Unit rationale, description and aim
Preservice teachers will develop understanding of how learners across the middle years (Years 4–9) construct scientific knowledge and why alternative conceptions persist across this phase of schooling. Research highlights that students’ prior knowledge strongly shapes their interpretation of scientific ideas, particularly as concepts increase in abstraction during the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Teachers must therefore understand the origins and progression of these conceptions to support meaningful learning.
This unit examines alternative science conceptions across biological, chemical, physical, and earth and space sciences, with attention to conceptual progression from upper primary to lower secondary contexts. Preservice teachers analyse research evidence, examine curriculum expectations across phases and explore pedagogical approaches that support conceptual change. Emphasis is placed on eliciting, diagnosing, and responding to students’ thinking using assessment-informed teaching strategies and disciplinary representations.
The aim of this unit is to enable preservice teachers to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional judgement required to design and implement responsive science teaching that supports conceptual development in the middle years, in alignment with the Australian Curriculum: Science.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Explain the development and persistence of alterna...
Learning Outcome 01
Analyse research on students’ alternative science ...
Learning Outcome 02
Examine strategies for eliciting and diagnosing al...
Learning Outcome 03
Evaluate teaching approaches that support conceptu...
Learning Outcome 04
Apply knowledge of alternative conceptions and con...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- Theories of learning and conceptual change (constructivism; cognitive development; sociocultural influences)
- Development and persistence of alternative conceptions across Years 4–9
- Alternative conceptions in:
- Biological sciences
- Chemical sciences (e.g. particle theory)
- Physical sciences (e.g. force, energy)
- Earth and space sciences
- Curriculum progression across the middle years (upper primary → lower secondary)
- Diagnostic assessment and elicitation techniques
- Role of disciplinary representations (models, diagrams, symbolic systems)
- Language, literacy, and numeracy demands in science learning
- Instructional strategies to support conceptual change
- Designing sequenced learning across year levels
- Evaluating teaching effectiveness using evidence of student learning.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy is designed to develop preservice teachers’ capacity to interpret research, analyse student thinking, and design responsive teaching informed by evidence. Assessment tasks are scaffolded to support progression from knowledge acquisition to application and synthesis, consistent with the unit learning outcomes. Preservice teachers may use generative AI tools ethically to support drafting and idea development; however, all submitted work must demonstrate original understanding, critical engagement with sources, and appropriate referencing.
Task 1 requires preservice teachers to critically engage with research literature on alternative conceptions and evaluate a teaching resource. This task develops skills in research analysis, information literacy, and evaluation of pedagogical practices. Task 2 asks preservice teachers to map conceptual progression over time to demonstrate planning for eliciting prior learning, supporting conceptual change, and integrating assessment strategies to support student learning.
To pass this unit, preservice teachers are required to submit all assessment tasks and achieve an overall passing grade of 50%.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Bibliography and Resource Anal...
Assessment Task 1: Bibliography and Resource Analysis
Prepare an annotated bibliography of research literature examining alternative science conceptions across the middle years for a selected science concept or area, including consideration of both upper primary and lower secondary contexts and curriculum. Then, select two teaching resources and evaluate their efficacy to identify, elicit and address common alternative conceptions. Drawing on theoretical and evidence-based frameworks propose improvements or alternatives that would support teachers in eliciting and addressing alternative conceptions.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Learning Progression Investig...
Assessment Task 2: Learning Progression
Investigate a selected science concept across a three-year curriculum band (Years 4–6 or Years 7–9) to map conceptual progression over time. Identify key concepts expected at each year level and analyse how understanding develops, including common alternative conceptions that may persist. Design formative assessment strategies to elicit students’ prior learning and identify enduring alternative conceptions at each transition point. Then propose targeted teaching experiences that explicitly respond to common alternative conceptions and support students’ progression toward scientifically accepted understandings.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
The learning and teaching strategy for this unit is informed by constructivist and sociocultural theories that recognise learning as the development of increasingly sophisticated understandings built on prior knowledge. Preservice teachers engage in active, inquiry-based learning experiences that model effective middle years science pedagogy and reflect the cognitive and developmental needs of learners across Years 4–9. Strategies are designed to support diverse learners to engage in and reflect on quality scientific pedagogical content knowledge.
Teaching approaches include interactive workshops, case-based analysis, collaborative problem-solving tasks, and engagement with research literature. Digital resources such as simulations, multimedia representations, and online discussions support flexible learning and enable exploration of abstract scientific concepts. These approaches are designed to scaffold preservice teachers’ ability to analyse student thinking, interpret evidence, and use evaluative expertise to make well founded pedagogical decisions.
The unit emphasises professional practice through the design and critique of teaching sequences that address conceptual progression within and between year levels. Opportunities for reflection and feedback support the development of critical thinking and professional judgement. This strategy aligns with expectations for initial teacher education by integrating theory, research, and practice to prepare preservice teachers to make informed pedagogical decisions in diverse classroom contexts.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level
In connection to the learning outcomes, on successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level standards:
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO3
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4, LO5
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO4, LO5
Relating toOrganise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO5
Relating toUse curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO5
Relating toSet learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO5
Relating toPlan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO5
Relating toInclude a range of teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO4, LO5
Relating toDemonstrate broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO4
Relating toDemonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO5
Relating toDemonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO5
Relating toDemonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO5
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Core Content
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the AITSL Core Content:
Relating toThe foundations of how a student’s brain develops from early childhood through to young adult, including the development of executive functions and the implications for teaching.
Relevant learningLO1
Relating toThe most effective teaching practices to reduce cognitive overload, including explicit instruction, scaffolding, and clearly structured content that connects new information to prior learning.
Relevant learningLO1, LO4, LO5
Relating toWhy teaching practices must adapt as a student’s familiarity with the knowledge of a subject increases, including when to move from scaffolded practice to independent practice, and why this is important.
Relevant learningLO1, LO4, LO5
Relating toHow to develop and use worked examples for students who are unfamiliar with a subject, followed by more challenging problem-solving activities as students become more familiar with the knowledge of a subject.
Relevant learningLO4, LO5
Relating toThe key features of coherent and deliberate planning and sequencing of tasks and lessons including curriculum-aligned learning objectives, clear descriptions of how students will show evidence of mastery, the common progression of learning in a subject area and the critical curriculum knowledge needed for students to progress.
Relevant learningLO2, LO5
Relating toHow to sequence tasks within a lesson that build upon each other, meet students where they are in their learning and help them understand the progression of skills needed to attain mastery.
Relevant learningLO4, LO5
Relating toHow to effectively begin instruction of a task through using a clear explanation of what students are expected to learn, chunked into small, manageable tasks with well-defined goals.
Relevant learningLO4, LO5
Relating toHow to pitch an introductory lesson at an appropriate level, before starting a new unit of work, by identifying where a student is in their learning through assessing what they know, or think they know.
Relevant learningLO3, LO5
Relating toHow to use formative assessment practices to gather and interpret information about student learning as learning is taking place – for example, use of simple, low-key assessments such as exit slips, quick quizzes or targeted oral questioning to prompt students to articulate their reasoning and identify common student misconceptions.
Relevant learningLO3, LO5
Relating toHow to provide feedback as learning is taking place that is specific, honest, constructive, and clear, and uses explicit teaching strategies to re-teach concepts, scaffold, or correct misconceptions as necessary.
Relevant learningLO3, LO4, LO5
Relating toHow to explicitly deliver reading and writing instruction through discipline and discipline-specific curriculum and pedagogical studies as outlined in standard 4.2.
Relevant learningLO3, LO4, LO5
Relating toThe research that shows numeracy is a fundamental component of learning, discourse, and critique across all areas of the curriculum and improves students’ understanding of and engagement with material within and beyond the mathematics curriculum.
Relevant learningLO2, LO4
Relating toThe research evidence showing the positive impact of high-quality instruction delivered by the classroom teacher as a protective measure in reducing the need for further intervention.
Relevant learningLO4, LO5
Representative texts and references
Recommended texts and documents
Skamp, K. (Ed.). (2023). Teaching primary and middle years science (7th ed.). Cengage.
ACARA Australian Curriculum, Science: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/science/
Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au
ACT Education Directorate: https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/Our-Curriculum.
New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA): https://www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/home.
Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA): https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA): https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/HomePage.aspx.
Recommended references
Allen, M. (2019). Misconceptions in primary science (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Anderson, C. W., Krajcik, J. S., Smith, C. L., & Wiser, M. (2006). Implications of research on children’s learning for standards and assessment: A proposed learning progression for matter and the atomic-molecular theory. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 4(1–2), 1–98.
Duit, R., & Treagust, D. F. (2003). Conceptual change: A powerful framework for improving science teaching and learning. International Journal of Science Education, 25(6), 671–688.
Gurel, D. K., Eryilmaz, A., & McDermott, L. C. (2019). A review and comparison of diagnostic instruments to identify students’ misconceptions in science. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(7), 1–23.
Kang, H., & Anderson, C. W. (2020). Supporting middle school students’ development of scientific explanations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(7), 1099–1130.
Krajcik, J. S., & Shin, N. (2020). Using learning progressions to design curriculum, instruction and assessment. In N. G. Lederman & S. K. Abell (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 275–292). Routledge.
McNeill, K. L., Katsh-Singer, R., González-Howard, M., & Loper, S. (2016). Factors impacting teachers’ argumentation instruction in their science classrooms. International Journal of Science Education, 38(12), 2026–2046.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Science and engineering for grades 6–12: Investigation and design at the center. National Academies Press.
OECD. (2023). PISA 2022 results (Volume I): The state of learning and equity in education. OECD Publishing.
Osborne, J. (2021). The role of disciplinary literacy in science education. Studies in Science Education, 57(2), 167–192.
Silvester, H., & Lawrence, J. (2025). Launch, Inquire, Act - A framework for teaching and learning science. Teaching Science Journal, 71(1), 10-21.
Taber, K. S. (2022). Alternative conceptions and science education: Reflections and future directions. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 23(4), 1012–1026.
van den Broek, P., & Kendeou, P. (2021). Cognitive processes in conceptual change. Educational Psychologist, 56(3), 211–227.
Vosniadou, S. (2019). The development of students’ understanding of science. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (3rd ed., pp. 575–596). Cambridge University Press.
Widodo, A., Duit, R., & Treagust, D. F. (2013). Teaching science for conceptual change: Theory and practice. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), International handbook of research on conceptual change (2nd ed., pp. 487–503). Routledge.