VICENTE MELLADO, MARI´A LUISA BERMEJO, LORENZO J. BLANCO · 2013-05-02 · vicente mellado,...

VICENTE MELLADO, MARIA LUISA BERMEJO, LORENZO J. BLANCOand CONSTANTINO RUIZ

THE CLASSROOM PRACTICE OF A PROSPECTIVE SECONDARY

BIOLOGY TEACHER AND HIS CONCEPTIONS OF THE NATURE

OF SCIENCE AND OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SCIENCE

Received: 8 June 2006; Accepted: 25 April 2007

ABSTRACT. We describe research carried out with a prospective secondary biology

teacher, whom we shall call Miguel. The teacher_s conceptions of the nature of science

and of learning and teaching science were analyzed and compared with his classroom

practice when teaching science lessons. The data gathering procedures were interviews

analyzed by means of cognitive maps and classroom observations. The results reflected

Miguel_s relativist conceptions of the nature of science that were consistent with his

constructivist orientation in learning and teaching. In the classroom, however, he

followed a strategy of transmission of external knowledge based exclusively on teacher

explanations, the students being regarded as mere passive receptors of that knowledge.

Miguel_s classroom behavior was completely contrary to his conceptions, which were to

reinforce the students_ alternative ideas through debate, and not by means of teacher

explanation.

KEY WORDS: classroom behaviour, conceptions, secondary prospective science teacher

INTRODUCTION

From a constructivist perspective, science teachers are considered as

having conceptions about the nature of science, about scientific concepts,

and about how to learn and teach them (Gil-Perez, 1993; Hewson &

Hewson, 1989). These conceptions are usually deeply rooted, and a

teacher_s first step in his or her education and professional development

should be to reflect on these conceptions critically and analytically

(Hewson, Tabachnick, Zeichner, & Lemberger, 1999).

In prospective teachers, the conceptions are the fruit of the many years

they themselves spent at school (Gunstone, Slattery, Bair & Northfield,

1993; Gustafson & Rowell, 1995; Young & Kellogg, 1993), and they are

more stable the longer they have been a part of each person_s belief

system (Pajares, 1992). Most of the novice teachers analyzed by

Simmons, Emory, Carter, Coker, Finnegan, Crockett, Richardson et al.

(1999) considered that the best form in which their students can learn

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education# National Science Council, Taiwan (2007)

sciences is the same as they themselves used when they were at school.

Several studies have shown that these conceptions are usually closer to

more teacher- and content-centered transmissive models of teaching than

to models centered on student learning (Garcıa & Martınez, 2001;

Gunstone et al., 1993; Solıs & Porlan, 2003). Many of the secondary

education science teachers in initial teacher education analyzed by

Martınez, Martın del Pozo, Rodrigo, Varela, P., Fernandez & Guerrero

(2001a) agree with the need to bear the students_ previous ideas in mind,

nonetheless they do not consider that these ideas might be a source of

professional knowledge for the teacher. A characteristic feature of novice

and prospective teachers is that they usually present many contra-

dictions: they may have teacher-centered conceptions, but perceive

themselves as student-centered (Simmons et al., 1999). Tsai (2002a)

analyzed the relationship among 37 secondary science teachers_ beliefs

about teaching science, learning science and the nature of science. He

found less consistency among beliefs in novice than experienced teachers.

It has been assumed for years that teachers_ conceptions and

classroom practice are related. Several studies, however, have found,

that, depending on the teacher and the context, these aspects are often

out of phase with each other, and even contradictory, and that changes in

one are not necessarily accompanied by a change in the rest (de Jong,

Korthagen & Wubbels, 1998; Lederman, 1992; Marx, Freeman, Krajcik

& Blumenfed, 1998; Mellado, Ruiz, Bermejo & Jimenez, 2006; Meyer,

Tabachnick, Hewson, Lemberger & Park, 1999). But even such a change

in conceptions is no guarantee of transfer to the classroom in the form of

a change in teaching practice if the teacher has no access to procedural

skills and practical schemes of action in the classroom (Furio &

Carnicer, 2002; Tobin, 1993).

As to the nature of science, many investigations have found no

relationship between the teachers_ conceptions and their classroom

behaviour, and it is considered that teachers_ classroom behavior is

influenced by many other factors as well as by their conception of the

nature of science (Lederman, 1992). In a case study of three secondary

biology teachers, Benson (1989) found contradictions on analyzing the

relationship between the teachers_ epistemological beliefs and their

classroom practice. The teachers justified the contradictions by

the pressure of classroom situations and of the imposed curriculum.

