The lived experiences of pre-service science teachers designing and teaching socioscientific issues-based units

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of secondary science preservice teachers while designing and implementing SSI-based instructional processes, as well as their interpretations from these experiences. Phenomenological research that relies upon how individuals live out meanings in our everyday life was employed in this study. The participants of this study involved seven senior pre-service science teachers. Based on Seidman’s (Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences, 2006) phenomenological interview model, three in-depth interviews were conducted with each participant. The data analysis procedure of this study was done inductively via thematic analysis. The analysis of the interviews revealed the following themes: (1) Transformation, (2) Dilemmas, (3) Critiques, (4) Struggles, and (5) Change. This study demonstrated that pre-service science teachers’ views, ideas, and practices were transformed and changed during the 8 months of involvement in this phenomenological study. It was, therefore, fair to claim that the nature of phenomenological methodology provided opportunities for not only improvements on the participants but also observing and illustrating these changes.