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Primary School Pre-service Teachers’ Orientation towards Science Teaching

Year 2024, , 425 - 449, 16.08.2024
https://doi.org/10.33711/yyuefd.1413428

Abstract

One of the challenges that primary school teachers have is teaching science lessons and their beliefs have an essential role in teaching science. Therefore, this study focuses on primary school pre-service teachers’ orientation toward science teaching including beliefs about the purposes of science teaching, beliefs about science teaching and learning, and beliefs about the nature of science (NOS). Data were collected from seven pre-service primary teachers (PST) through semi-structured interviews to reveal their beliefs and analyzed by using deductive and inductive coding. The primary analysis showed PSTs focused on everyday coping, affective domain, and improving skills like social skills as beliefs about the purpose of science teaching. Teachers mainly had teacher-centered beliefs (e.g. traditional) and transitional beliefs. Also, they mainly held naïve NOS beliefs. Further analysis showed that the teachers having teacher-centered beliefs had teaching purposes like the correct explanation, solid foundation, and science process skills. These teachers also had naïve NOS understandings. The teacher having informed beliefs in the nature of science held student-centered beliefs and also focused on the structure of science as a teaching purpose, unlike other teachers. Discussions and implications are presented considering the beliefs forming teachers’ orientation toward science teaching in primary schools.

