Teachers’ Beliefs: Positive or Negative Indicators of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching?

Abstract

Inquiry-based science teaching is an innovative pedagogy that is more effective than traditional instruction in promoting scientific literacy. However, teachers must develop strong favourable beliefs about inquiry teaching before they can successfully employ it to improve students’ learning outcomes. Despite its importance few studies have been done to examine teachers’ beliefs about inquiry teaching in places, like Africa, where there are serious inquiry curricula implementation challenges. This study investigated whether teachers’ beliefs are positive or negative indicators of inquiry-based science teaching. Convergent parallel mixed methods was used for the study. Purposive and stratified random sampling were used to select 308 and subsample of 18 integrated science teachers from public and private junior high schools (JHSs) from urban and rural areas. Administration of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used for the quantitative and qualitative data collection. The questionnaire has content and construct validities and is reliable. The interview schedule is credible and dependable. One finding suggests that most teachers in the research setting hold weak beliefs about inquiry teaching but strong beliefs about traditional instruction, that are negative indicators of inquiry-based science teaching. Other findings indicate that there are significant school type and academic qualification differences in teachers’ beliefs about inquiry-based science teaching. One implication of the findings is that currently most teachers in the study context do not hold strong positive beliefs necessary for the implementation of inquiry-based science curricula. It is recommended that regular inquiry-based in-service trainings be designed to improve teachers’ beliefs. It is also recommended that inquiry-based in-service trainings should be designed based on teachers’ school type and academic qualifications.