Brickhouse (1990) studied the relationship between the conceptions of

science of three teachers (two experts and one novice) and their actions

in teaching science in the classroom, noting that the two experts showed

VICENTE MELLADO ET AL.

greater coherence between conceptions and classroom practice than did

the novice. Lederman (1999) compared the conceptions of the nature of

science and the classroom practice of expert and novice secondary

education biology teachers who had had no prior contact with the

research team, and whose conceptions of science were not positivist

and were consistent with the model of the reform in the USA. The

results showed that the experts had greater consistency between their

classroom practice and their beliefs because they were able to

incorporate teaching decisions and intentions, and developed the skills

needed to convert knowledge into practice. Bell, Lederman & Abd-El-

Khalik (2000) analyzed the relationship between the conceptions of the

nature of science and the classroom practice of 13 prospective teachers

of secondary education science. The advanced conceptions that most of

them held were not carried over to the classroom. Neither did they

explicitly refer to the nature of science, whether in planning or in

teaching.

As for learning and teaching science, several studies have found a

relationship between science teachers_ conceptions and their classroom

practice, although other studies have only found a partial relationship,

with frequent contradictions, between educational conceptions and

classroom teaching behavior (Porlan, Martin & Martin, 2002). Bol &

Strage (1996) also found contradictions between the curricular goals of

biology teachers and how those teachers assess their students, where they

tend to emphasize basic knowledge. One explanation of this contradic-

tion is the pressure the students exert on having the cognitive demands of

classroom tasks reduced.

These studies indicated that there was more consistency between

beliefs and classroom practice in experienced teachers than in novice and

prospective teachers who can present remarkable contradictions between

their implicit theories and those they have to expound on. Unlike

experienced teachers, novice and prospective teachers are usually more

traditional in their teaching behavior than the intentions that they express

in their prior conceptions (Freitas, Jimenez & Mellado, 2004; King,

Shumow & Lietz, 2001; Koballa, Glynn & Upson, 2005; Lucas &

Vasconcelos, 2005; Pavon, 1996).

Prospective teachers use pedagogical methods that are very similar to

those they preferred in their own teachers when they were students, or

simply teach in the same way as they themselves were taught (Gustafson

& Rowell, 1995; Gunstone et al., 1993; Huibregtse, Korthagen &

Wubbels, 1994; Tobin, Tippins & Gallard, 1994).

CLASSROOM PRACTICE OF A PROSPECTIVE SECONDARY BIOLOGY TEACHER

In previous studies (Mellado, 1997; 1998a), we have found that

prospective science teachers have a personal practical knowledge that

does not always correspond to their explicit conceptions. To transfer

their conceptions to the classroom, as well as academic knowledge these

teachers need the opportunity to plan and teach particular topics, and to

explicitly have available the appropriate techniques and strategies to do

so (Bell et al., 2000). In this sense, Lederman (1999) pointed out that

beginning teachers have to develop a variety of instructional routines and

schemes that allow them to feel comfortable with the organization and

management of instruction.

Personal practical knowledge is generated and evolves from the

teachers_ own knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, and integrates experi-

ential knowledge, formal knowledge, and personal beliefs (Blanco, 2004;

Van Driel, Beijaard & Veroop, 2001). It requires, however, personal

involvement and reflection, and practice in teaching the specific subject

matter in particular contexts (Jaen & Banet, 2003). This process allows

teachers to reconsider their conceptions and academic knowledge,

modifying or reaffirming them, as well as transforming and integrating

this knowledge into the act of teaching. It is this Bdynamic^ component

which distinguishes expert from novice and prospective teachers, since

over the course of their years of teaching the different components of

knowledge will develop and be integrated into a single structure, forming

the teachers_ personal pedagogical content knowledge (Gess-Newsome

& Lederman, 1993; Mellado, 1997; 1998a).

In this work, we have described the case study of a secondary education

science teacher at the end of his initial education. We have shown in the

antecedents the results of other studies, but we think that there is a need for

further contrasting studies in different contexts to help understand in depth

the relationship between conceptions and classroom practice. The

availability of more cases would allow one to improve initial education

programs in their effect on the holistic evolution of conceptions and

classroom practice, and the development of the Bdynamic^ component.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The case study that we shall describe is of Miguel, a prospective

secondary education biology teacher. The focus is on the following

research questions:

1. Is the construction of cognitive maps from data taken from interviews

a suitable procedure for the representation of teachers_ conceptions?


2. Is there any correspondence between Miguel_s conceptions of the

nature of science, science teaching, and science learning?

3. Do Miguel_s conceptions of science, and of science teaching and

learning, correspond with his actual teaching in the classroom?

4. What conclusions might be drawn with respect to initial teacher

education?

METHODS

We carried out a case-study investigation of the prospective secondary

biology teacher, whom we shall call Miguel. He is a biology graduate

(5 years of university of specific studies basically on biology, with no

pedagogical material). The study was performed during a brief

postgraduate course on education. Miguel was selected for the study

because of his motivation to participate in the research and his notable

ability for expression in the production of qualitative data. In a case

study, the intention is not that the results be generalizable, but that,

with criteria of research reliability and validity (Marcelo & Parrilla,

1991), they can be compared with those of other studies and allow one to

progress in understanding the conceptions and classroom practices of

science teachers.