References

  • Abell, S.K. (2008). Twenty years later: Does pedagogical content knowledge remain a useful idea? International Journal of Science Education, 30(10), 1405-1416.
  • Akerson, V. L., Morrison, J. A., & McDuffie, A. R. (2006). One course is not enough: Preservice elementary teachers’ retention of improved views of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(2), 194–213.
  • Appleton, K. & Kindt, I. (March, 1999). How to beginning elementary teachers cope with science: the development of pedagogical content knowledge in science. National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Boston.
  • Appleton, K. (2003). How do beginning primary school teachers cope with science? Toward an understanding of science teaching practice. Research in Science Education, 33(1), 1-25.
  • Arzi, H. J., & White, R. T. (2007). Change in teachers’ knowledge of subject matter: A 17-year longitudinal study. Science Education, 92(2), 221- 251.
  • Avraamidou, L. (2013). Prospective elementary teachers' science teaching orientations and experiences that impacted their development. International Journal of Science Education, 35(10), 1698-1724.
  • Aydın, S., & Boz, Y. (2013). The nature of integration among PCK components: A case study of two experienced chemistry teachers. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(4), 615-624.
  • Aydın, S., Demirdogen, B., Akin, F. N., Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, E. & Tarkin, A. (2015). The nature and development of interaction among components of pedagogical content knowledge in practicum. Teaching and Teacher Education, 46, 37-50.
  • Aydın, S., Friedrichsen, P. M., Boz, Y., & Hanuscin, D. L. (2014). Examination of the topic-specific nature of pedagogical content knowledge in teaching electrochemical cells and nuclear reactions. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 15(4), 658-674.
  • Bakanay, Ç. D., & Çakır, M. (2022). In-service science teachers’ purposes for integrating the history of science: the role of their science teaching orientation. International Journal of Science Education, 44(6), 939-961.
  • Brown, P., Friedrichsen, P., & Abell, S. (2013). The development of prospective secondary biology teachers pck. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24(1), 133-155.
  • Cansız, N., & Cansız, M. (2022). Profiling preservice science teachers’ early experiences, beliefs about teaching, and teaching practices. Research in Science & Technological Education, 40(2), 149-167.
  • Chan, K.K.H., & Hume, A. (2019). Towards a consensus model: Literature review of how science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge is investigated in empirical studies. In: Hume, A., Cooper, R., & Borowski, A. (Eds.), Repositioning pedagogical content knowledge in teachers’ knowledge for teaching science. singapore: Springer. pp. 3-76.
  • Cohen, R., & Yarden, A. (2009). Experienced junior-high-school teachers’ PCK in light of a curriculum change:“The cell is to be studied longitudinally”. Research in Science Education, 39, 131-155.
  • Cutter-Mackenzie, A. & Smith, R. (2003). Ecological literacy: the ‘missing paradigm’ in environmental education (part one). Environmental Education Research, 9:4, 497-524.
  • Demirdöğen, B. (2016). Interaction between science teaching orientation and pedagogical content knowledge components. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 27, 495-532.
  • Demirdöğen, B., Hanuscin, D. L., Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, E., & Köseoğlu, F. (2016). Development and nature of preservice chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for nature of science. Research in Science Education, 46, 575-612.
  • Demirdöğen, B., & Uzuntiryaki-Kondakçı, E. (2016). Closing the gap between beliefs and practice: Change of pre-service chemistry teachers' orientations during a PCK-based NOS course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 17(4), 818-841.
  • Friedrichsen, P. J., Abell, S. K., Pareja, E. M., Brown, P. L., Lankford, D. M. & Volkman, M. J. (2009). Does teaching experience matter? Examining biology teachers’ prior knowledge for teaching in an alternative certification program. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46:4, 357-383.
  • Friedrichsen, P. M., & Dana, T. M. (2003). Using a card-sorting task to elicit and clarify science teaching orientations. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 14(4), 291-309.
  • Friedrichsen, P., van Driel, J.H., & Abell, S.K. (2011). Taking a closer look at science teaching orientations. Science Education, 95, 358-376.
  • García-Carmona, A. (2022). Improving preservice primary teachers’ understanding of the nature of methods of science through reflective reading of news articles. Science & Education, 31:3, 685-711.
  • García-Carmona, A., & Acevedo-Díaz, J. A. (2016a). Concepciones de estudiantes de profesorado de Educación Primaria sobre la naturaleza de la ciencia: Una evaluación diagnóstica a partir de reflexiones en equipo [Preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A diagnostic evaluation based on team reflections]. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 21(69), 583–610.
  • Grossman, P.L. (1990). The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Education. New York: Teachers College Press.
  • Henze, I., van Driel, J. H. & Verloop, N. (2008). Development of experienced science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of models of the solar system and the universe. International Journal of Science Education, 30:10, 1321-1342.
  • Jüttner, M., Boone, W., Park, S., & Neuhaus, B. J. (2013). Development and use of a test instrument to measure biology teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 25, 45-67.
  • Kapyla, M., Heikkenen, J., & Asunta, T. (2009). The influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge a case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth. International Journal of Science Education, 31(10), 1395-1415.
  • Lankford, D. M. (2010). Examining the pedagogical content knowledge and practice of experienced secondary biology teachers for teaching diffusion and osmosis. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Missouri, Missouri.
  • Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwartz, R. S. (2002). Views of the nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of the nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 497–521.
  • Lee, E. & Luft, J. A. (2008). Experienced secondary science teachers’ representations of pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 30:10, 1343-1363.
  • Luft, J. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (2007). Capturing science teachers’ epistemological beliefs: The development of the teacher beliefs interview. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 11(2). Retrieved from http://www.scholarlyexchange.org/ojs/index.php/EJSE/article/download/7794/5561
  • Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education (pp. 95–132). Boston, MA: Kluwer.
  • Özden, M., (2008). The effect of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge: The case of teaching phases of matters. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 8(2), 633-645.
  • Padilla, K., & Van Driel, J. (2011). The relationships between PCK components: the case of quantum chemistry professors. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12(3), 367-378.
  • Park, S., & Chen, Y. C. (2012). Mapping out the integration of the components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Examples from high school biology classrooms. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(7), 922-941.
  • Roberts, D. A. (1988). What counts as science education? In P. Fensham (Ed.), Development and dilemma in science education (pp. 27–54). Barcecome: Falmer Press.
  • Roberts, D. A. (2007). Scientific literacy/science literacy. In S. K. Abell & N. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research in science education (pp. 729–780). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Sickel, A. J. (2012). Examining beginning biology teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practice for teaching natural selection [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Missouri.
  • Summers, M. (1994). Science in the primary school: the problem of teachers' curricular expertise. The Curriculum Journal, 5(2), 179-193.
  • Traianou, A. (2006). Teachers’ adequacy of subject knowledge in primary science: Assessing constructivist approaches from a sociocultural perspective. International Journal of Science Education, 28:8, 827-842.
  • Williams, J., Eames, C., Hume, A., & Lockley, J. (2012). Promoting pedagogical content knowledge development for early career secondary teachers in science and technology using content represantions. Research in Science and Technological Education, 30(3), 327-343.

