| The dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of a college instructor, Dr. Smith, involved in the process of developing the curriculum of a new physics course for prospective K-6 school teachers. It adopts a model of curriculum that assumed different levels of participation, and different players in the curriculum development process (Goodson, 1990). Using this model, the instructor who participates at all levels (the planning, the translation, and the implementation) of the restructuring process provides the unifying thread that connects the various levels of the process together.;The study attempts to answer one fundamental question: What was the role of the instructor in the process of developing the curriculum of this restructured physics course? In the process of inquiry other questions emerged and also assumed importance. One such question was: what were the students' perceptions of the classroom learning environment created by the new physics course and how did that compare to what the students would have preferred? The dissertation discusses the findings related to these questions, and their implications for college science curriculum reform.;The findings of the study suggest that when students feel ownership of a science course, learning or personal sense making, instead of grades, become their primary focus. Hence, the role of the instructor in the process of developing a restructured science curriculum for prospective teachers is to ensure that the students become involved in the mediation of the curriculum at all levels. This includes the mediation of the curriculum at the level of activities and themes, and to ensure that the students have a voice in creating a vision of the course, particularly, at the level of curricular planning and the setting of course goals. The instructor is also the person to bring students, colleagues, educators, and planners together in a way that would provide a context for the education, and learning of each other to support cultural change. Most importantly, the science instructor must make a special effort on behalf of the prospective teachers to connect the science content and processes covered in the college course, to the science that the prospective teachers will be required to teach in K-6 classrooms, since college science instructors have a significant impact of how prospective teachers will teach science in elementary schools. |
