Teaching teachers how to teach science was the subject of a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Dr. Katherine Mangione

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Katherine Mangione, an assistant professor in MTSU’s Department of Elementary and Special Education, first aired April 25 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org. You can listen to their conversation above or watch a video excerpt below.

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, “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. You can read the article here.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.