EBOOK PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE ESERA 2011 CONFERENCE:

Science learning and Citizenship

General Editors: Catherine Bruguière, Andrée Tiberghien, Pierre Clément

Co-editors: Virginie Albe, Silvia Caravita, Graça Carvalho, Costas

Constantinou, Digna Couso, Jens Dolin, Reiners Duit, Bob Evans, Jane

Johnston, Jari Lavonen, Conxita Marquez, Patricia Marzin, Laurence

Maurines, Marisa Michelini, Robin Millar, Kai Niebert, Miriam Ossevoort,

Roser Pinto, Dimitris Psillos, Miia Rannikmâe, Andreas Redfors, Helene

Sorensen, Rosa Maria Sperandeo, Jouni Viiri, Manuela Welzel-Breuer, Abert

Zeyer

ISBN: 978-9963-700-44-8

EA 4148, Université Lyon 1 - ENSL, Université de Lyon

This ebook contains fourteen parts according to the strands of the ESERA 2011 conference. Each

part is co-edited by one or two persons, most of them were strand chairs. All papers in this ebook

correspond to accepted communications during the ESERA conference that were reviewed by two

referees. Moreover the co- editors carried out a global reviewing of the papers.

ESERA or the editors and co-editors do not necessarily endorse or share the ideas and views

presented or implied included in this book. Moreover, the respect of the guidelines concerning the

layout of each chapter is under the responsibility of the authors.

The goal of this electronic book is to publish an improved version of the proposal taking into

account the discussion during the presentation.

The three formats of presentations during the conference are published in this ebook. The length for

the single oral presentation and posters is between 4 and 7 pages. For the symposium there are two

possibilities: The whole symposium is presented as a single paper of 15 pages or each contribution

can be considered as a single oral presentation (4-7 pages).

This e-book should be referenced as follows:

Bruguière, C., Tiberghien, A., & Clément, P. (Eds.). (2012). E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2011

Conference: Science learning and Citizenship. Lyon, France: European Science Education Research

Association.

B - - - -

Individual articles in the e-book should be referenced as follows:

[Author(s)]. (2012). [Title of article], In C. Bruguière, A. Tiberghien & P. Clément (Eds.), E-Book

Proceedings of the ESERA 2011 Conference: Science learning and Citizenship. Part [strand number] (co-ed.

Editors of the strand chapter), (pp.[page numbers]) Lyon, France: European Science Education Research

Association.

B - - - -

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE EBOOK

Part 1: Learning science - conceptual understanding

Co-editors: Roser Pinto and Kai Niebert

Part 2: Learning science - cognitive, affective, and social factors

Co-editors: Silvia Caravita and Albert Zeyer

Part 3: Teaching and learning science

Co-editors: Marisa Michelini and Reiners Duit

Part 4: ICT and other resources for teaching/learning science

Co-editors: Patricia Marzin and Jari Lavonen

Part 5: Nature of science, History, Philosophy, Sociology of Science

Co-editors: Laurence Maurines and Andreas Redfors

Part 6: Discourse and argumentation in science education

Co-editors: Manuela Welzel-Breuer and Conxita Marquez

Part 7: Scientific literacy and socio scientific issues

Co-editors: Virginie Albe and Bob Evans

Part 8: Environmental, health and Informal-Outdoor Science education

Co-editors: Miriam Ossevoort and Graça Carvalho

Part 9: Science curriculum, educational policy

Co-editors: Jens Dolin and Miia Rannikmâe

Part 10: Evaluation and assessment of student learning

Editor: Robin Millar

Part 11: Cultural, Social and Gender Issues

Editor: Helene Sorensen

Part 12: Pre-service science teacher education

Co-editors: Dimitris Psillos and Rosa Maria Sperandeo

Part 13: In-service science teacher education

Co-editors: Jouni Viiri and Digna Couso

Part 14: Early years science education

Co-editors: Costas Constantinou and Jane Johnston

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF PART 12

PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHER EDUCATION

Assessing pre-service science teachers’ topic specific pedagogical content knowledge (pck):

pre-service science teachers’ pck of electrochemistry 1

Mehmet Aydeniz, Zubeyde Demet Kirbulut

Mapping beliefs of preservice physics teachers in the context of a curriculum innovation 8

Marcelo Alves Barros, Edson Cesar Marques Filho, Larissa Da Cunha Badan

Analysis of a teaching experience in the context of a curriculum innovation 14

Marcelo Alves Barros, Edson Cesar Marques Filho, Carlos Eduardo Laburú

Self-efficacy and emotions in prospective primary education science teachers 19

María Brígido, M. Luisa Bermejo, Vicente Mellado

Pre-service science and primary school teachers’ perceptions of science laboratory

environment 25

Gamze Çetinkaya, Jale Çakıroğlu

Conceptions of prospective teachers on nature field trips in relation to own experiences as

pupils 31

milio o tillo, lorentina a a a, armen on e, Ja ier u ero

Development of case method program for teacher education supporting the creation of lesson

plans 37

Takafumi Daikoku, Makiko Takenaka, Hisayoshi Nakamura, Shigenori Inagaki

Jordanian chemistry student teachers’ and experienced teachers’ beliefs about teaching and

learning 43

Ingo Eilks, Siham A. Al-amoush, Silvija Markic

Pre-service chemistry teachers' understanding of electrolytic cells 51

Betul Ekiz, E. Selcan Kutucu, Huseyin Akkus, Yezdan Boz

The usage of visualization in chemistry teaching and pre-service education: some

findings 55

Celeste Ferreira, Agnaldo Arroio

The principles of a short time seminar for developing prospective greek physics

teachers’ pck 62

Vassilis Grigoriou, George Kalkanis

Identifying elements of pck in chemistry teacher education 69

Nicola Großebrahm, Stefan Rumann

Pre-service science teachers perceptions related to epistemological world view and science

teaching efficacy belief 77

Esme Hacieminoglu, Ozgul Yilmaz-tuzun, Hamide Ertepinar

Curriculum guidelines and institutional assessment in physics teacher education: underlying

concepts 82

Ivanilda Higa, Neiva Samara Mendes Cavalcante, Nilson Marcos Dias Garcia

Working with the microscope as a problem solving process 89

Lissy Jäkel

A “class diary” forum to identify pedagogical thinking changes in preservice science teacher

training 95

M.r. JimÉnez-liso , R. LÓpez-gay

Subject knowledge and pedagogy in pre-service science teacher training courses in england and

wales 100

Roger Lock, Allan Soares

Using slowmation to make science pre-service teachers` beliefs explicit 106

Silvija Markic, Stephen Keast, Rebecca Cooper

Comparison of german and malaysian pre-service science teachers beliefs` about teaching and

learning 113

Silvija Markic, Maryam Sulaiman, Zurida Haji Ismail

The cognitive and linguistic skills associated to human nutrition in teacher training 120

ri tina art nez-lo a a, u ana Gar a- arro , ut Jim nez-liso

Assessing prospective teachers’ diagnostic competence 125

Claudia V. Aufschnaiter, Janine Cappell, Gabi Dübbelde, Jürgen Mayer, Andrea Möller,

Joachim Stiensmeier-pelster, Anett Wolgast

Training elementary school teachers for the use of science museum field trips in early educa

tion 132

Maite Morentin, Jenaro Guisasola

Future teachers’ views on community projects as learning environments for science

education 139

Lidia Ochoa Cañigueral, Anna M. Geli De Ciurana

A survey of preservice science teachers’ conceptions of research methods course 145

İ mail Ön er, Şenol BeŞoluk

Preservice science teachers’ conceptions of analytical chemistry 149

İ mail Ön er, Şenol BeŞoluk

Potentials of lernwerkstatt (open inquiry) for pre-service teachers’ professional

development 153

Sandra Puddu, Erika Keller, Anja Lembens

Learning to implement school experiments in a blended learning approach: an evaluation

study 160

Thorid Rabe, Olaf Krey, Franco Rau

Pre-service science teachers’ metacognitive awareness about lab instruction and their

competency in inquiry lab design: the case of a lab applications course 167

Deniz arı aş, ru Z. Mugaloglu

Supporting pre-service teachers in designing authentic learning environments in chemistry

lessons 172

Andrea Schumacher, Christiane S. Reiners

Pre-service irish science teachers’ misconceptions of chemistry 179

Muireann Sheehan, Peter E. Childs, Sarah Hayes

Student-teachers’ participation in the development of digital stories for the moon and the

telescope 186

Vasiliki Spiliotopoulou

Pre-service teachers’ conceptual profile change when discussing an environmental

phenomenon 194

Artemisia Stoumpa, Anthimos Chalkidis, Constantine Skordoulis

Views on teaching of particulate nature of matter at macroscopic, symbolic and microscopic

levels 199

Aysegul Tarkin, E. Selcan Kutucu, Betul Ekiz, Mustafa Tuysuz, Oktay Bektas, Esen Uzuntiryaki

