Primary teachers' confidence about and understanding of process skills

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1 Teacher Development ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: Primary teachers' confidence about and understanding of process skills Jane K. Lloyd, Martin Braund, Colin Crebbin & Roy Phipps To cite this article: Jane K. Lloyd, Martin Braund, Colin Crebbin & Roy Phipps (2000) Primary teachers' confidence about and understanding of process skills, Teacher Development, 4:3, To link to this article: Published online: 16 Feb Submit your article to this journal Article views: 687 View related articles Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at Download by: [ ] Date: 21 November 2017, At: 09:00

2 Teacher Development, Volume 4, Number 3, 2000 Primary Teachers Confidence About and Understanding of Process Skills JANE K. LLOYD, MARTIN BRAUND, COLIN CREBBIN & ROY PHIPPS Bretton Hall College, West Bretton, United Kingdom ABSTRACT This article investigates the possibility of changing confidence about and understanding of the teaching of process skills in primary science involving a group of 30 teachers from 15 primary schools. Process skills (often termed AT1 in England) were considered a suitable area to investigate as they are viewed as vital skills for the future citizen. Prior to the intervention described in this article the teachers claimed great confidence concerning process skills, but showed a poor ability to recognise them or to rate their significance in practical work. Afterwards, the teachers showed a significant improvement in their ability to recognise skills and determine whether they were important or not in given tasks. Their confidence had, on average, fallen across the skills considered. However, their comments suggested that they attributed this to a clearer appreciation of the subject. They now knew what they did not know. There was no evidence of any strong link between confidence and understanding either before or after the intervention. Introduction Several authors have stressed the importance of teacher confidence, particularly the aspect termed self-efficacy, in successful teaching (Czerniak & Schriver, 1994; Ginns & Watters, 1996). Their basic message is that teachers need confidence to communicate their own understanding successfully. Others have looked at teachers understanding of scientific concepts (Smith & Peacock, 1992; Boyes & Stanisstreet, 1993; Summers & Kruger, 1993) and often found understanding to be inadequate. Others (Gooday et al, 1993; Harlen et al, 1995; Lloyd et al, 1998) have looked at the interaction of confidence and understanding but in the context of fairly specific scientific concepts. We wished to examine this interaction in a more general context by looking at process skills. 353

3 Jane K. Lloyd et al In an editorial entitled, In Defence of AT1: science investigation (Harlen, 1992, p. 2), the case for the importance of process skills in science education was stated by the author as resting, not in developing these skills for their own sake but in enabling children to apply them to develop and use ideas which help them understand the scientific aspects of the world around them. She expressed concern that, if these process skills are not carried out in a rigorous and scientific manner, then the emerging ideas will not necessarily fit the evidence... the development of ideas depends crucially on the processes used (Harlen, 1992, p. 2). This process-based element was termed, Experimental and Investigative Science (often referred to as AT1, an abbreviation of Attainment Target 1, or as Science 1 or even Sc1), in the earlier National Curriculum Orders (DES, 1989), but is now called Scientific Enquiry (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 1999). Internationally, the importance of scientific literacy has become widely accepted. The American National Academy of Science put it quite well when it said: Everyone needs to use scientific information to make choices that arise every day. Everyone needs to be able to engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues that involve science and technology... More and more jobs demand advanced skills, requiring that people be able to learn, reason, think creatively, make decisions and solve problems. An understanding of science and the processes of science contributes in an essential way to these skills. (National Academy of Science, 1996, p. 1) This echoes the views of the Beyond 2000: science education for the future report, which describes a seminar series in the United Kingdom (Millar & Osborne, 1998). Despite its acknowledged importance there are concerns over how well science is taught. The report, Subjects and Standards: issues for school development arising from OFSTED inspection findings on Key Stages 1 and 2 made the following comment: Standards in pupils practical and investigative skills (AT1) are generally lower than in their knowledge and understanding of science. Skills of observation, measurement and recording develop satisfactorily, as does the idea of a fair test. However, even amongst older pupils the abilities to predict outcomes, seek patterns and evaluate results are less well developed. (OFSTED, 1996, p. 6) In a climate where the emphasis is moving from recall to learning through investigative work the importance of process skills cannot be over-emphasised. The two elements, confidence and understanding, are therefore examined here in the context of process skills. Methods This article describes research carried out during the academic year by a team of four science teacher trainers at Bretton Hall, College of Leeds University. The research was carried out concurrently with a programme of 354

