AMANI K. HAMDAN ALGHAMDI and MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS: TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM Received: 19 August 2011; Accepted: 14 June 2012
ABSTRACT. This study explored Saudi elementary school science teachers’ beliefs about the process of teaching and learning science. This involved the exploration of their views about the new Saudi science curriculum, which emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. Comprehensive interviews were held in 8 schools with 4 male and 6 female—2 of whom were from private schools—science teachers. The interviews were analyzed to identify and assess common themes among their beliefs as well as associations between their beliefs and self-reported classroom practices. The findings revealed perceptual differences between teaching the old and the new science curricula and also that these science teachers were challenged by available class time, the student–teacher ratio, and the lack of laboratory space, equipment, and administrative support. It appears that the more interactive and group-oriented activities that formed the instructional foundation of the new curriculum have increased enjoyment for teaching science and led students to better comprehension of scientific concepts. KEY WORDS: elementary school science, Saudi education, Saudi teachers, science teachers’ beliefs
INTRODUCTION Science education reform has been a worldwide concern for over a decade. Much has been reported about the first tier of reforms in North America, Europe, and Australia, but less is known about the second tier of reforms in African, Asian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern countries. Since 2008, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assigned top priority to the improvement of its educational infrastructure. The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Public Education Development Project is one example of the new initiatives to encourage school and curriculum reform. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education (KSA, 2012) prescribed an elementary curriculum that emphasizes problemsolving and critical-thinking approaches in teaching science. Similar science education reforms have occurred elsewhere in the Middle East; however, science teaching in most Arab states suffers from an overemphasis on teacher-centered approaches and memorization of content knowledge (United Nations Development Programme & KSA, 2003). International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 2012 # National Science Council, Taiwan 2012
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Reforms and systemic planned changes in various contexts are not well documented and understood. Many top-down approaches do not fully consider mediating factors to curriculum mandates and the turbulence caused during the implementation process (Johnson, 2011; Shymansky, Wang, Annetta, Yore & Everett, 2012). Understanding teachers’ beliefs, values, and attitudes are important factors influencing implementation, classroom teaching practices, and student learning. These relationships are closely linked to teachers’ strategies for coping with challenges in their daily professional life, shaping learning environments, and influencing students’ motivation and achievement (Al-Seghayer, 2011). This study explored teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching science and about the joys and challenges that they experienced in teaching science during and after the first year of implementation of the new science curriculum. We aimed to establish the degree of alignment between teachers’ beliefs, pedagogy, and classroom practices embodied in the new curriculum, which was designed to move learning from memorization and rote learning to problem solving and critical thinking. The term beliefs has been defined in the literature in a variety of ways. Pajares (1992) defined belief as an “individual’s judgment of the truth or falsity of a proposition, a judgment that can only be inferred from a collective understanding of what human beings say, intend, and do” (p. 316). In this study, we took beliefs to be “one’s convictions, philosophy, tenets, or opinions about teaching and learning” (Haney, Lumpe & Czerniak, 2003, p. 367). The main question that guided this research was: What beliefs do Saudi elementary school science teachers hold about science teaching? BACKGROUND Effective education reform involves systemic planned change that requires understanding the existing context, organization of schools, educational policy, and curricular decisions. This context provides a baseline for contrasting the existing status to the desired status and for insights into the sociocultural factors influencing change. These comparisons will identify potential barriers to change and the magnitude and direction of changes required to achieve the desired reform. General Context The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a historical geographic area in the Middle East that was consolidated under the leadership of King Abdul
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
