Minding the gap: Needed research on beginning/newly qualified science teachers

This new trend in research acknowledges that beginning science teachers are different from their preservice and in-service counterparts and deserve some undivided attention.Because this phase is unique in the lifelong development of a science teacher, it is important to create programs for beginning science teachers that are as well-conceived and studied as preservice and in-service programs.Historically, this has not been the case.Each year millions of dollars are expended to support the development, enactment, and examination of preservice courses and programs.This type of support fosters purposeful collaborations between education and science faculty, as well as educators in the field, throughout these processes.As a result, preservice teachers in these programs encounter focused programs that cultivate their knowledge of, to list a few areas, science as inquiry, the nature of science, equitable practices in the science classroom, and effective science instruction.Articles in this issue of JRST by Lunsford, Melear, Roth, Perkins, and Hickok, and James and Scharmann demonstrate this focus.Similarly, in-service science teachers can participate in carefully planned institutes, seminars, courses, or programs that support their learning of pedagogy and the content needed for teaching.