THE ROLE OF REFLECTION IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENCE INTERN

This study focuses on how a pre-service teacher sees her engagement with her learners in science during her period of school internship. The researcher, a teacher educator was an observer of the context and the classroom processes. The data in the reflective journal of the intern are therefore, cross-validated by the researcher’s actual observations. The class room observations and in-depth interactions with the intern helped the researcher to situate the reflections of the intern in an appropriate context of the learners and the school ethos. A thematic analysis of the narratives provides substantial insights into the intern's science related pedagogical conceptions and strategies, understanding of learner behavior, impact of contextual factors and their dynamic interplay. The findings of the study help in understanding the role of reflection in the professional development and also help in understanding the dynamics of contextualized pedagogy in science.