Aziz who founded the Saudi Arabian state in 1902 and then formed the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Located in Southwestern Asia, it is spread over 2,250 million km2, which makes it the second largest Arab country by area in the world and the largest country in the region. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a population of 27 million, eight million (33 %) of whom are non-native; it consists of 13 administrative divisions that are divided into governorates, which contain 6,000 cities, towns, and villages. Saudi Arabia is sparsely populated, and most of its population is concentrated in six large cities (Al-Seghayer, 2011; GeoHive, n.d.). Almost all Saudis are Muslims and nearly 98 % are Arabs; they are bound together by a high degree of cultural homogeneity, as is reflected in their common mother tongue (Arabic), strong family tribal relationships, and adherence to Islam (Al-Seghayer, 2011). These underlying conditions influence educational policy, school organization, and teachers’ beliefs. Educational Context In the 1960s, public school education in Saudi Arabia was established with mandatory attendance for children aged 6 to 15 years. Schools are segregated by gender with males and females attending separate schools from grade 1 with same gender teachers and are organized into three levels: elementary school for students 6 – 11 years old, secondary school for students 12 – 14 years old, and high school for students 15 – 18 years old. The Saudi government has prioritized free education to all citizens without any discrimination. Over the past 40 years, the government has succeeded in building an educational infrastructure, leading to an increase in school and university enrolment and a reduction in illiteracy. The demand for elementary education increased significantly in recent years due to increased birth rates. The number of young children has exceeded the capacity of public elementary schools; therefore, private schools have flourished to meet the population increase. The demand for higher quality education has increased for both public and private schools. However, the performance of private school students is higher, likely because of smaller classes and modern facilities. Within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia school context, teachers are required to implement curricula and instructional recommendations mandated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for kindergarten through grade 12. Frequently, the curricula and associated teaching approaches are developed or selected from international sources and modified to
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia needs and goals. The translation of these mandates into classroom practice falls on school administrators and teachers, and those translations are influenced by these individuals’ beliefs and experiences. Changing Curricular Context for Science Education Curricular reform has been a central issue in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently. For this study, elementary school science and the changes involved in centralizing curriculum development and a top-down approach to curriculum implementation are the focal points. Old Elementary Science Curricula. When it comes to teaching science, researchers state that the focus should be on teaching scientific thinking that “ought to aim at helping students do well in science and not just limit itself to basic scientific information and the more narrow skills of laboratory and experimental procedure” (Swartz, Fischer & Parks, 1998, p. 32). Many teachers had indicated that the old elementary science curricula and locally developed textbooks contained superficial information as well as a minimal number of exercises and experiments that failed to encourage students to attain knowledge through observation, comparison, and the employment of critical-thinking skills. Also, the old curricula and textbooks were based on teacher-centered approaches and on pedagogies that encourage memorization. New Elementary Science Curricula. The MoE introduced a new science curriculum in collaboration with the Obeikan Research Development Company in 2008. This curriculum is partly based on a translation of science textbooks produced by the American publishing company McGraw-Hill: “Obeikan Education’s agreement with McGraw-Hill allows Obeikan Education to translate, localise and sell McGraw-Hill Math and Sciences curricula, grades K–12, to Ministries of Education across the Arabic Region” (Obeikan, 2012, para 11). The new curricula places heavy emphasis on student-centered learning and understanding concepts instead of memorizing them and attempts to make meaningful connections to students’ lives and experiences. The new curricula adopt a teaching approach based on the constructivist theory of learning with an emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving. Theoretical Framework Educational change involves systems and sub-systems within national education systems made up of sub-systems of schools, classrooms,
