Pedagogical Change and Mourning in Elementary Teacher Education

Authors

  • Steve Fifield The Franklin Institute
  • Linda Grusenmeyer University of Delaware
  • Danielle Ford University of Delaware

Keywords:

teacher education, science inquiry, self, identity, mourning

Abstract

Learning and mourning both entail renegotiating the sense of self in a changed world. We reflect on the "Science Semester", an inquiry-based course for prospective elementary teachers, by drawing on theories of mourning to address students' resistance to inquiry pedagogies not as deficits in students or curriculum, but as students meaningfully grieving the perceived loss of their good-student selves and dreams of being loving teachers. Questioning the impulse to make learning unproblematic, we consider possibilities for caring and renewal in inquiry pedagogies that elicit deeper inquiries into loss and mourning as conditions of teaching and learning.

Author Biographies

Steve Fifield, The Franklin Institute

Steve Fifield is Director of Grants at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. This article is based on work conducted while he was an assistant professor, and later an associate policy scientist, at the University of Delaware. He is interested in bringing sociocultural and queer theories, Buddhist psychologies, and science and technology studies to inquiries around self, culture, and science and technology.

Linda Grusenmeyer, University of Delaware

Linda Grusenmeyer is a doctoral student in science education at the University of Delaware. She is interested in formal and informal elementary engineering education, in the instructional practices that support argumentation and inquiry, and in understanding how teachers develop as professionals.

Danielle Ford, University of Delaware

Danielle Ford is an associate professor of science education at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include the design and implementation of elementary earth science curricula; literacy and science integration in formal and informal learning environments; and the beliefs, conceptions, and development of elementary teacher education majors.

Published

2014-05-02