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International Journal of
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Understanding the science
of environmental issues:
development of a subject
knowledge guide for primary
teacher education
Mike Summers , Colin Kruger & Ann Childs
Published online: 20 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Mike Summers , Colin Kruger & Ann Childs (2001)
Understanding the science of environmental issues: development of a subject
knowledge guide for primary teacher education, International Journal of Science
Education, 23:1, 33-53
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INT. J. SCI. EDUC.
VOL.
NO
, 2001,
23,
. 1, 33- 53
Understanding the science of environmental issues:
development of a subject knowledge guide for
primary teacher education
Mike Summers, Colin Kruger, Ann Childs, Oxford University Department of
Educational Studies, UK and Jenny Mant, Oxford Brookes University, UK
In the light of an increased concern for environmental education (especially in the context of sustainable
development) in the UK, this study used questionnaire surveys to explore the understanding of 170
practising primary school teachers, 120 primary trainees and 88 secondary science trainees in four areas:
biodiversity, the carbon cycle, ozone and global warming. A methodological innovation in this research
was the prior identification of basic scientific explanations of each area for a primary teacher and the use
-
of these as benchmarks for judging understanding. Knowledge of the component parts of these ex
planations was tested in the questionnaires. Hence the study was able to identify those underpinning
science concepts which were well understood, and those which were not so well understood. The
-
frequencies of several misconceptions, uncovered in earlier interviews and also included in the ques
tionnaires, are also reported. It is suggested that both the basic explanations and the difficulties of
understanding displayed by the teachers in some areas can usefully inform programmes of professional
development for sustainable development and environmental education. An outline of a guide for
teachers adopting this approach is provided.
Introduction
Premise
-
A basic premise underpinning the research described in this article is that educa
tion about the environment is of such importance that it should begin in primary
schools. Given national and international commitments to Agenda 21 following the
Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit Conference (Quarrie 1992), it seems inconceivable
that this should not be so. The future quality and stability of life on our planet
depends on children developing the understanding necessary for making informed
et al
. (1993) point to the importance of
decisions about the environment. Francis
education about these issues starting early and before attitudes and prejudices
based on misconceptions harden. Evidence that this is now an accepted argument
in the UK can be found in a number of recent developments, the most significant
of which are outlined below.
Environmental education and sustainable development
-
-
An increased recognition of the importance of education for sustainable develop
ment (see below) provides an important reason for developing children’s under
standing of environmental issues. The concept of sustainable development is
#
International Journal of Science Education ISSN 0950-0693 print/ISSN 1464-5289 online 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
34
multifaceted, and involves environmental, economic and social consequences of
humanity’s activities. However, the whole rationale underpinning arguments for
sustainable development is the prevention of damage to the environment. This is
reflected in the definition of the purpose of education for sustainable development
in the schools sector provided by the Council for Environmental Education (1998):
Education for sustainable development enables people to develop the knowledge,
values and skills to participate in decisions about the way we do things individually
and collectively, both locally and globally, that will improve the quality of life now
and without damaging the planet for the future.
Hence we see sustainable development and environmental concerns as inextricably
linked: education about the former is intimately bound up with consideration of
the latter.
Recent initiatives in the UK
Three recent developments in the UK have provided impetus and support for the
growth of sustainable development and environmental education:
(1) The government’s paper ‘A Better Quality of Life: a National Strategy
for Sustainable Development for the United Kingdom’ (DETR 1999).
The consultation report leading up to the publication of this national
strategy emphasises the key role of education:
The most consistent theme is the need to integrate sustainable development into
education and training at all levels. (DETR 1998: 69)
(2) The recent report to the Qualifications and Assessment Authority and
the Department for Education and Employment by the Panel for
Education for Sustainable Development headed by Sir Geoffrey
Holland (Council for Environmental Education 1998). This advocates
sustainable development education at all four Key Stages of the
National Curriculum.
(3) A revised National Curriculum for implementation in September 2000
strongly influenced by the above report (Qualifications and Assessment
Authority 1999). A substantially increased emphasis on the environment
and sustainable development is evident in science and geography, and is
also a prominent feature in a revised introduction setting out the aims of
the curriculum as a whole.
The enquiry
An underlying assumption of this project is that secure subject knowledge (which
in this article is taken to include understanding) is desirable for the most effective
teaching. This point has been argued on many occasions elsewhere (e.g. Summers
1994, Summers and Mant 1995) and will not be revisited here.
The overarching aim of the work was to help teachers develop this secure
knowledge. As such, the principal outcome was to be a guide to help primary
-
teachers develop their understanding of several environmental issues. In recogni
tion of the importance of prior knowledge as a basis for learning, the starting point
was to investigate teachers’ existing understanding of the targeted issues, and in

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
35
-
-
particular, identify areas of difficulty. These were then to be given special empha
sis when writing the guide. The main focus in what follows is the research pro
gramme and its findings, but the ways in which the work has been used to inform
the production of the guide will also be outlined.
Scope
The earlier definition of education for sustainable development emphasized the
-
three dimensions of knowledge, values and skills (for example, of decision mak
ing). Our own focus on teacher knowledge in the present research is clearly just
one aspect of what will be required to help pupils develop their learning in these
three dimensions. However, and as we said above, it is our view that good teacher
knowledge is a prerequisite for the most effective teaching.
scientific
A further restriction is the concentration principally on
knowledge, to
the exclusion of very important geographical and cross curricular perspectives. To
-
some extent this reflects our own research tradition and expertise (science educa
tion). But it also stems from a belief in the centrality of science in understanding
and making appropriate decisions about the environment.
Areas and issues explored
In selecting areas for the project, the vision was not constrained by the extant
National Curriculum requirements of England and Wales at the time (July
1998). Rather, the approach was to identify current issues of significance for the
future of the planet. Subsequently, and as already stated, the curriculum has been
-
revised to include a far greater emphasis on environmental and sustainable devel
opment concerns, which may prove something of an unforeseen bonus for our
work (in that teachers may more readily perceive its value). An ongoing research
programme is exploring, through primary classroom case studies, ways in which
the work described here can be used, adapted and extended in the context of
et al.
National Curriculum delivery (Summers
1999).
Returning to the selection of areas, seven were eventually identified as the
focus for the project: biodiversity, the carbon cycle, global warming, ozone, energy
-
sources, life cycle analysis (of a manufactured product) and sustainability. This is
not to deny the importance of other topics: a choice had to be made, and both the
research team and sponsors felt that the significance of this selection could hardly
be denied.
Each of the areas, except the carbon cycle, can be formulated in terms of an
environmental issue. The word ‘issue’ is used to mean that which generates a
concern and is at least potentially problematic for the environment. The carbon
cycle was included as an area for research because a good understanding of it is a
necessary prerequisite for a scientific understanding of many environmental
concerns, and because it was identified as an area of difficulty in an earlier small
scale study.
-
The way in which the issues were formulated is described later. For gramma
tical convenience all seven areas will be referred to, at times, as issues, but the
distinctive nature of the carbon cycle should be kept in mind. The work was
-
carried out in two phases: Phase I covered biodiversity, global warming, the car

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
36
bon cycle and ozone, and Phase II the remaining three areas. This was an extensive
programme of research and there is insufficient space in a single article to report all
of the findings. Hence the focus here will be on the Phase I areas.
Previous work
A search of the research literature has uncovered no previous investigations of
-
practising primary teachers’ understanding of environmental issues and sustain
able development. In a small scale interview study of six primary teachers carried
out by the authors in 1997 evidence was found of: uncertainty about the carbon
cycle, and a lack of knowledge of the key role of ‘ancient carbon’ in environmental
concerns such as depletion of fossil fuels and global warming; a condemnation of
-
-
carbon dioxide as universally a ‘bad thing’; life world only meanings for ‘sustain
able’ and ‘renewable’ (i.e. meanings derived from everyday experiences and use of
words, rather than scientific interpretations); lack of an appreciation of the role of
life cycle analysis as a basis for making decisions about recycling; a confusion
between global warming, ozone depletion and ‘ground level’ ozone; and a view
-
-
that energy can be recovered and re used (no concepts of dissipation and degrada
tion).
trainee
Two studies of
primary school teachers were found. Dove (1996) used a
questionnaire survey to investigate the understanding of 60 trainees in three areas:
et al.
the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and acid rain. Boyes
(1995)
studied aspects of understanding of the ozone layer only but with a much larger
questionnaire survey of 453 trainees. In the case of ozone, both studies found that
trainees were aware of the function of the ozone layer in relation to its filtering
effect of UV light, the consequent harmful effects when the ozone layer is depleted
et al.
and the role of CFCs in ozone depletion. Boyes
also showed that the trainees
were well informed about the location and the nature of the ozone layer. However
both studies found that notable misconceptions. For example, many trainees
et el.
thought that vehicle emissions were responsible for ozone depletion. Boyes
report that radioactivity and acid rain were also thought to be responsible. Both
studies revealed a further commonly held misconception: that ‘holes’ in the ozone
layer are a direct cause of global warming.
In the case of the greenhouse effect, Dove found that the trainees were
generally familiar with the term itself but had little awareness of the concepts
involved. They were aware, for example, of carbon dioxide as an important
greenhouse gas but had little awareness of other greenhouse gases and were
largely unaware of the natural greenhouse effect. They also held the common
misconception that ‘holes’ in the ozone layer are a direct cause of global warming.
Turning to acid rain, most trainees were aware that burning coal was responsible,
but their knowledge of the specific gases involved was low. They were also aware
of some of the effects of acid rain, such as increased weathering of rocks, but did
not understand the reasons for this. In addition, although they knew forests in
Scandinavia had been damaged by acid rain, they were again unable to explain the
causes.
The present research therefore contributes to knowledge in two ways: (i) by
-
extending the coverage to new aspects of environmental issues; and (ii) by extend
ing the sparse amount of previous work carried out with trainee primary teachers
to experienced practitioners. In addition, there is a methodological innovation in

