Primary School Teachers' Understanding of Science Concepts

Abstract

Abstract This article develops a rationale for research into primary school teachers' understanding of science concepts and describes research in this area conducted in 1987–88. In‐depth interviews of an opportunity sample of 20 primary teachers were used to investigate the teachers' understanding of physical science concepts taken from the British Government's policy document Science 5–16. The findings show that nearly all the teachers interviewed hold views of science concepts that are not in accord with the generally accepted scientific viewpoint. Teachers' responses to the interviews are described with the non‐specialist reader in mind, and four general categories of respondent tentatively identified. Some implications of the findings for teacher education are described. The work reported is the initial stage of an on‐going project which will later seek to establish the prevalence of particular views in a large number of primary teachers and, in light of the results, produce in‐service training materi...