New Perspectives in Science Education

International reports on the state of science education indicate the convenience of engaging Kindergarten and Primary students in authentic scientific practices to develop a deep understanding of what science is and how science works [e.g. 1]. A Model-Centered Instruction (MCI) is one of the teaching strategies that better entails students to become scientifically literate [2]. It seems reasonable that if teachers are expected to use such reform-oriented practices, it is a challenge for them to develop a solid Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) [3] regarding these instructional strategies during their preservice training courses. Therefore, it is also important to develop research to understand how teacher educators can promote such understandings [4].

The purpose of this research  is to go in depth on the difficulties to translate preservice teachers’ understandings into model-centered lesson designs within the context of specific instructional supports. To this end, specific MCI for preservice primary university courses has been designed and performed by the authors,  and various forms of preservice teacher’s productions –science notebooks, lesson plans and classroom artifacts- have been analysed.

For the purpose of this comunication, we compare initial (prior to instruction) and modified lesson plan designs (performed during and after MCI instruction) and we confront these results with discourse analysis on teaching-learning about science. Collected data allows us to visualize students initial PCK as well as its evolution over time. Our findings indicate significant pedagogical gains in this practice. We observe substantial changes in the discourse as well as the incorporation of certain specific strategies. However, discurse acquisition is not always fully accompanied by the required skills to put MCI into practice. Thus, specific constrictions for the adequate acquisition of MCI are identified. Based on these results, areas of focus to improve preservice teacher education are also suggested.

Taken toghether, our findings indicate that, when given specific and accurate instruction, pre-service teachers can begin to develop aspects of PCK for MCI. These results have implications for teacher education and future research, enabling a deeper understanding of the key points to contribute to a drift from a classical teaching  model of verbal transmission or a “hands-on” approach to MCI.

References

[1] Osborne, J., & Dillon, J. (2008). Science education in Europe: Critical reflections. London: The Nuffield Foundation.

[2] Schwarz, C. & White, B. (2005). Meta-modeling knowledge: Developing students’ understanding of scientific modeling. Cognition and Instruction, 23(2), 165-205.

[3] Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4- 31.

[4] Clement, J. (2010). Model based learning as a key research area for science education. International Journal of science education, 22: 9, 1041-1053.