“They Were Teaching Me!”: Reimagining Collaborative Inquiry with Elementary Students in Science Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

This study explored how preservice teachers engaged in collaborative inquiry with elementary students to facilitate social justice and equity in science education. By inviting elementary students as key stakeholders into collaborative inquiry, we examined how preservice teachers uncovered critical problems of science education in underserved communities and how they (re)imagined science learning environments. We also investigated how collaborative inquiry with students shaped the preservice teachers’ identities as science educators. Guided by the critical ethnography and data analysis spiral, we analyzed qualitative data related to 34 preservice teachers from a US teacher preparation program embedded in clinical residencies on elementary school sites. Our findings showed that preservice teachers (1) leveraged collaborative inquiry to illuminate barriers and affordances to science learning, (2) became co-agents of change alongside elementary students, and (3) positioned themselves as science educators. We discussed the role of collaborative inquiry as a transformational pedagogical tool in teacher preparation programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaborative inquiry
• preservice teacher inquiry
• social justice
• science education
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.