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
teachers, and students (Shymansky et al., 2012). Therefore, curriculum implementation is a complex process rather than a singular event and involves sponsors, advocates, change agents, targets, sets of goals, actions, and desired states of change (Yore, Henriques, Crawford, Smith, Gomez-Zwiep & Tillotson, 2007). The top-down change in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia involves the MoE as the sponsor, school administrations as advocates and change agents, and science teachers as the target. Major local systemic change has been guided by a theory of action that assumed high-quality curricula, instructional resources, and professional development would enhance classroom practice, which would enhance student achievement (Banilower, Heck & Weiss, 2007). However, teacher uptake of reform ideas appears to be mediated by their beliefs about learning, teaching, assessment, and nature of the target discipline (Brown & Melear, 2006; Hashweh, 1996). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia teachers were expected to critique and adapt curricular, teaching, and assessment ideas that they had not experienced in their own education, which was teacher-directed, passive, and did not stress reflection and critical thinking (Al-Rabiah, 2004). Jones & Carter (2007) pointed out that “virtually every aspect of teaching is influenced by the complex web of attitudes and beliefs that teachers hold” (p. 1067). The definitions of and differences between attitudes and beliefs are somewhat fuzzy, and the mechanism(s) that connect attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions are not well understood. Attitudes are affective predispositions toward a specific object, idea, event, or person while beliefs are a cognitive stance, naïve theory, or knowledge construct about a specific object, idea, event, or person. Jones & Carter (2007) suggested that individual beliefs are frequently “integral to larger belief systems that include self-efficacy, epistemologies, attitudes, and expectations” (p. 1070). Bryan (2012) summarized the current literature on beliefs:
Beliefs do not exist in complete independence of one another, but are structured into an “internal architecture” of systems that are psychologically, but not necessarily logically organized Not all beliefs are of equal importance to the individual. They are prioritized according to their relationship to other beliefs or other cognitive and affective structures Beliefs are held along a continuum of centrality—some are more central, core, or primary, than others. It follows that the more central a belief is, the more resistant to change that the belief will be When a belief is changed, the centrality of that belief has repercussions for the entire belief system
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in discerning how individuals frame and organize tasks and problems and are stronger predictors of behavior (pp. 478–479)
When a belief is changed, the centrality of that belief has repercussions for the entire belief system. Bryan suggested that beliefs are not directly observable, but the actions and statements of the person holding the beliefs can be used to infer them. Therefore, a teacher’s belief about a specific pedagogical issue is connected to his/her general beliefs about learning, teaching, assessment, and other instructional issues and can be inferred by his/her statements about the specific issue or related actions. How these beliefs influence instructional decisions and classroom actions have been explained by various models, such as the Sociocultural Model of Embedded Beliefs Systems (SMEBS; Jones & Carter, 2007). SMEBS integrates belief systems (efficacy; social norms; environmental constraints; epistemic beliefs about science, science learning, and science teaching; attitudes toward instruction and implementation; and knowledge, skills, and motivation), a perceptual filter, environmental responses, and instructional practices within the sociocultural context. This model frames the teacher’s pedagogical views along a continuum that anchors instructional decisions and teaching actions within the perceived social norms about cultural appropriateness, teaching standards, and learning outcomes. Jones & Carter (2007) stated, “A teacher’s religious beliefs as well as cultural beliefs of the society affect how instruction is framed and interpreted” (p. 1093). Within Islamic beliefs about science—“We see only what God permits us to see.” (Haidar, 1999, p. 808), any national perspectives that employ constructivist views must be congruent with Islamic views. Therefore, in this study, using the SMEBS as a foundation for inquiries into teachers’ beliefs and planned actions within specific social, cultural, and political contexts requires a sensitivity and awareness of the social values, cultural principles, and political priorities of the specific setting. However, with increased globalization and mobility, every host society and school system is influenced by occurrences elsewhere and must be responsive to immigrant students.
