Student teachers as researchers in science education: Some results on pupils' interests and understanding of weather and climate.

Student teachers at Oslo University College, Norway, taking a one-year science course, have during the study got insight in the world of research in science education in many fields – including pupils interests, prior ideas, learning and knowledge of weather and climate; and curriculum development and teachers' implementation of the same topics. As part of their exam they had to do some limited research on their own under supervision. From their own field of science interest, they developed research questions, found adequate methodology and population, did the data collection, made a scientific report, a poster and an oral presentation for their fellow students. Three projects this year were relevant to EWOC:

1. Research question: “What topics in subject Science do pupils prefer?” The population was pupils grades 5 to 9 (age 10 to15 years, n=233). The pupils picked three favourites form a list of 12 topics. “Weather and Seasons” was among the losers (preferred by only 3.5%) while for instance “Space” was among the winners (15.0%).

2. Research question: “Do pupils leaving compulsory education understand the concepts used in newspaper articles about global warming?” The population was pupils grade 10 (age 15/16 years, n=25). The pupils got the opening paragraphs (500 words) of an article written by a reputable journalist in a leading Norwegian newspaper, and should underline words they did not understand. Words like ‘ozone' (48% of the pupils), ‘nitrogen oxides' (NOX, 36%), ‘atmospheric conditions' (32%), ‘Kyoto Protocol', (20%) were difficult. The second part was an open form questionnaire: “What is sustainable development?” (84% wrong responses), “Name some gasses connected to ‘greenhouse effect'.” (36% wrong), “What are the consequences of increased ocean temperature?” (36% wrong). However 96% of the pupils agreed in “Climate questions are important”.

3. Research question: “What do children think about today's environmental problems?” The population was pupils in grade 3 (age 8/9 years, n=7). These young children were interviewed about their own environment and environmental problems. None of them mentioned problems like global warming, climate problems, increased greenhouse effect, ozone problems. But, they were very concerned about garbage, water pollution and exhaust from cars.

The findings, discussions and conclusions are interesting and could leave ideas to further research. However, the rational for giving the student teachers this challenge, is that everyone doing research on even a very limited area of science education, have to dive deep into the topic, the education and what other researchers have done in the field and how this knowledge have influenced development of curricula and teaching the topic.