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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 15, Issue 1, Article 8 (Jun., 2014) |
In order to give more detailed information regarding teachers’ skills, the science process skill levels of elementary teachers were analyzed in two stages (basic and integrated skills). The descriptive statistics indicated that elementary teachers’ skill level was 55% in basic skills and 48% in integrated skills. According to the t-test, the differences between basic and integrated skill scores were significant in favor of basic skills. According to t-test, it was detected that these differences between basic and integrated skill scores were significant in favor of basic skills. Ergin et al., (2005) reports that basic SPS can be acquired from the preschool period onward while integrated skills can begin to be acquired in secondary (5th through 8th grades) school. In this case, science elementary school teachers are responsible for teaching basic skills and these skills are used in classrooms, it can be assumed that teachers have more opportunities to develop basic skills, rather than integrated skills. Similarly, some report that teachers with higher SPS were more active in teaching these skills in classroom (Aydoğdu, 2006; Downing & Gifford, 1996). Investigating science process skill levels of elementary school teachers, a study shows that science process skill levels of elementary school teachers are medium (Ercan, 2007). Similarly, another study conducted to understand levels of integrated SPS of elementary school teachers finds the levels of integrated SPS of elementary school as medium (Yılmaz & Meral-Kandemir, 2012). The literature, however, is inconsistent in this regard. In the study conducted by Türkmen and Kandemir (2011); the researchers find that elementary school teachers’ knowledge about SPS was poor. Similarly, in another study done by Işık and Nakipoğlu (2011); it is found that elementary school teachers’ knowledge about SPS was poor. The related literature shows that SPS of pre-service elementary school teachers were also at low level (Akar, 2007; Aydoğdu & Buldur, 2012; Laçin-Şimşek, 2010). These results might indicate that teachers in this study have already had low levels of SPS long before starting to teach. Even if we assume that the teachers have already developed SPS during their teacher education, then, this might mean that SPS of elementary school teachers deteriorate throughout their teaching career. It is very important that teachers understand SPS sufficiently to make their students gain these skills at a desired level, (Mutisya et al., 2013) however, Lotter et al. (2007) report that elementary school teachers did not have sufficient conceptual understanding of science process skills. Additionally, pre-service elementary teachers did not have sufficient conceptual understanding of science process skills (Chabalengula et al., 2012). The problem of not having conceptual understanding of science process skills should be resolved through both pre-service and in-service trainings which would focus on the conceptual and cognitive understanding of SPS.
This study found a significant difference between basic and integrated skill scores and overall SPSTFT scores of elementary school teachers with regard to their gender. It was detected that these significant differences were in favor of female teachers. In a study was reported that the science process skill levels of elementary school teachers did not differ significantly in terms of gender (Ercan, 2007). Another study examined integrated science process skills of elementary school teachers in terms of gender, and it was found that there were significant differences in favor of female teachers in their study (Yılmaz & Meral-Kandemir, 2012). The reason for the gender difference could be cultural factors, such as upbringings of males and females in Turkish culture. The patriarchal nature of Turkish culture requires males to be more relaxed and females to be detailed oriented and more responsible individuals (İkram, 2010). This is reflected in school attitudes and success of females who seem to be more focused and learning oriented.
The present study notes that seniority factor has a significant impact on basic skill scores favoring 1-5 year-teachers as compared to the group that has taught for more than 21 years. The integrated skill scores were also in favor of 1-5 year teachers compared to 21 and above group. The overall SPSTFT scores were in favor of 1-5 year-teachers compared to 21 and above group and in favor of 1-5 year teachers compared to 16-20 year teachers. The findings are supported by Yılmaz and Meral-Kandemir (2012) who investigated the SPS of elementary school teachers in terms of the teachers’ seniority, and found there is a negative correlation between SPS and seniority of elementary school teachers. They state that there are significant differences in “identifying and controlling variables”, “formulating hypotheses”, “analyzing of data and constructing graphs”, and “experimenting” in terms of seniority of elementary school teachers. In a study conducted by Ercan (2007), the SPS of elementary school teachers were investigated according to their seniority. According to the results, as the seniority of elementary teachers increased, their SPS decreased. The reason of high science process skill levels of low seniority elementary school teachers could be the fact that they are newly graduated from university with these skills. However, as the skill levels of senior teachers decrease over time, it may be show that senior teachers cannot develop these skills. It can be said that low seniority pre-service teachers may gain the SPS during “Science Teaching Course” theoretically and “Practice Teaching Course” practically. When they start to teach, those skills will be used by them. One of the reasons for low seniority teachers with high SPS may be the new Science and Technology education program. Since this program was launched in 2004, it has been used more intensively in the elementary school curricula. The use of experimental activities including SPS may contribute to the improvement of teachers’ SPS. Celep and Bacanak (2013) state that the SPS may improve through laboratory activities. Low seniority teachers (having 0-5 year experience) have been exposed to the 2004 science and technology program launched by Turkish Ministry of National Education, on the other hand, high seniority teachers have been exposed to different science and technology program (i.e., 1968, 1992, 2000 and 2004). Especially, high seniority teachers may resist to the latest program changes which emphasize the SPS more. This comment is consistent with other studies claimed that high seniority teachers resist to general program changes (Gökmenoğlu & Eret, 2011; Tekbiyik & Akdeniz, 2008). Depending on the increase in seniority, the reason for the decrease in these skills should be analyzed in a more detailed way.
As a result of ANCOVA employed to determine whether elementary school teachers’ SPS differed on working place, controlling for their seniority, no significant difference was found between the total scores of basic and integrated skills and overall SPS of elementary school teachers in terms of their working place. However, when the arithmetic means are examined, it can be seen that teachers working in villages had the highest score in basic skills; those working in districts had the highest score in integrated skills, and those working in towns had the highest score in overall total skills. These results showed that teachers working in villages had high levels of SPS. Probably, one of the reasons why teachers working in villages have high SPS is that they have low seniority status, namely they are newly graduate teachers. The Republic of Turkey, Ministry of National Education assigns new teachers starting from villages. Ministry of National Education assigns teachers having high seniority to the city centers according to teachers’ will. As a result of this, low seniority teachers mostly work in villages, and those teachers have high SPS. But, Ercan (2007) finds significant differences in subgroups of only "formulating hypotheses" and "performing experiment" in favor of teachers working in villages, but not controlling for seniority.
There was no significant difference between the total scores of basic, integrated and overall SPS of elementary school teachers in terms of their students’ grades. However, when the arithmetic means of SPS of elementary teachers were analyzed, it was noted that 4th grade teachers had the highest score and 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade teachers followed them respectively. In the study conducted by Lotter et al. (2007), they indicated that teachers were inadequate while teaching SPS according to different grade levels. According to Ercan's study (2007) no significant differences were found between the SPS of elementary school teachers in terms of their students’ grades. In the current study, the reason for the high science process skill scores of 4th grade teachers could be science and technology lessons in the 4th grade curriculum that focuses on SPS intensely. Thus, 4th grade teachers have more opportunity for teaching (thus developing) these skills. Farsakoğlu, Şahin & Karslı (2012) stress that individuals develop their SPS through practice. Therefore, elementary school teachers’ SPS should be developed through practice. For this reason, elementary school curricula (especially 1st-3rd grades) should be revised so that teachers can practice their SPS more.
