Science Teaching in Early Childhood Education according to In-Service Teachers: Implications for Teacher Education
Abstract
The latest curricular innovations and the results of educational research show that science has become increasingly important in Early Childhood Education. However, unlike what happens in other countries, there are hardly any studies that analyze how in-service teachers teach this discipline, mainly focusing on teachers in training. This paper presents an exploratory and qualitative study that analyzes the vision that a sample of 50 active teachers from Extremadura have about science teaching. The results show that the participants usually teach science, mainly biology, through experimental activities or projects. Although their feelings towards science teaching are generally positive (especially in more experienced teachers), they describe difficulties related to the availability of material resources and the adaptation of the contents to this stage, as well as a low satisfaction with their previous training. The educational implications of these results are discussed, proposing actions for initial and in-service teacher training.
Keywords
Early Childhood Education, Science education, In-service teachers, Initial training, In-service trainingReferences
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