How Do Early Childhood Education Pre-service Teachers view Science and Scientists?

Year 2018, Volume: 9 , 104 - 119, 18.08.2018

Suzanne El Takach

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to collect and to
assess students’ views about their NOS understandings at the beginning and at
the end of their course on teaching science. The study was conducted on 24
students, all females, in their 3^rd semester (2^nd year),
enrolled in their initial teacher education program in early childhood
education. Data were collected from 1) Draw-a-scientist-at-task tool, 2) pre-
and post-questionnaires about students’ views about science and scientists and
3) students’ formative and summative assessment scores. To increase the
validity of results, a member checking was used. Results
showed that prospective teachers’ views about NOS improved significantly after
attending only one course and the that majority of students agreed on the
importance of learning more about science for their professional development. 

Keywords

Nature of science, Pre- service teachers, Early childhood, Pedagogical content knowledge, Science literacy

References

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