Introduction

Teacher expertise is one of the most important factors in determining student achievement. Put another way, teacher knowledge-what teachers know and can do-affects what their students learn. Similarly, what teacher educators know and can do affects what their students, prospective teachers, will learn. Thus the role of teacher education, in particular the methods course, is critical to developing high quality teachers. Science teacher educators need support in building the knowledge necessary to teach the science methods course. This book is intended to help science teacher educators build their knowledge of teaching teachers so they can facilitate the development of expertise in science teaching among prospective elementary1 school teachers. This expertise will in turn allow elementary teachers to help their students learn science. As science educators, we have been in the business of preparing individuals to teach elementary science for a number of years. During more than 19 years of combined experience as elementary classroom teachers, we shaped our views of science teaching and learning. Furthermore, our collective experience of 60+ years in science teacher education helped us develop a theoretical foundation and pedagogical repertoire for teaching science teachers. Our work in various countries, mainly the U.S. and Australia, but also Canada, Honduras, New Zealand, Portugal, Thailand, Taiwan, and the U.K., and in several different institutions of higher education, influenced our understanding of the role of context and policy in science teacher education. Furthermore, our research on science teacher learning influenced our perspectives on designing and teaching the methods course. We offer this book as a synthesis of our knowledge (of practice, policy, and research) with the hope that you and your teacher education students will benefit.