Science Teachers' Knowledge About Learning and Teaching Models and Modeling in Public Understanding of Science

Abstract

Models play a central role in science education. Traditionally, the focus is on the content of the models being taught and learned, and little explicit attention is devoted to the nature and characteristics of scientific models. The introduction of public understanding of science in the Dutch education system aimed a shift from the transmission of existing knowledge to the understanding of the development and the role of models in science. In this study, we explored the developing knowledge about learning and teaching models and modeling of nine science teachers in the first year of teaching this syllabus. In addition, we examined their developing pedagogical content knowledge of a specific ..