Current practice, problems and needs of primary teachers for teaching selected science content

Abstract

Fifty primary science teachers under the Bangkok Educational Service Area Office were asked to complete a questionnaire asking about their current practice, problems, and needs for teaching sub-strand 6: Processes that Shape the Earth, sub-strand 7: Astronomy and Space, and sub-strand 8: Nature of Science and Technology that were in line with the learning reform emphasizing learners as being most important. The results revealed that the majority of teachers had few experiences in teaching science despite their long teaching career. Most teachers also had more difficulties in understanding the concepts of sub-strand 7 than those of sub-strands 6 and 8, and they needed to gain more understanding about the content of sub-strand 8. The majority of teachers expressed a moderate level of current practice, problems, and needs with respect to teaching, integration among sub-strands, learning atmosphere, learning materials and resources, and assessment. The perceived needs of most teachers aligned with the problems they faced in schools. Problems faced by the teachers in teaching sub-strands 6 and 7 were not remarkably different and there were few teachers who indicated difficulty in integrating sub-strand 8 in their teaching. The three most common problems for teaching sub-strands 6, 7 and 8 were teaching materials, teaching strategies, and content understanding.