New Perspectives in Science Education

The paper examines the role of primary school science teachers’ understanding of their own learning style and the influence/impact that it has in the teaching and learning of their students. Literature shows that teachers’ learning styles not only influence how individuals learn, but also how they teach their students. Furthermore, it indicates that teachers often teach in the way in which they had been taught even if it does not support the learning style preferred by most students.

The reported study was undertaken in various school districts in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The data was collected through the use of questionnaires administered to teachers, classroom observations during the teaching of a science lesson, semi-structured interviews with science teachers and policy document reviews. Also interviewed were the school district officials responsible for science education in the various districts. Data coding and analysis followed the iterative approach as suggested by Miles and Huberman (1984) and statistical analysis.

The findings of the study strongly reveal that most teachers taught the way they were taught as students or believed/understood that they themselves learn even if they are not aware of their learning styles; that the suggested new teaching methods or approaches such as an inquiry based approach were either ignored or not known by most teachers, and that teaching of science was not meeting the required/desired standards. This paper argues that teachers’ understanding of their own learning style shapes and have an impact on student learning environment and achievement. Thus, it is imperative that teachers are aware of their own teaching styles as this knowledge will equip them to make better choices of instructional strategies that do not impede learning. Furthermore, there is a need for teacher professional development that will focus on this issue. It concludes that change in learning of science at the primary level should be prioritized as this will help build a sound scientific knowledge and foundation from early years that students require to continue with science to completion of their degrees.