Unpacking readiness for elementary science teaching: what preservice teachers bring and how that can be shaped through teacher education

ABSTRACT

The work of elementary science teaching is challenging given the wide array of subject matter most teachers are expected to teach and a systematic de-prioritisation of science at these grades. In this literature review (63 papers; 2010–2020), we use a framework of readiness for science teaching. Using this framework allows us to illustrate foundational characteristics and abilities that preservice teachers may start with and develop as they become well-started beginners for elementary teaching in the face of systemic challenges. To this end, we identify what is known from the research literature about the strengths that preservice elementary teachers bring to this difficult work with regard to their characteristics and abilities in addition to the challenges they face, describing a foundation on which preservice teachers can build. We also highlight additional studies that show how teacher education can build on preservice teachers’ strengths and support them in areas that are challenging. We identify themes around novices’ identities, dispositions, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, self-efficacy, knowledge, engagement in and with science practices, lesson planning, and lesson enactment. Finally, we highlight four implications for science teacher educators, noting focal areas that may compensate for challenges preservice elementary teachers face while building on their strengths.

KEYWORDS:

• Elementary science
• teacher education
• preservice teachers
• assets
• readiness

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. We use the term ‘elementary’ in the paper to refer to young students in early grades, typically pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the U.S., or approximately ages 5 to 11. In many other parts of the world, this age group is referred to as ‘primary’.

2. The term ‘novice’ may refer to preservice or early career inservice teachers. In this paper, we use the term novice interchangeably with preservice to refer specifically to preservice teachers.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation [DRL-1761057]

Notes on contributors

Christa Haverly

Christa Haverly is a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University, School of Education and Social Policy. Her research focuses on supporting elementary teachers in science instruction both from a practice-based approach considering students’ sense-making and teachers’ responsiveness, as well as from a systems-building approach considering how school systems can organize to support instructional improvements in elementary science. She is particularly interested in considering these issues through an equity lens that moves beyond access and opportunities for student learning to considering the ways that school systems, schools, and teachers make space for students to claim epistemic agency in the elementary science classroom. Haverly has published in Cognition and Instruction, Journal of Teacher Education, and Journal of Research in Science Teaching, among other venues. Haverly earned her Ph.D. in science teacher education from Michigan State University.

Elizabeth A. Davis

Elizabeth A. Davis is a professor at the University of Michigan, School of Education. Her research focuses on elementary teachers learning to engage in rigorous, consequential, just, and equitable science teaching and the roles of curriculum materials, practice-based teacher education, and educational systems in promoting teacher learning. Davis received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at the White House in 2002. She has served on National Research Council committees focused on teacher learning and instructional materials, and chaired the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee that recently released the report Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades: The Brilliance of Children and the Strengths of Educators. Davis earned her Ph.D. in education in mathematics, science, and technology from the University of California, Berkeley.