Multi-media Case Methods in Pre-service Science Education: Enabling an Apprenticeship for Praxis

In recent years, teacher educators have looked to case methods as one means of bridging the theory-practice gap in university-based pre-service programs. This paper explores how case methods may be used to foster habits of praxis – that is, critical, reflective practice – that enable beginning teachers to adapt to the many diverse contexts they may encounter in the field. Our research used qualitative ethnographic methods to determine the efficacy of a case method designed to encourage critical analysis of a Year 8 science Optics lesson. Results suggest student teachers: (1) understood an associated analytical framework; (2) effectively analysed curriculum and pedagogy; and (3) exercised prudence in their assessment of the case. These findings tentatively indicate emerging habits of praxis. Notwithstanding such gains, we encourage designers of case-based curricula to: ensure case authenticity, protect subjects from critique and use multi-media case methods in conjunction with other approaches to promote habits of praxis.

[1]  Awakening a scream of consciousness: The critical group in action research , 1990 .

[2]  Joan Solomon,et al.  STS education : international perspectives on reform , 1994 .

[3]  J. Novak.  Concept mapping: A useful tool for science education , 1990 .

[4]  Katherine K. Merseth.  The Early History of Case-Based Instruction: Insights for Teacher Education Today , 1991 .

[5]  A. Collins,et al.  Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning , 1989 .

[6]  Guy Claxton,et al.  Educating the inquiring mind: The challenge for school science , 1991 .

[7]  J. Lawrence Bencze,et al.  Procedural Apprenticeship in School Science: Constructivist Enabling of Connoisseurship. , 2000 .

[8]  P. Broadfoot.  Teaching and the Challenge of Change: educational research in relation to teacher education , 1992 .

[9]  Derek Hodson,et al.  Science fiction: the continuing misrepresentation of science in the school curriculum , 1998 .

[10]  D. Tippins,et al.  Cases in Middle and Secondary Science Education: The Promise and Dilemmas , 1999 .

[11]  A comparison of videotaped teaching models and the lecture technique in increasing the use of questioning strategies presented in elementary science lessons , 1992 .

[12]  Alberto J. Rodriguez.  Strategies for Counterresistance: Toward Sociotransformative Constructivism and Learning To Teach Science for Diversity and for Understanding. , 1998 .

[13]  Willis D. Copeland,et al.  Video cases and the development of meaning making in preservice teachers , 1996 .

[14]  Ronald D. Anderson.  The Science Methods Course in the Context of the Total Teacher Education Experience , 1997 .

[15]  D. Schoen.  Educating the reflective practitioner , 1987 .

[16]  J. Shea.  National Science Education Standards , 1995 .

[17]  L. Shulman.  Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching , 1986 .

[18]  Liora Bresler,et al.  Working in the Interpretive Zone: Conceptualizing Collaboration in Qualitative Research Teams , 1996 .

[19]  Lynn A. Bryan,et al.  Reconceptualizing the Elementary Science Methods Course Using a Reflection Orientation , 1997 .

[20]  R. Lock.  Open-Ended, Problem-Solving Investigations. What Do We Mean and How Can We Use Them?. , 1990 .

[21]  Peter J. Fensham,et al.  School science and public understanding of science , 1999 .

[22]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. , 1987 .

[23]  Democratic constructivist science education: Enabling egalitarian literacy and self-actualization , 2000 .

[24]  Alan Colburn,et al.  A Case Study for Use in Science Methods Courses , 1998 .

[25]  N. Postman.  The end of education : redefining the value of school , 1996 .

[26]  Helen L. Harrington,et al.  Fostering reasoned decisions: Case-based pedagogy and the professional development of teachers , 1995 .

[27]  Margaret Anzul,et al.  Doing Qualitative Research: Circles Within Circles , 1991 .

[28]  Kenneth M. Zeichner.  Alternative Paradigms of Teacher Education , 1983 .

[29]  Barbara B. Levin.  Using the case method in teacher education: The role of discussion and experience in teachers' thinking about cases , 1995 .

[30]  Erminia Pedretti.  Septic tank crisis: a case study of science, technology and society education in an elementary school , 1997 .

[31]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[32]  Randy L. Bell,et al.  The nature of science and instructional practice: Making the unnatural natural , 1998 .

[33]  Michael W. Apple,et al.  Partial Knowledge@@@Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age , 1994 .

[34]  M. C. Wittrock,et al.  The Generative Learning Model and Its Implications for Science Education. , 1985 .

[35]  Fred A. J. Korthagen,et al.  Linking Theory and Practice: Changing the Pedagogy of Teacher Education , 1999 .

[36]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  Case Study Research in Education : A Qualitative Approach , 1991 .

[37]  Lynn A. Bryan,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN LEARNING TO TEACH ELEMENTARY SCIENCE , 1999 .

[38]  Hugh Munby,et al.  School science culture: A case study of barriers to developing professional knowledge , 2000 .

[39]  Lynn A. Bryan,et al.  Investigating preservice elementary science teacher reflective thinking using integrated media case-based instruction in elementary science teacher preparation , 1998 .

[40]  Richard Gott,et al.  Investigative Work in the Science Curriculum , 1994 .