Pre-service science teachers’ perceptions and attitudes about the use of models

Abstract

Models are central constructs of science teaching and learning. This research aims to report on seven pre-service science teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards models and the rationale for using models in science teaching. Semi-structured in-depth interviewing, an open-item questionnaire, and a five-point Likert scale questionnaire were used to obtain data from the participants. No evidence of negative attitude towards the use of models was observed among the participants. Although the pre-service science teachers (PSTs) valued the idea that scientific models are important aspects of science teaching and learning, they were hesitant to use and build models as teaching tools. Four categories related to the perceptions about the rationale for using models were identified from the data namely, promoting interest and attention, promoting understanding due to illustrative and representative nature of models, promote concretization as instrumental tool and promoting theoretical understanding in science. The findings indicated that the PSTs showed positive attitudes towards the use of models in their teaching, but certain factors like level of learner, time, lack of modeling experience, and limited knowledge of models appeared to be affecting their perceptions and attitudes negatively.