4 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS professional development for the science coordinator and a partner teacher from the same school for 15 schools in the Barnsley Local Education Authority (LEA) area using funding provided by the pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca. The schools were selected on the basis of their expressed desire to raise standards in science. While the training offered to the teachers was quite wide-ranging (see Lloyd, 1998) this article will focus only on the team s work related to AT1. The questions we considered were: x What is the understanding of process skills held by the teachers at the beginning of the programme? x What is the level of confidence of the teachers in certain aspects of teaching AT1 at the start of the programme? x Does this teacher confidence have any relationship to the level of understanding of AT1? x What changes in confidence and understanding occur as a result of attending the programme? The AT1 component of the Bretton Hall programme was divided into three phases. In Phase 1, over a period of approximately 8 hours based in the college, the activities were designed to meet the following objectives: x to review teachers personal understanding of the process skills; x to develop a framework for evaluating children s learning in AT1; x to consider the range of practical work that can be used in primary science; x to consider progression in aspects of practical work through Key Stages 1 and 2; x to make connections between process skills, knowledge and teaching approaches in a selected context; x to consider ways of using and evaluating evidence in primary science investigations; x to consider resources needed to support good practice in AT1. In Phase 2 the 15 coordinators and their partner teachers were given the opportunity to plan together, teach and observe each other in their own classrooms with a focus on process skills and review the result. To allow proper time for this, supply cover was provided. In Phase 3, teachers were invited to attend an evaluation session. This was organised as a half-day afternoon meeting. Head teachers of schools in the project were invited to participate in the last hour of this session to enable a joint evaluation from a whole school perspective. The instruments we used were: x A questionnaire probing the background in science and confidence in teaching science, particularly AT1, was posted to teachers in advance and returned to the researchers on the first day of the programme. The questionnaire was adapted from the one used in a Scottish study (Harlen et al, 1995). x A baseline probe to establish the teachers understanding of the process skills was administered at the start of Phase 1. This consisted of allowing the 355

5 Jane K. Lloyd et al teachers to try a circus of eight practical activities (adapted from Harlen, 1987) for a period of 45 minutes, at the end of which they were asked to identify the process skills they understood to be required for each task. In addition, they had to indicate for each task no more than two skills which they believed to be predominant. x An end-point assessment identical to the baseline process skill instrument described in (b) was administered in Phase 3 during the evaluation session and teachers were asked again some of the questions from (a) relating to confidence in teaching AT1. Results Teachers Experience and Science Background There were 30 respondents to the questionnaire and their backgrounds are shown in Table I. Compared with the partner teachers, the coordinators had been qualified slightly longer and generally had higher qualifications in science. Co-ordinators and partner teachers had a similar pattern of exposure to the National Curriculum in their pre-service training. However, while eight coordinators had attended a science professional development programme of more than 1 day s duration in the last 5 years, none of the partner teachers had done so. Characteristics Number of teachers Science coordinators Partner teachers Sex Male 4 2 Female How long qualified 12 years or more 8 6 Less than 12 years 7 9 Science background None 2 1 GCSE or equivalent 7 12 A-level or equivalent 4 2 Tertiary 2 0 Attended science professional development course in last 5 years? Initial training included science in the NC? Yes No Yes 7 8 No 8 7 Table I. Teacher experience and science background. 356

