Teacher Education Instruments

Teacher/Faculty Surveys

Instrument 21: Perspectives on Teaching Science

Project: VINE Follow-Through
North American Association for Environmental Education

Funding Source: NSF: Teacher Enhancement (ESIE)

Purpose: To gather information on new teachers' perspectives on teaching science

Administered To: 33 teachers who began participating in the project during the 1993/94 project year

Topics Covered:

• Attitudes & Beliefs (Teacher/Faculty): collaboration, content
• Instructional Preferences: content, methods, teacher-centric, teacher collaboration
• Plans & Expectations (Teacher/Faculty): professional development activities
• Self-Assessment (Teacher/Faculty): application of instructional methods, comfort, confidence
• Background Characteristics & Activities (Teacher/Faculty): current practice, experience, professional development activities, project involvement

Format/Length: 22 closed-ended questions, plus 5 demographic questions. The closed-ended questions are mostly Likert scale response items.

Comments: The Likert scales in the original questionnaire were not consistent in having the most negative response correspond to the lowest number on the Likert scale. Because this is an important step to take in simplifying data analysis, the Likert scales have been altered to reflect such a correspondence.

Your grade assignment:__________

I am responsible for teaching science to my students: (circle one)

totally

partially (you and another person)

not at all (they go to someone else)

Please indicate your response on the scales to the right by circling one number on the continuum. >

	Not Confident Moderately Confident Very Confident
	1	2	3	4	5
How confident do you feel about...
1. following a textbook unit?	1	2	3	4	5
2. following a school and/or curriculum guide?	1	2	3	4	5
3. involving students with a topic about which you feel a lack of knowledge?	1	2	3	4	5
4. problems or questions that arise unexpectedly?	1	2	3	4	5
	Not at all Sometimes Always
How often do the following bother you...
5. students asking questions you can't answer?	1	2	3	4	5
6. being asked to depart from the textbook?	1	2	3	4	5
7. having to create your own teaching activities in science?	1	2	3	4	5
	Not at all Moderately Very
How comfortable are you in...
8. visualizing science as occurring everywhere?	1	2	3	4	5
9. using real world science as a focus for science study?	1	2	3	4	5
10. focusing on activities without necessarily reaching an answer?	1	2	3	4	5
11. dealing with differing student opinions?	1	2	3	4	5
12. dealing with other teachers in connection with school-wide projects?	1	2	3	4	5
13. conducting class discussions about student collected data or observations?	1	2	3	4	5
14. doing experiments that do not have single correct answers?	1	2	3	4	5
	Strongly disagree	Slightly disagree	Undecided	Slightly agree	Strongly agree
15. I personally enjoy science.	1	2	3	4	5
16. I enjoy discussing science topics with other teachers.	1	2	3	4	5
17. I would like to work with a science consultant to improve my program.	1	2	3	4	5
18. I would like to work with other teachers to improve my science program.	1	2	3	4	5
19. I prefer teaching science over any other subject area.	1	2	3	4	5
20. I would like to participate in workshops/in-services on science.	1	2	3	4	5
21. I would be interested in being part of an experimental science project.	1	2	3	4	5

Questions 22-26 Please assist us by providing the following specific information about yourself:

	22. The number of years you have been teaching, including this year
	23. The number of years you have been involved with this Audubon program
yes no	24. Have you participated in National Science Foundation Teacher Workshops before? (Any type of workshop) If yes, please list them:
yes no	25. Have you participated in any NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) workshops before? If yes, please list them:
yes no	26. Have you received specific training in science teaching or content, other than those listed above? If yes, please please describe below.

Adapted from "Perspectives on Teaching Science" used to evaluate the Iowa Chautauqua Program by Robert E. Yager, et. al., Science Education Center, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

Appendix C-5