An assessment of science teachers’ capacity for teaching integrated science process skills. A case of Morogoro municipality secondary school biology teachers
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Date
2010
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This study was conducted to establish a base level of information on science teachers’
capacity to teach science process skills as one of the competences strongly advocated by
the newly introduced Competence Based Curriculum (2005) in Tanzania. Specifically,
the study intended to; (i) determine the knowledge level of integrated science process
skills of Biology teachers in Morogoro Municipality (ii) examine the self efficacy of
Morogoro Biology teachers towards teaching of science process skills (iii) assess the
influence of teachers’ self-efficacy, level of qualification, work experience, and gender
on teaching integrated science process skills, and finally (iv) explore the effectiveness of
school laboratories as a vital resource in the teaching of integrated science process skills.
Science process skills approach by Chiappetta & Koballa (2002), and Bandura’s (1977)
self efficacy theory, formed the conceptual and theoretical framework of the study
respectively. A Form II test of Integrated Process Skills developed by Mungandi (2005)
was used to measure the knowledge level of science process skills among 63 sampled
biology teachers in Morogoro Municipality. Science Teaching Efficacy Belief
Instrument (STEBI) developed by Riggs and Enochs (1990) was employed to determine
teachers’ self efficacy for teaching science process skills. The results indicated that
irrespective of years of teaching, qualification, or gender, Morogoro teachers have
unsatisfactory capacity to teach integrated science process skills. The study recommends
an urgent need to refocus on science teachers’ training and professional development.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Science teachers’, Integrated science, Biology teachers, Process skills