How differently elementary students and undergraduates of elementary teacher education university coordinate experiment evidence and theory

Abstract

This study aims to explore how differently elementary students and their future teachers, pre-service elementary teachers dealt with evidence and theory by analyzing their journal entries for a science inquiry activity. Pre-service teachers took a science inquiry course and worked with self-directed inquiry by using Korean science elementary textbook. After inquiry activities, they provided science journals including their test question, data and claims on their inquiry. At the same time, elementary 4th grade students worked on science inquiry during their class with the same topics of the pre-service teachers. The collected science journals with three topics from both pre-service teachers and 4th graders were analyzed for the study. The journals of 79 from pre-service teachers and 54 from elementary students were compared in terms of quality of question and usage of evidence as well as characterizing types of coordination between evidence and theory. It was followed by discussion regarding the direction of pre-service teacher education of teaching science in elementary school as well.