6 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS Confidence in Teaching across the Subject Areas of the Curriculum Teachers generally are more confident in their knowledge and teaching skills in some areas of the curriculum than others. Teachers in this sample were asked in a questionnaire to give an honest estimate of how they felt about teaching 10 different subjects (e.g. English, Science, Music). Table II shows teachers feelings of confidence across these different areas of the primary curriculum. They were asked to rate their confidence using the following categories: x fully confident; x confident; x can manage; x need help. Subject Fully confident Confident Can manage Need help Confidence index English Maths History Geography Physical Education Art Science Music Design and Technology Information Technology Table II. Percentage of teachers responding in each category (n = 30). Subjects ranked by confidence index (see text for details). A Confidence Index was computed for each subject by taking a weighted sum of the percentages replying using each category. This weighted sum was calculated by taking the percentage for Fully confident multiplied by 4, that for Confident by 3, Can manage by 2 and Need help by 1, and then the figures summed to give the index figure. The maximum possible confidence index value is therefore 400 with a minimum of 100. This method of calculating a confidence index is used by Harlen et al (1995). We are aware that there are possible objections to an index constructed in this manner (for example, similar index values can be obtained by a different pattern of responses), but we needed some way to summarise the replies. As it turned out, in this particular case we would have obtained a similar ordering if we had simply taken the proportion replying that they were Fully confident and so any misgivings that we had about using the confidence index here were unnecessary. The results in Table II show that teachers in the sample placed Science above only Music, Design & Technology and Information 357

7 Jane K. Lloyd et al Technology, confirming the general impression that many teachers find science difficult to teach. This is a similar result to that found with a larger Scottish sample (Harlen, 1997, p. 35) and also with an English sample (Bennett et al, 1992, p. 57). Teachers Baseline Confidence about Science Processes Table III shows how teachers rated their confidence about developing science processes in their pupils. A Confidence Index was again calculated in the same way as for Table II. Teachers were more confident about processes to do with communication, estimation, and measuring and observation than those to do with predicting, planning investigations and drawing conclusions justified by reference to evidence. It may well be that the former are processes also met in other areas of the primary curriculum, while the latter are more science specific. Subject Fully confident Confident Can manage Need help Confidence index Recording evidence/ communicating Measuring Observing Evaluating evidence Predicting Interpreting evidence Planning Raising questions Table III. Teachers confidence about teaching pupils process skills at start of programme (n = 30). Subjects ranked by confidence index (see text for details). Teachers Confidence in Various Skills Involved in Teaching Science In this section of the questionnaire teachers were asked to rate how difficult they found the deployment of certain teaching skills considered important in teaching science. The results are given in Table IV. The Difficulty Index is calculated in a similar way to the Confidence Index with the percentage replying Not all difficult being multiplied by 1 and Very difficult being multiplied by 4. Teachers apparent facility with Explaining ideas to pupils and Responding to pupils questions about content was very similar to results found with the Scottish sample (Harlen, 1997). Harlen considers most of these skills to be dependent on pedagogic content knowledge, and says, since pedagogic content knowledge depends, inter alia, on content knowledge, the low level of difficulty for some items, particularly explaining ideas to pupils 358

8 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS and responding to pupils ideas about content is at first surprising (Harlen, 1997, p. 329). She raises the possibility that the teachers may be using their considerable general pedagogic skills and various strategies for avoiding situations where their understanding might be challenged (Harlen, 1997, p. 329). Teaching skill Not at all difficult Sometimes a little difficult Usually quite difficult Very difficult Difficulty index Explaining ideas to pupils Responding to pupils questions about content Deciding concepts to be developed in an activity Using questioning skills to stimulate pupils thinking Organising and supporting practical work Obtaining and maintaining equipment Matching activities to pupils development Deciding process skills to be developed in an activity Record keeping Continuous (diagnostic) assessment in relation to knowledge and understanding Continuous (diagnostic) assessment in relation to AT1 process skills Table IV. Teachers estimates of the difficulty of certain skills (percentage answering in each category, n = 30) in order of difficulty. See text for definition of Difficulty Index. What Table IV does show is that teachers perceived items in relation to process skills, i.e. Deciding process skills to be developed in an activity and Continuous assessment in relation to AT1 process skills to be more difficult 359

