Research+in+Science+Education

[|The Progression of Prospective Primary Teachers’ Conceptions of the Methodology of Teaching] [|Ana Rivero, Pilar Azcárate, Rafael Porlán, Rosa Martín del Pozo and Joao Harres] [|Online First™, 28 September 2010]

Abstract
 This article describes the evolution of prospective primary teachers’ conceptions of the methodology of teaching. Three categories were analyzed: the concept of activity, the organization of activities, and the concept of teaching resources. The study was conducted with five teams of prospective teachers, who were participating in teacher education courses of a constructivist orientation. The results showed very different itineraries in the processes of change, and the presence of two major obstacles—the belief that teaching is the direct cause of learning, and epistemological absolutism. The study allows us to deduce some implications for initial teacher education.

[|‘Learning Experience’ Provided by Science Teaching Practice in a Classroom and the Development of Students’ Competences] [|J. Bernardino Lopes, Julia Branco and Maria Pilar Jimenez-Aleixandre]

Abstract
 According to the literature, there is a very important corpus of knowledge that allows for the investigation of some dimensions of ‘learning experience’ provided to students, in relation to epistemic, pedagogical and meta-cognitive practices. However, in the literature, there is little investigation into the invariance (or not) of the characteristics of students’ learning experience while being taught a scientific subject by the same teacher. This paper suggests that the relationship between the learning experience provided and the competences developed is not properly highlighted. This paper analyses the learning experience provided to students in epistemic, pedagogical and meta-cognitive terms. The students were taught the proprieties and applications of light by one teacher, in three classes, over 7 weeks. We analysed the data in each referred learning experience, using a pre-defined category system. The students’ competences were evaluated by a competence test. The epistemic demand of each item and the students’ performances were also analysed. Our findings point to the non invariance of learning experiences provided to students and the influence of some dimensions of learning experiences provided in the development of certain competences. These findings and their implications are contextualized and discussed.

[|The Interactions of Conceptions of Teaching Science and Environmental Factors to Produce Praxis in Three Novice Teachers of Science] [|HyunJu Park, Peter W. Hewson, John Lemberger and Robin D. Marion]

Abstract
 One strategy for implementing learner-centered teaching is through the preparation of teachers and their induction into the profession. This article presents case studies of three secondary science teachers that follow them from their science teacher education program that advocated teaching for conceptual change as one approach to learner-centered teaching into their first years of teaching. The article’s purpose is to describe the teachers’ initial conceptions of teaching science carried over from their teacher preparation program, and how they integrated those conceptions with the environmental influences of their classrooms and schools to produce praxis. Data were collected from the participants in several different ways during the participants’ pre-service year and during their first year or two of teaching: Observation of the participants’ teaching; related interviews with participants; and their action research journals. As they approached the end of their first or second year of teaching, all three teachers demonstrated increased levels of confidence in their teaching competence, both in their classroom performance and their places in their departments and schools. None of them had, however, fully implemented conceptual change teaching approach that was the specific goal of their teacher preparation program.