Restoring Opportunities to Learn in Urban Science Classrooms with Well-Prepared Beginners

Authors: Doron Zinger, Hosun Kang
Presented at 2017 AERA

​Abstract: This study aims to understand whether and how preparation experiences can improve teaching quality in new science teachers’ classrooms at diverse urban schools in low-income communities. This qualitative case study explores how three first-year science teachers, who graduated from a practice-oriented teacher preparation program, create certain forms of science learning opportunities in three different urban schools. The analyses focus on the type and sources of resources leveraged by the new teachers in the processes of instructional planning and enactment. The findings suggest that teachers’ leveraging of a wider range of resources, including students’ experiences and unfolding ideas as well as conceptual tools from the program, are related to more meaningful student opportunities to engage in science in urban classrooms.