9 Jane K. Lloyd et al than similar content related skills. The extent to which the difficulty perceived by teachers in relation to developing pupils process skills might be related to the teachers understanding of the operational meaning of the process skills was examined through the practical circus. The results of this are now considered. Baseline Probe of Teachers Understanding of the Process Skills Table V shows how the teachers performed in the baseline probe. The percentage of teachers choosing each skill in each task is indicated. The number of teachers responses used in this analysis is 29 because of an incomplete return due to late arrival at the initial session. Skill Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 6 Task 7 Task 8 Evaluating * evidence Explaining * 83* Interpreting 24 24** 24** ** 38** evidence Measuring 3 100* ** Observing 97* 31 86** 100* 93* ** Planning * 7 38* Predicting 59* 41* * 28 Raising * questions Recording/ communicating 69** 45** 76* 41** 31** 45* 86* 21** Table V. Teachers ability to identify process skills in eight given tasks at the start of the programme, percentage giving each response (n = 29). * indicates skills considered predominant by the team; ** indicates skills present, but not predominant; other text indicates skills considered trivial or not present at all. It is important to acknowledge that there were differences among the published lists of process skills examined by the team. In fact, well-published science educationalists have themselves changed their lists over time with skills being subsumed or expanded. Smith (1994, p. 169) suggests the sympathy of the primary profession for the emphasis on a scientific way of working has been tempered by the complexity, language and recurring alterations in Sc1. Hodson (1992, p. 73) has pointed out each process is inextricably linked to others, so that it is not clear, for example, when observation becomes inference. The list of skills we used was arrived at by 360

10 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS examining published sources and deriving a set on which the team agreed. The list appears in Table III. In preparing the marking scheme each of the team members independently carried out the circus activities in advance and listed the selection of skills they considered applicable to each task. In addition, they highlighted the two skills they considered to be predominant or the most important in each task. There was considerable consensus and final agreement was reached easily. In addition, the team referred the instrument to a science educationalist considered an authority in the field and, again, there was high degree of agreement about the skills involved in each activity and which two predominated. In the analysis of the teachers understanding of the process skills, it emerged that teachers were frequently indicating process skills that were, even with the widest possible allowance, not at all present in the task (for example, claiming that measurement was involved when the data were given) or of such a trivial nature that it was unreasonable to single them out (for example, claiming that measuring the amount of water dripping from a tap involved observation). This analysis was most revealing as it provided a window into the understanding teachers had of the different process skills. These results also indicate that teachers had a number of misunderstandings about what the process skills meant. Furthermore, they showed poor ability in identifying the predominant skills in each task. It is interesting to note here that in their survey Foulds et al (1992) found a third of the sample of teachers and preponderantly from the primary sector were of the opinion that the mere provision of practical experiences would match the criteria of AT1 (p. 8.6). Comments from the teachers in their sample included everything that you do practically you re going to get some of AT1. End-point Probe of Teachers Understanding of the Process Skills Table VI shows the end-point result when the process skills circus of tasks instrument was repeated (on 26 teachers, some were absent due to illness or other commitments). It shows an improvement in teachers knowledge of the skills in the sense that they were less likely to choose skills which were either not present or were merely trivial. However, in many cases the proportion of teachers correctly identifying the predominant skills went down. This is because in the baseline exercise teachers tended to adopt a shotgun approach and ticked any skill that might be even vaguely relevant. They may have picked the two predominant skills almost by luck in a similar way to ticking several answers in a multiple-choice test. To allow for this we adopted a system where their score for a task was the number of correct answers divided by the total number of answers given. This allowed us to compare the baseline and end-point exercises in a meaningful way. If we had not used this correction then the baseline results would have appeared to be better even though the teachers did not show better discrimination. The total score for the tasks for 361

