Abstract:

Many authors claim that one of the main obstacles for students’ learning and motivation for science education is the abstract and complex nature of scientific models and theories, and the fact that they are usually taught in a theoretical way, highly disconnected to students’ daily experience and to their interests and needs. As a consequence, they do not straightforward perceive the usefulness of the content knowledge to be learnt and science education has very little impact in their lives.

Additionally, the specialised literature has extensively reported on the existence of alternative conceptions deeply grounded in individuals’ previous experiences about natural phenomena, which are usually at odds with scientific ideas. This fact along with the way science is usually taught at school produce theoretical science learning which could be good to pass exams, but of no use to explain physical and chemical phenomena around us.

However, if a change in pedagogy is desired, it is necessary to start from teachers and equip them with the knowledge, strategies and tools required to teaching science in a different way.

Taking into account all the above-said, and considering teachers key players to build knowledge-based societies, we present herein a qualitative study on pre-service teachers’ capacity to connect scientific ideas to daily phenomena. The main goal of this work is to set the stage for science meaningful learning and to provide a starting point for designing instructional interventions, which link the science to be taught and learnt at school, to students’ close environment and daily experience

Keywords:

Science education, preconceptions, initial teacher education, qualitative study, daily phenomena.