Les Attitudes des professeurs de sciences au secondaire face aux stratégies d’enseignement par investigation
Keywords:
enseignement des sciences, enseignement secondaire, National Science FoundationAbstract
This study was conducted to ascertain whether teachers hold attitudes favourable toward inquiry strategy, and to identify characteristics common to teachers expressing favourable attitudes toward the inquiry approach. The sample investigated consisted of 208 secondary teachers who teach sciences in the English language for two large Quebec School Commissions. The teachers’ attitudes were assessed by a test, the Inquiry Science Teaching Strategy instrument. It consists of 40 statements making up a 5-point Likert-type scale used to sample teachers’ attitudes toward inquiry instruction. The ISTS score served as an indicator of each subject’s attitude towards inquiry. A Personal Data Form served for collecting information from teachers concerning their background characteristics. Results of the study indicated that secondary science teachers have developed attitudes favourable toward inquiry strategy to a varying degree. The analysis of data revealed that the variables of age, gender, experience teaching, and research experience were not significantly related to teachers’ attitudes; however, the holding and/or pursual of a higher academic degree in education or in science, and five years or more experience teaching science were significantly related to their attitudes toward inquiry. In addition, the teachers’ participation in one or more National Science Foundation (NSF) training program(s) dealing with the philosophy and materials of new programs affected only marginally their attitudes in comparison with teachers who had not participated. Also completely unexpected was the finding that teachers who were introduced in adolescence to the new NSF science programs, as high school students, have as a result obtained significantly lower scores on attitudes toward inquiry approach than their counterparts who were not exposed to such programs.
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