Picturing pre-service and in-service teachers' views about scientists and science teaching

Courses in teacher training programmes, especially science method courses, play a major role in the development of beliefs. Because children's science learning starts in preschool years, it is critical to investigate early childhood teachers' beliefs about scientists and science teaching....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of early years education Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 773 - 789
Main Authors Uçar, Sedat, Eti, Inanç, Demircioglu, Tuba, Aktas Arnas, Yasare
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Cognitive Tests
Early Childhood Education
Early Childhood Teachers
Experienced Teachers
Foreign Countries
Freehand Drawing
in-service teachers
Personality Measures
pre-service teachers
Preservice Teachers
Projective Measures
science beliefs
Science education
Science Instruction
Science Teachers
Scientist beliefs
Scientists
Student Attitudes
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher education
Teaching
Young Children
Turkey
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Summary:Courses in teacher training programmes, especially science method courses, play a major role in the development of beliefs. Because children's science learning starts in preschool years, it is critical to investigate early childhood teachers' beliefs about scientists and science teaching. The purpose of this study was to describe, document, and then compare the pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers' beliefs about scientists and science teaching. A causal-comparative design with unequal sample sizes was used. The independent variables were the type of service, pre-service or in-service. The dependent variable was the score obtained on the 'Draw a Scientist Test' and the 'Draw a Science Teacher Test'. The sample consisted of 139 pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers. Pre-service teachers were studying in a teacher-training programme at a major research university and in-service teachers were working in public schools in the south part of Turkey. The results indicate that inservice teachers held more stereotypical images than pre-service teachers about scientists. In addition, pre-service teachers had positive belief of scientists while in the training programme, but in-service teachers lacked this positive belief. A key implication of the study is that more professional training for in-service teachers should be offered within professional development programmes.
ISSN:0966-9760
1469-8463
DOI:10.1080/09669760.2020.1814218