Assessing preservice elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of scientific literacy

• Published in: Teaching and teacher education Vol. 102; p. 103327
• Main Authors: Al Sultan, Adam, Henson, Harvey, Lickteig, Duane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2021
• Subjects: And society; Nature of science; Preservice elementary teachers; Relationship among science; Scientific literacy; Technology; Scientific literacy; And society; Technology; Preservice elementary teachers; Relationship among science; Nature of science
• ISSN: 0742-051X; 1879-2480
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2021.103327

Achieving the goal of a scientifically literate society greatly depends on teachers. This study assesses preservice elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of scientific literacy. Study participants include 20 preservice elementary teachers registered in an advanced science methods course at a midsize university in the United States. A qualitative interview design with a semistructured interview format was used. The results of this study showed that preservice elementary teachers’ scientific literacy and knowledge of the nature of science required improvement to comply with science education reforms; however, they showed adequate understanding of the relationship among science, technology, and society.
•Preservice elementary teachers hold misconceptions of scientific literacy.•Promoting scientific literacy through argumentation discourse in science.•Including explicit nature of science courses in teacher education programs.