When Prospective Biology Teachers Visualize their Beliefs about Teaching and Learning by Drawing it, is it more than a Reproduction of their Experienced School Lessons?

Matthias Wilde,Fabian Schumacher

doi:10.12973/eu-jer.10.2.799

Abstract

<p style="text-align:justify">Professional teaching competence is significantly influenced by beliefs about teaching and learning. Prospective teachers start their teacher training with quite persistent beliefs about learning processes. These beliefs are mainly influenced by the way they experienced their own lessons as a student at school. Previous biology lessons at school might be linked to the imagined biology lessons of prospective teachers. We interpret these future lessons as a representation of their beliefs about teaching and learning. The present study investigated how prospective teachers remembered their previous biology lessons as well as how they imagine the lessons they will conduct in the future. The drawings of 181 prospective biology teachers in Germany (Mage = 22.1; SD = 3.6; 64.1 % female) were analyzed using the Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C). Results of the study indicate that the lessons they experienced were mainly teacher-centered, whereas the lessons they imagined were mainly student-centered. Results of a chi-square-test indicate that there is no connection between these two drawings of biology lessons. This suggests that experiences from one’s own schooling may have no connection with the way prospective teachers would like to teach in the future. The results of this study might be used as a basis for further studies examining the development of prospective biology teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning.</p>

Highlights

For more than two decades science education research has demanded a constructivist and student-oriented approach to biology lessons to ensure successful teaching processes (Treagust et al, 1996)
Previous biology lessons at school might be linked to the imagined biology lessons of prospective teachers
The present study investigated how prospective teachers remembered their previous biology lessons as well as how they imagine the lessons they will conduct in the future

Summary

Introduction

For more than two decades science education research has demanded a constructivist and student-oriented approach to biology lessons to ensure successful teaching processes (Treagust et al, 1996). The findings regarding the implementation of this approach in German biology classes are based on little research (Fischer et al, 2003). These experiences at school influence the formation of beliefs about teaching and learning (Jones & Leagon, 2014). The Draw-a-ScienceTeacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C) was used (Thomas et al, 2001) This instrument has participants imagine their future lessons and draw them on a sheet of paper, which serves as a means to analyze their beliefs about teaching and learning

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion