| Abstract: |
Every aspect of teachers? practice is not only affected by the teaching
strategies they use in the classroom, but also their beliefs and attitudes.
This exploratory study was aimed at exploring the development of pre-service
beliefs about effective science teaching, and how the learning environment
influences their teaching and learning as they transition from pre-service
teachers in preparation for becoming professional teachers. A convenience
sample of pre-service teachers enrolled for a 4-year teacher education
programme at a University of Technology participated in the study. Data
gathering instruments including the Teacher Beliefs about Effective Science
Teaching (TBEST) questionnaire and Constructivist Learning Environment (CLES)
survey were administered to participants. TBEST is an instrument that aligns
teachers? views about science teaching and learning with their measure of
self-efficacy, their attitudes towards science, their beliefs about science
teaching environment and the nature of science. CLES was used to assess the
degree to which the classroom climate is conducive to students connecting
science subject matter to their prior knowledge. The findings revealed that an
effort is required to support, enhance and improve the teaching and learning
of science pre and post teacher training. This will help to establish the
relationship between the participants? beliefs about learning as pre-service
teachers and actual teaching practice. It is important to note that teachers?
attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning are critical, as these might
inform and influence the type of teachers they will become. This has
implications on teacher education efforts to improve science teaching and
learning, involving professional development to deepen teacher content and
pedagogical content knowledge, in the belief that enhancing teacher knowledge
will lead to improved classroom practice. |