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
37
that benchmarks for understanding each issue were defined at the outset of the
research and used as a framework for analysing the data. This is described further
in the next section.
Scientific understanding
In recent years, the level of scientific understanding that might be expected of a
primary teacher has been a matter of considerable debate (see, for example, Kruger
et al.
et al.
et al.
1995; Summers and Mant 1995). In
1990; Russell
1992; Golby
official
the UK the
resolution of this debate has been through publication of a
mandatory Initial Teacher Training Curriculum for Primary Science (DfEE
1998). This specifies a far more sophisticated knowledge of science than that
found in the National Curriculum for pupils (although it has little to say about
environmental issues). We have always been in sympathy with the view that
teachers need wider and deeper knowledge than that required of pupils, arguing
that this is important for a whole variety of reasons: diagnosing pupil learning
difficulties, responding flexibly to pupil needs, dealing with unforeseen questions,
devising appropriate learning experiences in science and understanding what
might validly count as progression.
An initial task for the present research was to decide what might constitute
an appropriate understanding of the targeted environmental areas for a
primary teacher and, for all except the carbon cycle, specify the issues
involved. Given the above context, we did not feel constrained by the conceptual
content of the UK pupil curriculum in deciding what might be appropriate for
teachers.
Drawing upon an approach used successfully in an earlier study (Summers
and Kruger 1994) a basic explanation was constructed for each of the seven areas.
This consisted of a number of component statements (explanation components or
ECs) which, when read in sequence, both provided an explanation of the area and,
where appropriate, defined the issue. These basic explanations were used as
-
benchmarks against which understanding was judged. The explanation compon
ents for biodiversity, the carbon cycle, ozone and global warming are given in
tables 1-4 (left hand column in each case). For reasons of space, these are the
only four topics reported in the present paper.
The process of devising these basic explanations went through several stages.
Initially, the four team members (all science graduates) researched the areas and
produced explanations at their own level. Then over a series of meetings these
explanations were compared, combined and simplified to try to capture just the
essential ingredients of each.
It must be emphasized that these explanations represent no more than our own
shared and distilled professional judgements of what might be appropriate for
primary teachers, and no status is claimed for them beyond this. However, it
does seem that we can claim originality - a search of the literature has failed to
uncover any other explicit attempts to define understanding of these issues for
primary teachers.

