Trade Books in Elementary Education : Misconceptions in Science

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Heather T. Wiles (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Patricia J. Anderson

Abstract: Elementary pre-service teachers are required to take only a few science courses and are not likely to have the pedagogical content knowledge necessary to choose accurate science trade books. Incorporating trade books in the content areas is a method for integrating subjects and is a common practice among elementary teachers. This study investigates the ability of pre-service elementary teachers to identify misconceptions in science trade book excerpts chosen by the researcher. Survey results were analyzed based on pre-service teachers' responses to a science content question. Often students focused on misconceptions related to anthropomorphism when they were unsure of the science content as shown by the true/false question. Each of the teacher educators interviewed had experiences with several pre-service teachers' lack of content knowledge affecting performance in the classroom. 

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2011

Keywords

Teacher education, Science education, misconception, pre-service teachers, science, trade books

Subjects

Science--Study and teaching (Elementary)

Elementary school teachers

Education, Elementary

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