New Perspectives in Science Education

This study investigated how an informal science teaching experience at a science museum changes preservice science teachers’ communication skills in teaching science. Such skills are important to support teachers’ pedagogy, classroom management and positive learning environments in science classrooms. Video recordings, field observations, individual interviews, and focus group discussions were conducted to document changes of the teachers’ performances when presenting science to visitors as well as to investigate elements of the experience that contributed to these changes and teachers’ learning. Communication skills’ analysis focused on verbal language dimensions and teaching style dimensions. Findings showed that a majority of the teachers showed improvements in their communication skills. The experience influenced the teachers to provide contextual examples in explaining science, to communicate more effectively using fewer filler words, to adjust the amount of technical words based on visitors’ characteristics, to engage visitors with more constructive open-ended questions and more elaborative feedback, and to use more Initiation-Response-Follow up (IRF) patterns at the end of the experience. The dynamic nature of their interactions with museum visitors, the informal learning environment, and support from museum educators contributed the most to the teachers’ growth. They also reported gains in science content knowledge and self-efficacy. Results of this study are useful to design effective collaborations between university and science museums for advancing science teacher education.

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