Vol. 5
2026
Patricia Waters
Abstract
In an undergraduate science methods course I teach for preservice teachers, my students collaboratively planned and co-taught, with peers, a series of five lessons, at our partner elementary school. Leveraging our campus-community partnership, to address environment sustainability, the experience strengthened the preservice teachers’ ability to provide inquiry learning and their outreach skills, while increasing their awareness of diversity; and supported both elementary students’ and my students’ understanding of pollinators and pollination.
In the second half of the semester, during a five-week span, once a week, my education course, Science Methods and Technology, undergraduate preservice teachers went into our partner elementary school’s classrooms, to teach fourth and fifth graders a series of five inquiry lessons about bees and other pollinators, pollinators’ role in food production, and effects on pollinators of soil health and garden design. My preservice teachers’ understanding of inquiry learning and ability to provide it was deepened through modeling, readings, analysis, guided practice, structured peer feedback, reflection, and real life application.
Community-based learning provided a valuable opportunity for
preservice teachers to put into practice the theories and strategies learned in their coursework.
Preparing the Preservice Teachers
Learning about inquiry learning. The preservice teachers began preparing for their community-based learning experience, in the second week of our twice weekly course. Co-teaching groups of two or three preservice teachers formed. Since preservice teachers would be with that group the entire semester, the preservice teachers were free to choose their own group member or members.
Also starting the second week, my students were provided approximately 30 minutes of class time each session to draft, plan, and revise their lessons, with guidance and support from me. On a weekly basis, I provided the preservice teachers with planning goals – progressing from identification of a subtopic within pollinators and pollination, alignment with Next Generation Science Standards; to elementary students’ lesson, assessment, and refinement.
Learning through analysis and application. My students analyzed sample lessons, critiquing the extent to which activities engaged learners in scientific practices, rather than procedural tasks. In their groups of two or three, the preservice teachers then applied what they had learned, through analysis of sample lessons, by designing drafts of the inquiry-based lessons they would co-teach to the fourth and fifth graders.
In their planned lessons, my students were required to explicitly articulate how their elementary students would generate questions, use evidence, and construct explanations. related to pollinators and pollination.The preservice teachers also completed two reaction papers that required them to synthesize research-based articles with course readings and personal experiences. Each co-teaching team was required to include, in their written lesson plan, a description of their co-teaching strategy, in order to coordinate roles and ensure equitable responsibility for planning and implementation.
During the first half of the semester, I intentionally structured my class, using the same inquiry approaches my students were expected to implement with children. Class discussions focused on identifying the instructional moves that supported inquiry (for example, use of open-ended questions, scaffolding rather than telling, and eliciting evidence of students’ thinking). Our course text, Teaching Children Science: A Discovery Approach (DeRosa & Abruscato, 2019) provided the foundation for the inquiry learning framework we used.
Peer and self feedback. The preservice teachers taught to their peers, drafts of the inquiry lessons they planned to teach to the elementary students, and received structured peer feedback. How to give peer feedback had been integrated and modeled throughout the preservice teachers’ prior courses, so the sophomore level preservice teachers were familiar with the process of providing specific and constructive criticism.
Peer feedback was provided verbally after each teaching demonstration, and as written Wows and Wonders, for later reference. The majority of feedback pertained to pacing, developmentally appropriate vocabulary, procedural clarity, and materials management. Having reflected on their peers’ feedback and their own assessment of their lessons’ strengths and what could be enhanced, the preservice teachers strengthened their lesson plans.
At the Elementary School
At the elementary school, the five preservice teacher peer groups – four groups of two and one group of three, were in five different fourth or fifth grade classrooms. Each peer group taught a 60-minute inquiry learning lesson, once a week, for five weeks. Table 1 illustrates a sample unit, All About Bees, including how the elementary students’ learning was assessed.
Table 1
One Group’s Weekly 60-Minute Lessons
All About Bees
Week One the elementary students explored a variety of flowers to investigate pollination, leading to identification and labeling of flower anatomy. Understanding was assessed through an interactive Bingo activity and a Kahoot (digital quiz game) review.
Week Two the focus was on bee anatomy, with elementary students using diverse materials to build model bees, reinforcing how organism structures support pollination. Learning was assessed through an Exit Ticket.
Week Three the elementary students examined the pollinator cycle by creating a flipbook that represented key stages and vocabulary, allowing the elementary students, to organize and explain the process.
Week Four emphasized pollinator habitats, as elementary students experimented with shapes and materials to build a beehive, while learning about the different roles within a bee colony.
Assessment included teacher observation, the completed hive model, and student drawings with written descriptions.
Week Five was a gardening activity. The elementary students visited our college campus pollinator garden. They explored which plants attract pollinators. The elementary students demonstrated their understanding, through a planting checklist.
______________________________________
While this unit focused primarily on bees, other groups chose to focus on a
broader selection of pollinators and their roles in ecosystems.
Ongoing Reflection
Throughout the unit, the preservice teachers engaged in reflection. In the aftermath of having taught their draft lessons to classmates and receiving their peers’ feedback, they reflected on the feedback from their peers and their own thoughts regarding strengths of their lessons and what could be enhanced. They then revised their lesson plans, before implementing their lessons, with their fourth or fifth graders.
