Pre-service Primary Teachers' Planning for Science and Technology Activities: Influences and constraints

Abstract

This paper outlines research undertaken with first year primary pre-service teachers at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. The purpose of the project was to study the influence of pre-service teachers' prior educational experience and beliefs about the nature of and relationship between science and technology upon their planning for classroom activities incorporating both areas of the curriculum. The results suggest that these prior experiences and beliefs were indeed significant in specific ways in their influence upon lesson planning, but that their effects were mediated by the classroom context within which individual students worked. The findings have implications for the elicitation and restructuring of student beliefs within teacher education, and for the partnerships between colleges and schools.