Science Teachers’ Beliefs as Barriers to Implementation of Constructivist-Based Education Reform

Abstract

A new Science and Technology program had been applied in Turkey since 2005. Constructivism has been the predominant influence on the program. Accordingly, science teachers are expected to have beliefs that are consistent with constructivism. However, the question of “what are the Turkish science teachers’ beliefs” is important because, the success of the program is dependent upon the teachers’ beliefs. This paper reports on the investigation of the science teachers’ beliefs about teaching science, learning science and managing behavior problems and any relationships among these belief systems. Data were collected through interviews with 18 science teachers. Results indicated that most of the science teachers held transitive beliefs about teaching science, and traditional beliefs about learning science and managing behavior problems. While teachers with 1-10 years experiences held a constructivist belief, this belief gave way to traditional belief as the teaching experience advanced. Beliefs of teachers were both interrelated and nested. Key words: classroom management, constructivism, learning science, teacher beliefs, teaching science.

Research hotspots and development trends of international learning cycle model:Bibliometric analysis based on CiteSpace

“…In the 1960s, the shortcomings of the science curriculum reform initiative led science educators to realize the limitations of traditional teaching methods, catalyzing the emergence of constructivist perspectives. Constructivists advocate that children construct their concepts through interactions with their physical and social environments [ 45 ]. Consequently, they design curricula to encourage student engagement in scientific activities, fostering better comprehension and learning [ 46 ].…”

2005 yılı öncesi ve sonrası öğretmen öğrenci ve veli profillerine ilişkin öğretmen görüşlerinin belirlenmesi

“…Ancak araştırmada 2005 sonrasında öğrencilerin derse ilgilerinin azaldığını belirtilmiştir. Böyle bir sonucun çıkması öğretmenlerin yapılandırmacılığa uygun öğrenci merkezli öğretim yöntem ve tekniklerini kullanmada problemler yaşamaları (Geçer & Özel 2012;Yıldız-Feyzioğlu 2012) ve bu problemleri aşamayan öğretmenlerin, öğretmen merkezli yöntemleri tercih etmelerinden (Güneş vd., 2011) kaynaklanabilir. Başka bir neden olarak da öğrencilerin okula yabancılaşma süreci yaşamaları gösterilebilir.…”

The Pre-Service Teachers’ Intentions to Implement STEM Activities

“…A group of research studies investigated pre-service teachers' beliefs through method courses, teaching practices and authentic learning experiences and those researchers tried to explain the inconsistencies between practices and beliefs of pre-service teachers in classroom context (Boz & Uzuntiryaki, 2006;Yıldız-Feyzioğlu, 2012;Mansour, 2013). In class studies that includes real classroom experiences of in-service teachers and preservice indicate the importance of external factors as a facilitator or a barrier to motivate teachers for authentic instructional practices in addition to their general beliefs about teaching andlearning process (Crawford, 2007;Lotter, Harwood & Bonner, 2007;Kang, 2008).…”