Epistemological problems underlying pre-service chemistry teachers’ aims to use practical work in school science

The study, carried out in Ankara, Turkey, examined the effect of Middle East Technical University's Science Centre (METU SC) on students' attitudes towards science. The sample consisted of 251 students. The age range of the students varied from 11 to 14. The attitude scale was administered before, immediately after, and one week after a visit to METU SC. Because of the limitations on sampling procedure, two different research designs were used. Design 1 was a quasi-experimental design and arranged to determine the impact of METU SC on sixth graders' attitudes towards science with respect to the six constructs of the attitude scale, namely ‘Learning science in school’, ‘Self-concept in school science’, ‘Practical work in school science’, ‘Science outside of school’, ‘Future participation in science’, and ‘Importance of science’. Design 2 was a weak experimental design and arranged to determine the impact of METU SC on students' overall attitudes towards science with respect to their gender, grade levels, and science achievement levels. The results of this study suggest that science centres might have high potential on increasing students' attitudes towards science in all dimensions of the attitude scale, except for ‘Practical work in school science’. Furthermore, this increase is independent of gender, science achievement, and grade levels. Also, considering that this achievement was accomplished in quite a short time, science centres can be used by educators as an effective way of increasing students' attitudes towards science.

This article reviews how practical work, including practical skills, is currently summatively assessed in school science in a number of countries and makes comparisons with how other subjects, such as music and modern foreign languages, summatively assess skills. Whilst practical skills in school science are clearly valued as being of importance, there is a lack of clarity as to what these skills actually are and how they might, most effectively, be validly assessed. Countries vary greatly in the extent to which they employ what we term ‘Direct Assessment of Practical Skills’ (DAPS) or ‘Indirect Assessment of Practical Skills’ (IAPS). Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages but we conclude that too great reliance on IAPS reduces the likelihood that practical work will be taught and learnt as well as it might be.

In discussing some of the contemporary challenges for science education, science education research and science education journals, Gilbert (1994) outlined some strategies for a way forward. Included among them was the commissioning of a series of journal articles addressing a common theme. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to coordinate such an initiative on the topic of practical work/laboratory work in school science.

Are you a doer or a thinker? “We were repeatedly told by teachers and students that they had been so engrossed in what they were doing and how it was done that they had given little thought to why they did it.” The great merit of this research is that it has encouraged some of these doers (science teachers and ex‐pupils) to reflect on ‘why’ questions: the report gives the views of practical men and not of ivory tower thinkers.

Background Practical work in school science has been ineffective due to students not connecting hands-on to minds-on aspects. With the designation Thinking-Back-and-Forth (TBF)we present a framework with a taxonomy of TBF activities. Purpose Aim was to gain insight how teachers stimulate and support their students in TBF. Detailed information about what teachers do and what limitations they experience, provides insight into how they pay attention to TBF and how this can be improved. Sample Nineteen Dutch physics and chemistry teachers in grades 8 and 9. Design and Methods Based on the TBF framework an observation instrument was developed to analyse activities and teacher behaviour. 19 practical science lessons were observed and teachers were interviewed about their behaviour and the learning activities they pursue regarding TBF. Results Overall, teachers seem to consider practical work primarily from the point of view of conducting an experiment. They encourage TBF predominantly by having their students draw conclusions or generate explanations. Assigning tasks to design experiments or generate predictions is less common and activities fostering discussions are rarely observed. Insufficient hands-on and minds-on student abilities as well as limited time available are seen as impediments. Another major impediment is teachers’ lack of cognizance of possible TBF activities while designing practical lessons. ConclusionS Teachers have a positive attitude towards TBF. They indicated that the TBF framework with the taxonomy of activities functioned as a reflection tool to think moreconsciously about their lessons and offers the possibility to improve existingpractical work. This indicates that the TBF framework can be used by teachersand teacher-educators to provide more diverse student activities to connecthands-on to minds-on. This study also showed that cognizance about designingand implementing TBF activities in practical work needs to be improved in bothpre-service and in-service teacher training.

Indonesian National Qualification Framework requisite on students’ scientific process skill in analytical chemistry courses is difficult to be satisfied since the content is loaded with calculation and applicative discovery. Overcoming this challenge, investigative study of guided inquiry-based learning with creative thingking ability towards students’ scientific process skill in analytical chemistry courses was done. The implementation was done towards 56 pre-service chemistry teachers. As comparison, conventional learning model was done towards 26 pre-service chemistry teachers using th same courses. The effectivenes was measured using pre and post-test which consisted of fifteen valid and reliable essay items. For statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used and resulted students’ scientific process skill which taught by using guided inquiry-based learning is better than conventional class, especially for upper group of creative thingking ability with average of postest in experimental class is 31.11 meanwhile control class is 18.08 from maximum score is 39. The interaction between learning model with creative thingking model and students’scientific process skill was significant with probability 0.04 lower than selected alpha 0.05. According to these results, innovation of guided inquiry-based learning with creative thingking ability is recommended to improve students’ scientific process skill especially for chemistry courses.

