Training Pre-Service Teachers to Connect Biology Teaching to Daily Life: Role of Positive Emotions

Since Primary Education ending, students describe science as an irrelevant discipline to their daily lives. Given this situation it is necessary to promote in classrooms the development of motivating activities of science, highlighting its connection with everyday life. Practical activities have this motivating role but do not provide satisfactory learning outcomes due to their traditional approach. Against this background, it is necessary to train future teachers to develop practical activities under non-traditional approaches as well as to include the interrelationships Science, Technology and Society (STS). This contribution shows the results of the implementation, with a sample of 149 pre-service Primary teachers, of an active intervention of Cell Biology (based on guided research and in which STS relations are highlighted through Biotechnology). The objective is determine if the positive effect of activities linked to daily life is mediated by emotions. For that purpose, we estimate, using a quantitative self-report test, the intensity with which participants experience a set of emotions. This questionnaire measure 8 positive emotions and 8 negative ones, rated on a Likert scale from 1 "not experienced" to 5 "intensely experienced". Cell Biology contents are assessed through questions about Secondary common misconceptions and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) questions. Results show positive associations (Spearman correlation, p-value<0.05) between learning outcomes and the intensities of all examined positive emotions (joy, satisfaction, trust, fun, enthusiasm, gratitude, pride, awe), as well as a negative association between learning results and the intensity of uncertainty. These observations suggest that participants who learn more Biology during the implementation of the active intervention based on STS, are those who feel greater intensities of positive emotions. This interplay between cognitive domain and positive emotions may result key to foster prospective teachers' learning of science as well as significant to improve their future teaching action.