Secondary School Science Teachers' Arguments for the Particulate Nature of Matter

Autor/inn/en	Gunnarsson, Robert; Hellquist, Björn; Strömdahl, Helge; Zelic, Dusan
Titel	Secondary School Science Teachers' Arguments for the Particulate Nature of Matter
Quelle	In: Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55 (2018) 4, S.503-525 (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Gunnarsson, Robert)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-4308
DOI	10.1002/tea.21428
Schlagwörter	Secondary School Teachers; Science Teachers; Science Instruction; Persuasive Discourse; Scientific Concepts; Chemistry; Physics; Interviews; Data Analysis; Experiments; Inservice Teacher Education + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Persuasion; Persuasive Kommunikation; Chemie; Physik; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Auswertung; Erprobung; Lehrerfortbildung
Abstract	How do secondary school science teachers justify the model of a particulate nature of matter, and how do the arguments they use relate to historical arguments? To find out, we individually interviewed 11 in-service secondary school science teachers (certified to teach chemistry and/or physics in secondary school, and with 2 to 30 years of teaching experience) regarding their arguments for the particulate nature of matter and experiments that could demonstrate the existence of particles. The collected data were qualitatively analyzed. Three qualitatively different categories of arguments could be constructed from data: "philosophical arguments," "indirect experimental arguments," and "direct experimental arguments." The indirect experimental arguments which is the largest category could be further divided into qualitatively different subcategories: nonspecific research and experiments, and chemical, physical, and subatomic experiments. Even though several experiments and arguments were suggested by the informants in our study, the arguments regarding the validity of the experiments were quite uncertain and vague. The experiments and arguments were used to corroborate the particulate nature of matter and taken for granted in advance rather than used to justify a model with particles. The outcome was discussed in relation to scientific arguments and experiments and in view of results from previous science education research. Based on our data, teacher education and in-service teacher training, as well as teacher guides, were suggested to be more elaborate regarding contemporary knowledge, with direct experimental evidence for the particulate nature of matter being presented. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01