Handbook of Research on Science Education

CHAPTER 34

Science Teacher as Learner

J. John Loughran

Monash University, Australia

Research into learning to teach was initially based on ideas associated with a developmental model of teacher learning (Fuller, 1969; Fuller & Bown, 1975), a model that could be construed as portraying student teachers progressing along a predetermined path in the development of their competence as teachers. Over time, however, this interpretation has been challenged. For example, teacher thinking (Clark & Peterson, 1986) brought new ways of researching practice to the fore as it focused on the complexity of teachers’ knowledge and expertise. Likewise, the resurgence of Dewey's (1933) articulation of reflection through the work of Schön (1983, 1987) led to views ...