How does a queen ant behave? An inquiry-based pre-service teacher learning experience

Abstract

This paper examines how pre-service teachers develop their teaching and scientific skills using ants as a teaching resource. This study forms part of a specific teacher training programme, #Sponsor a Queen, which focuses on how to use non-prototypical animals to design inquiry activities for science classes. One hundred and eighty-five pre-service teachers working in 38 small groups of four or five participants each were asked to design an inquiry-based activity to investigate the behaviour of a queen ant Messor barbarus in response to different stimuli. Participants were instructed to base the research question on the conclusions they planned to obtain. The contents of the written submission by each group of students were analysed to identify their performance level and the limitations faced at each stage of the inquiry activity designed. Results indicate an intermediate performance (level of 2 over 3) achieved by most groups. While better performance was observed in the stage ‘reasoning of the problem’, for the remaining stages, improvement was limited. The difficulties encountered were also compiled. It is essential for future teachers to work on such practical projects to develop the necessary skills to address teaching and scientific issues in their teaching practice.