[419] ‘MTSU On the Record’ examines student teachers’ familiarity with science

MURFREESBORO — Teaching teachers how to teach science is the subject of the next “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Katherine Mangione, an assistant professor of elementary and special education, will air from 9:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, and from 6 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, April 30, on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org.

Mangione asserts that student teachers, now known as preservice teachers, need special instruction to familiarize themselves with the lingo of scientific disciplines, especially if they are not particularly science-savvy.

“Vocabulary in science is exceptionally precise,” said Mangione. “And, so, when the science teacher is explaining the concept of a wave, he may mean something different in a physics class, but then your earth science teacher … may be teaching things like P-waves and S-waves before and after earthquakes or ocean waves.”

Mangione, biology professor Cindi Smith-Walters and Alyson Smith Bass, an associate professor of elementary and special education, wrote about their research in the Electronic Journal of Science Education.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, go to http://bit.ly/mtsu-otr.

For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.