Abstract
“Slowmation” (abbreviated from “Slow Animation”) is a simplified way for students at all levels of schooling and university to make a stop-motion animation to explain a concept or tell a story. We have used Slowmation to prompt preservice high school science teachers to articulate their knowledge of teaching. Initially, the preservice teachers work with high school science students to help these students make Slowmation movies that demonstrate school students’ understanding of particular abstract scientific concepts. When the preservice teachers present their school students’ movies to their preservice teacher colleagues it generates sophisticated discussion among preservice teachers of both school students’ alternative conceptions in science and issues surrounding the pedagogical development of the preservice teachers. Slowmation has offered us a window through which we can look into how preservice teachers think about their developing ideas of pedagogy and how they respond to, react to and grapple with the critical decisions they make in the classroom. By grappling with these ideas and publicly sharing their thinking, the preservice teachers are collaboratively building on and developing their pedagogical understanding.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Appleton, K. (2002). Science activities that work: Perceptions of primary school teachers. Research in Science Education, 32(3), 393–410.
Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42.
Calderhead, J. (1987). The quality of reflection in student teachers’ professional learning. European Journal of Teacher Education, 10(3), 269–278.
Clarke, A. (1995). Professional development in practicum settings: Reflective practice under scrutiny. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(3), 243–261.
Clarke, A. (1998). Born of incidents but thematic in nature: Knowledge construction in practicum settings. Canadian Journal of Education, 23(1), 47–62.
Copeland, W. (1992). Clinical experiences in the education of teachers. Journal of Education for Teaching, 7(1), 3–16.
Driver, R. (1994). Making sense of secondary science: Research into children’s ideas. London: Routledge.
Fensham, P. J., Gunstone, R. F., & White, R. T. (Eds). (1994). The content of science: A constructivist approach to its teaching and learning. London: Falmer.
Fok, A., & Watkins, D. (2008). Does a critical constructivist learning environment encourage a deeper approach to learning? The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 16(1), 1–10.
Fuller, F., & Brown, O. (1975). Becoming a teacher. In K. Ryan (Ed.), Teacher education: The seventy-fourth yearbook of the national society for the study of education (pp. 25–52). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Furlong, J., & Maynard, T. (1995). Mentoring student teachers: the growth of professional knowledge. London: Routledge.
Guillaume, A., & Rudney, G. (1993). Student teachers’ growth towards independence: An analysis of changing concerns. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9(1), 65–80.
Henze-Rietveld, F. (2006). Science teachers’ knowledge development in the context of educational innovation. Unpublished PhD thesis, Leiden University, Leiden.
Hoban, G. (2005). From claymation to slowmation: A teaching procedure to develop students’ science understandings. Teaching Science: Australian Science Teachers Journal, 51(2), 26–30.
Katz, L. (1972). Developmental stages of pre-school teachers. The Elementary School Journal, 73(1), 50–54.
Loughran, J. (2006). Developing a pedagogy of teacher education: Understanding teaching and learning about teaching. London: Routledge.
McCombs, B. (1996). Alternative perspectives for motivation. In L. Baker, P. Afflerbach, & D. Reinking (Eds.), Developing engaged readers in school and home communities (pp. 66–87). Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Morine-Dershimer, G., & Kent, T. (1999). The complex nature and sources of teachers’ pedagogical knowledge. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education (pp. 21–50). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Nicaise, M., & Crane, M. (1999). Knowledge constructing through hypermedia authoring. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 47(1), 29–50.
Piaget, J. (1971). Science of education and the psychology of the child. London: Longman.
Scott, P., Asoko, H., Driver, R., & Emberton, J. (1994). Planning and teaching a chemistry topic from a constructivist perspective. In P. J. Fensham, R. F. Gunstone, & R. T. White (Eds.), The content of science: a constructivist approach to its teaching and learning (pp. 201–220). London: Falmer.
Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.
Sitter, J., & Lanier, P. (1982). Student teaching: A stage in the development of a teacher or a period of consolidation! Paper presented at the Meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York, March 19–23.
Tobin, K., & Tippins, D. (1993). Constructivism as a referent for teaching and learning. In K. Tobin (Ed.), The practice of constructivism in science education (pp. 3–22). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Windschitl, M. (2002). Framing constructivism in practice as the negotiation of dilemmas: An analysis of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges facing teachers. Review of Educational Research, 72(2), 131–175.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Keast, S., Cooper, R. (2011). Developing the Knowledge Base of Preservice Science Teachers: Starting the Path Towards Expertise Using Slowmation. In: Corrigan, D., Dillon, J., Gunstone, R. (eds) The Professional Knowledge Base of Science Teaching. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3927-9_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3927-9_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3926-2
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3927-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)