Preservice Science Teachers’ Notice and Response To Students’ Scientific Thinking Within Elementary Science Methods Course

Abstract

This study examines preservice teachers’ (PSTs) practices of noticing and responding to students’ scientific thinking within the context of their science methods courses (pedagogy focused). The PSTs, in their senior year and later in their student-teaching internship year at a Midwestern university teacher preparation program, participated in two sequential science methods courses. Over the course of these two semesters, they completed two key course assignments: Sensemaking tasks (senior year) and Student learning analysis (internship year). Their written responses to these assignments were evaluated using Kang and Anderson’s (Sci Educ 99(5):863–895, 2015) framework, which is designed to study teachers’ practices of noticing and responding. The findings reveal that PSTs primarily focused on their own actions as teachers, their students’ behavior, and the canonical nature of their students’ responses. However, their attention to students’ science ideas was limited, often leading to narrow interpretations when these ideas were noticed. The nature of the methods course assignment prompts may have influenced PSTs to prioritize certain aspects of students’ learning over others. These findings suggest important implications for supporting and enhancing PSTs’ practices of noticing and responding through targeted coursework and the design of methods courses.