The Impact of Science Teachers’ Beliefs on Teaching Science: The Case of Saudi Science Teachers

Saleh Abdullah Alabdulkareem

doi:10.5539/jel.v5n2p233

Abstract

<p>The researcher aims to investigate Saudi science teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching issues. The sample consisted of 247 middle school teachers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study conducted in the academic school year 2014/2015, and utilized a questionnaire and an interview that included 10% of the sample. The questionnaire targeted the teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching issues and examined whether these conceptions fit the transmission, or discovery, of constructivist approaches. The interview focused on “authentic scientific resources”, the limitations of the word “science”, and the possible conflict between science and Islamic resources. The goal of this study was to draw conclusions and pedagogical implications to contribute to a better understanding of science teachers’ beliefs. The results show a significant shift toward the discovery approach. However, teachers address science as an issue separate from historical and cultural aspects. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher suggests a number of pedagogical implications.</p>

Highlights

1.1 Introducing the ProblemIn general, teaching is mainly an outcome of a teacher’s perceptions and insight
Keeping in mind the need for the fourth guiding principle of revitalizing teacher preparation in science published by NSTA (“All elementary-middle-secondary science education pre-service students should learn scientific content and thinking processes in the context of contemporary, relevant, personal and social issues and problems”; Glass, Aiuto, & Andersen, 1993, p. 11), we find that science teachers in Saudi are used to struggling to combine new discoveries in science, which are usually presented in Western science textbooks or in daily scientific news, and their beliefs
The interview three questions are: a) What is your definition of an “authentic scientific resource”? b) Some scholars argue that the word “science” in Arabic means a specific type of knowledge; this word should be for the Holy Quran and authentic Sunnah (Prophet Mohammed’s sayings and acts), whereas other branches of knowledge should be stated as two words, such as Natural Sciences or Geographic Sciences

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Introducing the ProblemIn general, teaching is mainly an outcome of a teacher’s perceptions and insight. Fisher (2007) emphasizes the need for teachers to understand their own teaching philosophies to work on further improvement. Teachers’ knowledge of content is an important issue that has been extensively investigated in research on teacher effectiveness. Strong content knowledge has consistently been identified as an essential element by those who study effective teaching. Educators think that if they have the same text, they will have the same learning outcomes, forgetting that “texts contain meaning to be unraveled. For this reason, we need to get into the habit of questioning what we need... Whereas knowledge can be evaluated or judged, such is not the case with beliefs because there is usually a lack of consensus about how they are to be evaluated” (Mansour, 2009, p. 27)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion