The challenges of teaching physics to preservice elementary teachers: Orientations of the professor, teaching assistant, and students

The purpose of this study was to understand how the professor, teaching assistant, and students experienced inquiry-based science instruction in an undergraduate physics course designed for elementary education majors. During the teaching of a 6-week electricity unit, the professor faced several challenges: knowing when and how to tell the scientifically accurate answer, deciding when and how to introduce scientific terminology, and doing inquiry vs. testing. The professor and the teaching assistant also experienced several tensions. Their orientations to science teaching differed in terms of their science learning goals, beliefs about teaching and learning, and beliefs about assessment. The students experienced frustration with the-inquiry approach related to their views of learning, their need as learners to get the right answer, and the disconnect they felt between the inquiry approach and the assessment used in the course. During the course they were also building their-views of inquiry and their visions of themselves as future teachers. We analyze the conflicts experienced by the professor and among the professor, teaching assistant and students in terms of three orientations to science teaching: didactic, discovery, and guided inquiry. Finally, we discuss implications for building a guided inquiry orientation in science content courses for future teachers. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.