Evolution of the Conceptions of a Secondary Educat

SCIENCETEACHEREDUCATIONJulieBianchiniandMarkWindschitl,SectionCoeditorsEvolutionoftheConceptionsofaSecondaryEducationBiologyTeacher:LongitudinalAnalysisUsingCognitiveMapsCONSUELODA-SILVAColegioSagradaFamilia,06005Badajoz,SpainVICENTEMELLADO,CONSTANTINORUIZDepartmentofScienceandMathematicsEducation,FacultyofEducation,UniversityofExtremadura,06071Badajoz,SpainRAFAELPORL´ANDepartmentofScienceandSocialSciencesEducation,FacultyofEducation,UniversityofSevilla,41005Seville,SpainReceived9February2005;revised3September2005;accepted3August2006DOI10.1002/sce.20183Publishedonline12October2006inWileyInterScience().ABSTRACT:Wedescribealongitudinalstudyofasecondaryeducationbiologyteacherattwomomentsinhercareer(1993–2002),determiningthechangesinherconceptionsofthenatureofscienceanditsteachingandlearning,andthefactorsthatfavoredorhinderedsuchchanges.Thechangeswereanalyzedusingcognitivemaps,constructedonthebasisoftheInventoryofTeachers’Pedagogical&ScientificBeliefs(INPECIP)questionnaire,designedandvalidatedbyR.Porl´an,A.Rivero,andR.Mart´ındelPozo(1997),andasemistructuredinterview.Theresultsshowedtheprocessofchangeinconceptionstobecomplexandgradual,withdifferentconceptionsbeingoutofphasewitheachother.Duringherfirst4yearsofteaching,until1993,herconceptionsofscienceteachingandlearningbegantoevolvefromateacherandcontent-centeredmodeltoonethatwasmorestudentCorrespondenceto:VicenteMellado;e-mail:[e-mail]:MinistryofEducationandScience,Spain.Contractgrantnumber:BSO2003-03603.C
2006WileyPeriodicals,Inc.462DA-SILVAETAL.centered.Thecatalystofthechangeinherinitialconceptionsofteachingandlearningwasherbecomingawareofthestudents’alternativeideas.Herempiricistconceptionofthenatureofscience,however,remainedpracticallyunalteredduringthesefirst4years.Thisconceptionbegantoshiftslowlytowardlessdogmaticandmoreup-to-datepositionsasaconsequenceofherchangingviewofteaching-learning,andby2002,therewasagaincoherencebetweenherscientificthinkingandherideasonscienceteachingandlearning.C
2006WileyPeriodicals,Inc.SciEd91:461–491,2007INTRODUCTIONUnderstandingthefactorsthatfavororhindertheprocessesofeducationalchangeinteachershasbecomeoneoftheprincipalthemesontheagendaofeducationalresearch(Davis,2003;Hargreaves,Lieberman,Fullan,&Hopkins,1999;Mellado,Ruiz,Bermejo,&Jim´enez,2006),andisanessentialelementintheplanningandpracticeofteachereducationandprofessionaldevelopmentprograms(Abell&Pizzini,1992).Althoughstructuralandcurricularchangesineducationarenecessary,theymaynotbesufficientunlesstheytakeintoaccountthattheteacheristhekeytoqualitativeimprovementofeducationsystems,anddeterminesthesuccessorfailureofwhatevercurricularreformorinnovationitisdesiredtoimplement(Fullan,1991;Tobin,Tippins,&Gallard,1994).Fur-thermore,structuralandcurricularchangesbythemselvesarenotenoughtoprovokeeduca-tionalchangeamongteachersthatwillleadtoimprovedteaching.Thereasonisthatteachersarenotjustmeretechnicianslimitedtoapplyingcurricularreforms,butreflexivesubjectswhosejudgmentsanddecisionsareinfluencedbytheirknowledge,conceptions,attitudes,context,andpersonalantecedents(Freitas,Jim´enez,&Mellado,2004;Marcelo,1994).Teachersdonoteasilychangetheirconceptions,andevenlesssotheireducationalpractices.ScienceTeachers’ConceptionsFromaconstructivistperspective,scienceteachersareregardedashavingconceptionsaboutthenatureofscience,aboutscientificconcepts,andabouthowtolearnandteachthem(Gil-P´erez,1993;Hewson&Hewson,1989).Theseareusuallydeeplyrootedcon-ceptions,andateacher’sfirststepinhisorhereducationandprofessionaldevelopmentistoreflectontheseconceptionscriticallyandanalytically(Hewson,Tabachnick,Zeichner,&Lemberger,1999).Withrespecttothenatureofscience,manystudiesconcurwiththeneedforsecondaryeducationscienceteacherstoreflectonwhatscientificknowledgemeans.Therearestill,however,manyimpedimentstothisprocess(Matthews,2004),andthephilosophyofscienceishardlytouchedoninteachereducation.Thelackofreflectiononthesetopicsisafactorcontributingtothedoubtsandvaguenessaboutthetopicthatmanyteachersshow,andtothesomewhatnaiveconceptionsthattheyhaveaboutessentialaspectsofthenatureofscience,includingfrequentempiricistandinductivistfeatures(Sol´ıs&Porl´an,2003;Windschitl,2004).Theseempiricistfeaturesmayattimescoexistwithothereclecticpointsofviewaboutthenatureofscience(Acevedo,2000;Lakin&Wellington,1994;Manassero&V´azquez,2000;Mellado,1997;Verjovsky&Waldegg,2005).Prospectiveandbeginningscienceteachershaveconceptionsaboutlearningandteachingsciences,whicharethefruitofthemanyyearstheythemselveshavespentinschoolanduniversity,acceptingorrejectingtherolesoftheirownscienceteachers(Hewson&Hewson,1989).MostofthenoviceteachersanalyzedbySimmonsetal.(1999)consideredthatthebestforminwhichtheirstudentscanlearnsciencesisthesameastheythemselvesusedwhentheywereatschool.Severalstudieshaveshownthattheseconceptionsareusuallyclosertomoreteacher-andcontent-centeredtransmissivemodelsofteachingthantomodelscenteredScienceEducationDOI10.1002/sceEVOLUTIONOFCONCEPTIONSOFASECONDARYTEACHER463onstudentlearning(