, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Walk 1, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Kim Chwee Daniel Tan

  2. , Dept of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W 2Y2, British Columbia, Canada

    Mijung Kim

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Howitt, C. et al. (2012). Increasing Accessibility to Science in Early Childhood Teacher Education Through Collaboration Between Teacher Educators and Science/Engineering Academics. In: Tan, K., Kim, M. (eds) Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3980-2_11

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