Abstract

One of the core practices of science teachers is the construction of science teaching explanations. These explanations serve to clarify concepts, procedures, facts, ideas, or types of problems, and are aimed at promoting student understanding. The low performance of Chilean science teachers on explanations has led us to incorporate instances in chemistry teachers education specifically aimed at developing the necessary skills to construct subject-adequate science teaching explanations. The objective of this research was to characterize the transference of the components of preservice teachers' subject-adequate science teaching explanations across different chemistry topics. Through a qualitative methodology with an exploratory case study approach, we analyzed a total of 112 scientific explanations constructed by 28 chemistry preservice teachers throughout a 4-month training process. Our results show that, for the analyzed sample, the formulation of subject-adequate science teaching explanations involve different components whose development has distinctive characteristics. The criteria associated with the form of the explanations, which depend on teachers' discursive knowledge, can be developed in teachers' education through recursive strategies for the formulation of science teaching explanations across different chemistry topics. The criteria associated with the function of the explanations, which depend on teachers' content knowledge, require other strategies besides the disciplinary courses and recursive strategies for the formulation of science teaching explanations, to get teachers to formulate subject-adequate science teaching explanations across different chemistry topics. The work developed can provide instructional and evaluative strategies for science teachers' education, oriented to one of the teaching core practices that requires our attention as teacher trainers.