ANALYSIS OF DECLARATIVE AND PROCEDURAL PRE-SERVICE CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ANALOGIES

ABSTRACT:

In this study, we investigated ideas that future chemistry teachers stated about analogies at different stages in their training courses and we related such ideas to the analogies elaborated by them. The data was obtained from questionnaires and interviews done to substantiate them. Our results indicate that the pre-service teachers, who participated in the study, demonstrated limited procedural knowledge about analogies. Our main conclusion is that a focus based almost exclusively on developing declarative knowledge about analogies during teacher training may not be sufficient for them to develop satisfactory procedural knowledge and use analogies in an appropriate manner in teaching science. We call attention to the importance of finding ways to remedy these gaps in teacher training courses.

Keywords:
Analogies; Declarative knowledge; Procedural knowledge; Teacher training