Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item

    Engaging with controversial science issues - a professional learning programme for secondary science teachers in New Zealand

    170273_Saunders2011.pdf (3.130Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Saunders, Kathryn Jean
    Date
    2009
    Supervisor
    Prof. Léonie Rennie
    Type
    Thesis
    Award
    ScEdD
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    School
    Science and Mathematics Education Centre
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/1880
    Collection
    • Curtin Theses
    Abstract

    Internationally there is concern that many science teachers do not address controversial science issues in their science classrooms, and there is a perception amongst many science teachers that science is about the delivery of facts, and that it is value-free. However with the increasingly complex, science-based dilemmas being presented to society, there is a growing call for future citizens to be more scientifically literate and to be able to make informed decisions on issues related to these dilemmas. There have been shifts in science curricula internationally, and in New Zealand, towards a focus on scientific literacy, but changes in teachers’ pedagogical practice have not been widespread. The demands and challenges for teachers are high and to make such changes requires support and guidance.Because of the paucity of literature available about teaching controversial science issues in New Zealand science classrooms, the purpose of this project was to firstly establish the current status of the teaching and learning about issues and to identify the support that teachers felt they required to address this in science classrooms. This information then informed the development of a professional learning programme to provide support for teachers. The project took a mixed method approach and proceeded in three phases, with Phase One involving the development and administration of a survey to secondary teachers in the North Island of New Zealand, with follow-up interviews with some survey participants. The qualitative and quantitative data gathered enabled the current scene to be established. Phase Two involved the use of data from Phase One, together with information obtained mainly from the literature review, to design a professional learning programme, the focus of which was the development of a model for ethical inquiry. Phase Three involved two workshops, separated by eleven weeks, in which four teachers critiqued, trialled and evaluated the model in the classroom. A series of case studies was developed from each trial, with a cross-case analysis made to validate the usefulness of the model.The findings of the survey and interviews indicated that to address controversial issues, there was a need to move New Zealand teachers away from a focus on content, towards a pedagogy that focused on ethical inquiry and the appropriate use of strategies and approaches to support this. The findings from the professional learning programme confirmed that teachers had been supported in addressing controversial science issues by the use of the model for ethical inquiry and positive outcomes were reported for both teachers and students.The project provided current information about how controversial science issues are addressed in New Zealand secondary science classrooms and validated the model for ethical inquiry in supporting teachers to address controversial science in the light of impending and changing requirements of The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) towards informed citizenry and scientific literacy. The project also supplements the very small amount of research that has been carried out in a New Zealand context on addressing controversial science issues in secondary science classrooms.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Investigating the effectiveness of a professional development initiative for lower secondary teachers in Indonesia
      Soebari, Titien Soewastiningsih (2012)
      The overarching aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher professional development initiative, designed to help lower secondary teachers to improve their teaching practice. To evaluate the effectiveness ...
    • Developing, implementing and evaluating the use of ethical frameworks in teaching bioethics issues in a Year 10 biotechnology program
      Yap, Siew Fong (2012)
      With the re-emergence of values education in the school curriculum in the last decade, science is viewed as one of the key teaching domains, and in particular, socio-scientific education is increasingly perceived as ...
    • Enhancing students’ Learning Experiences Outside School (LEOS) using digital technologies
      Coll, Sandhya Devi (2015)
      This thesis reports on an inquiry on enhancing students’ learning experiences outside school (LEOS) using digital technologies. The inquiry took the nature of an ethnographic case study which was conducted over a year. ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.