Pre-service primary teachers mostly have negative attitudes towards science teaching and learning, and their science background is usually low. This usually results in them feeling unable or unconfident to teach science at school. A previous step to improve their willingness to teach science to children is that they feel they can learn in-depth…

Background: Microorganisms are very important in day-to-day life, but they are inadequately addressed in the Spanish educational system. It is essential that students are well informed about their characteristics and functions. Purpose: The study aims to find out primary school students' perceptions of microorganisms and to analyze whether…

This article presents research concerning the way in which primary school pupils in southern Spain interpret the concepts of population and species. The results show that, for the concept of population, there was an intense anthropocentrism in pupils' responses, while for the concept of species, only animals were considered as living creatures.…