Chemistry teachers’ content knowledge and its correlation to pedagogical content

knowledge 203

Oliver Tepner, Sabrina Dollny

Pre-service teacher training: bridging the gap between science and technology 209

Maike Tesch

How science works: a longitudinal study of pre-service teachers’ field experiences of science

curriculum change in England 215

Rob Toplis, Charles Golabek

Practical study on argument skill improvement in pre-service teachers 223

Tomokazu Yamamoto, Etsuji Yamaguchi, Shigenori Inagaki, Hayashi Nakayama, Tomoyuki

Nogami

A SURVEY OF PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS’

CONCEPTIONS OF RESEARCH METHODS COURSE

İsmail ÖNDER1 and Şenol BEŞOLUK

2

1Sakarya University, Faculty of Education, Secondary Science and Mathematics Education,

Turkey. 2Sakarya University, Faculty of Education, Elementary Science Education, Turkey.

Abstract: Research skills are important in teaching profession as in any other professional

field. Therefore, preservice science teachers should know what research methods are and how

the knowledge related to research methods can be used in teaching profession. For that

purpose a research methods course was included to preservice science teacher education

curriculum in Turkey. The aim of the present study is to investigate preservice science

teachers’ conceptions of research methods course. A questionnaire composed of five open

ended items was administered to purposively selected 31 preservice science teachers.

Preservice science teachers indicated that the course can be useful mainly for academicians

and researchers. Furthermore, only minority of the participants indicated the importance and

usefulness of the course content for teaching profession.

Keywords: Research methods course, preservice science teachers, undergraduate course,

science teacher education, research skills

INTRODUCTION

The field of education continuous to grow so rapidly with regard to both the knowledge it

contains and the methodologies it employs (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006). Therefore the ability

to do research becomes extremely important for science teachers. In fact, research skills can

be of great benefit to any professional person (Galpin, Hazelhurst, Mueller & Sanders, 2004).

Since 2006 there is a scientific research methods course in preservice science teacher

education curriculum in Turkey. Scientific research methods course is a course for 3rd year

(5th semester) undergraduate students majoring in science education (YÖK, 2007). Therefore,

preservice science teachers started to take this course since 2008. It involves 28 hours of

lectures. The aims of the course are to provide students with the basic information needed to

understand research process, to use the knowledge to design their own research investigation

and permit students to read and understand the literature of educational research. Furthermore,

this course aimed to give students opportunities to develop and practice a range of research

related skills such as: critical thinking, critical reading, the ability to present a logical and

coherent argument, presentation skills, looking events from a broader perspective etc. It is

therefore important to present whether the course achieved its aims and whether students

attach enough importance to the course and whether they are aware of its benefits while they

are performing teaching profession. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to stimulate

discussion on research methods education in preservice science teacher education program by

obtaining students opinions about the course.

METHOD

A qualitative research method was chosen to enable the participants to express their own

views and to use actual participant statements as data. Therefore, a questionnaire was

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constructed to determine pre service science teachers’ views regarding Scientific Research

Methods course by the researchers.

Sample

Purposive sampling methodology was followed. Students who have enrolled to Scientific

Research Methods course were the participants of the study (N=31). The age of the students

ranged from 20 to 22 yrs. Of the 31 students, 25 were female and 5 were male.

Data collection instrument

A questionnaire consisting of 5 open-ended questions was administered to each participant at

the end of the course. The questions of the questionnaire are provided below.

What is your opinion about having a research methods course in preservice science

teacher education curriculum?

Do you think that the information provided in the course will help you in daily life?

Please explain.

Considering the knowledge you have acquired in the course, will it be beneficial while

performing the teaching profession?

At most who do you think can benefit from information provided in the course?

Where and for what purpose do you think the information provided in this course can

be used at most?

Data analysis

The participants written responses were analyzed using content analysis. Through multiple

passes over written responses a set of tentative categories were developed. Once these

tentative categories were developed, researchers reread the participants written responses

individually in order to code for specific instances of the categories. A joint reading followed

to validate the categories gleaned from the first readings and to settle any disputes regarding

coding. The inter ratter reliability for coding the participants’ written responses to the open

ended questions was 90.0%. Next, participants’ representative responses that identify the

categories and some outlying responses that carries significant and powerful message were

selected.

RESULTS

The findings of the study are presented according to the themes revealed in participants’

written responses to the open ended questions. Excerpts from their responses are included to

clarify the thematic findings.

