Professional Vision of Preservice and In-Service Biology Teachers: Tacit Knowledge About Teaching and Learning in Relation to Student Conceptions in Evolution Lessons

Addressing student conceptions is crucial in science education. Therefore, teachers should be able to notice and interpret situations, in which student conceptions are part of the complex classroom interactions. This study analyzes the skills known as professional vision using an interpretivist research paradigm and a sociocultural perspective. The central concern of this article is to describe the tacit knowledge about teaching and learning that frames and guides the professional vision of preservice and in-service biology teachers. To collect data, a video clip was used as a stimulus for 31 group discussions and 9 individual interviews with a total of 115 preservice and in-service biology teachers. The video clip showed classroom interactions between the teacher and students, specifically addressing student conceptions in evolution classes. From 40 available cases, a subsample of 15 contrasting ones was used for in-depth interpretation and typification. The comparative analyses reveal that these cases share a common feature: professional vision is carried out in an evaluative mode, with participants assessing the teacher's actions and the students' learning outcomes. In their evaluations, the four reconstructed types expressed type-specific tacit knowledge about teaching and learning. For example, they differ in their conceptualizations of teaching, which form the basis of the evaluation: (1) direct transmission of scientific norms, (2) establishing and facilitating access to scientific norms, (3) interaction that considers individual learners' point of view, and (4) contingent mediation between student conceptions and scientific norms. In the discussion, the results are related to learning theories and strategies for teaching the theory of evolution to develop suggestions for teacher education and professional development.