Developing and Assessing Professional Knowledge as a Science Teacher Educator: Learning About Teaching from Student Teachers

Abstract

This self-study describes the impact of introducing and using a teaching observation protocol, the Oregon Teacher Observation Protocol (OTOP), on preservice teachers’ abilities to examine their own science teaching in light of reform-based teaching practices and the effects of this assignment on us as science methods instructors. Students were introduced to the protocol and practiced applying it by viewing video-taped science lessons. As the contextual anchor for self-reflection, preservice teachers used the protocol to critique one of their practicum science lessons. They were asked to identify particular strategies evident in their lessons and to rate them as major, minor, or absent. This assignment showed them how to analyze their teaching using a lens of reform-based practices for science teaching. It also enabled us to see where we needed to refocus our teaching to better prepare preservice teachers and to identify where we needed to be more transparent about our own modeling of practices.