An STS Approach to Organizing a Secondary Science Methods Course: Preliminary Findings

The current agenda in science education calls for science instruction that enhances student understanding of the nature of scientific enterprise, enables students to critically analyze scientific information as well as apply it in real-life situations, and sets them on a path of lifelong learning in science. In order to prepare teachers who can facilitate this kind of science instruction, substantial reform of both preservice and inservice science teacher education must occur. This paper describes an attempt to organize a secondary preservice science methods course around a science-technology-society (STS) approach. Student feedback suggests that preservice teachers' predispositions influence their views on the effectiveness of the STS approach. (WRM)