1. Attitudes, Beliefs, and Content Knowledge Edward A. Von Iderstein Kathleen A. Falconer SUNY College at Buffalo

2. Introduction Physics 507/Education 671 Masters students-Elementary Education Reformed Teaching Nature of science Understanding scientific principles Constructing science understanding Pre-Post Intact group http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/

3. Tabulated Results Table I: Force Concept Inventory Scores (Maximum score-30) Average (M)SD Pre-test8.186.02 Post-test14.895.98 Gain6.713.29 Normalized Gain0.330.17 Table II: Lawson Test Scores (Maximum score-24) Average (M)SD Pre-Test14.893.86 Post-test15.933.66 Gain1.073.34 Normalized Gain0.040.55

4. Tabulated Results (cont’d) Table III: T-Test Analysis-MCTP PreSDPostSDgaint-test Overall score151.756.79161.825.6210.07 Beliefs about mathematics/ science 56.294.3260.144.433.86 Attitudes toward mathematics/ science 23.863.1224.893.371.04 Beliefs about the teaching of mathematics/ science 40.042.0942.142.092.11Attitudes toward learning to teach mathematics/ science 18.643.9818.682.700.04Attitudes toward teaching mathematics/ science 12.9313.0715.9612.983.04

5. Tabulated Results (cont’d) Table IV-T-Test Analysis (STEBI) PreSDPostSDgaint-test Overall score64.119.5550.549.7713.57 Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Belief 35.549.6724.756.1210.79 Outcome Expectancy28.575.2925.795.812.79 Table V- T-Test Analysis (EBAPS) PreSDPostSDgaint-test Overall score2.830.273.090.240.25Structure of knowledge 2.740.333.090.300.35Nature of learning 3.060.483.280.490.22Real-life applicability2.350.572.440.510.09Evolving knowledge2.850.813.080.630.24Source and ability to learn2.93.0593.210.400.29

6. Results

11. Conclusion Content Knowledge-Teacher participants learned significant mechanics content as shown by the FCI( =0.33), but only scored 50% on the post exam. Significant improvements are possible. Participants did not have significant gains in Lawson scientific reasoning ( =0.04). These scores put the class at concrete operational or level three Piagetian reasoning. According to the MCTP results, beliefs about math and science and beliefs and attitudes about teaching math and science increased significantly. Whereas attitudes toward math and science and teaching math and science did not. This was possibly due to a ceiling effect.

12. Conclusion (cont’d) As measured by the STEBI, there was a significant decrease in teaching efficacy. Participants belief in their ability to teach science went down. This is not inconsistent with their increased understanding of the structure of scientific knowledge. EBAPS results show a significant increase in structure, nature, and ability to learn science. The participants seem to struggle with real life applicability of science.