ABSTRACT Background An in-depth understanding of pre-service primary teachers’ progression towards teaching science through inquiry is critical for improving teacher education programmes and, ultimately, improving the quality of science teaching and learning in the classroom. Purpose This study set out to describe and analyse the progression of pre-service primary teachers’ learning during an initial teacher education course on how to teach science through inquiry. There was a specific focus on the progression of learning in the area of curriculum content as a component of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Method The sample consisted of 347 pre-service primary teachers grouped into 92 teams. As a component of their pre-service training, they were designing science teaching proposals as part of the course on teaching science through inquiry. An analysis was conducted to explore the content of the designs created by these teams, both at the beginning and end of the course. Data were analysed qualitatively, using an interpretative approach informed by grounded theory. Findings The analysis identified that most of the teachers progressed in their learning throughout the course, although only 14 of the teams progressed in all categories. It was possible, through the analysis, to determine intermediate levels of learning, between the starting level and the highest level of PCK. The analysis also indicated that the change paths of each team were very different. Discussion and Conclusions Our study suggested that it was possible to analyse the professional learning and knowledge of the pre-service primary teachers in terms of progression in their learning of how to teach science through inquiry. Identifying progression in learning is complex and nuanced. However, we believe that this endeavour is an important underpinning research activity in order to support improvement in initial teacher education in primary science.

中文翻译：

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探索职前小学教师向探究式科学学习的发展

摘要 背景 深入了解职前小学教师通过探究向科学教学的进展对于改进教师教育计划并最终提高课堂科学教学质量至关重要。目的 本研究旨在描述和分析职前小学教师在初级教师教育课程中如何通过探究教授科学的学习进展。作为教学内容知识 (PCK) 的一个组成部分，特别关注课程内容领域的学习进展。方法 样本由 347 名职前小学教师组成，分为 92 个团队。作为职前培训的一个组成部分，他们正在设计科学教学建议，作为通过探究进行科学教学课程的一部分。在课程开始和结束时，都进行了分析以探索这些团队创建的设计的内容。使用基于扎根理论的解释性方法对数据进行定性分析。结果 分析表明，尽管只有 14 个团队在所有类别中取得了进步，但大多数教师在整个课程中都取得了进步。通过分析，可以确定 PCK 的起始水平和最高水平之间的中间学习水平。分析还表明，每个团队的变革路径大不相同。讨论和结论 我们的研究表明，可以根据他们学习如何通过探究来教授科学的进展来分析职前小学教师的专业学习和知识。识别学习的进展是复杂而微妙的。然而，我们认为，这项努力是一项重要的基础研究活动，以支持改善初级科学的初级教师教育。