Studies on teacher education have given increasing attention to pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): the knowledge necessary for teaching specific content as a theoretical construct. As a component of the teacher’s professional knowledge base, orientations toward teaching science (OTS) are critical to developing the PCK needed for inquiry-based science teaching. However, there is a lack of understanding about the relationships between OTS and the content to be taught and OTS and students’ education levels. This study explored the OTS of 86 first-year Thai preservice teachers with different majors upon their entry into a science teacher education program. Their pedagogical orientations were measured with the existing Pedagogy of Science Teaching Test. The results revealed that most preservice teachers’ OTS are between the “active direct” and the “guided inquiry”. There was no significant relationship between their OTS and the subject matter; however, there was a relationship with the students’ education levels. For instruction at the secondary level, the preservice teachers’ OTS were less likely to be inquiry-based. A qualitative analysis of the written justifications indicated that the preservice teachers’ perceptions of students’ ways of learning influenced their pedagogical tendencies. This suggests that the participants perceived that the students’ education levels would influence their learning strategies. Therefore, for preservice science teachers to develop inquiry-based OTS and PCK, teacher education should emphasize on how students best learn science to achieve scientific literacy.

中文翻译：

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泰国一年级职前科学教师对教学科学的定位

关于教师教育的研究已越来越关注教学内容知识（PCK）：作为教学内容的理论建构所必需的知识。作为教师专业知识基础的组成部分，面向教学科学（OTS）的方向对于开发基于探究的科学教学所需的PCK至关重要。但是，对于OTS与要教授的内容以及OTS与学生的教育水平之间的关系缺乏了解。这项研究探索了86名具有不同专业的泰国一年级学前班教师的OTS，他们进入了科学教师教育课程。他们的教学取向是用现有的《科学教学测试教学法》来衡量的。结果表明，大多数职前教师的OTS处于“主动直接”和“指导探究”之间。他们的OTS与主题之间没有显着关系；但是，这与学生的教育水平有关。对于中学教育，职前教师的OTS不太可能基于查询。对书面理由的定性分析表明，职前教师对学生学习方式的看法影响了他们的教学倾向。这表明参与者认为学生的教育水平会影响他们的学习策略。因此，对于职前科学教师发展基于查询的OTS和PCK，教师教育应强调学生如何最好地学习科学以实现科学素养。