BEGINNING SCIENCE TEACHER COGNITION AND ITS ORIGINS IN THE PRESERVICESECONDARY SCIENCE TEACHER PROGRAM

The objectives of this study were to (a) identify the major tenets of a preservice secondary science education program as expressed by scien ce education faculty, (b) identify knowledge structures that beginning secondary science teachers have constructed about the teaching and le arning of science, and (c) identify the correlatives that exist betwee n the first two objectives. The study was grounded in the postulates o f teacher cognition in that teachers construct their own schema from t heir experiences in order to comprehend, plan for, and respond to the dynamics of their classroom. This qualitative study consisted of inter views and observations of beginning science teachers, interviews with science education faculty, and an analysis of the course syllabi of th at faculty. Methods of single and cross-case analytic induction were c ombined to analyze the data. Based on the data, it may be concluded th at aspects of the program, such as student-centered learning, cooperat ive learning, general pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content k nowledge, were adopted into the schema of the beginning teachers; the degree of adoption appeared to be linked to the individual's most sign ificant learning experiences and the constraints of the school situati on. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.