Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 3, Issue 2, Article 2 (Dec., 2002) Peter AUBUSSON and Kevin WATSON Packaging constructivist Science teaching in a curriculum resource Previous Contents Next

Elaine and Gina attended the first professional development day, but on returning to their school declined to use the text materials (BSCS). Their reason was that the reading and conceptual levels were too high, a view supported by the head teacher and the school's remedial reading teacher, who tested the difficulty of the text. The head teacher rated the overall appeal of the text as low, and accordingly it was not even used as resource material. The teachers, especially Elaine, were clear that they had joined the project to get some materials to use in the classroom. They felt they did not have the time to adapt or interpret materials. In discussion neither teacher spoke of constructivism or cooperative learning, or learning in general. Their main concerns, in discussions with the researcher, were classroom control and developing literacy. There were no changes observed in their classes.