Sınıf Öğretmen Adaylarının Fen Öğretimi Yönelimleri

Year 2024, , 425 - 449, 16.08.2024
https://doi.org/10.33711/yyuefd.1413428

Abstract

Sınıf öğretmenlerinin en çok zorlandığı konulardan birisi fen öğretimidir ve öğretmen inanışları fen öğretim kalitesini etkilemektedir. Bu nedenle bu çalışmada sınıf öğretmenliği öğretmen adaylarının fen öğretim amaçları, feni öğretmeye ve öğrenmeye yönelik inanışları ve bilimin doğasına yönelik inanışlarını içeren fen öğretimine yönelik yönelimleri araştırılmıştır. Veriler 7 sınıf öğretmeni adayından yarı-yapılandırılmış görüşmeler aracılığıyla toplanmış, tümdengelimsel ve tümevarımsal yollarla analiz edilmiştir. Öğretmen adayları fen öğretim amacı olarak günlük hayatta bilgiyi kullanma, duyuşsal alan geliştirme ve beceri geliştirme amaçlarına odaklanmıştır. Fen öğrenmeye ve öğretimine yönelik inanış olarak ise öğretmen adayları genelde öğretmen merkezli inanışa sahip olmuştur ve bilimin doğası ile ilgili olarak genelde gelişmemiş inanışlara sahiptir. Sonuçlar ayrıca, öğretmen merkezli inanışa sahip olan öğretmen adaylarının doğru cevaba ulaşma, öğrencileri sonraki yıllara hazırlama ve bilimsel süreç becerilerini geliştirme gibi amaçlara sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Bu öğretmen adaylarının ayrıca gelişmemiş bilimin doğası inanışlarına sahip olduğu görülmüştür. Gelişmiş bilimin doğası inanışlarına sahip olup öğrenci merkezli yaklaşım geliştiren öğretmen adayı ise bilimsel bilginin özelliklerini amaç edinen tek öğretmen adayı olmuştur. Çalışmanın sınıf öğretmenliği adaylarının fen öğretimi amaçları, fene yönelik öğrenme ve öğretmeye ilişkin inanışları ve bilimin doğasına yönelik inanışları ile ilgili sonuçlarının fen öğretimi yönelimi alanına katkılar sunacağı düşünülmektedir ve konu ile ilgili önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

