New Perspectives in Science Education

Many studies take part in science education show that teachers are one of the most effective element at instruction. Teachers are shown as one of the reasons for the ideas that students have as a result of teaching. While teachers are so important in the learning process, it is also of great importance that teachers’ ideas, beliefs and attitudes are explored. With this study, it is aimed to investigate the science teachers beliefs about teaching science. This study has been carried out with ten science teachers who work in different regions of Turkey and have different demographic knowledge. Teacher belief interview developed by Luft and Roehring (2005) was used as data collection tool and revised for this research. A total of seven open-ended questions were asked to the teachers. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the obtained data and similar responses were collected under same categories. The most common results of this study are that the roles of science teachers are to guide students during the instruction process, students learn best in science lessons through experiments and teachers said that students’ understanding were met through the questions directed to the students. As a result of this study, more studies can be undertaken to investigate the beliefs of science teachers with more in number and more diverse demographic characteristics.

References:

 [1] Heller, P., & Finley, F. (1992). Variable uses of alternative conceptions: A case study in current electricity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 259-275.
[2] Helm, H. (1980). Misconceptions in physics amongst South African students. Physics Education, 15, 92-98.
[3] Ivowi, U. (1984). Misconceptions in physics amongst Nigerian secondary school students. Physics Education, 19, 279-285.
[4] Bryan, L.A., & Atwater, M.M. (2002). Teacher beliefs and cultural models: A challenge for science teacher preparation programs. Science Education, 86(6), 821-839.
[5] Yerrick, R., Parke, H., & Nugent, J. (1997). Struggling to promote deeply rooted change: The ‘filtering effect’ of teachers’ beliefs on understanding transformational views of teaching science. Science Education, 81, 137-159.
[6] Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research, 38, 47–65.
[7] Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2005). Research Methods in Education. (5 th ed.) British Library Cataloquing in Publication Data.
[8] Luft, J.A. & Roehring, G.H. (2007). Capturing science teachers' epistemological beliefs: The development of the teachers beliefs interview. Journal of Science Education, 11(2), 38-63. 
[9] Fenstermacher, G.D. & Soltis, J.F. (1992). Approaches to teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.