The enhancement of science process skills in primary teacher education students

The science process skills of primary teacher education students in Western Australia are often poorly developed. Their lack of skills is part of a more general and widespread problem. Hackling and Garnett (1991) state that " students at all levels show poorly developed skills of problem analysis, planning, and carrying out of controlled experiments. " In a study of first year tertiary students Moneira (1980) claims that many students cannot identify the basic phenomena and even the basic question involved in experiments. He suggests that they see experiments merely as using equipment rather than as a process of generating information.