Examining Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching and Learning Science

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching Science, Noticing Mathematics: Innovations in Prospective Teacher STEM Learning

Abstract

It is necessary to uncover pre-service teachers (PSTs) implicit and tacit beliefs about teaching and learning science to use those beliefs to inform the program directions. The research on teachers’ beliefs necessitates the adoption of different methodological approaches to unearth their tacit beliefs. Therefore, the proposed study used metaphor construction along with the drawing tasks to explore PSTs’ beliefs about teaching and learning science. The PSTs (N=129) were asked to construct metaphors and drawings characterizing science teaching and learning. The findings indicated that although PSTs held predominantly teacher-centered beliefs, they adopted several aspects of student-centered teaching perspectives. Also, the PSTs seemed to be not aware of or underestimate the importance of learners’ existing knowledge in learning science.

Author

• Ezgi Yesilyurt, Weber State University