Abstract:

Our objective was to describe the thinking and knowledge of future Chilean science teachers, within the framework of a broader investigation (Fondecyt Project-11130150). On the one hand, we deal with the set of curricular beliefs to approach pedagogical-curricular thinking and, on the other, we approach pedagogical-curricular knowledge considering that it is closely linked to thought and corresponds to useful knowledge for the resolution of curricular problems classroom, such as: what to teach (content), how to teach (methodology), what and how to evaluate (evaluation).

To define the methodology, we consider working with three cohorts from the 2014-2016 period. The sample was made up of more than 1,100 future teachers from different specialties (biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics and natural sciences). The instrument used was a Likert questionnaire and the information systematized through a system of categories (content, methodology and evaluation) and variables (specialty, gender and institution) and analyzed with SPSSv21 (ANOVA and MANOVA).

In general terms and given the results, we were able to observe: a) significant differences for gender, specialty and institution; b) significant differences in at least one of the curricular aspects and; c) differences in the trend for the same curricular aspect (thought or knowledge); d) changes in trends towards more constructivist models for science teaching, in addition to significant differences between specialties and curricular aspects. However, we could not observe significant differences for the curricular aspect of content, both for thought and for pedagogical-curricular knowledge, rather we observed a decrease, linked to a traditional model.

We conclude that exploring the thinking and knowledge about the pedagogical and curricular aspects that every teacher works in classrooms, not only has implications in initial training and its innovation, since we bring research to practice, but also in the processes of development of the personal didactic model and professional development, especially with regard to the development of pedagogical competences for the teaching of science.

Keywords:

Pedagogical-curricular knowledge, pedagogical-curricular thinking, beliefs, science education, teacher training, teacher professional development.