TY - JOUR
T1 - Being in the hot spot
T2 - A phenomenological study of two beginning teachers experiences enacting inquiry science pedagogy
AU - Dreon, Oliver
AU - McDonald, Scott
N1 - Funding Information:
Inquiry pedagogy is not a new concept in science education. Dewey (1910, p. 122), writing a century ago, criticized teaching science as ‘an accumulation of ready-made material with which students are to be made familiar.’ Dewey proposed teaching science as inquiry to help students develop ‘a method of thinking, an attitude of mind, after the pattern of which mental habits are to be transformed.’ Throughout the 1900s, other influential scholars echoed these sentiments and developed curricula to promote inquiry pedagogy in schools (e.g. Schwab, 1958). Decades later, the National Research Council ([NRC], 1998) joined those calling for the reform of science education in the USA and for the inclusion of inquiry science pedagogy by releasing the National Science Education Standards (NSES).
PY - 2012/6/1
Y1 - 2012/6/1
N2 - This phenomenological study demonstrates the influence that affective factors have on beginning teachers ability to enact inquiry science pedagogy. Through narratives shared in interviews and weblog postings, two beginning science teachers emotional engagement with their teaching practices, especially that of implementing inquiry-based instruction, and the resulting impact these emotions had on pedagogical choices were evidenced. Anxiety emerged as the emotion most significantly impacting participants. Through their stories, the two participants describe how their emotions and views of self-influence whether they choose to continue using inquiry pedagogy or alter their lesson to adopt more didactic forms of teaching. These emotions arise from their feelings of being comfortable teaching the content (self-efficacy), from the unpredictability of inquiry lessons (control beliefs), from how they perceive their students as viewing them (teacher identity). This research also demonstrates how intertwined these factors are, informing each other in a complex, dialectical fashion. By providing descriptions of teachers experiences enacting inquiry pedagogy, this study expands our understanding of factors influencing teachers pedagogy and provides a basis for reforms in science teacher preparation.
AB - This phenomenological study demonstrates the influence that affective factors have on beginning teachers ability to enact inquiry science pedagogy. Through narratives shared in interviews and weblog postings, two beginning science teachers emotional engagement with their teaching practices, especially that of implementing inquiry-based instruction, and the resulting impact these emotions had on pedagogical choices were evidenced. Anxiety emerged as the emotion most significantly impacting participants. Through their stories, the two participants describe how their emotions and views of self-influence whether they choose to continue using inquiry pedagogy or alter their lesson to adopt more didactic forms of teaching. These emotions arise from their feelings of being comfortable teaching the content (self-efficacy), from the unpredictability of inquiry lessons (control beliefs), from how they perceive their students as viewing them (teacher identity). This research also demonstrates how intertwined these factors are, informing each other in a complex, dialectical fashion. By providing descriptions of teachers experiences enacting inquiry pedagogy, this study expands our understanding of factors influencing teachers pedagogy and provides a basis for reforms in science teacher preparation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84862079873&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84862079873&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13540602.2012.629837
DO - 10.1080/13540602.2012.629837
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84862079873
SN - 1354-0602
VL - 18
SP - 297
EP - 313
JO - Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
JF - Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
IS - 3
ER -