Studies on freshman science student teachers' beliefs about science teaching and learning

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This dissertation examines the beliefs of freshman Science student teachers regarding teaching and learning across four German universities, focusing on secondary Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Primary Science education. It comprises a collection of qualitative and quantitative studies, employing a Mixed-Methods Design. The qualitative segment evaluates student teachers' beliefs about Classroom Organisation, Teaching Objectives, and Epistemological Beliefs in the Natural Sciences, utilizing an innovative approach that includes analyzing drawings of themselves as teachers. A pilot study developed an instrument and evaluation pattern based on Grounded Theory, which was then applied to a sample of 284 student teachers across the four science disciplines. In the quantitative segment, information was gathered from the same sample regarding Curricular Beliefs, the Nature of Science, and the Nature of School Science through various Likert-type questionnaires. The dissertation culminates in a discussion of the integration of data from these qualitative and quantitative studies, employing a Mixed Methods approach, with integration based on empirical quantile calculations.