Pre-service teachers’ views on science teaching in Early Childhood Education in Spain

Reinoso, Roberto; Iglesias, Jaime Delgado; Fernández, Itziar

doi:10.1080/1350293x.2019.1678720

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…It is imperative to mention that, before designing and introducing an ER, STEM, CT integrated curriculum that effectively accommodates preschoolers' needs, it is essential to understand the complex challenges teachers face in their daily teaching practice. These challenges include inadequate training, strict curricula, flawed methodologies, limited educational content, and lack of infrastructure [64]. As new technologies emerge, teachers need the appropriate training to learn about new forms of educational technology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards the Use of Educational Robotics: Exploring Pre-Service and In-Service Early Childhood Teacher Profiles

et al. 2021

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The introduction of STEM education, and specifically the implementation of educational robotics (ER), has drawn researchers’ attention and has shown that teachers play a crucial role in leading this innovation. The present study concerns in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers, focusing on their perceptions and attitudes about ER use in daily teaching practice. The data were collected via a questionnaire (N = 201) and explored using latent class analysis, which detected distinct clusters/profiles of participants based on their pattern of responses. Two clusters were identified: Cluster1 was relatively homogeneous, including those who share a positive attitude towards ER, while Cluster2 was heterogeneous, comprising participants with inconsistent responses and expressing negative and skeptical thinking. The cluster memberships were associated with external covariates, such as age, years of teaching experience, and variables measuring their technological competencies. The results showed that teaching experience and age were negatively associated with cluster1-membership, while educational robotics knowledge was positively associated. The findings are interpretable, and the implications for education are discussed considering the current literature.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes towards the Use of Educational Robotics: Exploring Pre-Service and In-Service Early Childhood Teacher Profiles

et al. 2021

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“…They found the 103 teachers they studied had limited knowledge of or understanding of science concepts and this influenced the lack of, and even incorrect, scientific concepts in the activities they provided for children. This is consistent with more recent research on how teachers' lack of knowledge in teaching science and in particular their confidence in science affects their ability to explore science to any depth, whether they believed science was important to teach or not (Reinoso et al, 2019;Spektor-Levy et al, 2013;Torquati et al, 2013). For instance, the study by Spektor-Levy et al (2013) Additionally, some teachers have rated science as the least important area of content knowledge for children to experience and felt a lack of confidence in implementing these experiences (Torquati et al, 2013).…”

Section: Teachers and Their Science Learningsupporting

confidence: 86%

Opening Doors. Guiding teachers to intentionally facilitate science for young children.

Freeman¹

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Research has acknowledged the limited range of scientific opportunities for young children in New Zealand early childhood education (ECE) services. The identified reasons include a lack of confidence by ECE teachers, their narrow understanding of science, and their pedagogical approaches to teaching. A complex and non-prescriptive curriculum and dominance of developmental theories in ECE has resulted in science learning via osmosis through a process of a hands-off play-based philosophy of practice. Many have argued for pedagogical approaches that can accommodate scientific learning within a play-based sociocultural-historical setting (e.g., Broström, 2015; Fleer & Pramling, 2015; Kumar & Whyte, 2018). This study investigated the things that influence the occurrence of scientific experiences in ECE. It explored how participating in collaborative action research (CAR) and the involvement of a critical friend influences scientific experiences in centres. This study involved two phases: a national survey and CAR with teaching teams in six centres. The researcher took on the role of a critical friend through the CAR process, guiding teachers to critically examine their practice and their centre programme. Action plans were achieved collaboratively within each teaching team. Data was collected over 12 weeks in each centre through focus groups, reflective journals, observations, field notes, and through two research hui with participating teachers from all centres. The findings highlighted the importance of the teachers recognising and fostering children’s scientific experiences. It found that science was enabled in a variety of ECE settings by a shift in teachers’ pedagogical practices, adjustments to centre environments, and recognising and responding to children’s interests. Teachers enabled rich, authentic, and meaningful scientific interactions with children by their active participation in supporting and extending children’s science interests with intentional teaching practices and provocations. This thesis argues for the value of CAR and the role of a critical friend to facilitate teachers’ motivation, engagement, learning and reflection on practice. Seeking a change in practice through professional learning and CAR, brought about ownership of their goals and action plans, and the eventual shifts in teachers’ pedagogy of practice. The shift towards intentional teaching practices, provocations, and opening doors to knowledge, validated and forefronted the importance of the teachers’ role and emphasised their value in noticing, recognising, and responding to children’s scientific interests in authentic and meaningful ways.

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“…There have also been questions raised as to whether the teachers who teach science might lack didactic and pedagogical skills. Although these teachers may have learned a great deal about the subject during their education, they are nevertheless not always qualified to teach it at a didactic and pedagogical level (Reinoso, Delgado-Iglesias, and Fernández 2019). Therefore, one problem with STEM teachers' PCK could be that this has not been adapted to take full account of the understandings of the children who are to be educated.…”

Section: Stem and Steam In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this situation, the educator had an opportunity to follow the children's level of knowledge and use a didactic strategy that is adapted to the children in this particular situation (e.g. Reinoso, Delgado-Iglesias, and Fernández 2019). They could also have used their PCK (Shulman 1986) and taken it a step further by offering the children pedagogical opportunities to learn about science concepts.…”

Section: Children's Agency As a Guiding Principle In Steammentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the capacity of A in the contexts of STEM?

Magnusson

Bäckman

2021

Early Years

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This article is based on a meta-approach to the results of two separate studies and concerns the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) in early childhood education. One of the studies focuses on how preschool teachers understand STEM and how it is taught in the preschool. The other concerns children's perspectives and strategies in their use of digital technology as part of the preschool's arts activities. Methodologically, the researchers have developed the idea of reading one study through the other using a meta-approach design. The results from this analytical approach show how different aspects of children's agency in play and aesthetic activity in the art room (i.e. atelier) can develop and inspire the teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in the subjects of mathematics and science. The results of following children and their processes and actions in the atelier can also influence teachers' knowledge and didactic choices in selecting teaching content and strategies. The findings are considered useful for educators and researchers in the field of early childhood education.

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Pre-service teachers’ views on science teaching in Early Childhood Education in Spain

Cited by 12 publications

References 31 publications

Attitudes towards the Use of Educational Robotics: Exploring Pre-Service and In-Service Early Childhood Teacher Profiles

Attitudes towards the Use of Educational Robotics: Exploring Pre-Service and In-Service Early Childhood Teacher Profiles

Opening Doors. Guiding teachers to intentionally facilitate science for young children.

What is the capacity of A in the contexts of STEM?

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