In the context of a research project underdevelopment by the authors intended to explore the potentialities of communicating as a way to learn science critically, an exploratory study was developed to find out in which extent portfolios can be a strategy to interrelate research in education and physics’ teacher’s practices. Therefore, during one academic year, at the University of Lisbon, in an initial teacher education course, undergraduate students intended to be secondary physics teachers, in a context of a didactics of physics module were demanded to create a portfolio. Students were expected to create a portfolio, not as an away to make assessments or merely as a sample of collection of assignments, but mainly expecting that the portfolio would become a personal strategy to learn physics education in a critical way. Portfolios should testify a dynamic process involving a systematic and explicit effort of intertwining reflective writing, presenting and yet, giving evidence of their group discussions, guided by the question “what research has to say to science teachers?”
The results show a progressive change in students over time, revealed by a greater easiness in structuring and organising content, in eliciting key issues of subject knowledge, in identifying transferable skills and consequently, relating different fields of physics and different fields of research in education, namely conceptualising implications for teacher practices. As a consequence, some implications for teacher education and training can be obviously drawn.