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CHAPTER 1
Introduction – Issues Related to the Professional Development of Chemistry Teachers
Professional development should be a continuing aspect of teachers' careers. It starts when teachers first enroll in pre-service programs and continues until they retire. There are many different models for initial preparation and continuing professional development for chemistry teachers in different countries around the world. This book was written by four authors from Israel, Germany and the USA. Many of the models, ideas, and activities that are presented in the book are based on the authors' personal involvement and research over a long period of time. As an introduction, this chapter discusses the different approaches to pre-service chemistry teacher education, consequences for continuous professional development, and the intentions of this book.
1.1 The Fields of Chemistry-Teaching Practices
Any discussion of the different approaches to both pre-service and in-service professional development of chemistry teachers should start with a look at the general differences in educational systems worldwide that impact the fields of practice for chemistry-teaching professionals.
There is general agreement in most countries that science at the primary-school level (mainly 6 to 10 years of age) should be taught using an integrated approach. This approach can focus primarily on science itself (integrating topics from biology, chemistry, and physics), or on science in one subject combined with other domains, such as history, geography, or technology. There also seems to be some consensus that chemistry at the upper secondary or high-school level (ages 15 or 16 to 18 years) should be taught as a standalone subject in its own right. Unfortunately, in many countries, upper secondary school chemistry is not required for all students, or is only compulsory for one year.
The largest differences in the way chemistry is introduced into the educational system can be found at what is known as the middle school, lower secondary school, or junior high-school level. This level usually covers students who are 10 to 14, 15 or 16 years of age. In some countries, science at this level is taught as an integrated science subject combining aspects of chemistry, biology, physics, and geoscience. In other countries, science is taught as largely independent subjects (chemistry, biology, and physics), quite frequently with biology or earth sciences being taught before chemistry starts (Figure 1.1). Sometimes the split in coverage of individual science subjects occurs somewhere midway through lower secondary school. In Germany, for example, there are schools in which the separation into individual science subjects begins in grades 5, 7, or 9, or at the start of upper secondary science education.
There is no clear evidence to show whether it is more effective to teach chemistry in middle school or at the lower secondary level as a subject in its own right, or integrated with the other domains of science. An advantage to chemistry as a standalone subject might be a greater concentration on the content matter and inner structure of chemistry, whereas an integrated approach might facilitate a broader view of chemistry, including technological applications and environmental or societal ramifications. As an independent subject, it might be easier to focus on the specific characteristics and nature of chemistry, whereas the integrated approach could be a better way to show what the different science domains have in common and how they are related.
For pre-service teacher education and continuous professional development, neither approach creates a structural problem as long as they are operated consistently throughout the educational system. For educational systems that mix the two approaches, both teachers and providers of continuous professional development regularly face difficulties. This is the case in Germany, for example, where some science is taught from an integrated perspective up to grades 6, 8, or 10, although only those teachers who studied beyond the primary educational level are educated as chemistry, biology, or physics teachers. Although every teacher in Germany studies two subjects to be taught in school, they are not required to be two science subjects. The teachers can also study (and teach) chemistry combined with maths or any subjects from the social sciences or humanities. When this happens, chemistry teachers face the challenge of teaching biology, earth sciences, and/or physics content without having either studied the subject matter or taken educational courses specific to these domains.
An overview of the great variety of educational systems in Europe, as an example, can be found in a report on the EU's Eurydice project EU (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2015). For countries outside the EU, Risch (2010) provides a useful overview of similarities and differences in how chemistry is taught and how teachers' pre-service education is organized in 25 countries around the world.
1.2 Approaches to Pre-service Education of Chemistry Teachers
Similar to the between-country, or even within-country differences in educational systems in which chemistry is taught, differences can be found in the pre-service education of chemistry teachers. Pre-service chemistry teacher programs range in length from a 3-year BSc degree in chemistry as the formal qualification to become a chemistry teacher in middle and high schools, to a 7-year integrated chemistry teacher education program with different graduation steps such as, for example, in Germany or Austria. Differences in chemistry teacher education can also be found in the paths to graduation. In general, there are two major models for teacher education, which can be thought of as consecutive and integrated (or concurrent) (Caena, 2014).
