New Perspectives in Science Education

Translating Research Findings for Science Teachers: Best Practice for Science Teaching

By

UPAHI, Johnson Enero*, AKANMU, Morenikeji Alex, & OLORUNDARE, Adekunle Solomon 

Department of Science Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Research in science education has begun to witness a commendable growth in the last two decades. Research findings from mathematics and science-related courses have been reported in several seminars, workshops, conferences, local and international journals, yet, the impact of these researches seem to have remain little, or somewhat unfelt. The reasons attributed to this minimal impact could includes: Researchers have concentrated largely on the generation of research findings, and have given low priority to exploring their implications for, and application in, the classroom; undue attention given to fashionable research areas without adequate consideration of the practical usefulness of the research findings; the inadequacies of research recommendations to provide implications of findings to actual classroom practice; lack of awareness of research findings on the part of the teachers and their reluctances to accommodate such findings; and science teachers’ tendencies to rely on personal knowledge in the practice of science teaching. To facilitate the impact of science education research on actual classroom practice, researches should be planned and conducted vis-a-vis the adoption of research areas that have potential usefulness to science teachers, and development strategies to improve teachers’ awareness and willingness to adjust to research findings are discussed in this paper.