PRIMARY TEACHERS UNDERSTANDING OF CONCEPTS OF SCIENCE - IMPACT ON CONFIDENCE AND TEACHING

The specification of the science to be taught in primary schools has t hrown into sharper focus the matter of primary teachers' own understan ding of the subject matter which has, for some lime, been an area of c oncern. Research carried out in Scotland has explored in some depth th e problems primary teachers encounter in science and technology and th e extent to which these are associated with lack of confidence and/or background knowledge. The findings indicate that there are some ideas which primary teachers can quite quickly come to understand while othe rs require more extensive in-service attention. Confidence is not only dependent on subject knowledge; teachers with low confidence employ v arious strategies for coping, some of which when regularly applied hav e a severely limiting effect on children's learning.