Investigating secondary science teachers’ beliefs about what counts most as science education.

• Author / Creator

  Stock, Tracey Ann

• This research aimed to investigate Alberta science teachers’ beliefs about ‘what
  counts most as science education’. By implicating teachers’ beliefs in discussions about
  the science curriculum-as-planned by program developers and the science curriculum-as-
  lived in the classroom, factors influencing how Alberta’s science programs are
  interpreted and enacted in classrooms were revealed and explored. The results of this
  study suggest teachers beliefs are influenced by contextual factors such as school setting,
  teaching experience, the nature of the courses taught, and departmental examinations.
  
  Functioning as key referents, these factors were found to influence not only what science
  teachers believe is most important, but also what teachers reported they emphasize most
  in their classrooms. When examined more closely, the key referents also offered an
  explanation as to why teachers’ beliefs are often not enacted in their classrooms, thus
  clarifying tensionalities they experience between the curriculum as they perceive it and
  the curriculum as they live it.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Curriculum
  • Science
  • Education
  • Teachers
  • Alberta
  • Emphases

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R35D3P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.