Teaching for conceptual change in preschool science: relations among teachers' professional beliefs, knowledge, and instructional practice. Issue 12 (12th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leuchter, Miriam; Saalbach, Henrik; Studhalter, Ueli; Tettenborn, Annette
• Is Part Of: International journal of science education. Volume 42:Issue 12(2020)
• Page Start: 1941
• Page End: 1967
• Publication Date: 2020-08-12
• Subjects: Professional knowledge -- professional beliefs -- scaffolding practice -- preschool teachers -- science teaching; Science -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Science teachers -- Periodicals; 507
• DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2020.1805137
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-0693

Abstract

ABSTRACT: To effectively support early science learning in preschool, teachers need to be aware of the constructivist nature of children's learning. This study examined a sample of Swiss preschool teachers' beliefs about science learning and teaching and their relation to their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and scaffolding practices within a curriculum about floating and sinking. In Study 1, beliefs and PCK were assessed by means of questionnaires. A latent-profile analysis involving 104 preschool teachers reveals three clusters of teachers exhibiting specific belief profiles about science learning: 'highly constructivist, ' 'low constructivist' and 'hands-on' teachers. PCK differed across clusters, while highly constructivist teachers ranked highest. To deepen our understanding of the relations among preschool teachers' beliefs, PCK and teaching, we videotaped scaffolding practice of a subsample of 32 preschool teachers when teaching a curriculum of floating and sinking (Study 2). We found that teachers often apply scaffolding strategies to support topic-specific learning. However, scaffolding strategies aiming to stimulate higher-order thinking were rather rare. Furthermore, we found correlations between teachers' constructivist beliefs and their scaffolding as well as between teachers' topic-specific language and their PCK. Our findings emphasize the importance of targeting teachers' beliefs and PCK to improve the quality of preschool science instruction.