“Careful, Now You Are both the Learner and the Teacher!”: Student Teachers’ Evaluation of Inquiry-Based Peer Lecturing as a Tool in Teacher Training

Abstract

Linking between pedagogical content knowledge and high-level subject-matter knowledge in science teacher training remains a challenge. This paper analyses the reaction of beginning student teachers to an activity designed for this purpose, peer lecturing. This activity was a part of the requirements of an introductory zoology course, and included students' literature inquiry processes oriented to answer a question linked to the course's contents, followed by whole class presentation of the knowledge acquired in the inquiry. According to students' view, it seems that the inquiry component and the peer learning component of the activity induced original characteristics in the activity concerning student teachers' self-concept, students' beliefs about the level of knowledge needed to teach science, their treatment of prior conceptions, and multiple sources of reflective thinking on science teaching. On the basis of these results, the further development of teacher training activities is envisioned.

Perceptions of Pre-Service Secondary Science Teachers on Inquiry-Based Science Education: An Analysis of the Demographic Variables

“…Several studies also analyse the relationship between teacher professional development programs and their impact on the perceptions of inquiry (Elster et al, 2014;Mong & Ertmer, 2014;Seroussi et al, 2017;Suters et al, 2002), demonstrating how, in the long term, they contribute to the construction of knowledge of pedagogical content, offering excellent opportunities to observe and understand the learning process of science. Knowing, therefore, the difficulties that PSSTs presents when implementing active learning methodologies such as inquiry, as well as the antecedents in the analysis of perceptions about their use, the present study aims to continue studying the perceptions of the PSSTs about the inquiry processes in the context of their initial training, analysing the possible relationships between these perceptions and certain characteristics of these teachers.…”