How student teachers use scientific conceptions to discuss a complex environmental issue

• This paper focuses upon the extent to which student teachers develop conceptual understanding about key scientific principles through their training, and the extent to which they can deploy this knowledge in discussions of complex environmental issues. All students involved in the teacher-training programme answered a questionnaire -- before and after their first term of the programme -- in which their conceptions of respiration and photosynthesis were tested. 15 students were also interviewed about a newspaper article that discusses the ethicality of using surplus heat from a crematorium in the far heating system. They were asked to comment on the article, to pose questions about the issue and explicitly asked what happens to the bodies if either combusted or buried. The first results show that some students, though not the majority, develop their ability to answer conceptual questions about scientific content as a result of their first science course. However, even among these students, the task of deploying this conceptual understanding in discussions of complex, socially relevant questions proved very difficult. Most students expressed personal opinions without using scientific arguments. It may be that the students have not developed the ability to recognise and distinguish different contexts or that the learning situation has not been challenging enough.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

student teachers

concepts

complex issue

environmental education

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)