Student teachers’ confidence to teach science: is more science knowledge necessary to improve self‐confidence?

In recent years there has been renewed concern expressed about the state of science teaching in many primary and preschool (elementary and kindergarten) classrooms, and the poor science background knowledge of many teachers. The teachers’ lack of confidence to teach science has been largely attributed to their poor background knowledge. A reaction from teacher educators, such as recommended by the Australian Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science Report, has been to provide more explicit science discipline units in preservice teacher education courses. However, a few studies have cast some doubt on the notion that more science discipline studies help preservice teachers become more positive about teaching science. This paper reports on preservice students’ perceptions of their confidence to teach science before and after a science education unit which included only a small amount of physical science, and took an explicit gender approach emphasizing the students as learners. That factors other than the study of more science content influence student teachers’ confidence to teach science is substantiated. These factors, and implications for teacher education, are explored.