Initial Teacher Training: Contribution to an Appropriate Use of the Experimental Work

Abstract

The renewal of conventional science teaching practices, particularly regarding the use of Experimental Work, has been a concern of official documents and experts, due to the lack of fitness and motivation on the part of teachers who use it. Since no one teaches in a scientifically accepted way what is unknown, it is essential to provide future teachers with didactic and scientific updates, in order to apply correct pedagogical-didactic practices, of experimental nature. This study included 12 future teachers of the 1st cycle of basic education (primary education) and aimed to investigate whether these students were correctly planning experimental activities which should assist in an internship context. The planning of these activities was based on the planning chart used in the Training Program of Experimental Science Education, promoted by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. The results showed that these future teachers acquired in the initial training classes the necessary skills to correctly design and plan experimental activities that would develop in the internship. It seems necessary to include "spaces" in the initial teacher training preparation in order to achieve adequacy in activities of an experimental nature.