IMPROVING PRIMARY-SCHOOL TEACHERS UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE CONCEPTS - THEORY INTO PRACTICE

The Primary School Teachers and Science (PSTS) project is developing teacher education materials to help primary teachers improve their understanding of science concepts. These materials are based on the results of extensive research into teachers' existing understanding, and are grounded theoretically in constructivism, metacognition and use of analogy in qualitative learning. The research and theoretical bases of the materials are described, together with an evaluation in the contexts of preservice and inservice primary teacher education.