11 Jane K. Lloyd et al the 26 teachers who did both was then compared using a paired t-test, the result indicating a significant improvement (mean score 56.4% at baseline, 75.0% at end-point, P < ). A non-parametric test was also carried out on these data, which confirmed the significant improvement. Skill Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Task 5 Task 6 Task 7 Task 8 Evaluating * evidence Explaining * 58* Interpreting 8 12** 58** ** 15** evidence Measuring 0 92* Observing 100* 8 0** 35* 58* ** Planning * 12 35* Predicting 35* 31* * 4 Raising questions * Recording/ communicating 19** 4** 62* 4** 4** 35* 96* 0** Table VI. Teachers ability to identify process skills in eight given tasks at the end of the programme, percentage giving each response (n = 26). * indicates skills considered predominant by the team; ** indicates skills present, but not predominant; other text indicates skills considered trivial or not present at all. As part of this exercise the teachers were asked to comment on the impact of the course on their awareness and understanding of process skills and confidence in teaching them. These comments were consistently favourable and a selection of them appear later in the discussion. Teachers End-point Confidence about Science Processes At the evaluation session in Phase 3 the teachers also repeated the confidence in teaching the science processes section of the questionnaire. They were then given a copy of their original ratings they had indicated at the beginning of the course, and asked to compare and suggest their reasons for any changes they might wish to comment on. It was found that for many their confidence ratings had, on average, dropped. Nineteen out of the 26 who completed the questionnaire had scores indicating lower confidence and the mean total score (obtained by summing all nine responses) fell by 3.8 (a paired t-test was significant at P < ). However, when they were asked the question, Do you feel you are more confident about identifying the different process skills and targeting them in 362

12 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS your teaching? the unanimous reply was Yes. We consider later the possible reasons for this apparent anomaly. Relationship between Confidence and Understanding The results of the baseline confidence questionnaire were correlated with the teachers ability to correctly identify the matching process skills in the eight tasks in the baseline circus, e.g. the question about confidence in developing pupils observational skills was matched with tasks 1, 4 and 5 which have observation as a predominant skill. Of the 14 correlations considered (using Spearman s non-parametric coefficient) none were found to be significant at the 5% level. The process was repeated at the end-point and two were significantly correlated with one of the related tasks (raising questions and recording evidence), but one of these (raising questions) was negatively correlated with the score for the related task. Our conclusion would therefore be that there is little connection between self-rated confidence about teaching process skills and actual ability to identify process skills in practical exercises. Discussion The results of the baseline audit of teachers understanding of the process skills and the end of course repeat of this assessment provide encouraging evidence that teachers had significantly improved in their ability to identify and target process skills in the tasks put before them. The teachers themselves attributed this to a number of factors. One factor is the nature of the instruction provided which gave special attention to this area. This is illustrated by the following comments from teachers: Through the course we had the chance to consider in detail the different process skills and what they involve. We have focussed on what to look for in the children s work and contributions when different skills are being targeted. Having focused on individual skills (tended to teach holistic AT1 before) have gained confidence in my own knowledge of the skills and so can pass this on in lessons. Understand these skills better from identifying them within practical activities. By being more aware now of what I could have been doing, but wasn t really tackling, or if I was tackling it, then perhaps I hadn t really put enough thought into identifying the process skills and making sure I had covered them all in my science planning. I was very unaware of the process skills, they tended to either happen accidentally or not at all. Now when I plan science they are foremost in my mind. 363

13 Jane K. Lloyd et al I feel more confident to make the attempt to teach the skills and have a go, whereas I know I avoided areas before through lack of resources and to be honest, lack of interest in the area. Some teachers made a point of commenting on the impact they have seen on their children when they used a more focused approach: I feel happier because I have seen the involvement, motivation and interest children have shown during AT1 lessons and although I have not formally assessed their progress I know there has been some. Practical investigations which I attempted with my class were successful. This gave me confidence. It also enabled me to deal with situations which later occurred which did not always go according to plan. It has made me aware that it is better to tackle them individually rather than to try and cover them all every time. My children have been much more focussed and, done over a longer period of time, will bear results. The opportunity teachers had (with supply cover provided) to discuss their plans, observe each others lessons and share observations and outcomes, i.e. what the team called a partnership approach was the second major contributor to the overall success. One coordinator wrote: It gave me greater confidence in my own ability and a confidence in the idea of having an influence on changing things at school. Partner teachers acknowledged the support from their coordinators, for example: Support from the coordinator helped me change my attitude towards the subject. I m more focussed removal of the idea that you have to do everything all the time! Another partner said that a major factor in her gain in confidence was: Being able to discuss fears openly with another member. A third contribution to success came from the resources that were provided. All schools in the programme received 1000 to purchase equipment to support their teaching of AT1. This money came from a specific item in the grant from AstraZeneca. Each coordinator had the benefit of support from the team in auditing the existing equipment in their own school and in deciding what additional resources to purchase. The head teachers were particularly strong in their endorsement of the importance of equipment provision (see next paragraph), but several teachers also mentioned how much difference it had made, especially the provision of additional measuring equipment. OFSTED (1995, p. 17) has commented on the importance of equipment, saying the quantity of equipment available usually dictates the mode of classroom organisation. 364