The data gathering procedures we used to study Miguel_ conceptions

were the questionnaire INPECIP (Inventory of Teacher_ Scientific and

Pedagogical Beliefs), designed and tested by Porlan (1989) at the

University of Seville and the semi-structured interview. The questionnaire

was analyzed by means of cognitive maps (da Silva, Mellado, Ruiz &

Porlan, 2007) and gave us a first approximation to Miguel_s conceptions

about science and its teaching and learning. We used this as a basis in

drafting the interview script. In the present article, we shall centre on the

analysis of the interview.

The semi-structured interview given previously to Miguel consists of

218 questions concerning academic background, the nature of science,

the science teacher, the science curriculum, and the teaching and

learning of science.

To study the behavior of Miguel in the classroom, we used his

personal planning documents, classroom observations during their

videotaped teaching practices, and stimulated recall interviews. Each

lesson was recorded by two video cameras so as to capture both Miguel_sand the students_ reactions. Then Miguel was subsequently given an

audio-recorded stimulated recall interview, in which he analyzed,


together with the investigator, his own behavior in the classroom. The

stimulated recall interview has been used in other work to study the

beliefs of science teachers (Yerrick & Hoving, 2003).

Throughout the investigation, Miguel was kept informed about the

analyses and results by the investigator, and was given the opportunity to

comment on the results. The non-participant classroom observation was

made on the subject BEnergy and the Environment^, which, being

interdisciplinary, allowed the teacher to take a specific orientation in

accord with his own educational training and the level of the class.

In a qualitative investigation, the process of analyzing the data is

related simultaneously to its collection, reduction, and representation

(Miles & Huberman, 1984). In the present case, the interview was

analyzed by means of cognitive maps. Concept maps have been

thoroughly validated in numerous studies on science teaching (Canas,

Novak & Gonzalez, 2004). Their initial use was for students_ learning,

but there is a growing body of work that defends their use in research

with science and mathematics teachers (Beyerbach & Smith, 1990; Casas

& Luengo, 2004; Gess-Newsome & Lederman, 1993; Powell, 1994).

Tsai (2002b) use concept maps as a way of exploring teacher_spedagogical view and her knowledge growth about STS instruction.

Concept maps were also used by Shymansky, Woodworth, Norman,

Dunkhase, Matthews & Liu (1993) to study changes in middle school

teachers_ understanding of a selected science topic, although, as those

authors recognize, maps are difficult to evaluate, for which reason

particular attention has to be paid to the validity of the study. In our case,

the process of validation of maps was carried out by researchers of the

Universities of Seville and Extremadura, comparing teachers_ cognitive

maps from the INPECIP questionnaire with cognitive maps from

interviews, both about nature of science (Mellado, 1997) and teaching

and learning science (Mellado, 1998a; 1998b).

While the concept map has a logical structure accepted socially by the

experts on the topic, the cognitive map is more psychologically

structured, forming an idiosyncratic personal representation. Cognitive

maps relate, in a partially hierarchical form, units of information in a

wider sense than the concepts used in concept maps. The representation

in a cognitive map gives an overall and unfragmented view of each

teacher_s conceptions about different aspects of education. Teachers may

construct their own cognitive maps (Jones & Vesilind, 1995), or this may

be done by an outside researcher based on data obtained from the

teachers (Mellado, Peme-Aranega, Redondo & Bermejo, 2002; Ruiz,

Porlan, da Silva & Mellado, 2005).


To construct a map from the interview, each phrase implying a unit of

information was coded, followed by classification into categories

(Barrantes & Blanco, 2006). Then the information units of each category

or subcategory were related graphically forming the cognitive map. For

example, Miguel_s response to question 66 was classified into four

information units: 66.1, 66.2, 66.3 and 66.4.

M-66: Do you believe that the theories obtained at the end of a rigorous

methodological process are a reflection of reality?

Miguel_s answer: [They are a reflection of our reality] 1. Insisting on the foregoing,

[I believe that science often is done the way we like it] 2, [when we are looking for a

theory, what we are looking for is the solution of some problem in particular that

affects us and we want to solve it so that it does not affect us or to know how it is going

to affect us] 3. [Then what we are looking for is that solution, we are not looking for

other possibilities] 4.

For the analysis of the classroom teaching behaviour, several simulta-

neous viewings were made of the recordings of the teacher and of the

students, noting down the most outstanding aspects and drafting a script

from the two tapes, for the final montage. Later, each lesson was transcribed,

encoded into units of information, and represented graphically and

sequentially. In this analysis, the personal documents contributed by the

teacher in the planning and interactive teaching were also taken into account.

