Student teachers’ views on content knowledge of environmental issues in biological and geoscience subject matters
Eija Yli-Panula 1 2 3 * , Isabel Banos-Gonzalez 3 , Eila Jeronen 4 5 6 , Eila Matikainen 1 2
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1 Department of Teacher Education, The University of Turku, Turku, FINLAND2 Center for Research on Learning and Instruction, The University of Turku, Turku, FINLAND3 Department of Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, University of Murcia, Murcia, SPAIN4 Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu, Oulu, FINLAND5 Faculty of Educational Sciences, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FINLAND6 Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, FINLAND* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Subject content knowledge (SCK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) are key components of teacher competence that affect teaching and students’ learning and thinking about the future. In this study, SCK and PCK were analyzed from Finnish and Spanish (n = 360) primary school student teachers’ (PSTs) answers using a questionnaire that included environmental problems and teaching sustainability. The answers were analyzed with theoretically guided deductive and inductive content analyses. The PSTs considered it important to teach factual, conceptual, methodological and metacognitive knowledge and skills for solving local, regional and global environmental problems. Critical and evaluative knowledge also appeared, but in rather few answers. The results are discussed regarding the meaning of SCK and PCK and a powerful knowledge of science disciplines, such as biology and the geosciences.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INTERDISCIP J ENV SCI ED, Volume 21, Issue 4, 2025, Article No: e2520

https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/17442

Publication date: 19 Nov 2025

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Article Downloads: 4

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