Long-term systemic reform of science education across the nation requires better pre-service teacher education in science. At present, such education is largely in stereotyped lecture courses. The courses are not interesting, and they tend to focus on rote-knowledge rather than on the nature and value of scientific inquiry – the essence of science. As a result, most elementary school teachers know little about science when they begin their careers and are often averse to teaching it. Science specialists in the higher grades have more textbook knowledge, but tend to emulate the counterproductive pedagogy to which they have been exposed and lack the skills and confidence for doing better.
In collaboration with the teacher preparation program at Claremont Graduate School of Education (with NSF support), we developed a college science course primarily aimed at elementary school teachers, but which in fact will be a solid foundation for specialist teachers as well as non-teacher liberal arts students. The course has dual topical strands in biology (plant growth and development) and physics (sound) and was developed by a team of teachers, teacher-educators, and research scientists, combining their individual expertise to create a hands-on cooperative learning experience. The subject matter is sophisticated, but the pedagogy is relevant for science teaching at any grade level, K-16. Initial trial of the course was in the summer of 1993 to a group that included pre-service teacher-interns from Claremont and elementary school teachers from Pasadena. In the 1994-95 school year, 10-week pilot courses were taught by science faculty at Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona, and co-taught with master elementary teachers from Pasadena. The student and faculty response was very favorable, and the course is now part of the General Studies science curriculum at both places. In addition, it is an elective for teacher-interns at the Claremont Graduate School. It was intended that the course be a model for collaborative efforts by scientists and educators at other universities. In fact, the NSF has now instituted a nationwide pre-service effort with similar goals to ours, and we have had the opportunity to share our knowledge with many colleagues.