How Do Early Childhood Education Pre-service Teachers view Science and Scientists?

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to collect and to assess students’ views about their NOS understandings at the beginning and at the end of their course on teaching science. The study was conducted on 24 students, all females, in their 3rd semester (2nd year), enrolled in their initial teacher education program in early childhood education. Data were collected from 1) Draw-a-scientist-at-task tool, 2) pre- and post-questionnaires about students’ views about science and scientists and 3) students’ formative and summative assessment scores. To increase the validity of results, a member checking was used. Results showed that prospective teachers’ views about NOS improved significantly after attending only one course and the that majority of students agreed on the importance of learning more about science for their professional development.