Chapter 2: Using Dyad Learning in a Science Methods Course with Preservice Elementary Teachers

Science education is often described as an inquiry oriented process in which students interact and collaborate with their teachers and peers (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990; National Research Council, 1996). The demands embedded within this description are complex and call for substantial reform in the pedagogical tools that teacher education programs offer as they prepare preservice teachers with strategies and methodologies that are congruent with constructivist views of learning. Key in the development and acquisition of such pedagogies is the transformation of traditional lectures, at the university level, into active learning experiences. Through experiential learning, preservice teachers may eventually develop the competence and confidence to design classroom instruction that is conducive and reflective of collaborative scientific inquiry (National Research Council, 1996).