Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor an intervention program

Abstract

Teachers in one-teacher schools have often experienced problems when implementing enquiry-based science programs. An innovation was developed to address these problems in isolated one-teacher schools in the far-west of NSW. It consisted of 18 science kits and an associated teaching sequence. Each kit contained 15 student activity sheets, equipment and supplementary resources. An intervention program was designed to support the implementation of the innovation. The purpose of this study was to monitor the teacher's process of change and to ascertain the outcomes of the intervention program in one of the schools. Data were collected using, diagnostic dimensions from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Project as well as qualitative methods. The results indicated that the teacher's concerns about the innovation focused on how it affected the students. The teacher used the innovation to support her student-centred teaching methods and the students had positive perceptions about learning science.