In the following we shall summarize the most relevant results based

on Miguel_s conceptions, including some cognitive maps. The cognitive

maps were drawn up by the researcher, although later they were analyzed

and checked by Miguel. The numbers in cognitive maps correspond to

the codes assigned to each response in the interview.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Miguel_s Conceptions

The Science Teacher_s Academic Background and Conceptions. Miguel

has a family background of education, since his father has been a

primary and secondary education teacher, and Miguel regards teaching

as a tough profession with very little social prestige. Miguel would like

to work as a biologist, or in environmental education, although he does

not discard the idea of following a teaching career.

With respect to the professional knowledge necessary to be a teacher,

Miguel_s vision is based more on natural qualities and personal vocation than

on professionalized teacher education. He believes that, to be a teacher, the


most important things are interest, knowing how to get across to the pupil,

and the desire to teach. He thinks that the teacher is born, not made.

... this is something that you_ve got, like someone who is all thumbs, and is no

use as a mechanic even though he knows every piece of the motor - it is

something that you_ve got in you (Initial Interview (I) 216).

I believe that in many senses the teacher is born, and then can be oriented, modified,

shown other paths. Fundamentally, I would stay with the teacher being born (I-217).

Methods, yes, but I believe that what is important is to get yourself across to the

pupil, then you have to know how to get the pupil to show interest in what you are

explaining (I-53).

For the primary education teacher, he stresses patience above all. For

the secondary education teacher, he stresses knowledge of sciences,

including the history of science. He also considers experience as a

teacher to be very important.

I believe that [experience as a teacher] is very important. He is the one who can

have his methods, who can vary them according to the result with the pupils. It is

him who is going to live them, and logically he is living an experience, and, as

we said, it is experience from which most is learned (I-211).

In his own case, as he has no experience as a teacher, he believes that his

experience when he himself was a pupil influences his teaching methods.

[What most has influenced me] I guess is the experience that I lived as a pupil,

because as a teacher really I have not had any. The experience that you might

have talked about or that people might have told you about, that I guess is what

most [...], often you don_t know the reason why of some things (I-208).

Miguel particularly recalls his secondary education biology teacher.

He believes that this teacher had a great influence on his development of

a liking for the subject. He remarks especially on her laboratory practical

classes and her use of current news items as a basis for debate in class.

Before beginning at university, Miguel did his last school year in

Norway. From this experience, he highlights the numerous field trips, the

dynamics of the classes, and the debates in class for the pupils to be able

to contribute their ideas.

Miguel also believes that it could well happen that the novice teacher

sets out with good intentions for the class, but that classroom reality

makes him return to traditional methods:

The teacher comes with some schemes that are very utopian, and then at the hour of

truth realizes that it is impossible, and just applies the simplest method of theory and

exams (I-139.3).


Another aspect analyzed was of the metaphors with which Miguel

identified the secondary education science teacher. For Miguel, the

teacher is like a friend, a guide, or a counselor of the pupils:

A friend maybe, a guide, not to keep them on the path, but to give them ideas so

that they can decide (I-195).

Conception of the Nature of Science. With respect to the nature of

scientific knowledge, Miguel showed a lack of previous reflection on this

aspect, and he recognized not having dealt before with aspects of the

philosophy of science.

Most of Miguel_s responses to the questionnaire reflect an orientation

that is basically in accord with the new philosophy of science. However,

in a completely contradictory manner, Miguel also expressed agreement

with the item that presents the objectivity of science as being based on

the existence of a scientific method with certain pre-set and orderly

steps, in particular the sequence observation-hypothesis-experiment-

construction of theories.

These responses are nuanced, and in some cases varied, in the inter-

view. We agree with Lederman & O_Malley (1990) that questionnaires

that

they

sol

ve (

67)

and it advances through

to decide since they de pend on

since our interpretation varies according to

Scientific knowledge

is

and there exist no

Rational criteria

Scientific theories

The culture

Subjective

New problemsthat generate

New hypotheses

and

New theories

Subjective

64 & 65.2

82 & 9062 & 63

62 & 63

93.5 &95.2

64 &65.2 68

86

Figure 1. Miguel_s cognitive map of scientific knowledge


give simplified results for which it is necessary to complete with other

methods.

In the interview Miguel saw scientific knowledge as having the same

status as other knowledge. He defended a relativist posture towards

science which is close to Feyerabend_s (1975). He saw science as culture

dependent and believed that there are no universal demarcation criteria

(Figure 1).

When he referred to true theories, it was only in the relative sense that

they fitted certain facts, but always within a context of subjectivity. His

view was that scientific theories change with time, and are ideal models

that reflect a subjective reality since everybody interprets things from

their own perspective.

If Miguel had to choose between opposing scientific theories, it would

be the one that solves most problems, since this is a fundamental aspect

of science. He also thought that it is the appearance of new problems and

The scientific method Objectivitydoes not ensure

The empiricist scientific method

following

Experiments

Confirmation

in which

serve as76, 77& 79

following Othermethods

which start

out from

Previous ideas and preconceptions

The existence of a problem

and seek

A solution

Hypotheses are formulated

Researcher Observation

thatcondition

7366.3 & 71

66.4

72 & 75

66, 72& 75 72

56 & 70

Figure 2. Miguel_s cognitive map of scientific method


needs which causes scientific knowledge to advance, as indicated by

Laudan (1977).

In questions of methodology (Figure 2), Miguel was critical of the

empiricist scientific method, even though he himself held to belief in

some of its features. He considered that the basic thing in science is the

existence of problems for which solutions have to be found, and that the

method will depend on each particular set of circumstances. This

position was consistent with his relativist orientation. For Miguel,

scientific research arises because there exist problems to be solved and

research is the attempt to solve them; new hypotheses are generated in

accordance with those that went before, and with the researcher_spreconceptions which condition the observations that are made.

Conception of Science Learning. In the case of science learning,

Miguel_s orientation was markedly constructivist, both in the question-

naire and in the interview.

Miguel repeatedly declared throughout the interview that pupils did

not start out from scratch but held spontaneous ideas about many natural

phenomena. He considered that these ideas were formed in the pupil_smind by association, and criticized the rote learning that was frequently

applied in schools, without relating or applying the content, and therefore

Learning science By roteshould not be

should startout from

Learn by themselves

If they are interested in what they

learn

If they relate what is new with their previous

knowledge

if they have a good atmosphere in the classroom

Assimilation

107 & 109110 & 112.1

The pupils' ideas about natural phenomena

formed by

Association

108.1

is improved if the pupils

113

116,121.1& 143

104, 105, 115 &118.1

114, 117, 118.1,

156.2&158.2 141.3

If they apply it to

different situations

then there will be

156

Figure 3. Miguel_s conception of learning science


without there being any assimilation. Science is learnt better if the pupils

learn for themselves, if they are interested in what they learn and

motivated by it, if there is a good atmosphere in the classroom, and above

all if they relate what they learn with what they already know and apply it

to different situations (Figure 3).

Miguel reflected a constructivist orientation to learning as active

construction based on the pupils_ existing ideas and relating new

knowledge with what the pupil already knows. He regarded pupils_ideas as true alternative theories with the same epistemological value as

those of the school curriculum.

Conception of Science Teaching. His responses to the questionnaire

show a fundamentally constructivist view of science teaching.

In the interview, consistent with his conception of learning, Miguel said

that he thought that the teacher_s job is not to change the pupils_ ideas, but

to help them reinforce and justify those ideas by themselves (Figure 4).

Miguel rejected planning by goals, and defended planning by content,

which should take the children_s existing knowledge into account. In

accordance with his intention to start from the basis of the pupils_ own

109 & 132

discovering

through

109

must

begin by

111

and later

How they are formed

Science teaching in the classroom

Dialogue with the pupils

Debatingthe ideas

146.2 &

151.2so that

the pupils

Awaken their critical spirit

Expresstheir ideas

See the variety of ideas

Uncovering the pupils' intuitive ideas

153 152.1 152.1

Are consistentwith those ideas

Understand the ideas of others

and

and

149.3 & 159 152.1

146.1 &

150.1

in no case

Telling a pupil that he or she is

wrong

Figure 4. Miguel_s conception of teaching science


ideas, he would commence the teaching sequence by attempting to

discover what are these pre-existing ideas by way of questions, examples,

anecdotes, etc., which would also have the purpose of motivation. Miguel

believed that pupils should debate their ideas in class to reinforce and

justify their thoughts, and the teacher_s explanation should not be for the

purpose of rebuttal, but to contribute a further element to the debate.

He recalled that when he was a student most primary and secondary

science teachers followed a sequence of traditional transmissive

instruction: explain, go through exercises of applications, and ask

questions. The main and (in most cases, only) resource that teachers

used was the textbook. He stated that his ideas about the science teacher

or about the teaching and learning of science were formed principally

from his own experiences as a student in school, from what he himself

had lived, and that these ideas had been changed very little by his

university education. He believed that the most important thing for being

a teacher, and hence to know how to teach, was that the teacher likes

teaching. For Miguel, teachers learn by themselves to teach, taking as

referents their experience when they were school students and, above all,

their own practical experience in teaching. Except in his practice

teaching, Miguel considered that his university education had had little

influence on his learning to teach.

Doing problems in class has little importance for Miguel. He

associates school-level problems with the pencil and paper exercises

that he did during his own school years as applications of theory. He

would use these exercises as confirmation of the theory, and would

correct incorporating the pupils_ participation. In contrast, he gives far

more importance to practical activities in the classroom, in the

laboratory, and in field trips (Figure 5).

