The Influence of Primary Children's Ideas in Science on Teaching Practice

The purpose of this study was to explore how children's ideas in science affects science instruction in the primary grades. The study investigated whether and how primary teachers recognize student ideas, and whether and how they react to student ideas. Two experienced second‐grade teachers and one intern teacher were observed and videotaped as they taught 8‐week astronomy units. Teachers and students from each classroom were pre‐ and postinstruction interviewed for their content knowledge of and viewpoints on teaching and the importance of student ideas. Midunit stimulated recall interviews were used to gain understanding of teachers' perceptions of their instruction regarding student ideas. Transcripts of lessons and interviews were coded and analyzed for patterns of eliciting and addressing student ideas. Results showed that all teachers used discussions in a variety of ways to identify and elicit student ideas. The experienced teacher with the highest level of content knowledge had the largest repertoire for eliciting and addressing student ideas. The intern teacher addressed student ideas in ways that discouraged students from continuing to share their ideas. Implications include (a) helping teachers to use their teaching strengths to increase their content knowledge and expertise teaching primary students, (b) helping preservice teachers to develop a deeper understanding of characteristics of the learner, (c) having science educators recognize that primary teachers' goals for instruction focus on developing literate readers and writers and the importance of fitting science into those goals, and (d) recognizing that experienced teachers with knowledge of the importance of student ideas may seek to improve their own content knowledge. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 363–385, 2000.