Primary Connections in a provincial Queensland school system: Relationships to science teaching self-efficacy and practices

Abstract

The teaching of science is important, both to meet the need for future workers in fields requiring scientific capability and to equip students for full participation in modern societies where many decisions depend upon knowledge of science. However, many teachers in Australian primary schools do not allocate science educa- tion sufficient amounts of time to achieve these outcomes. This study reports data obtained from 216 teachers in the primary schools in a provincial Australian school system. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of existing strategies using Primary Connections for promoting science teaching and to inform future professio- nal development strategies. Teachers reported moderate levels of self-efficacy for teaching science and a proportion reported allocating little or no time to teaching science. Both self-efficacy for science teaching and the amount of science taught we- re higher for teachers who had used Primary Connections curriculum materials