Question #1: What is your opinion about having a research methods course in

preservice science teacher education curriculum? 74% of the participants indicated that there

should be a course like that in the curriculum. However, the remaining participant considered

the course as unnecessary. The views of the participants who considered the course as

necessary mainly focused on enhancement of professional competence (f=6), necessity for

academicians (f=6), planning and conducting a scientific research (f=6), and scientific

thinking in solving a problem (f=3). The views of those who considered the course as

unnecessary were luck of necessity of the course content for teaching profession (f=4) and

complexity and detailedness of the course content (f=3).

Question #2: Do you think that the information provided in the course will help you in

daily life? Please explain. 42% of the participants indicated that the information provided in

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the course will help them in daily life and remaining 58% indicated an opposite view. The

view of those who thought the course as helpful for daily life generally focused on

improvement of the skill of looking events from a broader perspective (f=5), development of

analytical thinking (f=3) and preparation of the homework’s (f=3). The views of those with

negative opinion mainly cluster in fallowing categories: unrelatedness of course content with

daily life (f=6) and lack of scientific research in daily life (f=7).

Question #3: Considering the knowledge you have acquired in the course, will it be

beneficial while performing the teaching profession? 20 participants indicated that it will be

beneficial, but the remaining participants indicated that it will not. The views of participants

who said it will be beneficial mainly clustered on fallowing categories: conducting a research

(f=8), assessment and evaluation (f=9), determining and finding solutions to educational

problems (f=3) and ways to access information (f=4). The view of participants who said it

will not be beneficial mainly categorized as follows: needlessness for teaching profession

(f=4) and lack of application of knowledge (f=2).

Question #4: At most who do you think can benefit from information provided in the

course? Participants indicated that academicians (f=15), graduate students (f=11), researchers

(f=8), teachers (f=6) and preservice teachers (f=1) can benefit from information provided in

the course at most.

Question #5: Where and for what purpose do you think the information provided in

this course can be used at most? Participants’ indicated that information provided in the

course can be used in planning and conducting research (f=30), analysis of scientific data

(f=7), writing a thesis/book/article (f=8), graduate courses (f=2), universities and research

centres (f=10), and performing teaching profession (f=4).

DISCUSSION

Several researches indicated that students who attended research course had more positive

attitudes towards research (Pearcey, 1995) and felt that they were better able to use research

to improve their skill for their profession (Adamsen, Larsen, Bjerregaard & Madsen, 2003;

Lacey, 1996). It is clear from the results, that overall, the students felt that the course can be

useful mainly for academicians and researchers. Only minority of the participants indicated

the importance and usefulness of the course content for teaching profession. However, most

of them were unaware of the importance of research methods for teaching profession. This

result could be attributed to the instruction, delivery of the content and inadequate course

hours. The instructions are generally carried out by lecturing in two hours/week. Therefore,

there was not enough time that can be spent for applications in which preservice science

teachers can apply theory into practice, particularly related to field of education. Although

some participants indicated that the course enhanced their skills such as looking events from a

broader perspective, majority of them indicated that the course content is not related or

beneficial for daily life and they also indicated that the information provided will be manly

beneficial for academicians and researchers. Therefore, preservice science teachers were not

aware of the usefulness of the course content for both daily life and teaching profession.

These results present the necessity of further research about the effects of the course and how

this course should be taught and what should be the course content and course hours. Adding

application hours in addition to theoretical hours to the course should be discussed.

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REFERENCES

Adamsen, L., Larsen, K., Bjerregaard, L. & Madsen, J.K. (2003). Moving forward in a role as

a researcher: The effect of a research method course on nurses’ research activity.

Journal of Clinical Nursing, 12, 442-450.

Fraenkel, J.R. & Wallen, N.E. (2006). How to design and evaluate research in education.

NY: Mc Graw Hill.

Galpin, V., Hazelhurst, S., Mueller, C. & Sanders, I. (2004). A survey of the effects of a fourth

year introduction to research methods course. Retrived on 16.01.2011from

http://www.cs.wits.ac.za/~vashti/ps/GHMS99b.pdf.

Lacey, E.A. (1996). Facilitating research based practice by educational intervention. Nurse

Education Today, 16(4), 296-301.

Pearcey, P.A. (1995). Achieving research-based nursing practice. Journal of Advanced

Nursing, 22(1), 33-39.

YÖK (2007). Öğretmen yetiştirme ve eğitim fakülteleri (1982-2007). Ankara: Yükseköğretim

Kurulu Yayını

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