Effects of Knowledge Building on Teacher-Education Students’ Beliefs in Science Teaching

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Preparing Science Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Diverse K-12 Classrooms

Abstract

Teaching beliefs have been regarded as one important factor that influences teaching practices; therefore teacher-education programs should pay attention to examining and understanding their students’ teaching beliefs. The purpose of this study was to help teacher-education students develop more informed science teaching beliefs. Participants were 26 prospective science teachers who took a course about science teaching. Knowledge building theory was employed to engage student in constructing and sharing knowledge. Data mainly came from a questionnaire with 6 open-ended questions. The results showed that after engaging in knowledge building for a semester, the teacher- education students developed more student-centered teaching beliefs--they tended to see teaching practices as facilitating students to explore science rather than accumulating knowledge from science textbooks.

Authors

• Chih-Hsuan Chang, National Chengchi University

• Huang-Yao Hong, National Chengchi University