Estudio longitudinal del rendimiento afectivo y cognitivo en la formación científica de docentes

Abstract

Traditionally, the teaching of science has been carried out in a way that is very different from what “doing science" really means. The affective domain of students has been excluded from the teaching process (considered inappropriate and unscientific) by this academic approach based on the transmission of content. This has led not only to many conceptual errors among primary and secondary students, but also to the development of negative attitudes towards science as the students move through the educational process. Eliminating these misconceptions and reversing these attitudes (which are perpetuated in higher education) requires a change in the didactic orientation of science, especially during initial teacher training. This is because teachers will have an enormous responsibility in conveying knowledge and emotions to primary school pupils. This Doctoral Thesis analyses the cognitive and emotional evolution of a sample of pre-service teachers throughout their university education, before and after taking the science subjects of the Primary Education degree, using different science teaching interventions. To this end, an initial diagnostic analysis of affective variables (emotions and self-efficacy) and cognitive variables (academic performance in science) was carried out. The results showed that pre-service teachers, prior to taking science subjects at university, have negative and disenabling emotions about certain science subjects (particularly physics and chemistry), low perceptions of self-efficacy and low levels of scientific knowledge. A metacognitive emotional intervention programme was designed and carried out to modify these undesired tendencies, consisting of various teaching strategies based on experience and manipulation learning, considering both cognitive and affective aspects. The programme was implemented over three academic years in each of elementary teacher training programme. At the end of the programme, data on the preservice teachers’ affective, self-efficacy and science knowledge were collected. The findings show that a significant emotional change occurs after the intervention, with less negative and deactivating emotions reported and more positive and activating emotions. In terms of perceived self-efficacy, there is a greater sense of competence in the teaching of almost all science content and there is also significant learning of content. On the other hand, the relationships between the different variables considered in the research were studied and a significant relationship has been found between the variable of self-efficacy and emotions; however, no relationships were found between the affective dimension (neither emotions nor self-efficacy) and pre-service teachers learning: there is no association between the emotional dimension of the pre-service teachers and their level of scientific knowledge. The emotional performance of different didactic strategies used in science teaching during pre-service teacher training is described and analysed in this Doctoral Thesis. It shows that the implementation of active methodologies during science learning generates positive and activating emotions, based on a longitudinal study of different academic variables and the affective domain of pre-service teachers. There is also evidence of the positive emotional effects that the implementation of different didactic methos has on learners. Furthermore, the enormous influence of emotions on teaching and learning processes has been confirmed time and time again. In subject that elicit negative emotions, such as physics and chemistry, this is particularly relevant.