METHODOLOGY The unique Saudi Arabian context, the similarities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia science education reform with reforms elsewhere, and the general lack of Saudi teachers’ voices in the science education literature
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
led us to design a case study to explore teachers’ beliefs using the SMEBS framework that was customized to reflect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia context. We specifically considered selected public and private school teachers’ beliefs about and analytical interpretations of the new elementary science curricula from the perspectives of the teachers’ prior teaching experience and of the previous curricula. We believed that a qualitative study would provide localized insights about the curriculum reform and teachers beliefs about it and about science teaching as they relate to the new curriculum. This study was limited to an urban area, Dammam, in Eastern Saudi Arabia. Participants The participant selection process involved a two-step recruitment approach. First, we communicated with the administration of many urban public and private elementary schools. Second, from those responses, we approached the science teachers to identify those interested in participating in the study. Because our study is qualitative and because we used in-depth interviews, we limited the number of volunteer teachers in the purposeful sample group. This was especially important because we did not intend to provide definitive conclusions about all elementary science teachers but, rather, to highlight some of the more prominent beliefs held by teachers. Ten volunteers were selected as participants. There were six women and four men with diverse academic backgrounds and varied teaching experiences that ranged from 2 to 28 years of experience in science instruction (Table 1). Data Collection Participants were interviewed using an adapted semi-structured protocol in which the interviewer asked probing and clarifying questions based on the interviewee’s initial responses to elaborate on various aspects of their beliefs and self-reported practices (AlSalouli, 2005). Several professors and practicing teachers checked the draft questions’ clarity and coherence to explore their face validity. The teachers’ responses were used to revise any unclear questions. The final protocol had two parts: the demographic profile of the teachers and the 16 focused questions and one open question (“Appendix”). Data were collected through extended individual interviews, each of which lasted for approximately 1 h. Initially, participants
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
TABLE 1 Participants’ backgrounds and characteristics Interviewee (pseudonyms)
Gender
Area of specialization in university
Years of experience
Current school
Ayman Yousef Ahmed Faris Noor Mira Nahed Omara Samar Wafaa
Male Male Male Male Female Female Female Female Female Female
B.Ed. in Science B.Ed. in Science B.Ed. in Science B.Ed. in Science B.Sc. in Biology B.Sc. in Physics B.Sc. in Biology Teachers’ College B.Sc. in Zoology B.Sc. in Biology
8 12 2 12 16 8 24 28 18 6
Public Public Public Public Public Private Public Public Public Private
were asked to provide a summary of their academic background, teaching experience, and science teaching experience with the old and new curricula. Part 2 questions were designed to elicit descriptive information; therefore, many were open-ended and were followed by questions to seek elaboration or clarification. Two experienced science education graduate students were trained as interviewers (one woman and one man). For cultural reasons, a woman interviewed female teachers and a man interviewed male teachers. Gender segregation remains pervasive in Saudi Arabia; this approach was considered to be more likely to elicit frank discussion and more detailed information. Participants were given the questions before the interview to help them think about the central issues, prepare their responses, and find examples from their classroom experiences. All interviews were audiorecorded to ensure a high degree of consistency and to assess quality control across the interviewers and participants. Data Analysis The audiotapes of the interviews were transcribed verbatim into text files that could be examined in detail. Each response was open-coded in order to define and categorize the data. Constant comparison across these preliminary coded responses for individual and clusters of questions was used to identify major themes and common elements running through the interviews relating to their beliefs about teaching elementary science.
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
RESULTS The content analysis produced five themes about teachers’ beliefs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia elementary schools: teaching science, premises of the new program and actual textbooks and resources, internal barriers (e.g. classroom time; class size; inadequacy of laboratory facilities, equipment, and supplies) and educational hierarchy, level of professional development and specialized knowledge, and joys of teaching the new curriculum. Each theme is stated as an assertion (boldface type), followed by quotations from the respondents as evidence to support the assertion (italic type), and the authors’ elaborations (normal type). Assertion 1: Existing Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching Science Were Used to Accommodate the New Position of Teaching Science as Problem Solving and Critical Thinking The interviews indicated that a majority of the participants (mostly the more experienced and internationally accredited private school teachers) assimilated the new principles and practices into their existing belief systems about teaching science in order to accommodate the transition to the new curricula. This was apparent when the participants indicated that they always used the new teaching approaches and goals, that they had either shifted between lecturing, inquiry-based learning, memorization, problem-solving, and critical thinking over the course of the year or saw no major disalignment between the new and old premises. Omara said: Science lecturing and giving information packaged for students to memorize never works [as] a method [for] teaching scientific concepts. Ahmed stated: Some lessons need to be taught in a way to make it easier for students to memorize and other lessons and science units should be taught using inquiry-based [approaches]. Samar said: I feel the excitement when students reach the AHA moment. I give them lots of hints in order to have them reach the conclusions themselves …. I [want] them to search for knowledge and I did not want to bring everything for them to memorize. Nahed said: I ask them to memorize formulas, but this comes after they explore the formula themselves. Ahmed argued that both memorization and critical thinking are needed in learning science and that they complement one another. [Furthermore,] memorization and lecturing students on definitions is important in teaching science because this approach makes the information more stable. Wafaa had a similar view, except she believed that students should be encouraged to use their own words when expressing their understanding of science and teachers should not ask students to state a scientific definition word by word.
