Teaching for conceptual change in elementary and secondary science methods courses

This article describes and analyzes two science methods courses at the elementary and secondary levels. The courses were components of a larger study of a science teacher education program whose goal was to graduate teachers who held conceptual change conceptions of teaching science and were disposed to put them into practice. The methods courses and their accompanying practicum experiences were analyzed in terms of how they dealt with four related ideas: (1) how students learn science; (2) how teachers teach science to students; (3) how prospective science teachers learn about the first two ideas; and (4) how methods instructors teach prospective science teachers about the first two ideas. Data were gathered by observing the methods courses, interviewing the course instructors, and observing prospective teachers teach in practicum settings. The study found that, within the constraints of a three‐semester‐credit course, each course considered the first three ideas in significant depth, but did so with different emphases on teaching for conceptual change. The elementary instructor modeled complete science lessons followed by pedagogical discussions; the secondary instructor provided extensive written materials and modeled components of conceptual change science lessons. Opportunities for prospective teachers to practice teaching for conceptual change were constrained by their practicum placements. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83:275–307, 1999.