Abstract:

Teachers' beliefs towards teaching and learning science has been a prominent research topic in the last decade. Recent studies indicate that in teaching practice traditional methodologies predominate in the primary school science classroom. Likewise, the most active methodologies are in the minority despite being considered essential for a desirable professional development. As some research indicates, the impact of traditional teaching is influenced by an improper epistemological training of teachers. In this sense, the present study has two fundamental objectives. The first objective is focused on analyzing the perception of the teacher in training towards the teaching-learning of the sciences. For this purpose, the affective and emotional variables of the students are taken into account, as well as the classroom methodologies of the teachers during the teaching of the contents of natural sciences in primary education. The second objective has been to diagnose the level of teaching self-efficacy presented by the teacher in training when explaining the scientific-technological contents in the primary classroom. The sample consisted of 150 students from the last year of the Grade in Primary Education, future school teachers. The design of the research has been exploratory and descriptive with mixed analysis of the data obtained. As a measuring instrument, a questionnaire structured in two sections based on the objectives of the study was used. The first section included reflection questions on the experience of the participating subjects during the development of their teaching practices. Specifically, they were asked about the methodologies most used by teachers in active service, their effectiveness and the interest or motivation shown by the primary student in scientific-technological learning. In the second section, the subjects had to assess on a Likert scale their ability and level of competence when explaining scientific content in the primary classroom. The results obtained confirm that there is a traditional approach to explaining scientific content in primary school. However, it is also true that educational approaches based on new technologies are beginning to be detected among teachers in active service, and this improves students' interest in science. On the other hand, the results obtained in the self-efficacy variable reveal that teachers in training feel little competent to teach in the primary classroom the scientific contents proposed in the questionnaire. Inferential statistical analysis reveals that there are no statistically significant differences (Sig. > 0.05) in the levels of teacher self-efficacy as a function of the gender variable. Finally, it is concluded that it is necessary to adequately reinforce the professional perceptions expressed by future teachers through innovative and meaningful teaching methods in order to avoid the development of survival strategies in the science classroom that might cause students to reject these subjects.

Keywords:

Education, Primary Education, Teachers in Training, Teaching Self-efficacy, Teaching Practices.