Biology teachers training proposals for the development of scientific competences in secondary education

Abstract

The acquisition of scientific competences enables students to use knowledge to identify problems, acquire new knowledge, explain scientific phenomena, and draw evidence-based conclusions on science-related issues. Hence, the importance of its study, in the field of science education, for teacher training and that its exercise in the classroom facilitates it. In our work we review the current state of educational research on the acquisition of scientific competences in the field of biology and at secondary education levels. For this, we have carried out a systematized bibliographic search on the contributions collected in the Web of Science database. A total of 74 articles are found, among them 16 works has been selected according inclusion and exclusion criteria. These works address the need for training of secondary biology teachers in the teaching of scientific competences and provide different approaches to achieve this, based, among others, on the use in the classroom of the characteristics of the nature of science; the use of educational methodologies that promote a greater active participation of students through the approach of problematic situations, as well as that stimulate critical reasoning and argumentation; and the use of activities that raise social controversies with scientific links. Finally, we consider the need for biology teacher training in these aspects that highlight the importance of inquiry as a way of experiencing science in the classroom and developing scientific literacy.