Teachers' Knowledge of Science Concepts
Introduction
During the third year of the Talk Science research (2011–2012), we interviewed eleven teachers from Grade 5, who were teaching the Inquiry Project curriculum for the first time. Each teacher was interviewed twice in a pre–post manner, once before teaching the curriculum and once after teaching the curriculum. The interview probed teachers’ understandings of core disciplinary science ideas regarding matter, and examined specifically the development in their ability to draw on the science concepts and principles from the Inquiry Project curriculum in articulating their understandings.
We interviewed the teachers in person or by phone. The pre–interviews took place prior to the teachers’ participation in an implementation workshop organized to help teachers become familiar with the Inquiry Project curriculum. We conducted the post–interviews at the end of the teachers’ participation in the Talk Science program, which included implementing the curriculum in their classrooms.
