Science Teaching Orientations

Science teaching orientation, defined as a teacher s§knowledge and beliefs about the purposes and goals§for teaching science, is an overarching component§within the Pedagogical Content Knowledge Model for§science teaching. Due to the scarcity of empirical§studies in this area, this qualitative case study§examined the nature and sources of science teaching§orientations held by four highly regarded secondary§biology teachers. Ground theory methodology was used§to inductively analyze the interview data. The§findings of this study indicate that science teaching§orientations are more complex than initially§described in the literature. The participants §science teaching orientations consisted of central§and peripheral goals related to general schooling,§the affective domain, and subject matter. In regard§to the sources of science teaching orientations,§participants were strongly influenced by the§classroom context and their beliefs about their§students; additional influences included prior work§experiences, professional development, and time§constraints.