Diversity in Science towards Science Inclusion - A topic for pre-service chemistry teacher education

With the project Diversity in Science toward Social Inclusion (DiSSI), we seek to develop and implement innovative methods, tools, and activities to foster inclusive science education in general and chemistry in particular. This will be achieved (i) through the development of good practice material and further innovation in concrete learning settings and (ii) through the support of pre- and in-service teachers in addressing different dimensions of diversity in their (future) class and reflecting with them on the impact of diversity in science learning in general and chemistry in particular.
In the poster, the focus will be on strongly engagement of pre-service chemistry teacher education through seminars or participation in the development process during the project. The pre-service chemistry teachers will participate in the project by working with the school students and being involved in the teacher education seminars. For the in-service teachers, all partner universities will offer workshops presenting similar content. In addition, the in-service teachers will experience the DiSSI approach to inclusive chemistry teaching, which will be tested and refined through two rounds of evaluated interventions. The focus will be on accompanying students to the non-formal education offered by the universities. Through these activities, the teacher candidates will get to know the DiSSI teaching approach for inclusive chemistry education. They will learn about the theoretical background of inclusive chemistry teaching, the need for new ways of dealing with diversity, and they will acquire new teaching skills through working with the concrete teaching material and developing new teaching sequences based on the existing examples of good practice. This will sensitize future) teachers to their students’ needs and provide them with the skills to implement what they have observed in their own practice. This will increase the use of effective inclusive practice in their future chemistry teaching.
In the poster, the initial activities and the concept of the entire project will be presented, as well as the approaches to indicate how preparing pre-service teachers can be undertaken within this project.