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
38
Methodology
Overview
Twelve primary teachers were interviewed about their understanding in the four
areas forming Phase I of the research. Following this two questionnaire surveys
-
were given to a much larger number of primary teachers. One questionnaire cov
ered biodiversity and the carbon cycle, and the other ozone and global warming.
The questionnaires were designed to test knowledge of each EC for each issue, and
-
also included the most common misconceptions uncovered in the earlier inter
views. Hence the questionnaires sought to establish the prevalence of scientific
understanding and misconceptions in these larger samples.
The advantage of interviews is that they can provide in depth information of
high validity. But the frequency of particular views within a small sample can, at
best, give no more than an indication of what might be the case in the wider
community of teachers. The advantage of questionnaires is that prevalence can
be established with greater confidence (assuming of course that the sample is not
unduly biased). But the disadvantages are that validity is less certain (we cannot be
sure that respondents understood the questions in the way intended, or indeed that
they responded seriously), and that knowledge statements are tested in isolation
rather than as elements of an elaborated explanation. The reasons for employing
both methods in the present research were: (i) to avoid the limitations of just one
-
approach and hence provide a more comprehensive account of teachers’ concep
tions of the four issues investigated; and (ii) more specifically, to use the interviews
to uncover any misconceptions and then include these in the questionnaires (to test
prevalence).
Presentation
Even though this article covers only the first four areas targeted by the research
-
programme, the data set is still very large. Hence just the questionnaire (preva
lence) findings for these areas are reported here.
Sample
The sample for the first survey consisted of 85 primary teachers working in
nine different state schools, and 120 student primary teachers. The second
survey was made up of another 85 teachers in a further 19 state primary schools,
and 88 science graduates nearing the end of their one year secondary teacher
training (PGCE) course. Both sets of practising teachers were recruited by writing
to headteachers requesting participation of staff, and through contacts with science
advisers. These were not random samples, but we have no reason to believe that
they were particularly biased.
The inclusion of a group of secondary trainees in a research project concerned
with primary teaching deserves comment. Over the past decade we have produced
-
several sets of research based teacher education materials for primary science
designed primarily to develop understanding of subject matter. Two of the present
authors work mainly in secondary teacher education, and have found these
-
materials to also be of use for helping non specialist secondary PGCE science

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
39
-
Figure 1. Line drawing and introductory description used in the ques
tionnaire covering the carbon cycle.
students prepare for teaching outside of their specialist subject (e.g. a biologist
-
teaching physics or chemistry, or vice versa). This non specialist teaching is
an increasing feature of secondary science teaching in the UK (at Key Stage 3
especially), but graduate scientists often feel insecure when working outside of
their graduate specialism. In the case of the present research, we had little idea
of the level of understanding of environmental issues possessed by recent
science graduates. Hence a readily accessible group of secondary PGCE science
students was included in the sample to give some indication of the extent to
which the intended product (the guide for teachers) might be helpful for teaching
at the lower secondary level. We revisit this point towards the end of the
article.
The two questionnaires
-
-
Each questionnaire contained two line drawings, one for each of the two environ
mental issues covered. A drawing depicted an aspect of the issue under investiga
tion (see figure 1 for an example). Underneath each drawing were about 20
-
statements covering every EC for the targeted issue and a selection of the mis
conceptions (including the most prevalent) which had been uncovered through the
interviews. Teachers were asked to respond true, false, don’t understand, or not
sure to each statement by ticking the appropriate box.

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
40
The two questionnaires were each piloted with two teachers. Afterwards the
-
respondents were interviewed about their responses to check that they had inter
preted the statements in the way intended and that the responses were eliciting
valid information. Statements which had not been understood in the intended way
were reworded.
Questionnaires were in all cases administered in person by a member of the
-
research team to ensure 100% returns and consistency of conditions for comple
tion. Typically the time taken to complete a questionnaire was about 20 minutes.
Analysis involved simple counting of the numbers of responses in each of the four
response categories.
Results
These are shown in tables 1-4. The percentages given alongside each EC are the
proportions of the sample affirming or showing uncertainty about the idea, as
measured by the statement used to test the particular EC in the questionnaire.
The latter point is an important limitation of the questionnaire methodology
adopted for the prevalence stage, where consideration of length of the instrument
dictated that usually only one statement could be used to test any one EC. In
addition to ECs, the tables also include the main misconceptions for each of the
four areas uncovered by the earlier interviews and subsequently included in the
questionnaires. Again, and for the same reasons, each misconception was usually
explored by just a single questionnaire statement.
In the following brief account, substantial understanding of an EC is taken to
be shown by correct responses from about two thirds or more of respondents; a
lesser degree of understanding is shown by fewer than this, by a third or more of
-
‘not sure’ responses, or by significant support for (or uncertainty about) a mis
conception.
Biodiversity
On the above basis, practising teachers showed substantial understanding of eight
of the 12 ECs for biodiversity (table 1). They had difficulties with: the nature and
uniqueness of a species (ECs 1, 8); the loss of diversity within species (EC 3a); the
specific living conditions required by many species in ecosystems (EC 6) and the
role of variation within a species in enabling it to adapt to change (EC 10).
-
Incorrect views about genetic variation in modern crops (statement 5) and con
siderable uncertainty about Lamarckian statements (nos. 11, 17) bear out trends
seen in the interview data indicating difficulty with ideas about evolution, diversity
within species and how these are both related.
Trainee primary teachers showed greater uncertainty for nearly all ECs than
practising teachers and a smaller proportion of correct responses. Half of the ECs
were understood substantially but there was either considerable support for, or
uncertainty about, all the misconceptions shown in table 1.

