Using the history of science as a tool for teaching: Strengths and Weaknesses of Pre-service Biology Teachers

Abstract

The history of science (HOS) is considered as a potential resource and a meaningful device for not only learning the content and also developing the understanding about nature of science. The purpose of this study is to observe experiences of pre-service teachers during their teaching practices based on HOS in order to understand their positions in instruction. A qualitative methodology was utilized with participation of 15 pre-service biology teachers who enrolled in a using HOS in biology teaching course. At the end of the semester, pre-service teachers were asked to prepare a lesson plan and enact a lesson based on HOS covering the subject that they selected before. Data were collected through lesson plans and reflective journals. Inductive code generation and collective comparison were employed for the analysis. Analysis was presented under three themes as before, during and after the teaching practices and revealed preservice teachers' purposes, concerns, strengths, weaknesses, and decisions during the whole process. The results of the research revealed that while pre-service teachers stated that HOS was easy to use for humanization, they had difficulty in making a connection between HOS and content knowledge. These findings can help design teacher education programs with courses of the HOS, which focuses on pedagogical aspect as well as conceptual aspect.