In chemistry education, the consecutive approach starts preparing teachers with almost exclusively content-focused chemistry studies at the undergraduate level, leading to a BSc degree in chemistry. The content of the first stage in this model is chemistry and related knowledge, such as physics or maths. In some countries, this qualification is all that is needed to work as a chemistry teacher in middle school, or even at the upper secondary school level. In this case, teachers have to develop their general educational and domain-specific educational skills on the job.
Professional development programs are sometimes offered during a teacher's first years of work. In some countries, these courses are compulsory, in others they are not. More advanced consecutive programs ask prospective teachers who have obtained their BSc degree to enroll in either a teaching certificate program (often 1 or 2 years) or a MEd program (mostly 2 years) before the student teachers become recognized as fully qualified middle- or high-school chemistry teachers (Figure 1.2). These post BSc programs might – but do not always – include school internships and practical teaching exercises. Requirements for completing pre-service teacher education sometimes depend on the type of school or grade levels that the individual will be teaching.
Integrated (or concurrent) approaches to pre-service education start the professional development of the prospective chemistry teachers at the beginning of, or quite early in their undergraduate studies, with a focus on preparing students to become chemistry teachers. Students usually choose to become teachers in their first (or possibly second) year of college/ university, and these students then enroll in courses on both the content of chemistry, with related physics and maths, and general and domain-specific education. School internships and practical teaching experiences are usually integrated into these programs, starting from the undergraduate level. These programs can last from 3 to 4 or 5 years. In Germany, for example, teacher education generally starts with a 3-year program that leads to a BSc. All of the students then spend 2 years in a MEd program followed by 18–24 months of compulsory post-MEd training in schools. The students must pass exams at each of the three steps during these 7 years. All three degrees are then required to become recognized as a fully qualified middle- or high-school teacher (Figure 1.3).
The consecutive and integrated approaches both have advantages and disadvantages. The consecutive programs ensure an in-depth education in the content matter of all of the basic fields of chemistry. The students are ''socialized'' as chemists to become experts and ambassadors for their subject. The consecutive models allow the student to postpone the decision of whether to work as a chemist or teacher. The consecutive models, however, often limit the amount of instructional time devoted to the study of general and domain-specific education to 1 year of educational studies or courses on the job, or even less. The consecutive models do not allow for integrated learning of the basic chemistry content with an understanding of how it needs to be transformed and conducted in an educational setting (see Chapter 2 of this book). The integrated programs enable students to build connections between the chemistry content knowledge and their understanding of both pedagogy in general, and chemistry-domain-specific pedagogical knowledge in particular. The integrated programs can allow the student teachers to reflect more specifically on the relevant teaching content of the school chemistry curriculum, but the programs need to avoid lowering the level of education in the fundamental principles and theories of chemistry in their academic chemistry studies. The parallel learning of educational theory and chemistry content also provides the prospective chemistry teacher with an opportunity to reflect on their own learning processes within the context of the learning theories they encounter while they themselves are learning new chemistry content. However, because integrated approaches only qualify the students to work in educational settings, a later move into scientific research and engineering professions might be difficult. Differences in pre-service programs obviously have effects on the requirements and contents of continuous professional development.
Many countries have developed ways to help people who have been practicing chemists become certified as qualified chemistry teachers. One example is a special program at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. To educate teachers with advanced degrees in maths and science along with experience in scientific research, a teacher training program was developed to teach science subjects in grades 7–12, including chemistry. The program is designated for students and graduates who have at least a MSc degree in the relevant fields. The teacher training builds on the individual's understanding of the content of chemistry and focuses on developing this understanding into teacher knowledge; it also provides the skills to promote school learners' deep cognitive understanding by acquiring various teaching methods, including research-based learning, problem solving, projects, discussions, peer learning and operating technology-enriched learning environments. The duration of the program is 2 years. The program consists of six courses: (i) introduction to science education, (ii) learning environments, (iii) assessment, (iv) educational psychology, (v) history and philosophy of science, (vi) cognition. After taking these courses, these individuals attend a full year course in didactics in the chosen discipline, such as chemistry.
