Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law

Shaona Zhou; Yanlin Wang; Chunbin Zhang

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

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Shaona Zhou ¹ ^* , Yanlin Wang ¹, Chunbin Zhang ¹

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¹ South China Normal University^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
There is widespread agreement that science learning always builds upon students’ existing ideas and that science teachers should possess knowledge of learners.

Materials and methods:
This study aims at investigating pre-service science teachers’ knowledge of student misconceptions and difficulties, a crucial component of PCK, on Newton’s Third Law. A questionnaire was designed and conducted to 143 pre-service science teachers enrolled in a normal university in China. A comparison between participants’ predictions and student actual outcomes was detected.

Results:
The result revealed a tendency for pre-service science teachers to under-predict the problem-solving ability of senior high school students. Furthermore, most pre-service science teachers neglected two common learning difficulties in Newton’s Third Law.

Conclusions:
It seems that there is a need to help pre-service science teachers be aware of their own misunderstandings about students.

Keywords

pre-service teachers
knowledge of students
newton’s third law
student difficulties

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 12, Issue 3, March 2016, 373-385

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

Publication date: 01 Jul 2016

Article Views: 2347

Article Downloads: 1461

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How to cite this article

APA

Zhou, S., Wang, Y., & Zhang, C. (2016). Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 12(3), 373-385. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

Vancouver

Zhou S, Wang Y, Zhang C. Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2016;12(3):373-85. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

AMA

Zhou S, Wang Y, Zhang C. Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2016;12(3), 373-385. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

Chicago

Zhou, Shaona, Yanlin Wang, and Chunbin Zhang. "Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2016 12 no. 3 (2016): 373-385. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

Harvard

Zhou, S., Wang, Y., and Zhang, C. (2016). Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 12(3), pp. 373-385. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a

MLA

Zhou, Shaona et al. "Pre-Service Science Teachers’ PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers’ Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton’s Third Law". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 12, no. 3, 2016, pp. 373-385. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1203a