14 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS We were fortunate that all the head teachers of the schools gave their enthusiastic backing to the programme, some even covering lessons so as to give their staff more time to devote to their partnership teaching work. In an evaluation session to which they were invited, they were unequivocal in their strong affirmation of the value of the project to their schools. In relation to AT1 they mentioned: x the participating teachers showed increased confidence in teaching science; x the transfer of enthusiasm about teaching science to other teachers in the school; x the impact of the 1000 for science equipment; x science coordinators taking greater responsibility. Foulds et al (1992, Appendix 5, p. 2) when commenting on implications for long-term professional development planning state that short courses invariably only raise the level of science with one teacher in isolation of the rest of the staff. However, in this case it was not one teacher in isolation, but a partnership with backing of the head and with signs already of an enthusiasm that spreads to other teachers. We can hope that the project is close to creating a critical mass in some schools, particularly with schools that have been able to participate in the second year of the project and so develop the expertise of an additional partner teacher. Such is the enthusiasm of many schools that they are finding the means of releasing teachers to participate in the programme from within their own resources. It is the coming together of institutional expertise, the support of head teachers and the enthusiasm of the teachers and the provision of resources that has enabled progress. Bennett et al (1992) ascribed the significant positive change in the teachers perceptions of their own competence in science to the allocation of resources, both human and material, to science teaching together with the comprehensive map of the subject set out in the Statutory Orders. This project was fortunate in having a grant from the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust that gave the vital financial support. An important aspect that has emerged from the research was the confidence shift before and after the programme. While it was clear that at the beginning many teachers had rated their confidence highly, when sections of the questionnaire were revisited at the end of the programme for the majority their ratings had gone down despite their unanimous claim to feel more confident. One teacher put across her explanation rather well: Although the two questionnaires do not confirm this, I feel more confident in my teaching now. I think by knowing so much more about the development of process skills, it makes me raise more questions and question my own thoughts. My understanding of the skills is far more secure and my teaching is much improved. I think, maybe I didn t know as much as I felt I did. However, we must not forget that almost a quarter of the sample improved their confidence. Perhaps they were more realistic about where they started from. Admitting to low confidence is not an easy thing. Research by Harlen 365

15 Jane K. Lloyd et al (1997) gave examples of strategies that teachers use to cope with low confidence in their ability to teach science. She describes the strategy of some teachers as, avoiding all but the simplest practical work and any equipment that can go wrong (p. 335). Teaching characterised by these factors, the author continued, may enable teachers to include science in their planning and practice without constantly being faced with their own limitations in this area. With this restricted practice (probably the result of unconscious avoidance rather than deliberate policy), it is possible that teachers may not find teaching science particularly difficult. This may be one reason for the high confidence of our teachers at the beginning (which was not supported by their success in identifying skills); it was because they had not been seriously challenged. Perhaps this very discordance felt by the teachers is, at the end of the day, the most successful feature of the programme. In practice tutors have an immensely important role. Dennison & Kirk (1990, p. 21) describe the role of tutors as to accelerate and focus the learning processes. However, they continue: they cannot speed the learning process, and they cannot shape the support processes of experience, reflection, conceptualisation, etc. unless the student accepts the objectives sought and thinks that the processes to be adopted are a suitable way to achieve them. In a broad sense, perhaps the most difficult task for tutors is to convince students of any need to learn. They use the term Dubin s dichotomies to describe two distinctions one between those students who require some particular learning and those who possess it already, and another between those who are aware of what they do not know and those who are not. Referring to Dubin s dichotomies, Dennison and Kirk make the point that the task of a tutor is to maintain a state of conscious incompetence (awareness of the need to learn a particular knowledge or skill) among as many students as possible. Perhaps the group of teachers the team worked with began from a position of unconscious incompetence about their understanding of process skills. As they moved through the course they became conscious of their incompetence and moved to a position in which they could learn. Their partnership experiences back at school provided the practice they needed. They moved to a conscious competence position (hence, their positive feelings of success with their pupils) and then both confident (because of their success) and conscious (new ratings of low confidence) of what else they may need to learn. As one teacher put it The course has also made me realise where my teaching needs further knowledge and experience. OFSTED (1998a) in reference to AT1 states it is essential that teachers embark on practical work with a clear view of what children are expected to learn from experimental activities including investigations; this is often insufficiently clearly represented in planning. The report also states experimental and investigative work is most successful when pupils are taught the necessary skills and then given freedom to use these in contexts that are 366

