Describing Physics Student Teachers' Orientations through Lesson Planning

Abstract

Recent educational reforms realized in teacher education programs (TEPs) and secondary physics syllabus were aimed at placing the learning and teaching approaches in a constructivist framework. For this reason, student teachers in pre-service TEPs are expected to develop orientations adopting student-centred teaching approaches. The purpose of this study was to describe physics student teachers' science teaching orientations which can be defined as the general patterns of thought and behaviour related to physics teaching and learning. This case study explores 39 physics student teachers' orientations through lesson planning in their last academic term of TEP in the faculty of education. Student teachers' detailed lesson plans on a subject from secondary physics syllabus were used as data source and the data were analysed using content analysis to describe the participants' orientations. Findings show that more than half of the student teachers displayed student-centred orientations, clustered especially around activity-driven type of orientation; however some of them expressed their concerns about applicability of their lesson plans in inappropriate school environments and contexts.