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Do Pre-service Chemistry Teachers Reflect their Beliefs about Constructivism in their Teaching Practices?

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Abstract

This study aimed to explore pre-service chemistry teachers’ beliefs about constructivism and the influence of their beliefs in their teaching practice. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight pre-service teachers in order to understand their belief structures. Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about constructivism were classified in three categories which are weak, moderate, and strong conceptions of constructivism. For detailed exploration, three cases of pre-service teachers representing these three categories were selected. The findings of this study showed that most pre-service teachers in this study did not have a strong conception of constructivism and the relationship between the pre-service teachers’ beliefs and their practice was not clear-cut.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr. Michael E. Beeth for his helpful comments on the manuscript.We also thank Dr. Stephen M. Ritchie and Theresa Duren for their suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education, Middle East Technical University, 06531, Ankara, Turkey

    Esen Uzuntiryaki, Yezdan Boz, Demet Kirbulut & Oktay Bektas

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  1. Esen Uzuntiryaki
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  2. Yezdan Boz
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Correspondence to Esen Uzuntiryaki.

Appendix

Appendix

Interview questions

  1. 1.

    In your opinion, what is learning? How does it occur?

  2. 2.

    What do you understand about constructivism?

  3. 3.

    How is the learning environment created in a constructivist classroom?

  4. 4.

    What are the roles of the teacher and the students according to constructivism?

  5. 5.

    What do you understand from constructivist teaching strategies? Do you think they are important and necessary in instruction? Why or why not?

  6. 6.

    What are some teaching strategies based on constructivism? Why do you think they are parallel to constructivism? What are the differences between these strategies and other teaching strategies?

  7. 7.

    Do you apply constructivist teaching strategies in your teaching practice? How? If not, why?

  8. 8.

    In your practice teaching, how do you decide which teaching strategy you will use?

  9. 9.

    Which teaching strategies does your mentor in the high school use during the instruction? How?

  10. 10.

    Do you think competency in chemistry content is required in using constructivist teaching strategies? Why?

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Uzuntiryaki, E., Boz, Y., Kirbulut, D. et al. Do Pre-service Chemistry Teachers Reflect their Beliefs about Constructivism in their Teaching Practices?. Res Sci Educ 40, 403–424 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-009-9127-z

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