The perceptions of students who study environmental science related to pollution are certainly different because they are influenced by various circumstances. These circumstances, among others, depend on what they observe around them and their prior knowledge. This study aimed to determine the concept of pollution according to the cognitive…

This study investigated the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development among 22 prospective teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The nature of prospective teachers' PCK development was investigated in relation to their experiences in planning, enacting, and reflecting upon a Physical science lesson. The…

This is a study that explored 117 Turkish preservice science teachers' views about evolution course. The data for the study were collected through a questionnaire that has open-ended questions. The preservice science teachers answered the questions by filling out the questionnaire at the beginning and end of the evolution course. Most of the…

This study aims to examine the thoughts of fourth-year pre-service science teachers about the nature of science. For this purpose, the study preferred the qualitative research method and phenomenology design. Participants consisted of nine pre-service science teachers. Participants wrote a self-evaluation report after the nature of the science…

Research suggests that elementary school is a crucial period for sparking students' long-term interest in science and consideration of a STEM career. Teachers influence students' dispositions towards science; therefore, it is important to consider elementary teachers' identity development, a preservice teacher's own voice and self-image, with…

The creative comparisons prospective chemistry teachers make about "chemistry" and the "chemist" may reflect how they perceive these concepts. In this sense, it seems important to determine which creative comparisons prospective teachers make with respect to these and how these can change after the history of chemistry is…

The aim of this study was to identify challenges in implementing a physics-before- 10 mathematics curriculum. Obviously, students need to learn necessary mathematics skills in order to develop advanced physics knowledge. In the 2010 high school curriculum in Taiwan, however, grade 11 science students study two-dimensional motion in physics without…

This article extends the literature on teachers' career paths by attending to the experiences of educators when they were students in secondary classrooms. Grounded in the perspective that biography is central to teaching, we investigate undergraduate pre-service teachers' educational experiences, views on teaching and learning, and professional…

This study investigated student teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning, examining how prior beliefs were affected as students progressed through their programs. Observations and interviews at three different times indicated subjects maintained their personal philosophies of teaching and learning and their original metaphor(s), though their…

Describes a study that investigated the integration of distance education technologies into a preservice teachers' science methodology course. Highlights include a theoretical framework; effects of prior technology courses; effects of participation on student attitudes regarding the use of distance education technology; and correlations between…

Reform documents have provided a framework for advancing science education (e.g., The Australian National Science Standard Committee, 2002), but omit the need to assess preservice teachers prior knowledge for designing effective learning programs. A pretest-posttest 34-item survey linked to the course outcomes (associated with four constructs)…