Miguel_s conception of problems and practical activities is closely

related to his own secondary education school experiences. He recalls

that his life sciences teachers used the laboratory and field trips more,

while the method of his physics and chemistry teachers was to explain

the lesson and then do problems involving application of the formulas.

Miguel_s conceptions of science teaching were closely related to his

conceptions of science learning.

Miguel_s Classroom Behaviour

Planning. Analysis of the personal documents showed that Miguel

planned by conceptual contents. The key concept expressed in the

planning was the degradation of energy. Neither procedures nor attitudes


were taken into account. He explicitly did not formally plan the

presentation of the class, only mentally planning that he would draw

graphs and diagrams on the board, and that he would show a series of

slides that he had prepared previously. In the final stimulated recall

interview, he noted that the fundamental goal of these classes was that

the pupils should learn the concept of degradation.

As the topic was FEnergy and the Environment_, I approached it from the

standpoint of how energy flows through an ecosystem. What I wanted them to get

was that energy is progressively lost as it advances through a trophic chain. Like,

not all the energy that is received is transformed or used, but rather that energy

gets split up and only a very small part passes along to the next stage (Stimulated

Recall Interview).

As was pointed out by Lederman & Gess-Newsome (1991) and

Wallace & Louden (1992), Miguel did not make an explicit plan of the

form in which to present the class, although he said he kept it in mind

(Pavon, 1996). Miguel_s planning does not correspond to his preconcep-

tions since he just tries to transmit content without taking into account

whether it is suited to the pupils_ ideas and knowledge.

Other studies coincide in noting that novice science teachers plan

almost exclusively by conceptual content (Aguaded, Jimenez & Wamba,

1998). A greater emphasis on developing activities that foster the

learning of processes could be an indicator that the teacher is beginning

to change toward more innovative orientations (Bartholomew &

Osborne, 2004; Martınez-Losada & Garcıa-Barros, 2005).

Practical activities

Classroom practicals

Laboratory Field trips At the end

A scientific method

Options

Motivation

Discover possibilities

Design their own sequence

163

165

163&

165 163169&

170164 164 164

169.2

170

164.2

161 161& 162

such as that can be carried out

should beguided by

The teacherIntegrated with the theory

At the beginningsince it is difficult for

the pupils to use

but givingthe pupils

so that they

as

Figure 5. Miguel_s conceptions about practical work


The Content of the Topic. In the classroom observations, Miguel centered

the lessons around the relationship between energy and living beings. He

identified it exclusively with conceptual scientific knowledge. The

content_s logical structure was given more importance than its

psychological structure for the pupils_ learning. Also, there was far too

much content to actually cover in class. The physical principal binding

the content together was the degradation of energy. The principal of

conservation of energy was not explicitly formulated. The pedagogical

treatment of the concept of energy was descriptive based on its forms

and effects, not on the definition of mechanical work.

There are advantages in this approach, both scientific (Feynman, 1971)

and educational (Mellado, 1998b). In the final interview, he confirmed

that he is not a great supporter of definitions.

I am no friend of definitions. So I tell them the definitions that exist on energy, and I

comment to them that energy is not defined by what it is, but by what it does. Really,

there is no definition of energy, from my point of view (Stimulated Recall Interview).

Other work (Barak, Gorodetsky & Chipman, 1997) has shown that, in

the context of biology subjects, the pupils- and some teachers- have

difficulty in applying the principal of the conservation of energy. Also

Trumper (1997) notes that biology undergraduates have more difficulty

in understanding this principal than physics undergraduates.

Nature of Science. In the classroom, Miguel presented a closed view of

scientific knowledge, restricting himself to transmitting a pre-prepared

body of knowledge. In the classroom, he reflected an epistemological

absolutism concerning knowledge that ran completely counter to his

relativist conception of science.

As was the case with the teachers studied by Jimenez and Wamba

(2003), school-level knowledge for Miguel was unique and non-

negotiable.

Science Learning. His intentions, as manifested in his preconceptions,

would be to start out on the basis of the pupils_ intuitive ideas, which for

him were true alternative theories. In the classroom, however, he did not

make any systematic individualized diagnosis of the children_s ideas, so

that it was difficult to start from these ideas and monitor the learning

individually.

In the classroom, Miguel does not take the pupils_ previous ideas into

account for their learning. His initial questions fulfil more a purpose of

motivation and encouragement to participate than being a step in the


constructivist strategy. In the final stimulated recall interview, he

remarks:

I wanted to make the class more dynamic, with them discovering the topic. Also,

doing that takes more time... and does not leave you time to give them more stuff

(Stimulated Recall Interview).

Miguel thinks that the drawback of asking the pupils questions is that

it takes up a lot of time - time that is taken away from the transmission of

content. As Neale, Smith & Wier (1987) have indicated, novice teachers

think more in overall terms about the class as a group than as

differentiated into individuals.

Miguel_s classroom behavior with respect to learning is contrary to his

previous conceptions which had a basically constructivist orientation.

