Dr. John L Pecore

An examination of published reports on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) regarding Per Pupil Spending, Technology Resources, Science Course Offerings, and Race and Ethnicity Distribution in FRPL Groups shows that science for all remains an elusive goal in the United States. Science for all requires long-term solutions, including adequate fiscal resources for high FRPL quartile schools and effective policies to ensure quality science learning experiences for low-income students. Teachers in high FRPL schools need access to high-quality instructional resources, technology tools, and effective strategies to engage students in science learning. Schools should invest in technology tools like virtual reality and simulations, and teachers should be prepared to apply inquiry-based pedagogies. Additionally, students in high FRPL schools deserve teachers with context knowledge to teach advanced placement and international baccalaureate courses afforded to students in low FRPL schools. Education stakeholders, including small- to large-scale enterprises and local, state, and federal governments, must collaborate with the scientific education community to eliminate inequalities in science education. Existing socioeconomic disparities in science education remain an impediment to science for all. By addressing the genesis and dynamics of disparities, every student in K-12 classrooms can benefit from a quality science education.

In the United States of America, democratic education has evolved philosophically over 200 years from Jeffersonian ideas of educated citizenry to Deweyan principles of democracy as a “mode of associated living.” In contemporary society, Dianna Hess has written about democratic education as a process of deliberative democracy. Yet the idea of democratic education remains challenging to implement in actual classrooms. In this article, we focus on one teacher’s practice of introducing the topic of Confederate monuments in a Georgia history classroom. Then, we explore how philosophical theories of democratic education help teachers guide students as they encounter controversial issues. Although democracy is viewed by contemporary philosophers of education as a social construct that must be cared for primarily by educators, placing the responsibility for democracy solely on teachers through democratic classroom practices is unrealistic. However, by implementing democratic pedagogies to foster active student decision-making and deliberative skills in a respectful environment that values diversity, students and teachers can embark on a mode of associated living that values democracy. We conclude with recommendations to assist teachers who want to practice democratic education.

Formative research is used to explore designing a holistic virtual learning experience for pre-service teachers. Experiential deliberate practice is used as a framework for designing and implementing instruction through asynchronous and synchronous learning platforms. Data were gathered through surveys, focus-group interviews, observations, and meeting minutes of discussions on the development and implementation of the program. Themes that emerged to guide the design of the virtual program using experiential deliberate practice included feedback, discrete skill practice, distributed and repeated practice, authentic scenarios, thoroughly designed self-learning modules, and the use of a rubric for feedback and reflection. The holistic program design fostered practice-based experiences with skill development to prepare pre-service teachers for real classroom experiences.

The first warnings of a potential teacher shortage in the United States occurred in the mid-1980s. According to a Rand Corporation Report (Darling-Hammond, 1984; Antonucci, 2016) titled Я Coming Crisis in Teaching, the main causes of an impending teacher shortage were poor working conditions, low pay, lack of decision-making input, and a prevalence of standardized testing. Of the impending teacher shortage, Linda Darling-Hammond (1984) wrote: "LTnless major changes are made in the structure of the teaching profession, so that teaching becomes an attractive career alternative for talented individuals, we will in a very few years face widespread shortages of qualified teachers" (p. vi). Darling-Hammond's report cautioned that the least academically qualified people could become the teaching force for future generations of American schoolchildren. The predicted teaching shortage of the late 1980s, however, was averted because of a growing teaching force and consistent student enrollment (Antonucci, 2016) resulting in a lower overall pupil-teacher ratio (Ingersoll & Merrill, 2013).

Effective questioning and discussion are fundamental instructional skills for science teacher candidates to master. These skills are important for teacher competence that aids student achievement. Opportunities to practice these skills in traditional teacher preparation programs may be limited. This embedded single case study focused on an intervention consisting of an experiential deliberate practice approach which provides a virtual learning simulation experience and asynchronous skill development provided science teacher candidates with the opportunity to learn and practice questioning and discussion skills. Teacher candidates taught the same lesson three times to avatars over the course of three weeks to establish a baseline and post-intervention practices. Feedback was provided after each teaching experience and asynchronous skill development modules were presented between each teaching session. Data included scores of teacher practice using an evaluation rubric for questioning and facilitating discussions, self-reflective surveys after each teaching session, and culminating semi-structured interviews. Both participant self-reporting through surveys and interviews and scorer ratings of lessons supported the intervention having positive impacts on skill competencies of participants.

This study explores the use of a holistic virtual simulation platform to develop preservice teachers’ questioning and discussion skills. Asking effective questions and facilitating discussions are fundamental yet challenging skills for pre-service teachers to master. Robust experiences for pre-service teachers to practice questioning and discussion skills in a COVID-19 free environment are needed. Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory combined with Ericsson’s (2007) deliberate practice was used as a theoretical framework to design the holistic virtual simulation platform. The platform combines a synchronous experience using a virtual simulation where participants interact with avatar students, and an asynchronous experience using a learning management system for skill development. Mentor feedback based on the Danielson (2013) rubric was provided throughout both the synchronous and asynchronous events. Using a mixed-method approach, pre-service teachers’ questioning and discussion skill development and their experience of using the holistic virtual simulation platform were explored.

According to the report, rote memorization and repetition is today's dominant teaching method (Creativity in Learning, 2019). Interestingly, the Gallup study (Creativity in Learning, 2019) revealed that parents and teachers do not value standardized testing as an effective measure of student learning with only 4% of parents and 1% of teachers ranking scores on standardized tests as an important learning outcome. Despite rising calls for preservice teachers to be prepared with the pedagogical content understanding needed to teach statistics, there are few stand-alone statistics courses available. [...]she contends that teachers from all subject areas must be able to decipher the statistical data generated on their pupils, schools, and themselves.

Invasive lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico are a problem needing a solution, but it is challenging to collect the data needed. DNA barcoding can help by identifying prey species from gut contents. Citizen science can also help by producing data while teaching core scientific concepts to student-scientists. Professor Jeff Eble at Florida Institute of Technology and Professor John Pecore, University of West Florida, combined DNA barcoding with citizen science to form a hands-on learning experience for schools in Florida. Over 1200 students have helped to identify 16 native fish species at threat from lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico.