Pre-Service Teachers’ Conception of an Effective Science Teacher: The Case of Initial Teacher Training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out pre-service teachers’ conceptual understanding of an effective science teacher. A total of 100 pre-service teachers from two unique colleges of education in a municipal assembly in Ghana were selected to participate in this case study. In each college, the pre-service teachers were selected through a stratified random sampling procedure. The pre-service teachers responded to a test, and their responses were open-coded and constantly compared to come out with six themes. The findings show that an effective science teacher creates a conducive environment for students to learn science. It is, therefore, recommended that college science educators should prepare pre-service teachers to develop appropriate knowledge, strategies, and techniques needed to create an environment conducive for learning science.