While the ways we communicate are changing because of rapid advancements in technology and societal challenges, teaching still relies on interaction between teachers and students. Thus teachers need to reflect on their interaction and communication competence from different perspectives e.g. what skills are involved and how to use them in their work community and teaching, as well as what skills are relevant for students in their future working life and how to include these in education (cf. Barak, 2017). Whether it is verbal, or through the use of educational technology, communication and interaction between teachers and students shape teaching-learning processes (Smart & Marshall, 2013). To better understand how future teachers understood the interaction and communication competence, this study aimed to examine trainee science teachers’ perceptions of interaction and communication skills in work life and in STEM education. In this study, 28 Finnish science teacher trainees participated in a designed study module emphasising communication and interaction in science. At the beginning, the students wrote an essay on what they think interaction skills were, and why they were important in working life. After completing the module, the participants answered a questionnaire, having open-ended questions, about interaction and communication skills in STEM education. The data was analysed using content analysis using an inductive approach. Results show that teacher students have traditional, but also modern and novel, perceptions of interaction and communication skills in working life and STEM education. According to the students, the meaning of the interaction skills, from the point of general working life, is related to well-being and a functioning working community, with successful collaboration and preventing conflict, but also centred on accomplishing work tasks. Furthermore, the students perceive that the meaning of interaction as a teacher is in collaboration with colleagues and parents, creating a supportive learning atmosphere, and, of course, the actual teaching. In STEM education, the students perceive interaction and communication skills acting as a part of science teachers’ professional development by providing them with tools for implementing teaching. In addition, according to the students, these skills make multidisciplinary STEM education possible. The students highlight the need for interaction and communication skills in STEM education within inquiry-focused science teaching and learning. We conclude that interaction and communication skills are important and a versatile part of teacher competence in STEM and deserve more attention in teacher education from theoretical viewpoints to practical training.

Barak, M. 2017. Science Teacher Education in the Twenty-First Century: a Pedagogical Framework for Technology-Integrated Social Constructivism. Research in Science Education, 47, 283–303. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-015-9501-y Smart, J. & Marshall, J. 2013. Interactions Between Classroom Discourse, Teacher Questioning, and Student Cognitive Engagement in Middle School Science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24(2), 249-267. DOI: 10.1007/s10972-012-9297-9