Perceptions of prospective chemistry teachers about the skills of writing argument-based teaching material on voltaic cell subject

Abstract

Teaching materials and scientific argumentation should be provided to prospective chemistry teachers to fulfil their required professional competencies. The study aims to investigate the information about the students' perceptions concerning the ability in writing argument-based teaching materials for prospective teachers on voltaic cell subject. Twenty-one students of chemistry education program at the fifth semester, who are taking the subject of school chemistry in one university in Bandung, West Java, are chosen as the participants of this study. Questionnaires and interview are employed as the instruments. They are used to investigate the students' perceptions towards the characteristics of voltaic cell materials. The ability to draw a scientific argumentation (involve claim, data, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal) is revealed through the instruments of teaching materials writing task assessment. This study indicates that most of students's perception are that prospective chemistry teachers have to be able to write teaching materials and scientific argumentation and voltaic cell materials are easy to comprehend because it is a concrete material. The students have a difficulty to find a topic and to distinguish warrant component, backing, qualifier, rebuttal. Furthermore, the argumentation ability possessed by the students on their teaching materials is still considered in low category.