How do pre-service chemistry teachers rate the importance of content in organic chemistry during their chemistry studies at university?

Jolanda Hermanns

doi:10.1515/cti-2021-0004

Abstract

Abstract In this article a cross-sectional study on the students’ rating with regard to the contents in organic chemistry will be discussed. Pre-service teachers rated the contents with a questionnaire during their bachelor or master studies. It was shown that the pre-service chemistry teachers during their master studies rated the content as more important than the bachelor students. One possible explanation can be that the master students have teaching experience due to their internships at school whereas the bachelor students can only rely on their experience from their own school days. Overall, content belonging to the school curriculum in the federal state “Brandenburg” where the pre-service teachers’ university is located was rated better than content that was not a part of this curriculum. Concepts were not rated significantly better than the content. Because of the importance of conceptual knowledge for the future profession as a teacher, the courses in organic chemistry will be redesigned with a clear focus on concepts.

Highlights

In this article a cross-sectional study on the students’ rating with regard to the contents in organic chemistry will be discussed
One possible explanation can be that the master students have teaching experience due to their internships at school whereas the bachelor students can only rely on their experience from their own school days
This led to the following research question: How do pre-service teachers rate the contents and concepts in organic chemistry with regard to the school curriculum in the federal state where the university is located during their bachelor or master courses on organic chemistry?

Summary

Introduction

“The more you know about science, the more you will be able to provide a framework to help children think in scientific ways; in so doing you will represent the subject with integrity” (Carre, 1998, p. 103). When we accept that the preservice chemistry teachers’ most important learning opportunity for gaining CK is their time at university (see Kleickmann et al, 2013), it is important to know if their rating of curricular matters is different during bachelor or master studies. It was shown (Hermanns, 2020) that students in their. This led to the following research question: How do pre-service teachers rate the contents and concepts in organic chemistry with regard to the school curriculum in the federal state where the university is located during their bachelor or master courses on organic chemistry?

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Summary and outlook