Perceptions of the Teacher's Roles by Prospective Elementary School Science Teachers in a Web-Based Biology Course

Web-based instruction was integrated into a course on human biology given to prospective elementary school science teachers. The goal of the study was to reveal the students' perceptions about the teacher's roles in such a course. Data were gathered from the teacher's forum and e-mail messages, students' e-mails, and interviews. The findings revealed that the teacher's roles such as guidance, mediation, management, provision of technical, and emotional support, in addition to the provision of information were well accepted by the students. However, since the students encountered difficulties in implementing independent (self-directed) learning required in the web-based course, they emphasized their preference for the role of the teacher as an information provider. Learning with ICT highlights the conflict existing between the dual roles of the student-teachers, as learners in the present and teachers in the future. The implications of this discrepancy are discussed in the context of elementary school science teacher education.