Abstract:
The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between Science teachers
attending seven types of teacher professional development (TpD) programme and the
influence these have on their use of computer software in the teaching of Science. This
research focuses on five of the seven programmes that are essential for the improvement of
Science performance and assessment results in South African schools. Teachers’ mastery of
Science is not exclusively dependent on their depth of understanding of the content, but
also on their understanding of and expertise in pedagogy, the curriculum, assessment
practices and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
The use and role of ICT in teaching have without a doubt become a non-negotiable aspect of
education. However, integration of technology in education faces multiple hurdles. The
greatest hurdle is the ability of the teacher to use ICT effectively. For teachers to use
technology effectively they need to possess a range of skills and knowledge that allows
them to achieve the objective of effective integration of ICT. Teachers need to be skilled to
use computers in all aspects of their work. The focus in this research falls on the five TpD
programmes that teachers attended; they include Science content, Science pedagogy, the
Science curriculum, ICT and assessment in Science.
This is secondary data analysis research that makes use of data collected from the South
African component of the TIMSS 2011 assessment. The data was derived from the Grade 9
Science teacher questionnaires and focuses on two key variables: (1) professional
development programmes attended, and (2) the use of computer software to teach Science. Data analysis was conducted at two levels: descriptive statistics to give the sample teachers
a defined background and structure, and inferential statistics to surmise the relationship
between teachers attending the various TpD programmes and their use of computer
software to teach Science. The findings from this research show that attending academic
TpD programmes is important to get teachers to use computers in the teaching of Science
and that training to ensure mastery of basic ICT skills cannot be over-emphasised.
