Faculty of Education - Theses
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Item"Just because I enjoy it doesn't mean I learn": science teachers' perceptions about students' interest in science( 2011)Producing a scientifically literate citizenry and serving those pupils who wish to continue science in future – balancing between these two aims is a dilemma for compulsory science education. Recent studies have shown post-secondary enrolment in science is declining and is a global issue. These studies have indicated that students’ dissatisfaction with school science is also a common phenomenon in most countries. Concerned with such a scenario, the research for this thesis has explored science teachers’ perceptions of their students’ interest in school science. The study assumed that science teachers develop knowledge about their learners through their teaching experience and that this impacts on their science teaching and ultimately on the apparently common global phenomenon of declining enrolment. In particular, this study examined teachers’ perceptions about their students’ likes and dislikes of science topics and about teaching-learning activities that engage their students. A craft knowledge perspective was used to explore the issue given craft knowledge is an important area of research into teacher knowledge concerned with student engagement. Craft knowledge is a form of teachers’ professional knowledge enabling teaching in context specific situations. Craft knowledge also informs the teacher concerning pedagogy that would interest and engage the students. Experience with learners in the classroom and reflecting on classroom teaching experience is considered to contribute to the development of such knowledge in teachers. Hence, learners were considered in this study as source of knowledge for the teacher. To this end, a qualitative multicase study approach was used to portray a general picture of teachers’ perceptions of their students’ likes and dislikes and of engaging pedagogy. The study compared and contrasted teachers’ perceptions with their students’ responses to interview questions concerning their likes and dislikes of their science lessons. Five teachers from secondary schools in metropolitan area of Melbourne and their students voluntarily participated in this study. The present study identified that the teachers had under-informed views of their students’ likes and dislikes regarding science topics and pedagogical approaches. In particular, when teaching in their areas of expertise, teachers’ strong content knowledge background was often insufficient in terms of capturing student interest, thus indicating teachers’ lack of awareness of engaging pedagogy. Interestingly, some beginning teachers displayed a developing sense of awareness of students’ likes and dislikes gained from their classroom teaching experience although they struggled to use this information to develop engaging teaching approaches. The findings from this study suggest that teacher education programmes should emphasise students as important sources of teacher knowledge that can inform the development of engaging pedagogy.