Isabel P. Martins

Sexuality and Human Reproduction: A Study of Scientific Knowledge, Behaviours and Beliefs of Portuguese Future Elementary School Teachers.

Sex education in Portugal has become a right and an obligation starting in the first years of school. However, despite being required by legislation, this is not easy to achieve, partly because of weaknesses in the training of teachers, which need to be identified. In this study, data were collected about the knowledge, behaviours and beliefs of 148 teacher trainees of elementary education (6–10 years old) from two Portuguese public higher education institutions. The topic of sexuality and human reproduction had been covered by almost all of them during their initial training and was considered important by most of them. Nevertheless, about 85% asserted they are not confident enough to teach this topic to small children in a classroom and committed scientific errors about physiological‐anatomical aspects of the human body. All subjects felt that there is a lack of specific didactic materials, which does not help to overcome those obstacles. It was also possible to identify in these future teachers risky sexual practices resulting, in part, from their beliefs, which could have implications about the way the topic will be approached in the classroom. These findings show how essential it is for training institutions to pay greater attention to the education of future elementary school teachers in this area.

Early Science Education: Exploring Familiar Contexts To Improve the Understanding of Some Basic Scientific Concepts.

SUMMARY This study rests on the belief that Science Education is a fundamental tool for global education and that it must be introduced from the early years in formal schooling as a first step to a scientific culture for all. The question is to make clear what to learn and how to teach in a way that is both motivating for children and conceptually sound. A didactic strategy for developing the learning of concepts such as dissolution and floating in water was conceived as part of an in-service course involving 90 Portuguese primary school teachers. About 1800 pupils participated in the validation of that strategy in 90 classrooms. The adopted strategy was based upon an experimental work approach, using everyday life contexts which are familiar to children (for example, to suck sweets and to observe the behaviour of fruits and vegetables in water). The main steps of such a methodology, as well as some child learning outcomes, are here presented and discussed.

Exploring Rocks and Minerals: An Experience of Integrated Educational Approach

Science education begins long before children enter school. Indeed, when children go to school, they carry out with them different learning experiences, developed in informal and non-formal contexts, that school cannot ignore. Therefore, teachers should not only consider learning experiences developed both in non-formal and informal settings but also know how to integrate them in classroom activities. The purpose of this chapter is to present a study that consisted in the conception, planning, implementation and assessment of an in-service training programme for teachers of primary school (pupils from 6 to 10 years old), in Portugal, which aimed at the development of science education integrated practices, by focusing on a specific theme of Geology, in this case “Rocks and Minerals”.