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Examining Pre-service Science Teachers Pedagogical Orientations in an Era of Change in India

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Science Education in India

Abstract

This chapter examines the historical development of science education in India, beginning with the policy context in pre-independence India to the present day, with a specific focus on school science education and teacher education. Specifically, this study examines the pedagogical orientation of pre-service science teachers, who had been a part of two-year Bachelor of Education teacher education program in India. They had taught middle grades science during their school internship program in different genres of schools, ranging from state-funded to private-funded during internship. Assessment items in Pedagogy of Science Teaching Test (POSTT) were used to identify their pedagogical orientations, and reasons for their specific orientations were probed through interviews. It comes out that pre-service teachers develop varying pedagogical orientations, ranging from direct instruction to open inquiry, emerging from several school-related factors like class size, availability of resources, leadership guidance; discrepancies between professional development and school culture, and other personal constraints.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Garima Bansal

  2. University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Umesh Ramnarain

  3. Physics Department and Mallinson Institute for Science Education, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA

    David Schuster

Authors
  1. Garima Bansal
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  2. Umesh Ramnarain
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  3. David Schuster
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Garima Bansal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Rekha Koul

  2. School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Geeta Verma

  3. College of Education, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ, USA

    Vanashri Nargund-Joshi

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Bansal, G., Ramnarain, U., Schuster, D. (2019). Examining Pre-service Science Teachers Pedagogical Orientations in an Era of Change in India. In: Koul, R., Verma, G., Nargund-Joshi, V. (eds) Science Education in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9593-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9593-2_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9592-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9593-2

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