Semantic Waves and Attention to Language to Encourage Student Teachers’ Development of Scientific Language and Science Understanding

Description

This paper concentrates on how to integrate linguistic assessments and new perspectives in science classes in teacher education. The aim is to improve student teachers’ understanding of the subject taught and to develop their professional language. Data for this paper comprises several final assessment assignments, collected among student teachers at a teacher training 533 program in Denmark. As one of the aims of teacher education is to prepare students for teaching, the paper also includes perspectives on how to increase opportunities among primary school students for participating in mainstream instruction. Student teachers must therefore learn to integrate complementary activities focusing both on scientific literacy and scientific content to help their future primary school students’ progress both in terms of learning science and scientific language. The paper elucidates the importance of developing the student teachers’ competences in linking professional knowledge to the subject they teach, as well as sharpening their awareness of the linguistic structures that apply in the language of science. It also demonstrates the centrality of merging these two elements as a central and an ongoing part of teaching science. We suggest, therefore, that teacher training programs must include teaching science literacy as a central part of teaching science subjects at. Finally, the paper highlights how differences in teacher-educators’ disciplinary backgrounds, specialized in either a linguistic direction or a science discipline, made for fruitful discussions. The different angels from where the teacher educators approach the student teachers’ assessments, gives us insights into some of the blind spots we have when attempting to create a wholistic teacher training program.

Period	28 Aug 2023 → 1 Sept 2023
Event title	THE 15TH CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (ESERA): THE 15TH CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
Event type	Conference
Conference number	15
Location	Cappadocia, TurkeyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International