Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand what physics and chemistry preservice teachers learn on the nature of the inquiry tasks and about classroom communication in an inquiry task when they take part in a lesson study. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative and interpretive research which was carried out within a master’s degree course in physics and chemistry teaching with three preservice teachers. Data were collected from participant observation with video recording, interviews, written reflections and group report by the preservice teachers. This two-cycle lesson study was conducted over 12 sessions. The data analysis took place through asking questions and using the constant comparison method, which allowed the identification of the most relevant issues about the preservice teachers learning according to the categories nature of the inquiry tasks and communication promoted by the teacher. Findings The results show that the preservice teachers learnt to identify the characteristics of inquiry tasks, how to develop an inquiry task when planning the research lesson and acknowledged its potential for student learning. Moreover, the preservice teachers acknowledged the fact that the classroom communication promoted by the teacher fostered student participation, negotiation of meanings about scientific concepts and construction of new learning that can be shared within the class. Research limitations/implications Research is needed as regards how initial teacher education providers may contribute to the learning of preservice teachers in lesson study in initial teacher education programmes. Originality/value This research contributes to show potentialities of lesson study in the initial teacher education of preservice physics and chemistry teachers.
Resumen: Los currículos de ciencias destacan la necesidad de implicar al alumnado en temas de la sociedad civil relacionados con las ciencias, al poner en evidencia la primacía de los aprendizajes sobre la relación cienciastecnología-sociedad-ambiente. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo conocer los aprendizajes de los alumnos cuando se involucran en el intento de solución de la problemática relacionada con la contaminación del riachuelo aledaño a su escuela. La metodología de investigación es cualitativa, de orientación interpretativa y basada en la observación participante. Participan 21 alumnos de dos clases de 8.º nivel 1 con un currículo alternativo que viven en un medio rural del sudoeste portugués. Los datos se recogieron a través del diario del profesor, documentos escritos y entrevistas a los alumnos (realizadas al final del estudio). Los resultados revelan que las vivencias positivas proporcionadas por el club de radio les dotaron de confianza y les incentivaron al activismo comunitario relacionado con la contaminación del riachuelo local. Este activismo se concreta a través de un teatro de fantoches sobre el tratamiento de las aguas residuales. Asimismo, los resultados nos muestran que el activismo conduce a los alumnos a la identificación de los temas de ciencias y de tecnología que están en la base de la contaminación del riachuelo, ampliando su conocimiento sobre el problema y discutiendo diferentes perspectivas para su solución. Además, los jóvenes reconocen que el conocimiento les permite informar a otros miembros de la comunidad y se dan cuenta de que tienen el derecho de implicarse en cuestiones socio-científicas que afecten su calidad de vida.
The purpose of this study was to understand how the use of multiple representations (MR), during a sequence of lessons on the saponification reaction, can help students develop their cognitive structures. We examined (i) the effect of the teaching sequence with MR on the development of the students’ cognitive structures and (ii) how, according to the students, that sequence helped them to develop their cognitive structures. This study was conducted in three Grade 12 classes, including a total of 68 students. This study follows a pre-experimental one group pretest–posttest design, providing an intervention during the experiment. We used two data collection instruments: a Word Association Test (WAT) and a focus group interview. The results obtained from the WAT show that the students’ cognitive structures progressed from the pretest to posttest, with an increase in the number of response words and connections between words, and with a change in the nature of these connections. The results suggest that this development was influenced by the way students used MR, making use of the three MR functions proposed by Ainsworth (2006, 2008). The students recognized that the combination of the three MR functions allowed them to move across representation levels (macroscopic, symbolic and submicroscopic) and to develop a deeper and more structured understanding of the concepts related to the saponification reaction.
The lesson study is a collaborative model of teacher professional development originating in Japan, which has received growing international attention. This multifaceted model can be considered from many points of view. This research aims to understand what physics and chemistry pre-service teachers learn, in the domain of the pedagogical content knowledge on the speed of sound, in a lesson study. Participants were all pre-service teachers (three) attending the first year of their initial teaching education programme. The lesson study, had two cycles, took place over the course of twelve sessions and a total of 36 hours of work. The first cycle consisted of ten sessions: the first eight sessions aimed at defining the topic and lesson planning; this was followed by the first research lesson taught by the cooperating teacher; and finally, there was a post-lesson reflection. The second cycle consisted of two sessions; a second research lesson was also taught by the cooperating teacher; and subsequent to this, there was a post-lesson reflection. This is a qualitative and interpretative study. Data were collected from participant observation of all sessions using field notes and video recording, individual interviews and individual written reflections. Results showed that the pre-service teachers developed the pedagogical teacher knowledge (PCK) to teach the topic in the planning phase, when they identified the students’ prior knowledge, which would help them learn the topic, and in the post-lesson reflection sessions, when they discussed strategies that could help students overcome their learning difficulties.
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