Blivande lärares (åk 1-6) baskunskaper i Danmark, Finland och Sverige – 1. Kunskaper och uppfattningar om människans biologi

Alarming trends in science in Nordic schools, indicating a diminishing interest among students, a lack of knowledge and competence among teachers as well as a decreasing amount of science in teacher education sparked this study of student teachers in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. This quantitative and qualitative study of teacher students’ views of human biology made it clear that human biology is seen as basic teacher knowledge by a majority of the students, in Finland in particular. The student teachers’ level of knowledge in human biology is very low. They have difficulties in explaining basic body functions, for example in relation to the human blood circulation system. They lack understanding of how various body organs work together, a fact that makes teaching and pupil guidance more difficult. Nordic teacher education should provide more time for diagnosing and developing student teachers’ critical and scientific thinking skills as well as problem-based science teaching