Pre-service Science Teachers' Difficulties in Teaching Practice: Focused on the Perspectives of Pre-service Teachers and Cooperating Teachers

In this study, pre-service science teachers' difficulties in teaching practice were investigated from the perspectives of pre-service teachers and cooperating teachers. Nine pre-service teachers who were attending a department of chemistry education at a college of education in Seoul and participated in teaching practice, and two of their cooperating teachers participated in the study. Teaching practice were observed, documentary data were collected, and interviews were conducted. The collected data were analyzed using analysis method of grounded theory. As results of the analysis, the pre-service teachers had difficulties in preparing and executing lessons which include experiments, because education related to experiments in middle and high schools was insufficient at the college of education and environments of cooperating school were unfamiliar to them. They had difficulties in encountering various responses from students in student-centered activities and tried to control students. Cooperating teachers did not provide specific assistance to ensure the autonomy of pre-service teachers, so that pre-service teachers suffered. Guiding science club activities was a meaningful experience to pre-service teachers, but it was a burden on both pre-service teachers and cooperating teachers. Educational implications of these findings were discussed.