Addressing student conceptions in evolution classes: professional vision practices of preservice and in-service biology teachers

Abstract

Abstract Background In evolution education, consensus is widespread that diagnosing and addressing well-known student alternative conceptions is particularly important. As classrooms are complex environments with many activities happening simultaneously, noticing and interpreting situations relevant to student thinking is important for addressing student conceptions. This ability can be conceptualised as professional vision. Science educators must understand teachers’ status quo regarding their professional vision to identify aspects of teacher education and professional development. Results The central concern of this qualitative-reconstructive case study is to describe and better understand how preservice and in-service biology teachers are enacting their professional vision regarding student alternative conceptions and addressing them in evolution class. For data collection, a video clip without any further specific instructions was used as a stimulus for 31 group discussions and 9 individual interviews with 115 preservice and in-service biology teachers. The data were analysed using the documentary method. Of the 40 cases available, 15 were fully interpreted and used for typification. Regarding theoretical saturation, our analyses of the opening passage and other transcript material relevant to the research question for the remaining 25 cases did not lead to any new insights into previously reconstructed orientations or could no longer contribute to the analytical differentiation. The comparative analyses show that in all cases, two key issues could be reconstructed: (1) the relation of teaching and learning scientific norms and (2) the relation of student conceptions and scientific norms. These two issues are consistently processed in an evaluation mode. Across all cases, the participants assess the teacher’s actions and the student learning process. The reconstructed types differ in the importance attributed to student conceptions. Student conceptions are constructed, for instance, as indicators of subject-specific knowledge gaps that need to be filled, as a teaching problem, as something that must be removed or changed, or as coexisting experiential knowledge. Conclusions We conclude that the discussion of and reflection upon professional vision practices is an important task for teacher education. The study of cases using lesson videos and a professional development programme called video clubs seems promising because these approaches offer possibilities for addressing many of the teacher education challenges to which our results point.