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Most participants ( 9 60 %) agreed that memorization is not important in science and that students should be able to enquire into knowledge instead of memorizing it. The participants were less committed to the goals of the new curricula, with 50 % (the most experienced teachers) supporting the problem-solving and critical thinking orientation and the other less-experienced teachers not fully supporting that orientation. Omara, Nahed, and Samar—who had the most science teaching experience: 28, 24, and 18 years, respectively—confirmed that the traditional teaching approach was never recommended in science and that teaching had always been inquiry-based. They did not see much difference between the two curricula, whereas Ahmed and Wafaa—with much less teaching experience: 2 and 6 years, respectively—did not agree with the innovative approaches to teaching science. These responses are consistent with other studies into teachers’ beliefs and practices. Stipek, Givvin, Salmon & MacGyvers (2001) reported that “whatever approach is used in teaching science it is clear that beliefs and practices are linked, and thus any emphasis in teacher professional development on either one without considering the other is likely to fail” (p. 225). Levitt (2001) stated, “Traditionally, learning of answers, memorization of bits and pieces of information, recitation, and reading are emphasized in science classes at the expense of exploration of questions, critical thought, understanding in context, argument, and doing science” (p. 3). Some participants appeared to be rationalizing their practices without real change to their underlying beliefs. However, this study did not collect classroom observations of teaching, which would be required to determine if the approaches utilized aligned with stated beliefs. Assertion 2: These Teachers Believed That the Premises of the New Curricula and Actual Textbooks and Resources Were Not Aligned The new curriculum promotes inquiry-based learning in which students explore scientific concepts for themselves rather than reading about and memorizing them from the textbooks. This implies that students would need more time in science classrooms and laboratories to explore fewer topics in depth, which is not necessarily the case according to 80 % of the participants. Furthermore, one would expect that the textbooks and resources would be more focused on doing inquiries into a limited number of topics rather than the encyclopedic coverage of topics found in traditional textbooks. Therefore, the organization of the textbooks should place the inquiry activity early in a topic’s development rather than
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
explaining the topic and making the inquiry activity a verification experience. Nahed suggested: The books are full of information and I could not cover all material in the given class time. Nora stated: There is too much emphasis on the amount of material students should know and cover and there is little focus on the content and construction of knowledge. Yousef confirmed that the number of hours given in the timetable to the new curricula does not correspond to the needs of constructivist knowledge production in which students will have to build their understanding of scientific concepts through exercises and training during class. Samar added: There is no correlation between the amount I should cover and the timeframe I am given to spend with my students. I do not allow this to hinder me; I ask language teachers and fine arts teachers to give me their classes to cover what I have to cover. The MoE paid a great deal of attention to reforming the science curricula goals and suggested pedagogy but applied less consideration to the alignment of these goals and instruction with the resources selected. Teachers are still required to cover the entire textbook and numerous chapters. A post hoc inspection of the grade 5 topics in the old textbook (written by a group of Saudi educators in 2000) and the new textbook (McGraw-Hill, n.d.) illustrates that the number of major unit topics stayed the same and the number of topics in each unit had at least doubled (Table 2). It is recommended that contemporary inquiry-based textbooks practice the “less is more” principle where textbooks target coverage of fewer topics with more in-depth instruction and greater elaborations and applications of the concepts, which would allow time to address the new strategies—problem solving and critical thinking (Yore et al., 2007).
