In this project we are adapting problem-based learning and other inquiry-based approaches to create an
integrated science and education methods curriculum (“science semester”) for elementary teacher education
majors.  Our goal is to foster integrated understandings of science and pedagogy that future elementary
teachers need to effectively use inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms. This project responds to
calls to improve science education for all students (AAAS, 1986, 1993) by making preservice teachers’
experiences in undergraduate science courses more consistent with reforms at the K-12 level.
     The senior personnel in this proposal teach three science courses (biology, earth science, physical
science) and an elementary science education methods course that are degree requirements for
elementary teacher education (ETE) majors.  To encourage integrated understandings of science concepts
and pedagogy, we have coordinated these science and methods courses in a second semseter
sophomore science semester.  Traditional subject matter boundaries have been crossed to stress shared
themes that teachers must understand to teach standards-based elementary science. We have adapted
exemplary approaches that support both learning science and learning how to teach science.  Students
work collaboratively on multidisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) activities that place science
concepts in authentic contexts and build learning skills.  “Lecture” meetings are large group active
learning sessions that help students understand difficult concepts, make connections between class
activities, and launch and wrap-up PBL problems.  Investigatory labs include activities from elementary
science kits as launching points for in-depth investigations that demonstrate the continuity
of science concepts and pedagogies across age levels.  In the methods course students critically
explore the theory and practice of elementary science teaching, drawing on their shared
experiences of inquiry learning in the science courses.  Field placements in elementary classrooms
allow students to ground their studies of science and pedagogy in actual practice.
    
 
 

Poster Presentation "Inquiry- and Problem-Based Learning Approaches in an
Integrated Science Content and Methods Course for Elementary Education
Majors: Science Semester at the University of Delaware" at 2004 Geological
Society of America Meeting, Denver, Colorado

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