Chinese Journal of Science Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of both a science education course and a science education seminar on the growth of preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. Research question guided this investigation: What are preservice teachers' conceptions of instruction and subject matter and how do these conceptions change?

Twenty-three juniors from Department of Physics, National Changhua University of Education took the two aforementioned courses during the 1994 school year. These two courses were taught by the researcher. Qualitative research techniques were used to collect and analyze the data. Triangulation of multiple data sources were used to validate the results.

Several particularly interesting results were found. Most of the preservice teachers possessed Aristotelian conceptions of teaching. Very few of the preservice teachers could actually put their theories into practice. Further, 20 of the 23 preservice teachers thought that teachers should be responsible for students' achievement, while similar findings are rarely noted in western societies. Most preservice teachers encountered much difficulty in completing their questionnaires and writing up the final assignment. These tasks required a lot of effort. The preservice teachers typically presented their subject matter knowledge in a simplistic and disconnected way. This naturally caused junior high students to lose interest in learning. However, the experience of classroom observation and actual teaching had the most significant impact on the preservice teachers' conception of teaching science. Field observations of science teaching were helpful in providing preservice teachers opportunities to reflect upon their conceptions of both science teaching and science. It is also believed that this experience enhanced teachers' pedagogical content knowledge.

_{[ Chinese version | Index | Chinese Journal of Science Education | Other Journals | Faculty Home Page | Enquiry ]}

Mail any comments and suggestions to en@fed.cuhk.edu.hk.