TABLE 2 Comparison of the old and new grade 5 textbooks Topics
Old textbook
Life: Animals and Plants Reproduction The Environment Adaptation and Survival
4 3 2 2
topics topics topics topics
in in in in
the the the the
New textbook unit unit unit unit
8 8 6 6
topics topics topics topics
in in in in
the the the the
unit unit unit unit
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Assertion 3: These Teachers Reported That They Believed There Were Several Internal Barriers to Implementing the New Curricula—Class Time, Class Size and Diversity, Laboratory Space and Equipment, and School Hierarchy A very large majority (90 %) of the participants identified one or more school-based interpretations of policy or contextual limitations that appeared to hinder the systemic implementation of the new curricula goals and teaching approaches within the public or private school system. This means that curricula development, orientation, and implementation, classroom practices, and resource selection are subsystems that must be coordinated to achieve the ultimate goal of enhanced science achievement by students (Shymansky et al., 2012). The MoE developed a contemporary curriculum that emphasized critical thinking and problem solving as goals and identified studentcentered teaching approaches; however, it selected less-than-ideal textbooks and did not modify timetables, instructional spaces, and resources. Instructional time, space, resources, and professional development were left to school administrations. Unfortunately, there appears to be uneven successes in addressing these factors in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia public and private schools. Several participants mentioned instructional time as a barrier to implementation. An overview of the weekly timetable of government-operated elementary schools (unlike privately owned schools) indicated that religion, Arabic reading, and mathematics classes have more slots than those given to science. Ahmed argued: In 45 minutes’ class time, it is not possible for any teacher to excite students [about] learning or to achieve their participation in knowledge production. Samar stated: I feel that I am in a race against time … discussion is not easy and takes time for students to reach the points through exploration. Nora said: It is unrealistic that we [are] expected to perform well in a new curriculum in the same class slots [in the timetable] as we did for a traditional based curriculum. Omara also indicated that without increases to weekly class times and meeting times [currently two 45minute classes per week], any curriculum that attempts to move beyond the traditional teacher-centered approach would fail to meet its objectives. It is interesting to note the claim that “There is not enough time to teach science” can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy as those teachers who might be uncomfortable with teaching science tend to
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
spend more time emphasizing other subjects (Cronin-Jones, 1991). Some teachers resist inquiry-oriented activities because of time demands. Alexander (2000) found that student-centered teaching is more time-consuming and unpredictable for task completion than teacher-centered approaches. “When task completion is threatened, teachers opt to resume control of the class time” (Wang, 2011, p. 158). Inquiry-based learning in the context of short class time imposes considerable pressure on teachers. Wang (2011) stated, “teachers criticize themselves for giving an answer directly to students in order to ‘rush the lesson’ or for dismissing students’ inquiries in class that are thought to be off the script” (p. 158). Such concerns indicate that instructional time was a dilemma for these teachers. The participants found it especially difficult implementing the new curricula and teaching approach when teaching hundreds of students with diverse backgrounds, abilities, and behaviors, literally 50 or more per classroom. This makes laboratory instruction, field trips, and group work—which are seen as the cornerstones of inquiry-based learning and one requirement of a problem-solving approach—extremely challenging. Ahmed said: Having huge numbers of students in every classroom is quite a challenging factor for a teacher’s creativity. Ayman commented: Bigger classes hinder school trips to actual environments where students can view things first hand. Noor argued that in-class group work is very beneficial, especially for weak students, but that sometimes she needs … to intervene to mix up levels of students so weak ones work with strong ones. Omara stated: We cannot at all work in groups because of the number I have per class and because of the lack of equipment that is needed to perform and experiment. If I try, then students become frustrated if they watch their classmates use the tools and they cannot use them. I give them turns. Samar said: Since I started teaching in the mid-nineties, class sizes are only increasing and no measures are taken to make them smaller. Thus, although these teachers believed in the importance of adopting teaching methodologies for a rapidly changing world, the reality of the high student–teacher ratio in most public schools prevented them from fully reflecting the change to which many aspired. Private school teachers were less concerned because, in their schools, class size rarely exceeded 35 students. The impact of class sizes was compounded with student diversity and related challenges. The participants’ comments highlighted how they had difficulty
