Abstract:
Prior to 1999 the Auckland College of Education curriculum methods courses for pre-service secondary science teachers were taught as whole year courses. These courses combined preparation for teaching junior secondary Science and a senior Science. In 1999 a restructuring of the Diploma of Teaching programme has resulted in student teachers being able to choose a combination of modules to make up what was originally the one-year course. Consequently, student teachers have had the opportunity for more personal choice with respect to the make-up of their programme. Likewise, the modularisation has provided an opportunity for the Science Education Centre to offer a module that focuses more on the findings of science education research and its implications for practice than previously. The module developed is called Theory and Practice in Science Education.
At the time of submission the two writers are working with twenty-five percent of the 1999 secondary science student teacher cohort who have enrolled in this module. An evaluation exercise is to be carried out towards the end of the module which will address questions such as: the students' reasons for choice of the module; their expectations of the module; the appropriateness of the teaching approaches of the module; the students' perceptions of their learning outcomes from the module and the value of having a module such as this in a pre-service teacher education programme. The presented paper will outline our findings of these and other questions which develop during the course of the evaluation exercise.
At the time of submission the two writers are working with twenty-five percent of the 1999 secondary science student teacher cohort who have enrolled in this module. An evaluation exercise is to be carried out towards the end of the module which will address questions such as: the students' reasons for choice of the module; their expectations of the module; the appropriateness of the teaching approaches of the module; the students' perceptions of their learning outcomes from the module and the value of having a module such as this in a pre-service teacher education programme. The presented paper will outline our findings of these and other questions which develop during the course of the evaluation exercise.