16 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS both relevant and link naturally with the topic being taught. Comments by several teachers showed that they felt that their teaching in this area had improved as a result of their improved understanding, for example: I have realised that many skills were neglected, or that the competence of children was assumed, e.g. in measuring. It has given me an understanding of what they are and how to focus activities so that they address/develop particular skills. Some of these would definitely not have featured in my teaching previously but will do now. We might ask, has improvement been observed by an outsider to the school? Two schools in the programme have had OFSTED inspections and positive reference to the work of this project has been made in both reports. One of the reports (OFSTED, 1998b) states, involvement with a project... to improve investigatory work has led to their sharing ideas and beliefs and developing a well-integrated approach to the work throughout the school. Resources are good and are used effectively to support the learning in the classroom. Conclusions The teachers entered the course with great confidence about process skills, but with a poor ability to recognise them or to rate their significance in particular items of practical work. By the end of the course, they had improved significantly in their ability to recognise skills and determine whether they were important or not in given tasks. Their confidence had, on average, fallen although their comments suggested that they attributed this to a clearer understanding of the subject. They now knew what they did not know. There was no evidence of any strong link between confidence and understanding, either before or after the programme. We have shown that a combination of direct instruction, partnership work and equipment provision can produce a significant change in teachers understanding of AT1 with, we can reasonably hope, favourable effects on their teaching in this area. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust for funding the teaching programme, the staff of the schools involved and David C Lloyd who carried out the statistical analysis. We would also like to thank Professor Wynne Harlen for acting as a critical friend to the project. Correspondence Dr Jane Lloyd, 324 Spen Lane, Leeds LS16 5BA, United Kingdom (dcjklloyd@cwcom.net). 367

17 Jane K. Lloyd et al References Bennett, S.N., Wragg, E.C., Carré, C.G. & Carter, D.S.G. (1992) A Longitudinal Study of Primary Teachers Perceived Competence in, and Concerns About, National Curriculum Implementation, Research Papers in Education, 7, pp Dennison, B. & Kirk, R. (1990) Do, Review, Learn, Apply: a simple guide to experiential learning. Oxford: Blackwell Education. Department of Education and Science (DES) (1989) Science in the National Curriculum. London: HMSO. Czerniak, C.M. & Schriver, M.L. (1994) An examination of pre-service teachers beliefs and behaviours as related to self-efficacy, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 5(3), pp Foulds, K., Gott, R. & Feasey, R. (1992) Investigative Work in Science, a Report by the Exploration of Science Team to the National Curriculum Council. Durham: University of Durham. Ginns, I.S. & Watters, J.J. (1996) Experiences of Novice Teachers: changes in self-efficacy and their beliefs about teaching, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York. Gooday, M., Payne, F. & Wilson, J. (1993) Primary Student Teachers Scientific Knowledge and their Attitudes Towards Science. Northern College (Aberdeen and Dundee). Harlen, W. (Ed.) (1987) Primary Science Teacher Training for Process Based Learning. London/Paris: Commonwealth Secretariat/UNESCO. Harlen, W. (1992) In Defence of AT1: scientific investigation, Primary Science Review, 21, p. 2. Harlen, W., Holroyd, C. & Byrne, M. (1995) SCRE Research Report 65, Confidence and Understanding in Teaching Science and Technology in Primary Schools. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for Research in Education. Harlen, W. (1997) Primary Teachers Understanding in Science and Its Impact in the Classroom, Research in Science Education, 27(3), pp Hodson, D. (1992) Redefining and Re-orienting Practical Work in School Science, School Science Review, 73, pp Lloyd, J.K. (1998) Improving Primary Science Teaching in Partnership with Industry, Science Teacher Education, 23, p. 12. Lloyd, J.K., Smith, R.G., Chin, L.F., Goh, N.K., Lee, L. & Chia, L.S. (1998) Subject Knowledge for Science Teaching at Primary Level: a comparison of pre-service teachers in England and Singapore, International Journal of Science Education, 20, pp MIller, R. & Osborne, J. (1998) Beyond 2000: science education for the future. London: School of Education, Kings College. National Academy for Science (1996) National Science Education Standards. Washington: National Academy Press. Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) (1996) Subjects and Standards Issues For School Development Arising from OFSTED Inspection Findings Key Stages 1 & 2. London: HMSO. Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) (1995) Science: a review of inspection findings 1994/5. London: HMSO. Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) (1998a) Standards in Primary Science. London: OFSTED. 368