Journals. Once the teaching in the elementary school began, the preservice teachers reflected on their process, in weekly journal entries, so as to enhance it, going forward. After each weekly lesson, in response to prompts (as listed in Table 2), the preservice teachers reflected on the strengths and opportunities of the lesson they provided the elementary students, and evidence of elementary student learning.
Table 2
Journal Prompts
In your Journal, respond to each item below:
1) Describe what happened during the lesson including evidence of elementary student learning.
2) Describe the strengths of the lesson.
3) Describe opportunities for improvement within the lesson.
4) What did you learn about yourself, as a result of teaching this lesson?
5) What did you learn about working with others as a result of teaching this lesson?
Though journals were only shared with me, they provided a basis for continual refinement between lessons and among group members.
Final reflections. The preservice teachers completed a final Working Together reflection, in which they were asked to provide a rationale for individual and group members’ contributions, to the planning and delivery of the lessons, and a final summary of what they learned about themself and working with others. The preservice teachers, also, completed a final, open-ended, one-page reflection on both the content and process of using inquiry science instruction to teach fourth and fifth graders.
Assessment of Preservice Teachers’ Teaching and Outreach Growth
Preservice teachers’ teaching skills were informally assessed, in a cycle, that included structured implementation, feedback, and reflection. For evaluation, rubrics were used. Growth in teaching skills was evidenced by increased alignment between the preservice teachers’ elementary students’ learning objectives, inquiry activities, and assessments; more effective use of questioning to elicit elementary students’ thinking; and improved ability to scaffold instruction for diverse learners. The preservice teachers transitioned, from initially providing teacher-centered explanations, to more responsive, facilitative interactions with the elementary students. These improvements were documented through revised lesson plans, my observations during the preservice teachers’ field teaching, and the preservice teachers’ written reflections that analyzed their instructional decisions and their students’ learning outcomes.
Written lesson evaluation. Rubric descriptors, within the following categories, were used to evaluate the preservice teachers’ written lesson plans: Statement of Objectives, Assessment, Activation of Prior Knowledge, Direct Instruction, Independent Practice, Differentiation, and Overall Alignment.
Implementation evaluation. I observed and evaluated the preservice teachers’ lesson implementation, both during the peer feedback sessions and at the elementary school. I evaluated the preservice teachers’ implementation of their lessons using criteria in rubric categories: Anticipatory Set, Direct Instruction, Independent Practice, Closure, and Deportment.
Outreach skills and attitudes. An important benefit of community-based learning, for preservice teachers, is the opportunity to develop or strengthen a oollaborative mindset and skill for reaching out to gain teaching insights, from those at the community-based site (Nicholas, et. al., 2012).In our partnership, outreach actions included collaborating with elementary school teachers and communicating in age-appropriate and accessible ways with the students. Outreach skills were assessed through my observation of preservice teachers’ ability to engage productively with our elementary school teachers and learners, at their school. Growth in the preservice teachers’ outreach skills, as evidenced in my observations during fieldwork and the preservice teachers’ reflections, included increased confidence, flexibility, and responsiveness.
Deeper Learning Outcomes
Acquiring and being able to use knowledge and skills. Experiential learning with reflection, supports learning that is retained and can be used, and other deeper learning outcomes. (For Deeper Learning, 2026).
By designing and ultimately teaching standards-based lessons, the preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to acquire and to use acquired knowledge and skills.
As a preservice teacher wrote:
“These are things we have been taught over the years, but actually engaging in it left a much greater impact on me.”
Critical and creative thinking. Critical and creative thinking were used as the preservice teachers analyzed, synthesized, evaluated, and revised how they would teach fifth graders topics, related to the challenge of decreasing pollinators. Tasked with delivering instruction to a diverse group of learners, in a fixed time frame, the preservice teachers had to determine which aspects of pollination were most instructionally and environmentally consequential. Using critical thinking, my students connected scientific understanding, to civic and ethical issues, moving from descriptive knowledge to evaluating feasible, locally relevant stewardship actions.
Working independently and collaboratively. The co-teaching model required the preservice teachers to engage in planning and reflection independently, but emphasized collaboration. The preservice teachers viewed working in a team, as being both problematic and a benefit. Collaboration was difficult, particularly finding time outside the class to plan and prepare lessons. The co-teaching model required the preservice teachers to identify and negotiate the various teaching styles of their peers. The fear of “stepping on others’ toes” resulted in difficulty defining the role each individual should play during the lesson. Despite this, the preservice teachers recognized the benefit of having additional help in the classroom and described peers as “a safety net.” Co-planning and teaching in a group of two or three peers provided the preservice teachers the opportunity to learn from and support one another.
A preservice teacher reflected:
“People have different ways to do the same thing. [This experience] taught me to be open to different ways of doing something.”
Social-Emotional Competencies. Community-based learning created an opportunity for my undergraduates to better understand real-world experiences of individuals from all walks of life, in their communities, and especially in culturally diverse and low-income communities. Cooper (2007) suggests that engagement in community-based learning allows preservice teachers to confront misconceptions, learn about communities, and positively impacts preservice teachers’ learning and teaching.