References

  • Abell, S.K. (2008). Twenty years later: Does pedagogical content knowledge remain a useful idea? International Journal of Science Education, 30(10), 1405-1416.
  • Akerson, V. L., Morrison, J. A., & McDuffie, A. R. (2006). One course is not enough: Preservice elementary teachers’ retention of improved views of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(2), 194–213.
  • Appleton, K. & Kindt, I. (March, 1999). How to beginning elementary teachers cope with science: the development of pedagogical content knowledge in science. National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Boston.
  • Appleton, K. (2003). How do beginning primary school teachers cope with science? Toward an understanding of science teaching practice. Research in Science Education, 33(1), 1-25.
  • Arzi, H. J., & White, R. T. (2007). Change in teachers’ knowledge of subject matter: A 17-year longitudinal study. Science Education, 92(2), 221- 251.
  • Avraamidou, L. (2013). Prospective elementary teachers' science teaching orientations and experiences that impacted their development. International Journal of Science Education, 35(10), 1698-1724.
  • Aydın, S., & Boz, Y. (2013). The nature of integration among PCK components: A case study of two experienced chemistry teachers. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14(4), 615-624.
  • Aydın, S., Demirdogen, B., Akin, F. N., Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, E. & Tarkin, A. (2015). The nature and development of interaction among components of pedagogical content knowledge in practicum. Teaching and Teacher Education, 46, 37-50.
  • Aydın, S., Friedrichsen, P. M., Boz, Y., & Hanuscin, D. L. (2014). Examination of the topic-specific nature of pedagogical content knowledge in teaching electrochemical cells and nuclear reactions. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 15(4), 658-674.
  • Bakanay, Ç. D., & Çakır, M. (2022). In-service science teachers’ purposes for integrating the history of science: the role of their science teaching orientation. International Journal of Science Education, 44(6), 939-961.
  • Brown, P., Friedrichsen, P., & Abell, S. (2013). The development of prospective secondary biology teachers pck. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24(1), 133-155.
  • Cansız, N., & Cansız, M. (2022). Profiling preservice science teachers’ early experiences, beliefs about teaching, and teaching practices. Research in Science & Technological Education, 40(2), 149-167.
  • Chan, K.K.H., & Hume, A. (2019). Towards a consensus model: Literature review of how science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge is investigated in empirical studies. In: Hume, A., Cooper, R., & Borowski, A. (Eds.), Repositioning pedagogical content knowledge in teachers’ knowledge for teaching science. singapore: Springer. pp. 3-76.
  • Cohen, R., & Yarden, A. (2009). Experienced junior-high-school teachers’ PCK in light of a curriculum change:“The cell is to be studied longitudinally”. Research in Science Education, 39, 131-155.
  • Cutter-Mackenzie, A. & Smith, R. (2003). Ecological literacy: the ‘missing paradigm’ in environmental education (part one). Environmental Education Research, 9:4, 497-524.
  • Demirdöğen, B. (2016). Interaction between science teaching orientation and pedagogical content knowledge components. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 27, 495-532.
  • Demirdöğen, B., Hanuscin, D. L., Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, E., & Köseoğlu, F. (2016). Development and nature of preservice chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for nature of science. Research in Science Education, 46, 575-612.
  • Demirdöğen, B., & Uzuntiryaki-Kondakçı, E. (2016). Closing the gap between beliefs and practice: Change of pre-service chemistry teachers' orientations during a PCK-based NOS course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 17(4), 818-841.
  • Friedrichsen, P. J., Abell, S. K., Pareja, E. M., Brown, P. L., Lankford, D. M. & Volkman, M. J. (2009). Does teaching experience matter? Examining biology teachers’ prior knowledge for teaching in an alternative certification program. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46:4, 357-383.
  • Friedrichsen, P. M., & Dana, T. M. (2003). Using a card-sorting task to elicit and clarify science teaching orientations. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 14(4), 291-309.
  • Friedrichsen, P., van Driel, J.H., & Abell, S.K. (2011). Taking a closer look at science teaching orientations. Science Education, 95, 358-376.
  • García-Carmona, A. (2022). Improving preservice primary teachers’ understanding of the nature of methods of science through reflective reading of news articles. Science & Education, 31:3, 685-711.
  • García-Carmona, A., & Acevedo-Díaz, J. A. (2016a). Concepciones de estudiantes de profesorado de Educación Primaria sobre la naturaleza de la ciencia: Una evaluación diagnóstica a partir de reflexiones en equipo [Preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A diagnostic evaluation based on team reflections]. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 21(69), 583–610.
  • Grossman, P.L. (1990). The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Education. New York: Teachers College Press.
  • Henze, I., van Driel, J. H. & Verloop, N. (2008). Development of experienced science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of models of the solar system and the universe. International Journal of Science Education, 30:10, 1321-1342.
  • Jüttner, M., Boone, W., Park, S., & Neuhaus, B. J. (2013). Development and use of a test instrument to measure biology teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 25, 45-67.
  • Kapyla, M., Heikkenen, J., & Asunta, T. (2009). The influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge a case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth. International Journal of Science Education, 31(10), 1395-1415.
  • Lankford, D. M. (2010). Examining the pedagogical content knowledge and practice of experienced secondary biology teachers for teaching diffusion and osmosis. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Missouri, Missouri.
  • Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwartz, R. S. (2002). Views of the nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of the nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 497–521.
  • Lee, E. & Luft, J. A. (2008). Experienced secondary science teachers’ representations of pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 30:10, 1343-1363.
  • Luft, J. A., & Roehrig, G. H. (2007). Capturing science teachers’ epistemological beliefs: The development of the teacher beliefs interview. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 11(2). Retrieved from http://www.scholarlyexchange.org/ojs/index.php/EJSE/article/download/7794/5561
  • Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education (pp. 95–132). Boston, MA: Kluwer.
  • Özden, M., (2008). The effect of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge: The case of teaching phases of matters. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 8(2), 633-645.
  • Padilla, K., & Van Driel, J. (2011). The relationships between PCK components: the case of quantum chemistry professors. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12(3), 367-378.
  • Park, S., & Chen, Y. C. (2012). Mapping out the integration of the components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Examples from high school biology classrooms. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(7), 922-941.
  • Roberts, D. A. (1988). What counts as science education? In P. Fensham (Ed.), Development and dilemma in science education (pp. 27–54). Barcecome: Falmer Press.
  • Roberts, D. A. (2007). Scientific literacy/science literacy. In S. K. Abell & N. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research in science education (pp. 729–780). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Sickel, A. J. (2012). Examining beginning biology teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practice for teaching natural selection [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Missouri.
  • Summers, M. (1994). Science in the primary school: the problem of teachers' curricular expertise. The Curriculum Journal, 5(2), 179-193.
  • Traianou, A. (2006). Teachers’ adequacy of subject knowledge in primary science: Assessing constructivist approaches from a sociocultural perspective. International Journal of Science Education, 28:8, 827-842.
  • Williams, J., Eames, C., Hume, A., & Lockley, J. (2012). Promoting pedagogical content knowledge development for early career secondary teachers in science and technology using content represantions. Research in Science and Technological Education, 30(3), 327-343.
There are 41 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Science Education
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Mehmet Şen 0000-0003-2721-9857

Early Pub Date August 12, 2024
Publication Date August 16, 2024
Submission Date January 2, 2024
Acceptance Date May 10, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024

Cite

APA Şen, M. (2024). Primary School Pre-service Teachers’ Orientation towards Science Teaching. Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 21(2), 425-449. https://doi.org/10.33711/yyuefd.1413428