Science Teaching. In the classroom Miguel followed a strategy of

transmission of external knowledge, with little pupil participation and

based exclusively on teacher explanations backed up with the blackboard

and slides packed with information. In Miguel_s classroom, the pupils

were regarded as mere passive receptors of external knowledge, contrary

to his preconception of science teaching.

His rhythm was very fast, with scarcely any pauses, so that assimilation

was difficult for the pupils. For him, completion of all the programmed

content was more important than the pupils_ learning. On viewing his own

behavior in the classroom, he recognized that he had given too much content.

Miguel_s questions, which are usually of a low cognitive level, do not

involve the pupils, so that they take actually hardly any part at all in the

proceedings. For example, he ends explanations with the expressions

BOk?^ or BIs that clear?^ When he puts a direct question and a pupil

answers, Miguel closes the sequence by reinforcing or refuting the

pupil_s reply, but without giving them any possibility to make any

further comments on the question. In the final interview, Miguel himself

recognized that he cut the pupils off when they were contributing to the

topic because he was in a rush to complete the content, and that he

should have encouraged their participation more. He also blamed the

lack of time, for in some cases his explanations not having been

presented less hurriedly, or that he had not given the class a brief recap

of what they had covered in each session.

If you want to cover everything and you see that you are running behind time,

you speed up and don_t stop so much (Stimulated Recall Interview).


...

(Miguel) There, I should have stopped, and I should have given a quick

summary of what we had seen that day, so as to keep them on focus.

(Interviewer) You alone, or with the pupils?

(Miguel) With them. The problem is time. If you start thinking that you won_thave time, that_s when you rush... (Stimulated Recall Interview).

The lack of time was also regarded as an insurmountable obstacle by

the novice science teachers analyzed by de Pro, Valcarcel & Sanchez,

(2005).

Numerous studies have pointed out the relationship between metaphors

and the classroom practice of science teachers (Powell, 1994; Ritchie, 1994;

Tobin et al., 1994). Metaphors serve to express teachers_ roles and affect

their teaching practice in the classroom (Tobin & Fraser, 1989). In the

present case, there is a total contradiction between Miguel_s teacher_smetaphor, as a guide, and his classroom behaviour.

Miguel_s classroom instructional sequence was completely contrary to

his conceptions, which were to reinforce the pupils_ alternative ideas

through debate, and not by means of teacher explanation (Figure 6).

This pre-service teacher has no procedural skills or practical schemes

of action in the classroom. As he does not have the pedagogical content

knowledge to teach, he was incapable of transferring his conceptions to

the classroom, and ended up using the traditional transmissive teaching

model that most of his own teachers used when he himself was at

school.

Despite having complete freedom in the lessons that were analyzed to

choose the content, activities, and teaching strategies, resources, and

materials, Miguel did not manage to transfer to the classroom his own

beliefs on science and on teaching/learning. In the final interview,

carried out while viewing the video of the classes, he recognized that

novice teachers start out with very utopian ideas, but when confronted

with the reality of the classroom they end up using the traditional

transmissive method, centered on explaining the theory and examina-

tions. They find this simpler, and it creates less insecurity for them

(Pavon, 1996).

After reading the final document on his case, and being asked about

the disparity between his conceptions and his practice in the classroom,

Miguel replied that in the classroom you end up becoming part of Bthe

system^, using the same teaching strategies that had been used when you

had been a pupil yourself.


CONCLUSIONS

The first conclusion, of a methodological nature, is that we believe

cognitive maps to be an acceptable procedure not only to give an overall

and inter-related representation of interview data, but also as an

instrument to help teachers reflect on their conceptions. The analyses

of their own cases can be an excellent resource to help prospective and

novice teachers reflect on their knowledge, beliefs, and practice, and to

reconstruct their theories and strategies of science teaching (Tobin, Roth

& Zimmerman, 2001).

With respect to Miguel_s conceptions, there existed great coherence

between those on the nature of science and those on science teaching and

learning. His relativist conception of the nature of science is consistent

with his basically constructivist conception of science teaching/learning.

In the classroom, he follows a traditional-transmissive strategy of

teaching based on the teacher_s verbal explanations with the pupils being

mere passive receptors of external knowledge (Figure 7).

Miguel_s classroom behavior is closer to traditional models of the

teaching and learning of science than to his preconceptions. His

markedly transmissive teaching strategy in the classroom was inconsis-

tent with his relativist prior conception of the nature of science. Neither

Conceptions about the instructional sequence

Classroom instructional sequence

Motivation

Questions

Teacher’s explanation as one more element

in the lesson

Isolated questions

Explanation

Debate

Reaffirmation of students’ ideas (no conceptual change)

Figure 6. Comparison between Miguel_s prior conception of the instructional sequence

and his classroom practice


was there any consistency between his constructivist conceptions about

science teaching/learning and his classroom practice (Figure 7).

