Teaching and Learning with STS

The purpose of this study was to determine the §impact of an Science-Technology-Society (STS) course §for preservice science teachers. The course was §designed to change not only preservice science §teachers attitudes toward science, scientists and §science courses, but also the awareness and use of §STS/Constructivist approaches in teaching. Both §qualitative and quantitative research methods were §used with and a one-group pretest-posttest design. §The major findings for the study include the §following:§1.Preservice science teachers showed significantly §growth over the semester in their perceptions §concerning STS/Constructivism, beliefs about science §teaching and learning, and attitudes toward science §and technology, and their implications for society. §2.Preservice science teachers gain in understanding §of how students learn with STS/Constructivist §approaches. §3.Preservice science teachers showed statistically §significant growth toward an STS/Constructivist §philosophy of science teaching and learning in terms §of student actions in the classroom, as well as §their increased understanding of science processes §and content.