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The School Science Activity recognises the need for science education that provides citizens with a worldview about which they can think, act and communicate. However, science teachers, especially in physics, continue to use transmissive teaching approaches and show evidence of difficulties in implementing didactic approaches such as modeling in the classroom. Some reasons include the complexity of designing sequences under this approach and the lack of comprehension of the role of modeling competences that are developed in this kind of implementation. This research analyses how the ideas of physics teachers in training in Chile change concerning modeling and its competences, after participating in a course oriented towards this approach. At the end of the course, progress is identified in comprehending the aims of the modeling competences of expression, evaluation and application of a model. The results also highlight the importance of training future teachers through classes focused on modeling. To this purpose, some design and implementation guidelines are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers as a didactic resource for teaching ecology a dynamic activity based on a game and in contact with nature, implemented during initial teacher training. Data were collected on the affective and cognitive domains and it was found that, after intervention, teachers in training reported significant improvements both in their understanding of concepts related to ecology (food chains, population, community) and in their emotional component in the learning of natural sciences. The participants positively evaluated the use of the implemented methodology (Game-Based Learning), highlighting motivational, didactic and transference aspects for their future teaching work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in science education supports the need to teach biological evolution from the end of Primary Education. Improving teacher training in this area and compelling and engaging educational resources are necessary to achieve this goal. This study describes a teaching intervention that uses analogies between biological evolution and language changes over time to help students understand various basic concepts of molecular evolution. These concepts include homology, mutation, processes of heredity, variation, and selection, as well as the construction and interpretation of evolutionary relationships in phylogenetic trees. The study results show that this teaching approach improves students' understanding of biological evolution and overall perception of the activity. Students (143 pre-service teachers) reported experiencing more positive and fewer negative emotions and had a positive view of the intervention concerning their future profession. The study also found significant associations between students' emotions, subjective value, and final achievement. These associations can be considered when using analogies to enhance science teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the Interactive Lecture Demonstrations strategy adapted to virtual session to a fifth-year student teachers’ class is described. The results are analyzed under the approach oriented to the student teachers' level of understanding of the concept of thermal equilibrium and to their pedagogical knowledge. At the beginning, 83% of the students had inadequate previous ideas about how the temperature of two objects in thermal contact, both with different mass and different initial temperatures, change over time. After applying the strategy, Hake's factor was determined to know the learning gain. Its value was 0,429, which is considered a medium gain. The student teachers’ exit ticket showed the high valuation given by them to the ILD strategy. Student teachers highlighted the importance of social learning and the process of their own physics concept reconstruction through a metacognition exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyses the knowledge progression of future primary school teachers around the living being model. The analysis is carried out based on the results of four activities included in a didactic sequence designed from a science modelling approach. Two of them were based on a questionnaire administered at the beginning and end of the implementation in the classroom, while the other two collected information about the living being model done in group at the beginning and end of the proposal. The beginning-end comparison determined what extent the participants' ideas progressed throughout the course. In general, the students experienced an improvement in the management of this model, both personally and in groups, although not all aspects are considered satisfactory. This shows the need to change the sequence with a view to future implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Practicum Triad allows the development of different types of knowledge related to the teaching task in ST. The purpose of this study is to examine how the deployment of Teacher Professional Knowledge (TPK) is favored by the interaction between the members of the Practicum Triad. For this, a single case study was conducted in which the triadic interactions between a Physics ST, PT and MT during the ST's practicum process were analyzed. It was identified that ST displayed General Pedagogical Knowledge, Context Knowledge and four out of five components of Magnusson's Model for Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Three ways in which this deployment was favored by are described where the members of the Practicum Triad: 1) collaborate with each other to organize ST's practicum process, 2) reflect on the classes implemented by ST and 3) reflect on the nature of the task and teacher training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Teaching-Learning Sequence (TLS) for pre-service teachers is introduced, together with the results obtained aer two consecutive implementations at two different universities, with a redesign phase between them. Its objective is promoting knowledge about plant reproduction, the importance of entomophile pollination, and the taxonomic groups of pollinators in the Iberian Peninsula. Its design was approached from a strategy of science education in context, by using learning gardens as real contexts, and including among its activities the use of scientific drawing for teaching-learning on anatomy (flowers and pollinators), and the realization of practical experiences, including a sampling of garden's pollinators, that was conducted by following a British citizen science program, translated and adapted. Its pilot implementation (n=21, Universitat Jaume I) and the implementation of the improved sequence (n=41, Universidad de Valladolid) are assessed based on the analysis of the responses given by students to a questionnaire that was conducted both initially and finally, including open and closed questions, and also graphic representations. Regarding plants, initial erroneous ideas on sexual reproduction were observed, such as obviating hermaphroditic flowers, or monoecious plants; the belief that there are angiosperms without flowers; associating flowers with pollen, but not with ovules; or a concept of pollen based on its external appearance instead of its function. All such ideas improved aer instruction, particularly at Universidad de Valladolid. Regarding pollinators, the second implementation led to notable improvements in learning about their anatomy, diversity, and taxonomic classification. Potential improvements for the TLS are discussed, thus connecting its design with educational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry is presented as an appropriate approach to initiate scientific literacy at early