Knowledge of the nature of science mobilized and related to other knowledge by a future Chemistry teacher in authentic teaching situations

Abstract

Documents such as those published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization have highlighted the importance of promoting a global citizenship education. In this sense, studies and proposals published in science education have pointed out that teaching situations that support the experience of scientific practices – the so-called authentic science education – are promising, given their contribution to the development of a broader view of science by citizens. Therefore, it is essential that future Science teachers have opportunities to experience authentic science education situations so that they can develop the necessary knowledge to teach from such perspectives. In the literature of the area to which we had access, there are few studies aiming at contributing to the development and mobilization of knowledge about science by future teachers and there are no studies based on a broad view about science. From this gap, we have proposed to investigate the knowledge of nature of science mobilized and, in some cases, developed, by future Chemistry teachers when participating of an educational process based on the second version of the Model of Science for Science Education (MoSSE v.2) and which integrated teaching theory and practice. This model was used to support the planning of authentic science education situations both experienced and proposed by the future Chemistry teachers. Data collection was carried out in the context of a subject taken mainly remotely by 13 future Chemistry teachers, in the first term of 2020. This investigation was based on principles of qualitative research in education. Data from different sources were collected, such as audio and video recordings of all lessons, artifacts produced by the future teachers, ongoing interventions (mainly specific questions), and field notes produced by the researcher from her observations. The analysis was carried out from the descriptions and transcripts of the whole set of data. Both the second version of the Model of Science for Science Education and the Refined Consensus Model of Teachers’ Knowledge were used as analytical tools. The results were presented and discussed based on an intrinsic (descriptive) case study of one of the future Chemistry teachers, selected due to his engagement in the educational process. We identified that our research subject has manifested 42 of the 49 aspects of nature of science (86%) associated with the seven areas of knowledge (all the six areas represented in the MoSSE v.2 and one included in it during this study). It seems that he has also developed eight of the 28 aspects (29%) mobilized in an activity in which he planned an authentic science education situation. From such manifestations, we have either established some relationships, for instance, between amplifiers and filters, and pedagogical and curriculum knowledge, or pointed out possible transformations of pedagogical content knowledge. The conclusions derived from such results can be translated into contributions for both the development of a broader view of science by our research subject, and the lightening and unveiling of possible ways from which a teacher can mobilize and/or develop their pedagogical content knowledge for Science teaching. Finally, we present different nature (academic, for teachers’ education, and personal) implications of this thesis.