Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Understanding of an Enquiry Based Approach to Teaching Primary School Science and Its Influence on Their Field Teaching Experiences
<p><em>This study seeks to explore pre-service primary school teachers’ perceptions of their understanding of an enquiry based approach to teaching primary school Science. The study also seeks to identify how pre-service primary school teachers perceive the effectiveness of</em><em> </em><em>their</em><em> </em><em>University Science courses</em><em> </em><em>in preparing them to teach science using an enquiry approach. Participants were pre-service teachers enrolled in the B.Ed programme at The University of Trinidad and Tobago. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The data revealed that the teachers understood the concept of guided enquiry and knew how to develop lesson plans that incorporate that approach.</em><em> </em><em>Although the teachers</em><em> </em><em>believed that their courses prepared them adequately to teach primary school Science using enquiry,</em><em> </em><em>they encountered problems because of the lack of adequate resources.</em></p>