In the USA, institutions such as Purdue University that have a long history of graduating teachers who specialize in science, technology, engineering, or maths (STEM) courses at the high-school level have developed programs such as the Transition to Teaching (TtT) program that is open to individuals who have at least 3 years as a practicing chemist, engineer, mathematician, etc. These individuals take at least six courses that are graduate-level versions of the courses that undergraduate pre-service teachers are required to take. One of the differences between the TtT program at Purdue and the program at the Weizmann Institute is the ability to tailor the courses to individuals in the program to meet specific needs.
In addition to individuals attending in-service teacher education programs to teach at the high-school level, research-intensive chemistry departments across the USA are turning out PhD graduates who take faculty positions at colleges and universities at every level, from local community colleges to research-intensive universities. Traditionally, graduates of these programs have state-of-the-art knowledge of the content of chemistry within the specific domain in which they graduate, such as inorganic or organic chemistry. They have demonstrated the ability to do chemistry, usually with no background whatsoever in either general pedagogical or domain-specific pedagogical knowledge. A little more than 35 years ago, a program was created to produce PhD (and MSc) graduates who had the advanced content knowledge expected of chemistry faculty, a solid background in education courses, and the ability to research the problems of teaching and learning chemistry (Bodner and Herron, 1984). Twenty-five years later, the program's accomplishments were summarized (Bodner and Towns, 2010). At the end of the 2017–2018 academic year, this program's 100th PhD student will graduate. In most other countries, however, college and university teachers in chemistry are qualified only by being educated as fully trained research chemists. Although sometimes a PhD in chemistry is even a prerequisite, formal educational training is generally not required.
As a case in point, an overview of the diversity of teacher education in Europe alone was provided by Caena (2014). A recently published book by Maciejowska and Byers (2015) discusses selected aspects of good practices in chemistry teachers' pre-service education.
1.3 Consequences for Continuous Professional Development
Initial teacher education provides the prospective chemistry teacher with basic knowledge in chemistry and (hopefully) chemistry education. However, such programs only contribute to a limited extent to the knowledge base of teachers (Van Driel et al., 1998). The notion of teacher knowledge first came to prominence in chemistry education a quarter of a century ago, and there has been a plethora of literature on what teachers know and do to carry out their work (Mulholland and Wallace, 2005). By acknowledging teachers' central role in teaching, the movement to enhance teachers' knowledge places the practicing teacher at the heart of attempts to reform classrooms and improve student achievement. Although there is much agreement about the importance of teachers' knowledge, however, there have also been numerous discussions, debates, and concerns regarding how teachers' knowledge is constructed, organized, and effectively used (e.g., Fenstermacher, 1994; Munby et al., 2001; Kennedy, 2002; Kind, 2009).
Chemistry has an ever-changing knowledge base and its aligned pedagogies and instructional techniques develop over time. Many teachers in school systems worldwide completed their training many years (in the order of decades) ago. As a result, their science knowledge and knowledge of important recent developments regarding science teaching (pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of new curricula and learning environments) have become outdated. This consequently inhibits their ability to implement and operate modern teaching approaches that require contemporary scientific and pedagogical knowledge to teach at an appropriate level and with suitable methodology (Van Driel et al., 1998). That is why, as is true for every teaching profession, chemistry teachers need continuing professional development to update both their chemistry content knowledge and the aligned domain-specific pedagogical knowledge (see Chapter 2 of this book). Moreover, even though teachers attend long-term professional development programs, as recommended by the National Research Council (1996) and by science educators (e.g., Loucks-Horsley and Matsumoto, 1999), the results are sometimes less than would be expected if these programs over-emphasized (because these programs over-emphasize?) teachers' pedagogical knowledge, rather than their content knowledge (Taitelbaum et al., 2008) or vice versa.
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Excerpted from "Professional Development of Chemistry Teachers"
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Copyright © 2018 Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Ingo Eilks, George Bodner and Avi Hofstein.
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