Database of Publications

Date: 2013.07.26

Posted by Davide Parmigiani (Italy)

Message: The publication describes a survey among pre-service chemistry teachers. The purpose of the study is to determine the images of pre-service chemistry teachers about how they become a chemistry teacher and the reasons for creating those images. The Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C) forces a teacher or a pre-service teacher to be deeply involved in the situation of teaching and draw an image of himself as a teacher in a classroom situation.
Drawings are effective methods because they contain much information. Drawings usually provide an insight into human sense making that is not easily recognizable with written texts or verbal descriptions, so they are useful tools to evaluate teaching identities Teachers’ drawings provide an excellent change for critical reflection. The DASTT-C image should make pre-service teachers to think their mental models and beliefs of teaching. The results of this study indicated that pre-teaching style was 40% student-centered, 5% teacher-centered, and 55% between student-centered and teacher-centered.
The DASTT-C seems a useful instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of teacher training programs also in order to improve them. Pre-service chemistry teachers will be chemistry teachers in future, the respects of them towards teaching and learning should be examined before they start training and corrected, if necessary. Because of this reason DASTT-C should be taken in consideration as a tool to integrate information given by the more usual assessments such as questionnaires or oral tests.

Date: 2013.07.16

Posted by Zdenek Hrdlicka (Czech Republic)

Message: The paper having attractive name deals with determination of the images of pre-service chemistry teachers about how they become a chemistry teacher and the reasons for creating those images. This is an interesting approach but the method and results seem to be questionable. The number of pre-service teachers is insufficient for reliability of the results. The paper is more likely a social probe than a piece of serious research. Nevertheless, the results may be useful so that the future teachers realize that there is more than one teaching approach to use.

Date: 2013.06.06

Posted by Luiza Wezk (Poland)

Message: I was really interested in the article when i saw this title among other publications. However I was not fully happy with reading the content - it didnt contribute to my vision of how to image myself as a chemistry teacher

Date: 2013.06.01

Posted by Katerina Salta (Greece)

Message: The paper describe the use of The Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C) in order to elicit chemistry teachers’ beliefs, personal theories, and the knowledge they bring, as well as those that are reinforced during teacher education programs. Making the chemistry teachers aware of their beliefs which unconsciously influence their decisions and actions in classroom should be a good starting point for self-reflection and improvement of their practices. Moreover, the DASTT-C test should be thought as a valid and useful instrument to evaluate both the needs of a teacher training program and the effectiveness of teacher training programs.
The DASTT-C test requires from respondents a drawing showing the environment during teaching and describing what the teacher and the students are doing at that time. The “method” section of the paper describes the scoring process of DASTT-C test. Three score groups reveal three corresponding Teaching Styles. The Exploratory Teaching Style (0-4 points) represents the teacher as a guide for students’ activities and the students as managers of their own learning. A teacher with a Conceptual Teaching Style (5-9 points) organizes the connections of content and processes of science and lessons include hands-on activities, group work, and discussion of ideas. Finally, the Explicit Teaching Style (10-13 points) represents the teacher both as the knowledge transmitter and as the main performer of classroom activities.
Pre-service chemistry teachers will be chemistry teachers in the future. This paper refers pre-service chemistry teachers’ images concerning their future practices as chemistry teachers. The authors point out that the participants were to be counted as graduated. The results of the study indicated that Turkish pre-service chemistry teachers’ teaching styles were 40% student-centred, 5% teacher-centred, and 55% between student-centred and teacher- centred. These finding can be used as a starting point brainstorming about the effectiveness of chemistry teachers’ training programs.

Date: 2013.05.31

Posted by Paulo Ribeiro Claro (Portugal)

Message: As a Chemistry Teacher, the title of this paper cached my attention and I read it with some expectations.
Without questioning the scientific merits of the paper, I do not find it relevant to this project, as it does not report successful experiences in the area, does not contributes to keep teachers update with research, and does not propose new solutions for teachers’ problems.

Date: 2013.05.15

Posted by Maria Sheehan (Ireland)

Message:  Why is this paper relevant?
No this paper was not relevant.

 Does the paper explain the causes for the students’ lack of motivation to study chemistry?
No. The study involved determining the motivations behind becoming a teacher. It got participants to draw their idea of being a teacher. I would question this method in terms of reliability.

 Does the paper explain the students’ obstacles in addressing chemistry?
No.

 Does the paper / publication report successful experiences in motivating students to study chemistry?
No
 Does the paper / publication presents the difficulties of chemistry teachers to keep update to the continuous progresses of the research?
No
 Does the paper / publication propose solutions to in order to exploit at secondary school level the most recent findings in the filed of chemistry?
No