Transforming Teacher Education Through the Epistemic Core of Chemistry

This book synthesizes theoretical perspectives, empirical evidence and practical strategies for improving teacher education in chemistry. Many chemistry lessons involve mindless cookbook activities where students and teachers follow recipes, memorise formulae and recall facts without understanding how and why knowledge in chemistry works. Capitalising on traditionally disparate areas of research, the book investigates how to make chemistry education more meaningful for both students and teachers. It provides an example of how theory and practice in chemistry education can be bridged. It reflects on the nature of knowledge in chemistry by referring to theoretical perspectives from philosophy of chemistry. It draws on empirical evidence from research on teacher education, and illustrates concrete strategies and resources that can be used by teacher educators. The book describes the design and implementation of an innovative teacher education project to show the impact of an intervention on pre-service teachers. The book shows how, by making use of visual representations and analogies, the project makes some fairly abstract and complex ideas accessible to pre-service teachers.

Illustrates the relevance of philosophy of chemistry for chemistry teacher education Provides empirical evidence for the integration of epistemic themes in preservice teachers' learning Shows practical strategies for teaching epistemic themes in chemistry Will appeal to teacher educators, philosophers of chemistry, chemists and researchers in science education

Auteur

Sibel Erduran is a Professor of Science Education at University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Cross College. She also holds a Visiting Professorship position at Zhejiang Normal University, China. She is an Editor for International Journal of Science Education, Section Editor for Science Education, and serves on the Executive Board of European Science Education Research Association. Her work experience includes positions in the USA (University of Pittsburgh), Ireland (University of Limerick) as well as other universities in the UK (King's College London and University of Bristol). Previously she held Visiting Professorships at Oxford Brookes University, National Taiwan Normal University, Kristianstad University, Sweden, and Bogazici University, Turkey. Her higher education was completed in the USA at Vanderbilt (PhD, Science Education & Philosophy), Cornell (MSc, Food chemistry and Chemistry) and Northwestern (BA, Biochemistry) Universities. She has worked asa chemistry teacher in a high school in northern Cyprus. Her research interests focus on the infusion of epistemic practices of science in science education, in particular chemistry education. Her work has received international recognition through awards from NARST and EASE, and has attracted funding from a range of agencies including the European Union, Gatsby Foundation and Science Foundation Ireland. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a project on the assessment of practical science funded by the Wellcome Trust, and her edited book on Argumentation in Chemistry Education has been published in 2019 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Ebru Kaya is an associate professor in science education at Bogazici University, Turkey. She received her PhD from Middle East Technical University, Turkey in 2011. Dr. Kaya has been a visiting scholar at University of Bristol, UK in 2009 and at National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan in 2016 and 2017. Her research interests include argumentation and nature of science in science education. Dr. Kaya is the recipient of the Young Scientist Award from Science Academy in Turkey in 2015; the Outstanding Paper Award from East-Asian Association for Science Education (EASE) in Japan in 2016; and the Young Scientist Award from TUBITAK (Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council) in 2017. Dr. Kaya has participated in research projects funded by TUBITAK (Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council) and NARST, and conducted professional development workshops for science teachers in Turkey, Rwanda, Lebanon, and Taiwan. She served as a board member in Turkish Science Education and Research Association from 2012 to 2014, and a committee member in NARST Outstanding Paper Award Committee from 2013 to 2015. Currently Dr. Kaya is a reviewer for numerous journals including International Journal of Science Education and Science & Education. Dr. Kaya has been the PrincipalInvestigator of the projects entitled ''Nature of Science in Science Teacher Education: A Comparative Research and Development Project'' and ''University Students' Understanding of Reconceptualized Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science: A Case Study'' funded by Bogazici University Research Fund.

Résumé
"Contributions like this book under review are more than welcome. ... This book constitutes a successful instantiation of this interplay ... that are undoubtedly of value for practicing and prospective chemistry teachers and for chemistry teacher educators, and will foreseeably aid in the road towards 'making chemistry teacher education more epistemic than it currently is' ... ." (Agustín Aduriz Bravo, Foundations of Chemistry, Vol. 23, 2021)

Contenu

Dedication.- Foreword.- Preface.- Authors' Introduction.- Chapter 1. Philosophy of Chemistry and Chemistry Education.- 1.1 Introduction .- 1.2 Arguments about chemistry teaching .- 1.3 Chemistry Curriculum Development: A Brief Overview .- 1.4 Philosophy of Chemistry: A New Source of Information for Chemistry Education .- 1.5 Benefits of Learning Epistemic Themes in Chemistry Education .- 1.6 Rationale and Outline of the Book .- 1.7 Conclusions .- Chapter 2. Defining the Epistemic Core of Chemistry.- 2.1 Introduction .- 2.2 Aims and Values in Chemistry .- 2.3 Practices in Chemistry .- 2.4 Methods in Chemistry .- 2.5 Knowledge in Chemistry .- 2.6 Applying the Epistemic Core to Chemistry Concepts .- 2.7 Implications for Chemistry Education .- 2.8 Conclusions .- Chapter 3. Epistemic Beliefs and Teacher Education.- 3.1 Introduction .- 3.2 Epistemology and Teacher Education .- 3.3 Epistemic Beliefs .- 3.4 Teachers' Knowledge and Learning .- 3.5 Strategies for Supporting Chemistry Teacher's Epistemic Thinking .- 3.5.1 Argumentation .- 3.5.2 Visualisation .- 3.5.3 Analogies .- 3.6 Development of Pre-Service Teachers' Epistemic Thinking .- 3.7 Teacher Education in National Context .- 3.7.1 Contrast of Teacher Education Programmes at Oxford and Bogazici .- 3.8 Conclusions .- Chapter 4. Incorporating the Epistemic Core in Teacher Education Practice.- 4.1 Introduction .- 4.2 Teacher Education Context in Turkey .- 4.3 Design of Teacher Education Sessions .- 4.3.1 Session on Introduction to Nature of Science .- 4.3.2 Session on the Family Resemblance Approach .- 4.3.3 Session on Aims and Values of Science .- 4.3.4 Session on Scientific Methods .- 4.3.5 Session on Scientific Practices .- 4.3.6 Session on Scientific Knowledge .- 4.3.7 Session on Generative Images of the Epistemic Core .- 4.4 Lesson Ideas on Chemistry Topics Produced by Pre-Service Teachers .- 4.4.1 Lesson Ideas on Aims and Values .- 4.4.2 Lesson Ideas on Practices .- 4.4.3 Lesson Ideas on Methods .- 4.4.4 Lesson Ideas on Knowledge .- 4.5 Conclusions .- Chapter 5. Pre-Service Chemistry Teachers' Representations and Perceptions of the Epistemic Core: A Thematic Analysis.- 5.1 Introduction .- 5.2 Tracing Pre-Service Teachers' Representations and Perceptions .- 5.3 Defining Aims and Values of Science .- 5.4 Types of Scientific Practices .- 5.5 Diversity of Scientific Methods .- 5.6 Coherence among Knowledge …