Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Experience in a Community of Practice through a Place-Based Inquiry

With this case study, we explored efforts to connect pre-service elementary teachers
(PSTs) and campus scientists through place-based inquiry instruction. Using the
framework of Community of Practice (CoP), the research question guiding this study
was: what features of our place-based inquiry course intervention (involving PSTs and
scientists) afforded or constrained the extent to which our students moved toward a
fuller involvement in the CoP? The results indicated the PSTs were able to participate
in a CoP engaged in authentic scientific inquiry and were able to move through levels
of legitimate peripheral participation in varying degrees while maintaining their identities
as future elementary teachers. Additionally, place-based inquiry was an effective
means of including PSTs in the CoP by enabling them to provide a unique knowledge
set to partnering scientists and to build arguments based on authentic local inquiry.