An Investigation into Secondary Science Teachers' Use of Research to Inform Their Science Teaching

van der Merwe, Suskia

An Investigation into Secondary Science Teachers' Use of Research to Inform Their Science Teaching

dc.contributor.advisor	Saunders, Kathryn J.
dc.contributor.author	van der Merwe, Suskia
dc.date.accessioned	2013-09-02T22:35:38Z
dc.date.available	2013-09-02T22:35:38Z
dc.date.issued	2012
dc.date.updated	2012-11-21T09:23:23Z
dc.description.abstract	The perceived irrelevance and lack of accessibility of academic research for science teachers has long been recognised as a significant problem in much educational literature. While interventions have been suggested to enhance applicability and accessibility to support teachers in their use of research findings, too little attention has been paid to how teachers’ access findings and how use of findings influences teachers’ learning. There is a need for investigating efficiency of access to research findings and use thereof for enriching science teachers’ subject content knowledge and pedagogy. This study explored ways in which science teachers access findings, how they reported these influence teacher pedagogy and practice and the factors that affect motivation of teachers to access research findings and develop as reflective practitioners. Exploration into teacher learning as a result of engaging with research findings that specifically results in the teacher changing teaching pedagogy is also undertaken. Guided by an interpretative inquiry, this study initially administered a questionnaire to a group of thirty five secondary science teachers and answers analysed to guide and inform further questioning. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews with nine science teachers provided data that was also analysed to explore teachers’ use of research findings. This study argues that a focus on making research findings accessible to science teachers is in the interest of teacher learning and should be considered priority for researchers, those publishing in educational research and for those planning professional development programmes for teacher learning. In addition, both failing and successful strategies for disseminating findings and the ways access and use of findings by teachers can be enhanced. This study also gives science teachers some insight into making use of research findings to inform their own teacher learning, pedagogy and practice by a deep engaging with research findings.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	van der Merwe, S. (2012). An Investigation into Secondary Science Teachers’ Use of Research to Inform Their Science Teaching (Thesis, Master of Education (MEd)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/7943	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/7943
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	science teachers
dc.subject	research findings
dc.title	An Investigation into Secondary Science Teachers' Use of Research to Inform Their Science Teaching	en
dc.type	Thesis	en_NZ
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Education (MEd)