Department of Physics and Astronomy: Publications and Other Research
Date of this Version
3-1974
Abstract
Many elementary school teachers feel insecure and unsure in their teaching of science, i.e., they have NOT OK feelings about themselves and science. These feelings are based on the teachers' previous science experiences and on their interactions with other persons in science courses. The improvement of elementary school science programs depends upon the teacher's ability to deal effectively with his feelings about science. A complete science education program for an elementary teacher includes three components: (1) science content, (2) science methods that take into consideration the intellectual development of children, and (3) a practical psychology for developing positive human attitudes and interactions.
In attempting to cope with these three facets of science teacher education we developed a new course. It features the inquiry approach to learning science content. The science teaching techniques are related to the stages of intellectual development of children identified by Piaget. ( 1 ) The transactional analysis (TA) model as propounded by Eric Berne (2) is used to enable the prospective teacher to improve his self-understanding and his interactions with children.
Comments
Published in Science & Children, 11:6 (March 1974), pp. 17-20. Copyright 1974 by the National Science Teachers Association, Washington, D.C. 20036.