Argumentation is believed to be a significant component of scientific inquiry: introducing these skills into laboratory work may be regarded as a goal for developing practical work in school science. This study explored the impact on the quality of argumentation among 12- to 13-year-old students undertaking three different designs of laboratory-based task. The tasks involved students collecting and making sense of complex data, collecting data to address conflicting hypotheses, and, in a paper-based activity, discussing pre-collected data about an experiment. Significant differences in the quality of argumentation prompted by the tasks were apparent. The paper-based task generated the most argumentation units per unit time. Where students carried out an experiment, argumentation was often brief, as reliance on their data was paramount. Measurements were given credence by frequency and regularity of collection, while possibilities for error were ignored. These data point to changes to existing practices being required in order to achieve authentic, argumentation-based scientific inquiry in school laboratory work.

Not surprisingly historical studies have suggested that there is a distance between concepts of teaching methods, their interpretations and their actual use in the classroom. This issue, however, is not always pitched to the personal level in historical studies, which may provide an alternative insight on how teachers conceptualise and engage with concepts of teaching methods. This article provides a case study on this level of conceptualisation by telling the story of Romulo de Carvalho, an educator from mid-twentieth century Portugal, who for over 40 years engaged with the heuristic and Socratic methods. The overall argument is that concepts of teaching methods are open to different interpretations and are conceptualised within the melting pot of external social pressures and personal teaching preferences. The practice and thoughts of Carvalho about teaching methods are scrutinised to unveil his conflicting stances: Carvalho was a man able to question the tenets of heurism, but who publicly praised the heurism-like “discovery learning” method years later. The first part of the article contextualises the arrival of heurism in Portugal and how Carvalho attacked its philosophical tenets. In the second part, it dwells on his conflicting positions in relation to pupil-centred approaches. The article concludes with an appreciation of the embedded conflicting nature of the appropriation of concepts of teaching methods, and of Carvalho’s contribution to the development of the philosophy of practical work in school science.

CoRe is one of the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) representation that it important for pre-service chemistry teacher. This study aimed to analyze the correlation among pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum (UC), understanding of context-based learning (UCB), self-efficacy (SE) and the ability for designing Content Representation context-based chemistry (CoRe-CBC). A correlational study was conducted on 41 pre-service chemistry teacher of postgraduate program. Pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum was assessed using a 30-item of multiple choices. The 6-open ended questions were used to measure the understanding of context-based chemistry learning. Students’ self-efficacy was assessed by a questionnaire with 18 items. A group of experts confirmed the construct and face validity of all the instruments. Data analysis used Pearson correlation and regression. The result showed a high correlation between UCB and ability for designing the CoRe-CBC also with UC. A low correlation occurred between UC and the ability for designing CoRe-CBC. The variable of UCB had the biggest effect on the pre-service teacher ability for designing CoRe-CBC. However, the pre-service chemistry teacher still had less understanding in context-based chemistry learning. This study suggests that pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum and context-based chemistry learning should be improved. It will useful to support the implementing context-based chemistry learning.

Teacher training process must stimulate reflective thinking skill because this skill is crucial to improve teaching and learning capability. Indonesian version of standardized instrument to assess the development of reflective thinking skill in teacher training program is still limited. This research aimed to adapt Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) to Indonesian version, investigate its quality, probe pre-service chemistry teachers’ level of reflective thinking, investigate relationship between reflective thinking and GPA, and compare between 1st year and 4th year pre-service chemistry teachers’ reflective thinking skill. RTQ is a 16 items 5 point Likert scale questionnaire purposed to measure reflective thinking in 4 subscale levels: Habitual Actions (HA), Understanding (U), Reflection (R), and Critical Reflection (CR). Each subscale was assessed by 4 questionnaire items. With the help of four science education experts who are fluent in both languages, RTQ was first translated into Indonesian and then its empirical result was substantiated. The translated RTQ was given to 147 pre-service chemistry teachers from Department of Chemistry Education, Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia. Data were analyzed using Rasch model method. Result indicated that the instrument and all 16 items nicely fit the Rasch model. The data also showed good reliability (Cronbach alpha .84). Result of this research also indicated that Understanding received the highest mean (17.70), followed by Critical Reflection (16.50), Reflection (16.48), and the lowest mean was Habitual Action (14.60). Non-parametric analysis was used because normal data distribution is not observed. Based on Wilcoxon Test result, significant difference between all subscales levels were detected, except for CR-R. Spearman Correlation result indicated that correlation between reflective thinking and GPA was not significant. Based on Mann-Whitney Test result, significant difference between 1st year and 4th year college students’ reflective thinking was only detected in CR. The implications relate to reflective thinking skill were discussed to improve the quality of learning process and its’ evaluation.

