Prospective Science Teachers’ Views of Nature of Science: Data from an Intervention Programme
Joana Torres 1 * , Clara Vasconcelos 1 2
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1 Instituto de Ciências da Terra (ICT), PORTUGAL2 Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, PORTUGAL* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The development of informed views of nature of science is considered to be a crucial aim for science education. This study assesses Portuguese prospective science teachers’ views of the nature of science before and after an intervention programme that took place in the first year of their master. Nine prospective science teachers that will teach biology and geology in middle and high schools voluntarily participated in this study. Pre and post questionnaires, interviews and lesson plans were analysed. Results show that prospective science teachers improved their views of nature of science. However, some of them still struggled with some aspects, which stresses the need for a better understanding of the factors that influence science teachers’ views of nature of science. Despite the positive results, more research is needed to understand the factors that mediate teachers’ views into their instructional practice, namely by observing and monitoring teachers’ practices and work environment.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2020, Volume 16, Issue 1, Article No: em1807

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/110783

Publication date: 19 Sep 2019

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Article Downloads: 1348

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