Science teachers' attendance of professional development programmes and their use of computer software in teaching

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between Science teachers attending seven types of teacher professional development (TpD) programme and the influence these have on their use of computer software in the teaching of Science. This research focuses on five of the seven programmes that are essential for the improvement of Science performance and assessment results in South African schools. Teachers’ mastery of Science is not exclusively dependent on their depth of understanding of the content, but also on their understanding of and expertise in pedagogy, the curriculum, assessment practices and Information Communication Technology (ICT). The use and role of ICT in teaching have without a doubt become a non-negotiable aspect of education. However, integration of technology in education faces multiple hurdles. The greatest hurdle is the ability of the teacher to use ICT effectively. For teachers to use technology effectively they need to possess a range of skills and knowledge that allows them to achieve the objective of effective integration of ICT. Teachers need to be skilled to use computers in all aspects of their work. The focus in this research falls on the five TpD programmes that teachers attended; they include Science content, Science pedagogy, the Science curriculum, ICT and assessment in Science. This is secondary data analysis research that makes use of data collected from the South African component of the TIMSS 2011 assessment. The data was derived from the Grade 9 Science teacher questionnaires and focuses on two key variables: (1) professional development programmes attended, and (2) the use of computer software to teach Science. Data analysis was conducted at two levels: descriptive statistics to give the sample teachers a defined background and structure, and inferential statistics to surmise the relationship between teachers attending the various TpD programmes and their use of computer software to teach Science. The findings from this research show that attending academic TpD programmes is important to get teachers to use computers in the teaching of Science and that training to ensure mastery of basic ICT skills cannot be over-emphasised.