Beginning Elementary School Teachers and the Effective Teaching of Science

Many factors influence the teaching of science by beginning teachers in elementary schools. They have to confront a myriad of daunting experiences and tasks in their first few weeks at school. They are also expected to teach a comprehensive curriculum including science with its attendant demands for a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, cooperative group work, and reliance on resources. This paper describes the experiences of three beginning teachers as they worked their way through the first year of teaching, with an emphasis on analyzing the influence of these experiences on their planning and implementation of science lessons in the classroom. A theoretical framework of self-efficacy, and related attitudes and motivation to teach science, was used for the analysis. Implications for the design of science education courses within preservice programs, and the development of induction programs for beginning elementary teachers, to ensure teachers’ long-term commitment to the effective teaching of science, are discussed in the paper.