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Research impacting practice: Impetus to change
Citation
Tan, D. K. C., & Gilbert, J. K. (2014, November). Research impacting practice: Impetus to change. In Y. -J. Lee, N. T -L. Lim, K. S. Tan, H. E. Chu, P. Y. Lim, Y. H. Lim, & I. Tan (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Science Education Conference 2014 (pp. 1757-1773). Singapore: National Institute of Education.
Abstract
One of the aims of science education research is to produce insights into improving the teaching and learning of science in schools. Unfortunately, many teachers continue to teach in the classroom as if no research has been done into the teaching and learning of their subjects. This can be because teachers are generally unaware of relevant work available and that few researchers are willing to translate research findings into resources which teachers can easily understand and use in class. A survey study which examined the impact of educational research on Singapore middle and high school chemistry teachers' instructional and curricular practices was conducted using semi-structured interviews from 2011 to 2013. This paper reports the findings of the study related to the factors which facilitated or impeded changes in the teachers' existing practices; the findings revealed that these were related to students, teachers, school, Ministry of Education, time, educational research and teacher professional development. The paper also discusses the sources of information that the teachers used to guide them in making changes or adopting new practices; these included colleagues, teacher educators, electronic resources, conferences and professional development courses, and educational research. This study can inform researchers of the issues that are important to teachers and ways of working with them to address these issues.
Date Issued
November 2014
Description
This paper was presented at the International Science Education Conference 2014 held in Singapore from 25 – 27 Nov 2014