Examining the use of 21st-Century Teaching Skills in Basic School Science Classrooms

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the use of 21st-century teaching skills in basic school science classrooms. The study adopted a qualitative research design. An observation checklist was employed to gather relevant data for the study. The study was carried out in Enchi, the Aowin Municipal Capital in the Western North Region, and Assin Foso, the Assin Central Municipal Capital in the Central Region of Ghana. The population used for the study was made up of eighteen science teachers selected from six public Junior High Schools in Enchi and eighteen science teachers selected from six public Junior High Schools in Assin Foso. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the six public Junior High Schools from Enchi and six public Junior High Schools from Assin Foso because the teachers from the public schools have acquired professional training. The thirty-six science teachers were conveniently selected. Concerning the data collected from the observations conducted, percentages and average values were computed for teachers who used 21st-century teaching skills in their science classroom and for those who did not use 21st-century teaching skills in their science classroom. It came out that an average of 30.20 % of the teachers used for the study did apply the 21st-century teaching skills in their science classroom whiles 69.80 % of the teachers did not use all the 21st-century teaching skills in their science classroom. Therefore, teachers who did not use all the 21st-century teaching skills should be encouraged to apply them to produce 21st-century learners.