TEACHERS CONCEPTIONS OF UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

Background. Teachers of younger children commonly teach a range of sub jects. Those with a science degree, for instance, may also teach subje cts like history. Conversely, those with a history degree may also tea ch science. Aims. Do such differences in academic background affect te achers' conceptions of understanding? The aim was to compare teachers' conceptions of understanding of scientific events and historical even ts, particularly when their degree was in one or the other of these su bjects. Sample, A total of 178 primary school teachers (58 with scienc e degrees, 61 with history degrees, and 59 with other degrees), were t ested in the main part elf the study. Method. Teachers rated 36 statem ents on a 1 to 5 scale for relevance to understanding historical and s cientific events. Results. Teachers generally discriminated between th e relevance of the statements for understanding these events. At the s ame time, teachers with different degrees also disagreed about the lev el of relevance for understanding of a number of statements. Differenc es in the balance of subject experience could account for this. Conclu sions, Differences in academic backgrounds can affect conceptions of u nderstanding of a subject. This could have consequences for the suppor t for understanding that teachers provide.