Science Teacher Educators as K-12 Teachers: Practicing what we teach(ASTE Series in Science Education)

Science teacher educators prepare and provide professional development for teachers at all grade levels. They seek to improve conditions in classroom teaching and learning, professional development, and teacher recruitment and retention. Science Teacher Educators as K-12 Teachers: Practicing What We Teach tells the story of sixteen teacher educators who stepped away from their traditional role and entered the classroom to teach children and adolescents in public schools and informal settings. It details the practical and theoretical insights that these members of the Association of Science Teacher Educators (ASTE) earned from experiences ranging from periodic guest teaching to full-time engagement in the teaching role. Science Teacher Educators as K-12 Teachers shows science teacher educators as professionals engaged in reflective analysis of their beliefs about and experiences with teaching children or adolescents science. With their ideas about instruction andlearning challenged, these educators became more aware of the circumstances today's teachers face. Their honest accounts reveal that through teaching children and adolescents, teacher educators can also renew themselves and expand their identities as well as their understanding of themselves in the profession and in relation to others. Science Teacher Educators as K-12 Teachers will appeal to all those with an interest in science education, from teacher educators to science teachers, as well as teacher educators in other disciplines. Its narratives and insights may even inspire more teacher educators to envision new opportunities to serve teachers, K-12 learners and the local community through a variety of teaching arrangements in public schools and informal education settings.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Kathy Cabe Trundle.- Practicing What We Teach, Michael Dias.- K-12 Teaching with no Ties to University.- Policy and the Planned Curriculum: Teaching High School Biology Every Day, Carolyn S. Wallace.- Get Real! Walking the Walk to Inform Talking the Talk: Full-time Teaching in an Urban High School, Paul Jablon.- The Nail in the Coffin: How Returning to the Classroom Killed My Belief in Schooling (But Not in Public Education), Don Duggan-Haas.- K-12 Teaching During University Sabbatical.- Becoming an Elementary Teacher of Nature of Science: Lessons Learned for Teaching Elementary Science, Valarie L. Akerson, Ingrid S. Weiland, Vanashri Nargund-Joshi, Khemmawadee Pongsanon.- A Sabbatical as a Middle Grades Science Teacher: Building New Practical Knowledge for Practice, Charles J. Eick.- Ten Years Out: The Long-Term Benefits of a Year Working as a Physical Science Teacher, Lee Meadows.- Elementary Science Teaching, Then and Now, Edward L. Shaw, Jr.- Being Ready to Learn:My Experience Differentiating Science with Third Graders, Mark Guy.- K-12 Teaching in a Summer Program.- Science Teacher Educator’s Partnership Experiences Teaching Urban Middle School Students in Multiple Informal Settings, Sherri L. Brown.- Differentiating through Problem-Based Learning: Learning to ExploreMore! with Gifted Students, Neporcha Cone, Bongani Bantwini, Ethel King-McKenzie, Barry Bogan.- Learning from Fourth and Fifth Graders in a Summer School for English Language Learners, Molly H. Weinburgh, Cecilia Silva, Kathy Smith.- K-12 Teaching While University Professor.- Teaching High School Chemistry as a University Science Educator: One Small Investment with a Significant Return, MaryKay Orgill, Patricia M. Friedrichsen.- Improving Theories and Practices Through Collaborative Self-studies of Urban Science Teaching and Learning, Kenneth Tobin.- K-12 Teaching as Professor in Coteaching Role.- Gaining a New Perspective: Co-Teaching with Elementary Pre-Service Teachers,  LeslieU. Bradbury.- Reestablishing the Role of the University Professor in the Laboratory School: Re-tooling in An Elementary Classroom, Kimberly Lott.- Improving Science Teacher Education Practice: Influence from Professional Development School Involvement, G. Nathan Carnes.- Final Thoughts.- Teaching Youth Again: Reflecting on Renewal, Charles J. Eick, Laurie Brantley-Dias, Michael Dias.- Closing, Jack Hassard.

Review :
From the reviews: “This book offers a wide variety of case studies describing the experiences of US academic teacher trainers. … While this book is exclusively focused on the US school system, the broad backgrounds of its authors ensures that most people would gain some benefit from it, especially those in the teacher training profession. … gives a fascinating anecdotal insight into the US school and university system.” (Charles Harrison, Education in Chemistry, February, 2014)