A case study of change in elementary student teacher thinking during an independent investigation in science: Learning about the ''face of science that does not yet know''

This article presents the results of an approach to the study of changes in one student teacher's thinking about the nature of scientific investigation during her participation in an elementary science methods course assignment. During a preservice course in curriculum and instruction in elementary science, students were assigned the task of designing an independent investigation to solve a simple question of their own. Using survey data, interviews, and a repertory grid technique, ideas about the nature of knowledge acquisition in science were documented prior to, during, and following involvement in the assignment. In structured interviews following the assignment, participants were shown documented changes in their personal constructs regarding the nature of knowledge acquisition in science and were invited to comment on features of their own investigation which contributed to changes in their ideas. Repertory grid charts and interview data were used to develop 12 ''Change Themes'' in the larger study that characterize movements in thinking about the nature of investigation in science. Three of the change themes are explored in depth in the individual case report. The article concludes with a discussion on the movement in this student's view of scientific investigation, and the challenges and value of the assignment in a science teacher education program. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.