The use of Gowin’s “V” in elementary school science teacher’s education

Abstract

This work investigates the use of the heuristic instrument, known as Gowin’s “V” Diagram, in elementary school teachers pre-service education. It is part of a research that aimed to investigate possible contributions of a potentially meaningful teaching approach that integrates conceptual and methodological issues in teacher’s education. The didactic approach was based on the Theory of Meaningful Learning, and integrated conceptual, historical and experimental contents of the topic Optics of Vision in a course on science teaching embedded in a pedagogy course. The "V" diagram was used during the process as a learning facilitator, assessment tool, and data collection. We analyzed the diagrams built by students from the first contact with this instrument until its use during the course activities. Considerations are made on the potential use of this instrument in teacher education.