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
41
Carbon cycle
-
For the carbon cycle (table 2), practising teachers showed substantial understand
ing of four of the 11 ECs; overall few gave correct responses and more expressed
doubt than for biodiversity ECs. Trends described in the interviews were largely
supported by the questionnaire findings. Problem areas for teachers were: the
proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (EC 1); production of carbon
dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels (EC 2); the ‘fixing’ of atmospheric
carbon dioxide into the bodies of plants (ECs 3, 7); the relationship between
decay, carbon dioxide production and fossil fuel formation (ECs 4, 6); humanity’s
upsetting of the balance in today’s atmosphere by returning ‘ancient carbon’ to it
(ECs 9, 10) and confusion between respiration and photosynthesis (Statement 28).
The findings for primary trainees mirrored those for practising teachers but to
a lesser extent than with biodiversity. Usually, more of the students were uncertain
or incorrect but they did show better understanding than the practising teachers of
some ECs, namely, carbon dioxide production from the burning of fossil fuels or
decay (ECs 2, 4), humanity’s disturbance of the carbon cycle, e.g. by deforestation
(ECs 9, 11), and the notion of ‘ancient carbon’ (EC 10) - although this last one was
still poorly understood by the sample as a whole.
Ozone
In the case of ozone, practising teachers showed substantial understanding of only
two of the nine ECs and a third or more agreed with, or were uncertain about,
seven of the misconceptions in table 3. Substantial understanding of ozone layer
depletion (EC 2a), its adverse effects on human health (part of EC 2b) and its
causes (EC 5) was evident but other ECs were less well understood; seven of them
elicited correct responses from only about one half or less of the teachers and eight
elicited notable proportions (about one third or more) of ‘not sure’ responses. A
significant finding is the large support (88%) shown for the misconception that
pollution from fossil fuels is destroying the ozone layer.
The trainee secondary science teachers showed substantial understanding of
only four of the nine ozone ECs - those already described plus the beneficial nature
of the ozone layer (part of EC 2b) and its ability to repair itself (EC 6). The recent
-
increase in ground level ozone, its toxicity, the role of the sun in its production and
the unnatural nature of fluctuations in the ozone layer were all areas which seemed
to be less well understood. About one third or more of these students affirmed or
were unsure about seven of the misconceptions shown in table 3.
Global warming
With global warming, as with the ozone data just described, the questionnaire
findings (table 4) largely supported trends seen during the interviews. Seven of
the 11 ECs for global warming were understood substantially with the areas of
-
particular difficulty being: the role of carbon dioxide as the most important green
house gas controllable by humanity (EC 4); the natural greenhouse effect (EC 5);
the Earth’s balance of incoming and outgoing solar energy (EC 6); Man’s effect on
greenhouse gases (EC 7) and the uncertainty about the causes of global warming

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
42

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
43

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
45

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
47

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
49

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
50
(EC 10). Four misconceptions from table 4 elicited significant support by, or
doubt in, the teachers, notably holes in the ozone layer as the cause of global
warming (68% agreement).
-
The trainee secondary science teachers demonstrated substantial understand
ing of all global warming ECs, apart from EC 6, and showed some support for, and
uncertainty about, two misconceptions (statements 64 and 76).
Summary
Overall, for practising teachers, knowledge was best in the areas of biodiversity and
global warming. In each case 64% of responses to the ECs were correct. There
were far fewer correct responses in the cases of the carbon cycle (48%) and ozone
(45%). The trainee primary teachers completed the questionnaires for biodiversity
and the carbon cycle only. Their responses were almost identical to those of
practising teachers i.e. 60% and 50% correct for each issue, respectively. The
trainee secondary science teachers completed the questionnaires for ozone and
-
global warming only. Compared with the practising primary teachers, their knowl
edge was in each case better, with 57% correct for ozone and 79% for global
warming.
Some aspects of the four areas which seemed particularly well understood by
practising primary teachers and trainees were:
.
.
.
.
the loss of diversity of species (but recognized to a lesser extent by trainees),
the benefits of this kind of diversity for humanity and the adverse effect of
humanity on ecosystems.
the production of carbon dioxide during human respiration, the length of
time needed for the production of fossil fuels and the effect on atmospheric
carbon dioxide of deforestation.
recent fluctuations in the amount of upper atmosphere ozone (i.e. ‘holes’ in
the ozone layer), the role of manufactured chemicals in this and the
increased amounts of UV light resulting from it.
the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from the burning of
fossil fuels, possible climatic effects of global warming, and the need to take
precautions against it.
Striking features of the lack of understanding or uncertainty seen in the groups
were:
.
-
the small proportions of practising and trainee primary teachers who appre
ciated the loss of diversity that has occurred within species, the role of
variation between individuals in enabling adaptation of species, and the
sensitivity to changes in habitat of most species in ecosystems. Trainees’
doubts about the loss of diversity of species and the cause of variation in
individuals (i.e. genetic versus environmental) were also noticeable.
the lack of understanding or considerable uncertainty shown by practising
and trainee primary teachers about the role of carbon in the processes of
decay and of manufacture of tissues in animals and plants, and hence of the
‘locking up’ of ‘ancient carbon’ in fossil fuels and its release into today’s
atmosphere when they are burned; also the confusion shown in both groups
about the role of carbon dioxide in respiration and photosynthesis.
.

UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
51
.
secondary science trainees’ and practising primary teachers’ low awareness
-
of increased ground level ozone, its toxicity and how it is produced; also
(less so in the trainees) their uncertainty about the natural stability of the
-
ozone layer and the predominance of non scientific ideas about the agents
which cause ‘holes’ and the relationship of the latter to global warming.
practising primary teachers’ low awareness of, or uncertainty about, energy
exchange between the sun, Earth and space (also seen to an extent in the
secondary trainees), about the role of carbon dioxide in global warming, and
about the possibility of present warming being a natural phenomenon.
.
.
-
the support for or uncertainty about non scientific ideas about global
warming (particularly those involving the ozone layer) by practising
primary teachers and, to a lesser extent, by trainee secondary science
teachers.
Using the findings
-
It was argued earlier that good subject knowledge is important for the best teach
ing. In the case of the science of environmental issues, our starting point was an
explicit formulation of an appropriate knowledge base i.e. simple explanations of
-
environmental issues for primary teachers. Using these explanations as bench
marks for judging understanding, the study has identified specific underpinning
ideas which were well understood and not so well understood in samples of 290
practising and trainee primary teachers and 88 secondary science trainees. The
frequencies of occurrence of a number of misconceptions are also reported. It is
suggested that both the basic explanations and the difficulties of understanding
-
displayed by the teachers and trainees can usefully inform programmes of profes
sional development. In fulfilment of this purpose and of the main goal of the
research stated at the start of this article, a guide to help teachers develop their
et al.
knowledge in all seven areas identified earlier has been produced (Summers
2000). Although this is intended principally for primary teacher education, the
above evidence suggests that it may also be useful at secondary level.
The guide makes use of both the questionnaire findings and the earlier
et al
., in press). For each environmental issue, it
interview study (Summers
includes:
.
a ‘basic story’. This is a prose version of the explanation components which
acts as a simple account of the issue appropriate (in our judgement) for
many primary teachers. The inspiration for this approach was the use of
explanatory stories in the Nuffield Foundation report Beyond 2000 (Millar
and Osborne 1998).
.
.
a summary of the basic story (essentially the explanatory components
shown in the tables of this article).
a very brief summary of the research highlighting those aspects of the issue
-
which were well understood, not so well understood, non scientific or
absent.
.
-
-
sections which deal specifically with non scientific or absent ideas, compar
ing the views uncovered by the research with scientific interpretations.

M. SUMMERS ET AL.
52
.
.
-
a ‘beyond the basics’ section which further develops the science underpin
ning each issue for those with stronger scientific backgrounds or who
simply wish to know more.
diagnostic questionnaires (with answers) which focus on the explanation
components for each issue and enable teachers to assess their own starting
points. These were developed as a parallel strand of the present research.
The guide outlined above has a limited focus on personal scientific understanding.
-
We have written before on the distinction between subject knowledge and peda
et al.
gogical knowledge (Summers
1998) and the vital importance of the latter. As
mentioned earlier, the next step of our work is to use our materials to enhance the
environmental knowledge of a small group of primary teachers, and then follow
them through into their classrooms to document the ways in which they translate
this knowledge into effective learning experiences for children.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the many teachers who took part in this research,
and Esso UK plc and ICI Technology for providing the funds needed to carry out
the work.
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