ages. Initial teacher training is considered a key aspect of bring inquiry into Early Childhood classrooms. However, there are few specific inquiry programmes including transfer to practice in order to train teachers at this stage of education. This paper presents the foundations, the design principles and the sequence of activities of an inquiry-based training programme for Early Childhood pre-service teachers integrating academic and professional training. It has been developed in two different training centers framed in the subjects of Natural Science Education, Practicum III and Final Degree Project. The assessment that the participants make of the use of the inquiry in Early Childhood Education is presented in this paper. The analysis of this assessment allows us to make proposals in order to improve the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge for effective teaching of the nature of science and the promotion of critical thinking are both greater challenges for educational research, crucial for improving future generations' scientific literacy. With the aim to provide research-based didactical proposals evaluated in real classroom contexts, a design-based research approach was applied to develop an intervention for initial teacher education, which addresses these aspects in an integrated way. The study shows the design development and improvement based on evidence and its effectiveness to achieve the intended outcomes, measuring the effect size through a pre-post research design with a control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students experience a great diversity of emotions in academic settings. These emotions and science learning are reciprocally conditioned, therefore it is important to simultaneously look into affective and cognitive aspects in learning processes. This is particularly important in prospective Primary teachers, since the interplay between emotions and learning can determine its future professional. To deepen these interactions, in this contribution we analyse the relationships between the emotions experienced by a sample of students of the Degree in Primary Education (University of Extremadura), before and after the implementation of an active practice of Biology; and their level of Biology knowledge, both previous and acquired with the performed intervention. Results reveal positive associations between the intensity of joy, enthusiasm, satisfaction and fun experienced during the practice and learning outcomes, as well as negative associations between them and the intensities of frustration and worry. Likewise, results indicate that low levels of previous Biology knowledge are predictors of high intensities of boredom, frustration and worry, as well as the previous intensity of enthusiasm can have predictive value in relation to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the learning results with regard to science that future teachers of early childhood education hope to obtain when they prepare teaching units while studying "Teaching Science Education" as part of their Pre-school Education degree at the Valencia University. In order to carry out this objective, an analytical tool has been created, based on expected learning results, as regards the professional competencies specified by the accredited degree program for our area of knowledge. This tool has been used by three independent researchers to analyze 19 teaching units, prepared by 76 students during the last year of their degree during two academic years, when they studied the subject of Teaching Science. The results show that, as the specificity of expected learning results in the area of science increases, they become the less consolidated, which raises the necessity for a revision of teaching contents and their development in university curricula to improve the training of early childhood teachers in the field of teaching of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the conceptions of science teaching presented by the students of MPES (Master Teacher of Secondary Education) are analyzed. The data shown were collected in an initial teacher training experience, based on a constructive and thoughtful approach, which involved 71 students from various specialties of scientifictechnical area, for two successive academic years. From the formative point of view this experience consists in the development of activities that allow to reflect future teachers about the nature of the educational processes, specifying their previous conceptions as a starting point to encourage progression of teachers thought. In this research we have used a methodology of qualitative analysis on the conceptions of the participants about the teaching of science, expressed in writing from a set of open questions. The results have allowed to identify several models of thinking underlying the opinions of future teachers, who could relate respectively to a teaching approach based on the transmission and reception of knowledge, an educational approach next to the constructivist model and a mixed approach. We also notes that the greater or lesser degree of identification with a approach or another depends in part on the context of the question posed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, three experiences on the use of organic gardens as didactic resource and learning environment in initial teacher training are presented and described, which have been conducted in the frame of two subjects: Natural Sciences and Environmental Education, both of them corresponding to the Degree in Preschool Teacher Training. For each described experience, information is offered on action context, particular objectives, implemented strategies, students' organization, and evaluation. Finally, main strengths and weaknesses regarding the use of organic gardens at higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe an educational project aimed at students of the Master's Degree in Secondary School (51 students) and Bachelor's degree in Primary Education (49 students), in which the future teachers faced the creation of a scientific content educational documentary. Students carried out all the steps for the creation of a documentary video. To do so, they had to structure and organize the work team, collect and manage the information, develop a script, film and finally edit the audiovisual material. The approach of this paper advocates a change in the ways of teaching, taking into account that the society demands the audiovisual as a new way to communicate, and the project-based learning like the means in which the future teachers would experience this teaching-learning process. A semi-structured interview was made to the future teachers to analyze the different project steps. The later content analysis showed how the previous academic training was decisive to face the different stages. In addition, we could see several interesting aspects as the considerable use made of the audiovisual information or the different kinds of organizational structures inside work team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial training of Secondary Education teachers is in a process of change, which requires to extend the research on all the aspects concerning the improvement of the training programs. In this context it seems important to explore the interest of future teachers in science and technology towards the educational profession. Due to this reason we have carried out an investigation into the initial thought of secondary school teachers in training whose results are shown in this paper. We believe that it is necessary take into account the motivations and attitudes of future teachers in the initial training to promote the development of teacher professional identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]