Shaping teacher beliefs through implementing a socioscientific issue-based curriculum : an autoethnographic account

In British Columbia, the K-12 science curriculum aims to develop scientifically literate students who can apply their scientific understandings to discuss, debate, and make informed decisions. To support students reaching these goals and develop their professional practice, teachers need opportunities to consider their own beliefs about the purpose of science teaching and learning by employing an autoethnographic approach, which the study being reported in this thesis utilized. Autoethnography, simply put, is an observational, participatory, and reflexive research method that uses writing about the self in contact with others to illuminate the many layers of human experience. In this autoethnographic thesis, I demonstrate how reflective implementation of socioscientific issues-based units can create such an opportunity. The study examines how my (a practicing BC elementary science teacher) prior beliefs about science teaching and learning were shaped as I implemented two socioscientific issues-based units over a six-month period. Data sources included my self-reflective journal, self-observational lesson notes, and the unit plans and lesson documents I developed for each unit. Through a systematic analysis, I identified three themes: (1) views on self; (2) views on students; and (3) views on self as a science teacher. The findings indicate that implementing the socioscientific issue-based curriculum provided a rich context for reflection and professional growth, (re)shaping my prior beliefs in diverse ways. Additionally, the findings point to implications for supporting elementary science teachers’ professional development and uptake of socioscientific-issue based teaching.