USING WEBQUESTS IN INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING
USING WEBQUESTS IN INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING

Summary/Abstract: This study examines how student teachers change their perceptions about the goals of scientific literacy and the nature of science thought webquest based activities. Fifteen student science teachers attending a Science Education course, after receiving training in webquest development methodology, were asked to elaborate a webquest about a secondary science education topic. Then, in the context of a seminary on scientific literacy, student teachers were required to develop a rubric to evaluate the skills that a scientifically literate person was supposed to have acquired. Subsequently student teachers used this rubric to assess their webquest and propose improvements. The initial webquest, improvements proposed and the overall process were evaluated. Results show that the elaborating/re-elaborating process induced a substantial improvement in the student teachers’ conceptions about the goals of scientific literacy. Particularly, the task of building a rubric led the students to a deeper understanding of skills that scientific literacy promotes. Moreover, students expressed their satisfaction with the process and considered this highly motivating.

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