18 PRIMARY TEACHERS AND PROCESS SKILLS Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) (1998b) Inspection Report, Unique Reference Number Accessed via Qualifications and Curriculum Agency (1999) The National Curriculum for England: Science key stages 1-4. London: DfEE. Smith, R. (1994) Richer or Poorer, Better or Worse? How Has the Development of Primary Science Teaching been Affected by National Curriculum policy? The Curriculum Journal, 5, pp Smith, R. & Peacock, G. (1992) Tackling Contradictions in Teachers Understanding of Gravity and Air Resistance, in L. Newton (Ed.) Primary Science: the challenge of the 1990s. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Summers, M. & Kruger, C. (1993) A Longitudinal Study of Primary School Teachers Understanding of Force and Energy, Working Paper 18, Oxford University Department of Educational Studies and Westminster College. Oxford: PSTS Project. 369

19 Jane K. Lloyd et al Special issue Teacher Activism in Education Reform CALL FOR PAPERS This special issue of Teacher Development will address an important phase in teacher development and educational reform. The theme of this edition is that the voices of teachers need to be heard, not just those in positions of power in education, to achieve educational reform. A serious, unresolved tension has become evident in the educational institutions of Westernised countries: Teachers who work to better their school communities must do so within an increasingly stringent framework of public accountability. The contributors to this edition should consider issues related to the significance of teacher activism, including the potential for school practitioners to become enquiry partners with those outside their immediate school site. Recent recommendations have emerged from the teacher development literature, and authors are asked to consider them or to develop their own. Authors are also asked to provide analyses that nourish and facilitate the process of teacher activism as an expression of desirable change in education today. Papers may report empirical research or scholarly discussions from any standpoint. Where appropriate, contributors are asked to include the voices of teacher practitioners in their manuscripts and to co-author with their teacher (or other) participants. This coauthorship practice addresses challenges directed at the academic community to include school practitioners voices and knowledge in educational research. Teachers and other school activists are invited to submit manuscripts as collaborative or sole authors. This issue is intended as a resource for politicians, educational leaders, teachers, parents, students, and concerned citizens who are or who could become social justice advocates working on behalf of teachers high-quality reforms. The hope is that this edition will stimulate a focused conversation about the quality and effect of teacher activism in different countries as related to professional, ethical, and policy issues. Articles may vary in length from short notices and reports of ongoing work (of up to 1000 words) to major position papers and academic analyses (of up to 6000 words). All submitted manuscripts are scrutinized by at least two independent referees. Submissions need to comply with the Notes for Contributors printed on the inside covers of Teacher Development, which are also available at Manuscripts should be received by September 3, 2001 for consideration for publication, and no computer disk is required unless requested. Please send three complete copies of the manuscript to the Guest Editor, Dr Carol A. Mullen, Leadership Development Department 4202 East Fowler Avenue, EDU 162 University of South Florida, Tampa, FL , USA (cmullen@tempest.coedu.usf.edu). 370

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