Collaborative partnerships: A model of professional learning in primary science for practising and preservice teachers

Thesis


Jones, Mellita M.. (2010). Collaborative partnerships: A model of professional learning in primary science for practising and preservice teachers [Thesis]. https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a95f73ec682f
AuthorsJones, Mellita M.
Qualification nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Abstract

This study explores collaborative partnerships between practising and preservice teachers as a model of primary science teacher professional learning. Thirteen volunteer preservice teacher participants from a 3rd year core Science Education unit in a Bachelor of Education course from a regional university were partnered with eight practising teacher volunteers from primary schools in the regional centre in which the university was situated. Partners planned, implemented and reflected on a series of science lessons using the 5Es framework (Australian Academy of Science, 2009) adapted from Bybee (1997). Partners were encouraged to integrate other areas of the curriculum into their science lessons where appropriate. A model of reflective practice informed by Korthagen's (2001) Action, Looking back on the action, Awareness of essential aspects, Creation of alternative actions, and Trialling of the new action (ALACT) model was used to guide partners' reflection and subsequent planning of lessons. Data collection was achieved through a variety of methods including round table and online discussions with and between preservice teachers throughout the partnership period; semi-structured interviews with practising teachers after the partnership period; a variety of qualitative data collected at initial and final partnership workshops; and quantitative data collected through initial and final participant questionnaires which included the STEBI-A and STEBI-B instruments developed by Enochs and Riggs (1990). Findings revealed that six out of eight partnerships achieved medium to strong collaboration, while two partnerships had little to no collaboration between preservice and practising teachers. Where collaboration was achieved, the experience was effective in building preservice teacher efficacy and confidence to teach science.;These partnerships also provided valuable experience for preservice teachers to observe and teach science which was lacking in their previous professional experience teaching rounds. Some content and pedagogical knowledge development was also evident, particularly from those preservice teachers who were involved in collaborative partnerships. Guided reflection in expert facilitated round table discussions also appeared essential in forming the theory-practice nexus that helped preservice teachers develop knowledge of science teaching. Practising teachers who lacked confidence in their knowledge of science and belief in their ability to teach it also experienced growth in efficacy and knowledge of science and its teaching. Teachers who already had strong science knowledge and teaching efficacy did not appear to experience knowledge growth, but did gain enhanced ideas and approaches to teaching science. The more formal the reflection conducted between partners, the more practising teachers appeared to benefit overall. It was also identified through the findings that time for organisation and accessing appropriate resources were significant issues in teachers' sense of their ability to teach science more often. Confidence and background knowledge were also identified as barriers for increased science teaching in schools. In spite of this all preservice teachers indicated a strong desire to include science in their teaching frequently as a result of their experience in this project. These findings suggest that professional learning in science education can be achieved for both practising and preservice teachers when they work together in collaborative partnerships to plan and reflect on a series of science lessons that are implemented in an authentic classroom setting.

Year2010
PublisherAustralian Catholic University
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a95f73ec682f
Research GroupSchool of Education
Final version
Publication dates01 Jan 2010
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/88z14/collaborative-partnerships-a-model-of-professional-learning-in-primary-science-for-practising-and-preservice-teachers

Download files

  • 184
    total views
  • 228
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

