ABSTRACT

Background

Recent literature indicates that the trend towards investigating pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of science concepts they are expected to teach and their command of that content-specific conceptual understanding is gaining momentum in science education.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of average speed. The research question that framed the study was ‘What are pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of average speed?’

Design and

Methods: Three perspectives, the scientifically accepted explanation of the concept of average speed the research on conceptual resources, and pedagogical content knowledge served as the conceptual framework. Written responses to questions that required pre-service teachers’ to define, identify associated concepts, and describe how they plan to teach and explain average speed served as data. The data were analysed using both content analysis and thematic analysis guided by constructs from the conceptual framework.

Results

Analysis revealed that pre-service elementary teachers held related science concepts, unrelated science concepts and other concepts within their conceptual understanding of average speed. This was despite the fact that they were able to provide accurate and/or inaccurate definitions of average speed.

Conclusion

Implications include the need for a developmental model to seek pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understanding of average speed from the standpoint of average speed as a complex property concept with its associated conceptual structures, and as a concept transformed for instruction. Additionally, there is a need to provide knowledge-based theory and practice to enable teachers to identify their own and their students’ conceptual understandings of average speed.

中文翻译：

---

职前小学教师对平均速度的概念理解：相关和不相关概念的系统性和持久性

摘要

背景

最近的文献表明，调查职前小学教师对他们预期教授的科学概念的概念理解以及他们对特定内容概念理解的掌握的趋势在科学教育中获得了动力。

目的

本研究的目的是调查职前小学教师对平均速度的概念理解。构成这项研究的研究问题是“什么是职前小学教师对平均速度的概念理解？”

设计和

方法：三个视角，对平均速度概念的科学解释，概念资源的研究，教学内容知识作为概念框架。对要求职前教师定义、识别相关概念并描述他们计划如何教学和解释平均速度的问题的书面答复作为数据。使用概念框架中的结构指导的内容分析和主题分析对数据进行分析。

结果

分析表明，职前小学教师在其对平均速度的概念理解范围内，持有相关的科学概念、无关的科学概念和其他概念。尽管事实上他们能够提供准确和/或不准确的平均速度定义。

结论

其含义包括需要一个发展模型，以从平均速度的角度寻求职前小学教师对平均速度的概念理解，将平均速度视为具有相关概念结构的复杂属性概念，并作为教学转换的概念。此外，需要提供基于知识的理论和实践，使教师能够确定他们自己和学生对平均速度的概念理解。