Teachers’ practice and instructional decision making processes are influenced by several factors such as their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK; Abell, 2007; Gess-Newsome, 1999). PCK is a professional knowledge that enables teachers to make content understandable for students (Shulman, 1986). Orientation is an important component of PCK (Friedrichsen, Van Driel, & Abell, 2010). Although there are various PCK models (e.g., Grossman, 1990; Shulman, 1986; Magnusson et al., 1999), few of those explicitly defined orientation and considered its role on PCK and teachers’ practice. For instance, Grossman (1990) termed the orientation as “conceptions of purposes for teaching subject matter” and Magnusson et al. (1999) called it as “orientations toward teaching science”. The basic idea behind the orientation is that it includes teachers’ beliefs and purposes for teaching a particular discipline (e.g., science and mathematics) at a particular grade level. In addition, they both advocated that orientation shapes teachers practices in various ways (e.g., setting objectives, selecting instructional activities, and deciding on what to assess and how). Magnusson et al. (1999) defined PCK for science teaching and included science teaching orientation (STO) as an overarching component which shapes the others, namely, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of learner, knowledge of instructional strategy, and knowledge of assessment. Considering the essential role of STO in instruction, there is a need for empirical studies delving into the complexities of nature and sources of STO (Friedrichsen & Dana, 2005; Friedrichsen, Van Driel, & Abell, 2011). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the how pre-service chemistry teachers’ STO changed in a practicum course-of which it was designed based on Magnusson et al.’s (1999) PCK model-, sources influencing their STO during the course, and how these student teachers reflected their STO to lesson planning and instruction. In this study we defined STO as a set of beliefs including goals and purposes of science teaching, views of science, and beliefs about science teaching and learning (Friedrichsen et al., 2011). Goals and purposes of science teaching are the teacher’s beliefs about the functions of science education in general (e.g., teaching science for intellectual development). Views of science include teachers’ conceptions about the nature of science (NOS). Beliefs about science teaching and learning are the teachers’ beliefs about teachers’ and learners’ role, and how science teaching and learning occurs. 

Abell, S. K. (2007). Research on science teacher learning. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 1105 – 1149). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research Design: Choosing among five traditions. London, UK: Sage Friedrichsen, P., & Dana, T. (2005). A substantive-level theory of highly-regarded secondary biology teachers’ science teaching orientations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(2), 218 – 244. Friedrichsen, P., Driel, J. H. V. & Abell, S. K. (2011). Taking a closer look at science teaching orientations. Science Education, 95(2), 358–376. Gess-Newsome, J. (1999). Secondary teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about subject matter and their impact on instruction. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge (pp. 51–94). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer. Grossman, P.(1990). The Making of a Teacher. New York: Teachers College Press. Loughran, J., Mulhall, P., & Berry, A. (2004). In search of pedagogical content knowledge I science: Developing ways of articulating and documenting professional practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 41, 370-391. Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education (pp. 95-132). Boston: Kluwer. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.