Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on New Approaches in Education
Year: 2023
DOI:
[PDF]
Integrating KWL (Know-What-Learn) Strategy in The Teacher Training Programme: A Preservice Science Teachers’ Reflective Approach
Motshidisi Lekhu
ABSTRACT:
When entering teacher education programmes, pre-service science teachers bring their own experiences and conceptions of science to the classrooms. As teacher trainers/educators, it is important to make connections with teacher trainees’ worlds and world views, to understand where they are coming from to ensure that they are adequately prepared for the world of work. KWL (what I already Know, what I want to learn, what I learned) strategy is very effective in evaluating teachers because it helps to motivate self-directed learning (Yu, Zhang, Xu, Wu, & Wang, 2013). Similarly, this strategy supports pre-service teachers in enhancing their performance because it connects their prior knowledge with their experiences. The same strategy can be used by pre-service science teachers to reflect on their prior knowledge and experiences in order to enhance their future practice. In this study, a convenience sample of final year Bachelor of Education students was requested to reflect on how the teacher training learning environment influenced their beliefs about the teaching and learning of science as they are about to transition from pre-service in preparation to becoming professional teachers. The findings revealed that science is perceived as a difficult subject, and pre-service science teachers want to learn to make science relevant to their future learners and to teach science for conceptual understanding. This study has implications for initial teacher education (ITE) programmes, which impact the school curriculum and educational transformation.
keywords: conceptual understanding, confidence, initial teacher education, reflective practice, science education