Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 1, Issue 1, Article 1 (July, 2000) John Loughran Teaching about Science Teaching and Learning:research should inform practice Previous Contents Next

Conclusion
In an interesting analysis of characteristics of research in science education (in Australia) between 1975 and 1995, White (1997) compared journal articles in RISE (Research in Science Education) to determine changes in style over time. Amongst his findings were that from 1975 to 1995 there had been a shift in research style from experimental to descriptive; that the models of teaching/learning moved from being simple/unspecified to complex and detailed; that interventions had changed from being pre-determined, well-defined, controlled and brief to much more developed, fuzzy, guided and long; that the forms of measurement which were once simple, shallow tests had become interviews and observations of a complex and deep nature; and that the relevance of the research to the classroom had moved from being slight in 1975 to great in 1995.

 

This shift in research in science teaching and learning, I believe, mirrors, but with some lag time, the shifts in science teacher education programs as there is an increasing emphasis on teaching about teaching for understanding, rather than teaching as the delivery of knowledge and information. I have no doubt that this focus on researching science teaching and learning is crucial to the development of science teacher education programs, especially as, in Australia, the science teacher educators are also the science education researchers. The desire to link research with teaching is a most important attribute and is clear in the work of Berry (1995) when she states:

 

As my understanding of the various factors influencing the beginner teacher experience has deepened, I think about the implications for myself as a teacher educator who works in the same program from which the participants in this project have been drawn...adopting an approach which models the attitude of reflective inquiry which I am seeking to promote is equally as important...exploring the developing pedagogy of [these beginning teachers] has led me to a greater understanding of my own conceptual development. The ongoing challenge is to provide opportunities for student teachers to begin to think about their own. (pp. 74 - 75)

 

For science teachers I believe the same challenge applies and we should all - as science educators - be working to enhance the opportunities for understanding of our students. One way of doing this is to explicitly link what we can learn from science education research to the way in which we teach science in order to enhance our students' science learning.