Diversity. Teaching at the elementary school brought our preservice teachers face-to-face with an amount of socio-economic and ethnic diversity, they might not have previously encountered. At the college where I teach (Saint Joseph’s College of Maine), 4% of the students are under-represented minorities and less than one third qualify for Pell grants. Whereas at the nearby city’s, public elementary school, 45% of the students are English Language Learners and 77% qualify for free or reduced lunch.
At our college, courses offered in education are grounded in theory regarding diversity, including understanding of Universal Design for Learning and differentiated instruction. In the fall of their sophomore year, undergraduates take Diversity in America’s Classrooms, examining multicultural education through a focus on the historical, sociological, and philosophical foundations of education. The rich theoretical discussion of diversity is supported by opportunities for practice, including guest speakers, book talks, legal considerations, as well as field experiences.
“I noticed how diverse the classroom was right away.”
– preservice teacher
“[The school] caused me to think deeper about children and hunger in particular.”
– second preservice teacher
However, after an initial site visit, the preservice teachers described their personal fears working with a diverse student population. Throughout the semester, though, they tackled these fears through reflections, in which they were able to draw meaningful connections between course content and their new classroom teaching experiences. While undergraduates initially expressed surprise at the level of diversity in the elementary school, the mindset of being loving and caring, developed in our fall semester and grounded in coursework on diversity, Universal Design for Learning, and differentiated instruction, enabled the preservice teachers to respond with openness, empathy, and adaptability. Aligned with Daum, et al.’s (2021) conclusion that community-based learning is linked to the development of culturally responsive teaching, especially when preservice teachers engage with and reflect on students whose backgrounds differ from their own, the preservice teachers’ real world experience, allowed them to translate theory into respectful, responsive practice, rather than retreat from the unfamiliar.
Service mindset. Intentional community-based learning, designed with community members, around issues of mutual concern inspired the preservice teachers to see the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of solving those issues.Working alongside community members, around the issue of decreasing pollinators, elicited in the preservice teachers a desire to help solve the challenge.
“Before this project, I didn’t realize how many different pollinator species there were and how different they looked. [Now] I want to ensure that species are not going extinct.”
– preservice teacher
Project Pollinator
Our school-college partnership unit was one piece of a larger endeavor, Project Pollinator. Service and sustainability are core values at St. Joseph’s College of Maine. Therefore our St. Joseph’s classes include courses focused on sustainability and courses requiring community-based service. In light of the college’s dedication to sustainability and service, Saint Joseph’s College’s Center for Sustainable Communities, undergraduates and faculty from various departments in our college, along with our partner elementary school students, faculty and staff joined together, in Project Pollinator, for the goal of increasing ecological health, by improving conditions for bees and other pollinators.
In addition to preservice teachers learning how to provide inquiry learning and the pre-service teachers providing inquiry learning lessons about pollination to elementary students, Project Pollinator includes creating a pollinator garden, college students learning about the importance of pollinators, and a Sustainability Fest. Grant funding from Maine Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement. helped fund Project Pollinator’s activities, including the purchase a BeeSmart School Garden Kit and its accompanying curriculum.
Author’s Reflections
Direct experience provided an authentic context for the preservice teachers to connect educational theory to practice; while co-teaching, with peers, enhanced the preservice teachers’ self-confidence. The experience increased both the preservice teachers’ and the elementary students’ understanding of pollination.
However, my students’ community-based learning was not without challenges. Lack of alignment between the college and elementary school calendar limited the time frame in which the field work could take place. Extending to the spring and summer months would allow elementary students to see pollinator impact. Geographic isolation created additional transportation barriers that limited the involvement of senior citizens in the elementary school lessons as originally planned. The preservice teachers readily identified benefits of their community-based learning for their learning academic content and their improving their instructional practice, but had to be prompted to identify the impact the partnership had on creating solutions to local sustainability issues. Classroom teachers, likewise, noted the need for clearly stated lesson objectives, in order to help elementary students contextualize their learning.
The preservice teachers’ community-based learning was directly related to the preservice teachers’ academic curriculum, which fostered meaning-making from their experience. At the root of the preservice teachers’ community-based learning experience is the belief that community-based learning can be used as both a tool for increasing preservice teachers’ academic performance, and a vehicle for education reform.
References
DeRosa, D. A., & Abruscato, J. (2019). Teaching children science: A discovery approach (9th ed.). Pearson.
Cooper, J.E. (2007). Strengthening the case for community-based learning in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 58, (3), 245-25. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0022487107299979.
Daum, D.N., Martinnen, R., & Banville, D. (2021). Service-learning experiences for pre-service teachers: Cultural competency and behavior management challenges when working with a diverse low-income community. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 27, (4), 396-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2021.1891210.
(2012). Building Preservice Teachers’ Connections with Communities through Inquiry. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 24, (2), 221-238.
What is deeper learning? (2026). For Deeper Learning. https://fordeeperlearning.org/deeper-learning-defined/
Patricia Waters, PhD, Associate Professor of Education, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine can be reached at pwaters@sjcme.edu.