ABSTRACT
The very use of the term “science teacher learning” (or “science teacher as learner”) captures the essence of the hopes and expectations that science teaching as tellingtransmissive practice-might be seriously challenged in ways that might prevent it from occurring in classrooms as a default teaching approach. The language of science teacher learning/science teacher as learner implies that quality practice is embedded in a science teacher’s commitment to teaching for understanding in contrast to the delivery of propositional knowledge for students to absorb. Therefore, the very language of science teacher learning purposefully links expectations that it is not just students but also teachers who are active learners of science, congruent with the ideas of constructivism. As a consequence, developments pertaining to the nature of teaching and learning have combined in important ways
Understanding how teaching has historically been positioned and repositioned is important when considering the notion of teacher learning. As the literature demonstrates, perceptions of teaching have consistently been challenged as the needs of and expectations for education have changed over time. Inevitably, those changes have impacted notions of the “development of professional practice” and so have been important in shaping not only what teachers do but also how they have been viewed as learners of teaching. As is clearly evident, there has been a major shift in views of teacher learning from a developmental model to those that align more closely with a professional learning model in which teachers are viewed as having more autonomy over their learning, and so are expected to be more responsible, informed, and active in relation to the development of their knowledge as professionals.
