Conceptions of teaching and learning Natural Sciences in early childhood educators in Chile and their relationships with models of scientific rationality

Abstract: From a praxeological position, conceptions about teaching and learning take an important role in the implementation of the prescribed curriculum and in the configuration of learning experiences in the classroom. The objective of this work is to identify and characterize conceptions about teaching and learning of the natural sciences in early childhood educators in training at the beginning of a course in the Didactics of Natural Sciences. The results indicate that there is a coexistence between positions close to models with traits having a strong, radical rationalism, and notions about the teaching and learning of traditional-dogmatic-type sciences with characteristics of a moderate rationalism and a constructivist notion with respect to learning.