Abstract:

Numerous studies in recent decades have reported negative and undesirable student attitudes towards science, as well as a lack of interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) content at different educational stages. As a result, several institutions have chosen to consider the attitudes of students towards science as a central objective of study, in order to know where this current issue appears. Previous studies indicate that students are willing to pursue a scientific career if they value science positively or enjoy studying it. Likewise, the development of emotional skills has a positive influence on the social, academic and occupational dimensions, especially in university students. This research aims to analyse the affective, cognitive and self-efficacy dimensions of the teacher in training in relation to the practical activities carried out in the physics laboratory. The participating sample consisted of 106 teachers in training with an average age of 22. The designed measuring instrument was structured in two parts. The first part contains a total of 20 items that are scored on a Likert scale. These items are related to levels of teaching competence and self-efficacy in the physics laboratory. The second part presents a table with 14 emotions, both positive and negative. Participants must score on a Likert scale the emotions expressed during the performance of a static and dynamic experience in the physics laboratory. The results obtained regarding the emotional variable reveal that when practical activities are carried out for the teaching/learning of physics contents, the teacher in training manifests positive emotions in greater proportion than negative ones. Specifically, during work in the laboratory, teachers in training report feeling the positive emotional variables of fun, satisfaction, confidence, or enthusiasm. On the other hand, they report not feeling negative emotions such as nervousness, anxiety or sadness. This is especially relevant in contrast to the mostly negative emotions and attitudes they show towards physics in general and which they manifest when asked about their memories in their school years. With regard to the self-efficacy variable, it should be noted that the sample under study showed a more negative view when looking for appropriate solutions to the problems that arose during the practical seminar. On the other hand, students also indicate that they have certain didactic abilities to establish and develop similar sessions in the primary school classroom in their professional future. However, the results reveal that they do not feel totally capable of teaching physics to the very young. For this reason, the need to include activities of an experimental nature during the initial training of primary school teachers in science subjects is stressed. Thus, the negative emotional variables they experience in theoretical physics classes could be improved. It favours, on the one hand, their vision and attitude towards science and, on the other, their competence and didactic level to impart these contents to future generations.

Keywords:

Self-efficacy, Emotions, Teacher in Training, Primary Education, Physics.