Using Notebooks to Explicitly Distinguish Multiple Perspectives in the Elementary Science Methods Course

The purpose of this study was to explore an approach to an elementary science methods course that utilized a science notebook to physically distinguished multiple perspectives of science teaching and learning. We conceptualized teacher candidates’ (TCs’) thinking within a framework titled Exploring Multiple Perspectives in the Methods Course, focusing on a student perspective and a teacher perspective. We examined the pre/post drawings of a science teacher, which included reflections on the drawings, and end-of-semester focus group responses of 30 TCs from two sections of the methods course. Nineteen TCs either included notebooks in their post-drawings or indicated their value in their reflections. Focus group responses suggested the impact of taking the student perspective and the teacher perspective in the methods course. Furthermore, TCs discussed the notebook as a reference and reflection tool for students and teachers, as a tool for assessment and recording thinking, and notebook use as an elementary teacher. The findings of this study add to the literature by examining how TCs perceive and talk about using the science notebook when it serves as a tool to support explicit attention to student and teacher perspectives in the methods course.