Learning contexts and visions for STEM in schools
Jones, Mellita Mary, Geiger, Vincent Stephen, Falloon, Garry, Fraser, Sharon, Beswick, Kim, Holland-Twining, Benjamin and Hatisaru, Vesife. (2024). Learning contexts and visions for STEM in schools. International Journal of Science Education. pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2024.2323032
Assessing the development of global competence in teacher education programmes : Internal consistency and reliability of a set of rubrics
Parmigiani, Davide, Bar Nir, Aviva, Ferguson-Patrick, Kate, Forkosh Baruch, Alona, Heddy, Eileen, Impedovo, Maria Antonietta, Ingersoll, Marcea, Jones, Mellita, Kimhi, Yael, Lourenço, Mόnica, Macqueen, Suzanne, Pennazio, Valentina, Sokal, Laura, Timkova, Renata, Westa, Sina and Wikan, Gerd. (2023). Assessing the development of global competence in teacher education programmes : Internal consistency and reliability of a set of rubrics. Higher Education Pedagogies. 8(1), p. Article 2216190. https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2023.2216190
Teacher education for global citizenship : What can an international practicum offer?
Jones, Mellita, Cinelli, Renata and Gallagher, Mary. (2022). Teacher education for global citizenship : What can an international practicum offer? In In Zajda, Joseph and Majhanovich, Suzanne (Ed.). Discourses of globalisation, ideology, education and policy reforms pp. 139-158 Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71583-0_9
‘‘I realized that science isn’t scary’’ : In-service teacher insights regarding science focused partnerships
Gilbert, Andrew, Hobbs, Linda, Kenny, John, Jones, Mellita, Campbell, Coral, Chittleborough, Gail, Herbert, Sandra and Redman, Christine. (2020). ‘‘I realized that science isn’t scary’’ : In-service teacher insights regarding science focused partnerships. School-University Partnerships. 13(1), pp. 22-31.
Teacher education in Solomon Islands
Jones, Mellita and Cinelli, Renata. (2019). Teacher education in Solomon Islands. In In Karras, K. G. and Wolhuter, C. C. (Ed.). International handbook of teacher education ; volume 3 pp. 273-294 HM Studies and Publishing.
Teacher education in the Solomon Islands
Jones, Mellita and Cinelli, Renata. (2019). Teacher education in the Solomon Islands. In In Karras, K. G. and Wolhuter, C. C. (Ed.). International handbook of teacher education ; volume 3 pp. 273-293 HM Studies and Publishing.
Principal perceptions regarding the impact of school-university partnerships in primary science contexts
Gilbert, Andrew, Hobbs, Linda, Kenny, John, Jones, Mellita, Campbell, Coral, Chittleborough, Gail, Herbert, Sandra and Redman, Christine. (2018). Principal perceptions regarding the impact of school-university partnerships in primary science contexts. School-Universities Partnerships. 11(2), pp. 73-83.
Personalising learning in teacher education
Jones, Mellita and McLean, Karen. (2018). Personalising learning in teacher education https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7930-6
Linking theory and practice through partnerships
Chittleborough, Gail and Jones, Mellita. (2018). Linking theory and practice through partnerships. In In L. Hobbs, C. Campbell and M. Jones (Ed.). School-based partnerships in teacher education: A Research informed model for universities, schools and beyond pp. 61 - 82 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1795-8_4
Theory and practice: The context of partnerships in teacher education
Kenny, John, Jones, Mellita and Speldewinde, Christopher. (2018). Theory and practice: The context of partnerships in teacher education. In In L. Hobbs, C. Campbell and M. Jones (Ed.). School-based partnerships in teacher education: A Research informed model for universities, schools and beyond pp. 3 - 19 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1795-8_1
Models of school-based practice: Partnerships in practice
Campbell, Coral, Chittleborough, Gail, Gilbert, Andrew, Hobbs, Linda, Jones, Mellita, Kenny, John and Redman, Christine. (2018). Models of school-based practice: Partnerships in practice. In In L. Hobbs, C. Campbell and M. Jones (Ed.). School-based partnerships in teacher education: A Research informed model for universities, schools and beyond pp. 39 - 57 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1795-8_3
Growing university–school partnerships
Jones, Mellita and Chittleborough, Gail. (2018). Growing university–school partnerships. In In L. Hobbs, C. Campbell and M. Jones (Ed.). School-based partnerships in teacher education: A Research informed model for universities, schools and beyond pp. 99 - 122 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1795-8_6
A partnership journey narrative: The case of Damtru, science teacher educator
Jones, Mellita. (2018). A partnership journey narrative: The case of Damtru, science teacher educator. In In L. Hobbs, C. Campbell and M. Jones (Ed.). School-based partnerships in teacher education: A Research informed model for universities, schools and beyond pp. 123 - 137 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1795-8_7
Introduction
Nuttall, Joce, Kostogriz, Alex, Jones, Mellita and Martin, Jenny. (2017). Introduction. In In Nuttall, Joce, Kostogriz, Alex, Jones, Mellita and Martin, Jenny (Ed.). Teacher education policy and practice : Evidence of impact, impact of evidence pp. vii-xii Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4133-4
We were the real teacher': outcomes of an international practicum in the Solomon Islands for Australian preservice teachers
Cinelli, Renata and Jones, Mellita. (2017). We were the real teacher': outcomes of an international practicum in the Solomon Islands for Australian preservice teachers. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives. 16(1), pp. 64 - 77.
"preach or teach?" an ongoing journey to becoming STEPWISE
Jones, Mellita. (2017). "preach or teach?" an ongoing journey to becoming STEPWISE. In In J. L. Bencze (Ed.). Science and Technology Education Promoting Wellbeing for Individuals, Societies and Environments: STEPWISE pp. 503 - 522 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55505-8
Toward transformative reflective practice in teacher education
Brandenburg, Robyn and Jones, Mellita. (2017). Toward transformative reflective practice in teacher education. In In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell and M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Reflective theory and practice in teacher education pp. 259 - 274 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3431-2
