{"id":64167,"date":"2021-10-19T10:13:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T17:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=64167"},"modified":"2021-10-19T10:13:14","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T17:13:14","slug":"canipe-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/canipe-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do muffins rise in the oven?\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many elementary education majors graduate from teacher preparation programs with incomplete knowledge of science content and limited experience with teaching science in ways that are proven to be effective for elementary students. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the most recent National Survey of Science and Mathematics\u00a0Education found that only\u00a023\u00a0percent\u00a0of elementary teachers reported feeling\u00a0\u201cvery well prepared\u201d\u00a0to\u00a0support the development of conceptual understanding of science ideas by their students.\u00a0As a result, elementary school students may not be getting the science education they need to prepare them for the challenges of the 21<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0century.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0National Science Foundation\u00a0(NSF)\u00a0recently awarded\u00a0<\/span>Marti Canipe<\/span><\/b>, assistant professor in\u00a0Northern Arizona University\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Department of Teaching and Learning<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0a $296,000 grant for the project, \u201cImproving Science Content Knowledge of Undergraduate Elementary Education Majors through Phenomenon-based Science Courses.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This three-year project\u00a0will address this knowledge and skills gap\u00a0by developing\u00a0and\u00a0assessing\u00a0science courses for elementary education majors that not only target the breadth of science content knowledge needed to teach elementary science but also\u00a0model\u00a0effective pedagogical practices.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0science\u00a0courses will employ phenomenon-based instruction methods, which focus on\u00a0activities\u00a0that engage students in a range of scientific practices in order to develop evidence-based explanations. For example, to explain why muffins rise in the oven (the phenomenon), students need to understand ideas related to the structure and properties of matter, chemical reactions and energy.\u00a0Education research shows that using real-life phenomena to teach science, rather than\u00a0the traditional model of education that relies on rote memorization and recall of facts, is much more effective.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike secondary science teachers who typically specialize in a particular content area,\u00a0elementary teachers are expected to be generalists, responsible for teaching all subjects,\u00a0including science,\u201d Canipe said.\u00a0\u201cAdditionally, elementary science at each grade level consists of a mixture of\u00a0topics in the life, earth\/space\u00a0and physical sciences. Elementary teachers may also change grade\u00a0levels from one year to the\u00a0next,\u00a0making them responsible for teaching a different set of science\u00a0topics. A well-prepared elementary teacher needs a broad understanding of science across all\u00a0disciplines in addition to an understanding of effective\u00a0models\u00a0for teaching science to\u00a0elementary students.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canipe\u2019s research\u00a0will contribute to the field\u2019s understanding of how\u00a0prospective elementary teachers develop deep science content knowledge, building\u00a0on previous research examining\u00a0the relationship between science content courses for elementary teachers and their confidence, attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She will collaborate on the project with associate professor\u00a0<\/span>Ron Gray<\/span><\/b>\u00a0of NAU\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Center for Science Teaching and Learning<\/span><\/a>. Advisory board members are Christina\u00a0Krist\u00a0of the University of Illinois,\u00a0Christina Schwarz of Michigan State University,\u00a0Melissa Braaten of the University of Colorado\u00a0and Kristin\u00a0Gunckel\u00a0of\u00a0the University of Arizona.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Stefani Chase<\/span><\/b>, a doctoral student\u00a0in\u00a0NAU\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Curriculum and Instruction Ph.D.\u00a0program<\/span><\/a>, will join Canipe on the project.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The science course materials the team develops will be made publicly available.\u00a0\u201cTeacher educators will be\u00a0free to adopt and\/or adapt the materials in ways that fit their context,\u201d Canipe said, \u201cand\u00a0the\u00a0materials\u00a0can\u00a0be adapted for use in professional development settings for practicing teachers.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This project has the potential to significantly impact science instruction for undergraduate elementary education majors and their future elementary school students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe research and education outcomes for this project have the potential to spread far beyond the\u00a0context of one elementary education program and improve elementary science teacher education\u00a0more broadly,\u00a0which in turn\u00a0has the potential to impact many elementary students of diverse backgrounds\u00a0in the coming years,\u00a0providing a foundation on which they can build scientific understandings\u00a0throughout their education,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canipe, who was an instructor\u00a0and grad student\u00a0at\u00a0the University of Arizona before joining NAU in 2016, taught third through eighth grade science for\u00a012years in North Carolina.\u202fShe served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow in the Office of Polar Programs at the NSF, where she worked to help polar scientists connect with K-12 classrooms by developing resources for teachers and scientists to help bring their scientific research into schools.\u202fHer primary research interest is elementary teachers’ identities as teachers of science.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kerry Bennett | Office of the Vice President for Research<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many elementary education majors graduate from teacher preparation programs with incomplete knowledge of science content and limited experience with teaching science in ways that are proven to be effective for elementary students. \u00a0 In fact, the most recent National Survey of Science and Mathematics\u00a0Education found that only\u00a023\u00a0percent\u00a0of elementary teachers reported feeling\u00a0\u201cvery well prepared\u201d\u00a0to\u00a0support the development…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":64169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}