DO PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS CONCEPTIONS ON SCIENCE PROGRESS AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTRUCTIVIST DIDACTIC PROPOSALS ORIENTED TOWARDS DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC LITERACY?

From a constructivist perspective, science teaching involves attending to learners' misconceptions. In this regard, in the present work, we analyze misconceptions of preservice teachers of Preschool and Primary School Education on three aspects: the image of science, science learning, and science teaching. To explore them we used the Inventory on Pedagogical and Scientific Beliefs of Teachers (Inventario de Creencias Pedagogicas y Cientificas de Profesores), a quantitative Likert-type questionnaire constituted by 56 statements. A total of 142 students from two Spanish universities completed it, both at the beginning and at the end of subjects that had been specifically designed from a constructivist perspective and to promote scientific literacy. Data were statistically analyzed, among others, employing multivariate analyses, univariate analyses, and Pearson correlations. Results show that initial student misconceptions evolved towards constructivist positions after subjects' implementations, particularly those of students of Degree in Primary Education, who departed from more traditional positions. Moreover, relationships among the three considered dimensions are evidenced, except between the image of science and science learning. It is concluded that implementation of constructivist didactic proposals aimed to promote scientific literacy facilitates that initial pre-service teachers' beliefs evolve towards appropriate science teaching and learning models. Moreover, difficulties to approach images of science are diagnosed.