ABSTRACT
Being an elementary science teacher educator involves a complex mix of working with preservice and inservice teachers; institutional colleagues in science, mathematics, and education; representatives of state department bureaucracies; and doctoral students preparing to be elementary science teacher educators. The elementary science teacher educator functions as a liaison between faculty in departmentalized disciplines in higher education and teachers whose responsibility is curriculum that spans several subject areas. Functioning in this role and preparing doctoral students to become new colleagues carries a unique set of demands and responsibilities that differ from those of traditional science educators and high school teachers. This difference is underscored by the fact that the general term science teacher educator, by tradition, has meant someone who majored in a science and works with teachers in departmentalized settings. Someone who works with elementary teachers in self-contained educational settings is known as an elementary science teacher educator. To examine the demands on and requirements for being an elementary science teacher educator, this chapter uses the device of discussing the work of a hypothetical faculty member. Whereas elementary science teacher educators may work in a variety of contexts and have differing educational backgrounds, this person is placed in a traditional university setting with a teacher education program and doctoral program in science education.