The online space: developing strong pedagogy for online reflective practice
Jones, Mellita and Ryan, Josephine. (2017). The online space: developing strong pedagogy for online reflective practice. In In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell and M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Reflective theory and practice in teacher education pp. 205 - 222 Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3431-2
Improving a school-based science education task using critical reflective practice
Jones, Mellita. (2017). Improving a school-based science education task using critical reflective practice. In In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell and M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Reflective theory and practice in teacher education pp. 179 - 204 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3431-2
The online space: developing strong pedagogy for online reflective practice
Jones, Mellita and Ryan, Josephine. (2017). The online space: developing strong pedagogy for online reflective practice. In In R. Brandenburg, K. Glasswell and M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Reflective theory and practice in teacher education pp. 205 - 222 Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3431-2
Successful university-school partnerships: An interpretive framework to inform partnership practice
Jones, Mellita Mary, Hobbs, Linda, Kenny, John Daniel, Campbell, Coral, Chittleborough, Gail, Gilbert, Andrew, Herbert, Sandra and Redman, Christine. (2016). Successful university-school partnerships: An interpretive framework to inform partnership practice. Teaching and Teacher Education. 60, pp. 108 - 120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.08.006
Children's literature as an invitation to science inquiry in early childhood education
McLean, Karen, Jones, Mellita and Schaper, Clare. (2015). Children's literature as an invitation to science inquiry in early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 40(4), pp. 49 - 56.
Successful and 'transferable' practice
Jones, Mellita. (2014). Successful and 'transferable' practice. In In M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Successful teacher education: Partnerships, reflective practice and the place of technology pp. 177 - 194 Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-677-6_11
Reflective Practice in the Online Space
Jones, Mellita. (2014). Reflective Practice in the Online Space. In In M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Successful teacher education: Partnerships, reflective practice and the place of technology Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-677-6_10
Communication in the practicum: Fostering relationships between universities and schools
Ryan, Josephine and Jones, Mellita. (2014). Communication in the practicum: Fostering relationships between universities and schools. In In M. Jones and J. Ryan (Ed.). Successful teacher education: Partnerships, reflective practice and the place of technology Sense Publishers.
Learning in the practicum : Engaging pre-service teachers in reflective practice in the online space
Jones, Mellita and Ryan, Josephine. (2014). Learning in the practicum : Engaging pre-service teachers in reflective practice in the online space. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. 42(2), pp. 132 - 146. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2014.892058
Science teacher education partnerships with schools (STEPS) : Partnerships in science teacher education
Kenny, John, Hobbs, Linda, Herbert, Sandra, Jones, Mellita, Chittleborough, Gail, Campbell, Coral, Gilbert, Andrew and Redman, Christine. (2014). Science teacher education partnerships with schools (STEPS) : Partnerships in science teacher education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education. 39(12), pp. 43 - 65. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n12.4
Transformative learning in science education: Investigating pedagogy for action
Carter, Lyn, Rodriguez, Carolina Castano and Jones, Mellita. (2014). Transformative learning in science education: Investigating pedagogy for action. In In L. Bencze and S. Alsop (Ed.). Activist science and technology education pp. 531 - 545 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4360-1_30
Personalising learning in teacher education through technology
Jones, Mellita and McLean, Karen. (2012). Personalising learning in teacher education through technology. Australian Journal of Teacher Education. 37(1), pp. 75 - 92. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2012v37n1.1
Creating a sustainable and supportive teaching practicum in rural and regional locations
Ryan, Josephine, Jones, Mellita and Walta, Caroline. (2012). Creating a sustainable and supportive teaching practicum in rural and regional locations. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. 22(1), pp. 57 - 72.
Enhancing student motivation and their sense of feeling valued through a vertical re-structuring of the curriculum
Jones, Mellita. (2009). Enhancing student motivation and their sense of feeling valued through a vertical re-structuring of the curriculum. Curriculum Perspectives. 29(3), pp. 46 - 67.
Collaborative partnerships: A model for science teacher education and professional development
Jones, Mellita. (2008). Collaborative partnerships: A model for science teacher education and professional development. Australian Journal of Teacher Education. 33(3), pp. 61 - 76. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2008v33n3.5
Stories in ICT professional development
McNamara, Sue, Jones, Mellita and McLean, Karen. (2007). Stories in ICT professional development. In Partnerships in ICT Learning Study: Case Studies Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations.
Strategic Partnerships in ICT :a model of Professional Development shifting the focus of ICT as a vehicle for learning
McLean, Karen, McNamara, Sue and Jones, Mellita. (2006). Strategic Partnerships in ICT :a model of Professional Development shifting the focus of ICT as a vehicle for learning. IT's up here for thinking! ACEC 2006 Conference Proceedings. Cairns, Australia: Australian Computers in Education Conference. pp. 1 - 6
Re-engaging students in their learning through middle-school reform: A case study evalution of a vertically structured curriculum
Jones, Mellita M.. (2005). Re-engaging students in their learning through middle-school reform: A case study evalution of a vertically structured curriculum [Thesis]. https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a94b3215e4b6