Preservice Science Teachers’ Views towards Scientific Law and Theory Concepts: A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

This study aims at identifying the views of preservice science teachers concerning the scientific laws and theories and the teaching of these concepts as well as their place in curriculum. The participants were a total of 15 preservice science teachers attending the first and fourth grades of a teacher training programs at a public university in the Aegean region of Turkey. The data collection tool for the
study was a semi-structured interview form developed by the author. The form was developed based on the review of literature. The data obtained were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The findings of the study showed that all of the preservice science teachers could not explicitly explain the scientific laws and theories and that they had misconceptions about these concepts. Moreover, they stated that science curriculum should contain these concepts and that they felt themselves inefficient in teaching them Concerning the teaching of these concepts the participants argued that student-centered learning approaches, methods and techniques should be employed, but they added that their knowledge using these methods was not sufficient. Through the findings gathered, some recommendations were made by the researchers.