Improving Elementary School Teacher Candidates’ Views of Nature of Science Through Intensive Education

Abstract

Elementary school teacher candidates' (student teachers or STs) views of nature of science are important for an effective science teaching that aims to improve children's scientific literacy. The purpose of this study was to improve STs' views of nature of science through an intensive intervention. The study group consisted of 65 third year STs who were attending a major university in Ankara Turkey during the 2015-2016 fall semester. An educational program with a variety of activities that were designed to help improve participants' views of nature of science was applied and the effect of this program was evaluated. The educational program included historical approach activities, generic activities, explicit-reflective approach activities, and media news analysis activities which were applied in three hour periods over the course of nine weeks. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in this convergent parallel mixed method study. At the beginning of the study, the participating STs had naive views of nature of science and some misconceptions. After the applied educational program, STs' views of nature of science improved and they adopted more contemporary views of science. As a result, a long-term intervention with multiple methods of teaching with different kinds of activities was found to be an effective approach for improving STs' understanding of nature of science.

Elementary Teacher Candidates’ Opinions About Science and Scientific Research

“…The results showed that teacher candidates' opinions for both items were compatible with the characteristics of the nature of science and their knowledge was scientifically sufficient. On the other hand, in another study, Ecevit, Yalaki and Kingir (2018) stated that only 33% of elementary school teacher candidates believed that scientific knowledge is experimental. Aydemir, Kazanç and Karakaya Cirit (2016) also found that 66.67% of science teachers and 78.95% of teacher candidates had a scientific perception that scientific knowledge is experimental based.…”

“…In this respect, it is important for teachers to have sciencerelated competencies in order for their students to learn the nature of science (İnce & Özgelen, 2017). On the other hand, teacher candidates' insufficient knowledge in the nature of science and misconceptions may be formed in their early education and those misconceptions have effects on shaping their opinions about the nature of science (Ecevit, Yalaki & Kingir, 2018). More specifically, teachers and teacher candidates' knowledge about the nature of science has critical importance in teaching science-related concepts (Dorsah, 2020).…”

Geliştirilen FTT Kursunun Sınıf Öğretmenlerinin Fen Bilimleri Öğretimine Etkisi

“…Öğretmenlerin fen ve teknoloji arasındaki ilişki hakkındaki düşüncelerindeki değişime bakıldığında ise, teknolojik araştırmalara fendeki araştırmalardan daha çok para harcanmalı ve teknolojideki gelişmelerin bir çok kısmı fendeki keşiflerden meydan gelmiştir maddeleri ile ilgili olarak kurs öncesi kısmen doğru veya yanlış düşüncelere sahip olan 8 öğretmenin kurs sonrasında doğru düşünceye sahip olduğu görülmüştür (p< .05). Bu durumda HİE kurs etkisiyle sınıf öğretmenlerinin fen ve teknolojinin doğası ve birbirleri olan ilişkisi hakkındaki yanlış ve kısmen doğru düşüncelerinin doğru düşünceye dönüştüğü söylenebilir (Ecevit, Yalaki & Kingir, 2018).…”

Conditions of Educational Process Intensification

“…Не определены и не обоснованы единые условия интенсификации, доступные для понимания и применения широкой массой педагогического сообщества. Значительное количество научных исследований, посвященных интенсивному обучению, изучают интенсификацию отдельных аспектов учебного процесса (Комарова, 2015;Кондратьева, Валеев, 2017;Мухачева, 2010;Петрусинский, 1987;Рыбакова, 2015;Тасмуратова, 1997;Ecevit, Yalaki, Kingir, 2018).…”