One of the major causes of this situation was that the instruction

Miguel received as a biology undergraduate was centered on knowledge

of the subject itself, without any knowledge of science education, and

there was no relationship to the practical classroom knowledge required

when actually giving a science lesson. Miguel_s initial teacher education

has not helped him generate his own pedagogical content knowledge in

the classroom, and may have acted as an obstacle against the transfer of

his beliefs into the classroom (de Pro, Valcarcel & Sanchez, 2005). In

Spain, initial secondary teacher education is centered on knowledge of

the material to be taught, with just a little pedagogical knowledge and

some teaching practice tacked on at the end. Like Miguel, many Spanish

graduates who attend postgraduate secondary education courses regard

teaching as a second-order career option (Martınez, Garcıa & Mondelo,

1993; de Pro et al., 2005). This academic model is not the most

appropriate, not even for the scientific content itself. It is neither oriented

towards teaching nor is it particularly relevant to it, and the courses

areusually presented in a form that is atomized, static, and with no

overall vision (Hewson et al., 1999; Lemberger, Hewson & Park, 1999).

Moreover, they take no account of the difference between the structure

of the academic discipline and that of learning (Gess-Newsome &

Lederman, 1995). With their pedagogical education being so sparse, the

future teachers_ classroom practice will be decisively influenced by the

methods of their instruction in scientific content (Gess-Newsome, 1999).

At university, hardly any attention is paid to the pedagogical education

of the future secondary teacher. Indeed one finds fairly commonplace,

the simplistic conception that teaching is easy, and that to be a teacher it

is enough to have knowledge of the material to be taught, experience,

Preconceptions Classroom pratice

Nature of science

Learning science

Teaching science Relativist constructivism

Transmission of knowledge

Relativist constructivism

Students as passive receptors

Relativism Epistemological absolutism

Figure 7. Comparison between Miguel_s prior conceptions and his classroom practice


common sense, and innate personal qualities (Gil-Perez, Belendez,

Martın & Martınez, 1991; Perales, 1998).

We believe that initial teacher education has to integrate academic

knowledge, personal conceptions, and practical knowledge, and contrib-

ute to the prospective teachers_ generating their own pedagogical content

knowledge. Since propositional academic knowledge is not transferred

directly into practice (Bryan & Abell, 1999), teacher education has to

provide students with the opportunity (via a metacognitive process of

reflection) of becoming aware of their own conceptions, attitudes, and

classroom practice when they are teaching their particular subject matter.

They will then be able to self-regulate and re-structure these facets of

their teaching, and progressively develop a personal teaching model

(Jaen & Banet, 2003; Sanmartı, 2001).

Since the science teaching referents for prospective teachers are the

teachers that they themselves had in their school years, teacher educators

must be careful that the methods they actually apply in initial teacher

education are consistent with the theoretical models that they present to

their students (Adamson, Bank, Burtch, Cox, Judson, Turley, Benford

et al. 2003; Mellado, Blanco & Ruiz, 1998). Otherwise, the prospective

teachers will learn more from what they see done in class than from what

they are told ought to be done (Stoddart, Connell, Stofflett & Peck,

1993). Practice teaching in initial teacher education and in initiation to

teaching has to be an essential component in the development of a

personal teaching model. It is at these stages that teaching strategies and

routines are established that will later be very resistant to change. The

tutor in practice teaching is a powerful role model for these future

teachers, and can exert a major influence on the direction of their future

professional development (Bailey, Scantlebury & Johnson, 1999;

Hewson et al., 1999).

The metaphors with which Miguel identified the secondary education

science teacher were as a friend, a guide, or a counselor of the pupils.

For Tobin & Tippins (1996), metaphors may be regarded as a source of

reflection, and as Bseeds^ that Bwill germinate^ into new ideas and

knowledge. Metaphors have a major affective component since teachers

construct them on the basis of personal experience Mellado et al., 2006).

An important aspect of educational change that is supported by many

studies of science teachers (Martınez, Sauleda & Huber, 2001b; Tobin

et al., 1994) is that these teachers make changes in their conceptions and

educational practices when they are able to construct new roles by way

of a process of critical reflection at the same time as adopting or

constructing new metaphors that are compatible with the changes.


Miguel_s metaphors (associated with constructivist models of teaching)

have major potential for subsequent development.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was financed by Research Projects BSO2003-03603 and

SEJ2006-04175 of the Ministry of Education and Science (Spain) and

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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Vicente Mellado, Lorenzo J. Blanco and Constantino Ruiz

Department Science and Mathematics of Education

Faculty of Education

University of Extremadura

06071, Badajoz, Spain

E-mail: [email protected]

Marıa Luisa Bermejo

Department Psychology and Sociology of Education

Faculty of Education

University of Extremadura

06071, Badajoz, Spain


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