Investigating teachers' beliefs in the implementation of science inquiry and science fair in three Boston high schools

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20251599
Title:
Investigating teachers' beliefs in the implementation of science inquiry and science fair in three Boston high schools
Creator:
De Barros Miller, Anne Marie (Author)
Contributor:
Clemons, Kristal (Advisor)
Beltz, Lynda (Committee member)
DeRosa, Donald A. (Committee member)
Language:
English
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2016
Date Accepted:
August 2016
Date Awarded:
September 2016
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Dissertations
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
In previous decades, inquiry has been the focus of science education reform in the United States. This study sought to investigate how teachers beliefs affect their implementation of inquiry science and science fair. It was hypothesized that science teachers beliefs about inquiry science and science fair are predictive of their implementation of such strategies. A case study approach and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect the data, and an original thematic approach was created to analyze the data.

Findings seem to suggest that science teachers who embrace science inquiry and science fair believe these practices enhance students performance, facilitate their learning experience, and allow them to take ownership of their learning. However, results also suggest that teachers who do not fully embrace inquiry science as a central teaching strategy tend to believe that it is not aligned with standardized tests and requires higher cognitive skills from students. Overall, the study seems to indicate that when inquiry is presented as a prescribed teaching approach, this elicits strong negative feelings/attitudes amongst science teachers, leading them not only to resist inquiry as a teaching tool, but also dissuading them from participating in science fair. Additionally, the findings suggest that such feelings among teachers could place the school at risk of not implementing inquiry science and science fair.

In conclusion, the study reveals that science inquiry and science fair should not be prescribed to teachers as a top-down, mandatory approach for teaching science. In addition, the findings suggest that adequate teacher training in content knowledge and pedagogy in science inquiry and science fair should be encouraged, as this could help build a culture of science inquiry and implementation amongst teachers. This should go hand-in-hand with offering mentoring to science teachers new to inquiry and science fair for 2-5 years.
Subjects and keywords:
behavioral beliefs
case study
control beliefs
inquiry learning
normative beliefs
theory of planned behavior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/D20251599
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20251599
Use and reproduction:
In Copyright: This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the right-holder(s). (http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/)
Copyright restrictions may apply.

Downloads