Scientific inquiry is a process in which individuals pose questions, think critically and engage in problem-solving research and investigation. It enables the explanation of observable scientific phenomena, problems, or events based on evidence. Through this process, students not only find answers to their questions but also structure their knowledge, opening the door to scientific practice. Scientific inquiry skills consist of six process components: defining the question or problem, developing a model to answer the question or find a solution to the problem, planning and realizing the research, analyzing and interpreting data, making evidence-based explanations and producing solutions, and evaluating and sharing knowledge. The aim of this study is to determine the readiness of pre-service chemistry teachers for the competency-based curriculum. Conducted as action research, the study involved 16 pre-service chemistry teachers over 12 weeks during the chemistry laboratory course in the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. Data collection tools included open-ended questionnaire items to gauge pre-service teachers’ perceptions of scientific inquiry skills, an activity sheet designed to foster these skills, and a rubric for evaluation. The study analysed the use of the components of scientific inquiry skills by pre-service teachers. The results indicated that the pre-service chemistry teachers most frequently utilized the components ‘defining the question or problem’ and ‘planning and conducting research,’ which are subcomponents of scientific inquiry. However, the components ‘making evidence-based explanations and producing solutions’ and ‘evaluating and sharing knowledge’ were used less frequently in the activities they designed.

The aim of this study is to examine the quality of the written argument of pre-service science teachers on certain socio-scientific issues and their opinions about the process. The study group consisted of 26 pre-service science teachers (18 females, 8 males) studying in the 3rd grade of a state university designated with respect to the purposeful sampling method of the study group. In the study, a case study pattern is adopted from qualitative research designs. The data source of the study consisted of sugar loading in pregnancy, raw / loose milk and processed / pasteurized milk, written arguments for the SSI of the nuclear power plant, pre-service science teachers' journals, researcher notes and semi-structured focus group interviews. The data obtained in the study were analysed according to descriptive and content analysis techniques. At the end of the research, it was determined that the quality of argument increased positively during the implementation when the written arguments of pre-service science teachers were examined after class discussion. In the evaluation of the research process, it was determined that pre-service teachers' awareness of the SSI and the YouTube supported classroom discussion process contributed positively to life skills and science process skills such as decision making, hypothesis building, discussion, analytical thinking.

Because school laboratory activities obtained by pre-service teachers tend to use cookbook experiments, this study focused on redesigning chemistry laboratory activities at the university level from cookbook experiments to inquiry-based Science, Environment, Technology, and Society (SETS) approach, and analyzing pre-service chemistry teachers‟ performances and their views to the redesigned laboratory activities. Through action research methodology, team teaching was conducted with 20 PCTs by following „Plan-Do-Study-Act‟ (PDSA) Cycle model within „The Course of Laboratory Practice in Basic Chemistry (CLP-BC)‟. Science process skills test (SPST), performance observation sheets (POS), presentation observation sheets (PrOS), self-reflective journals (SRJ), and interviews were used to evaluate the redesigned process. The CLP-BC activities consisted of 16 meetings through two PSDA cycles. The redesigned chemistry laboratory activities included such topics as colligative properties of the solution; chemical equilibrium on solubility; acid-base titration; solubility product; and voltaic cells. The results indicated improvements at the PCTs‟ science process skills, performances in managing laboratory and discussion activities as well as their positive responses at their self-reflective journals.

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of simulations based on conceptual change conditions (CCS) and traditional confirmatory simulations (TCS) on pre-service elementary school teachers’ understanding of direct current electric circuits. The data was collected from a sample consisting of 89 students; 48 students in the experimental group who were taught simulations based on CCS, and 41 students in control group who followed the TCS. Subjects in both groups used open source software (Qucs) to simulate electric circuits. All students were administered Electric Circuits Concepts Test (DIRECT), Science Process Skills Test, Physics Attitude Scale, and Computer Attitude Scale before the treatment. Pre-test analyses revealed that there is no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of understanding of direct current electricity. After completing 3 weeks treatment, all students received the DIRECT again as a post-test. Analysis of covariance was used. Science process skills and attitudes toward computers were taken as covariates. The results showed that the conceptual change based simulations caused significantly better acquisition of conceptual change of direct current electricity concepts than the confirmatory simulation. While science process skills and attitudes towards computer made significant contributions to the variations in achievement, gender differences and interactions between gender and treatment did not. Eleven weeks later, the DIRECT was reapplied to the students in both groups. Eleven weeks delayed post-test results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in understanding of direct current electric concepts.

Innovative instructional technologies, especially virtual reality devices, are becoming more prominent and feasible in science education. Concerning science laboratories, activities enriched with virtual reality technology have the potential to make unobservable phenomena accessible in any school. This virtual reality technology has the potential to lead in a new milestone in terms of acquisition of the science process skills, not only in secondary school students but also in the training of pre-service science teachers. This mixed-method study aimed to investigate the effect of virtual reality enriched laboratory activities’ effects on the science process skills of pre-service science teachers in Turkey. The pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental intervention was conducted with 54 3rd-grade pre-service science teachers enrolled in a state university in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. There were 24 participants in the experimental and 30 participants in the control group. The science process skills test was administered to both groups before and after the six-week-long intervention. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants from the experimental group after the intervention process. Even though the groups did not differ at the end of the intervention, the increase of the scores in the experimental group was found to be statistically significant, concerning the overall test scores and the sub-dimension of Experimenting. Furthermore, qualitative findings signify a prominent emphasis on Observing. The potential causations and derived implications are discussed.