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
designing classroom activities and how they often had to make difficult tradeoffs between group and individual work to address diversity. Furthermore, their responses suggest that teaching students of varying academic levels and behavior standards can interfere with group work; this was especially true for many public school teachers and for at-risk students. Private school teachers were less concerned because they had professional development on how to take advantage of diversity in ability and ethnicity. Nahed said: Without minimizing the student-teacher ratio, no curricula will be fruitful whether it is designed in Saudi like the old one or imported, translated, and reformed like the one introduced now. Participants believed that the lack of laboratory space, equipment, and technologies impeded the implementation of the new curricula and the effectiveness of the new teaching approaches. Inquiry-based learning requires opportunities for students to explore common and unique ideas by themselves or in small groups to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities and understanding of the target concepts. Novice and experienced teachers found it frustrating to teach inquiry-based science without enough material and equipment. Samar, who had experience in several schools, expressed her frustration: [After] teaching science for 18 years, … little attention has been given to how important it is to equip every school with a science laboratory. Yousef expressed similar sentiments: Because it is a lively subject, science can never be delivered [only] through lecturing students; it has to be taught in the lab and, if there is no lab and the number of students in classes are very high, these factors hinder the science teacher’s ability to do his job. Ayman said: Students in Thoqba, the poorest neighborhood in the city, are extremely in need for equipment; the semester would pass without a visit to the lab as it doesn’t have any equipment for simple measurement. Ahmed, the least experienced teacher, was surprised when he started teaching and said: My school is only a rented apartment building, and we are using the kitchen space to be our small science lab. Many teachers—especially those in public schools—do not have proper access to the technology and equipment required for science instruction. Some lack access to computers while others lack access to necessary laboratory equipment and supplies. Omar said: We have only one [microscope] so I use it as a demonstration and have my 40 students pass by it in rows to touch it and examine it for a few minutes. Ideally, each 3 students would have [a microscope] on their lab desk to use. … Whether it is the old
SAUDI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS
or new curricula, policy makers should realize the importance of equipping each and every school with proper equipment to support students’ learning. Ayman stated: In many cases, science teachers in our school tried to save money by buying simple equipment to use for teaching because it is very difficult to teach when you have no resources at all. These comments reflect the importance of creating an environment that stimulates students’ thinking and comprehension and that allows them to develop and use scientific practices in authentic settings. The science laboratory and equipment are valuable resources in science instruction; nonetheless, at the elementary level, science teachers have many opportunities to introduce and explain a wide range of scientific concepts using everyday materials in a standard classroom. Several participants believed that the educational hierarchies were not conducive to inquiry-based instruction focused on problem solving and critical thinking. Barriers to implementing the new curricula and instruction appear to be greater in the public schools than the private schools. Therefore, it appears that school administrations play a critical role in the implementation. Furthermore, school administrators appeared to place undue pressure on teachers of the new curricula in the first year of implementation in terms of being accountable for topic coverage and student achievement. Omara stated: The pressure is tremendous and unbearable, and the responsibility I carry could be carried by at least three or four teachers. I want to do a good job but the pressure of big classrooms with diverse students with various levels of learning and diverse learning styles makes me feel that I have to finish my curriculum and do the minimum. Faris complained about the extent to which his school administration is careless about offering resources [supplies and equipment] for the science lab. He emphasized: It’s the school and the MoE’s responsibility to equip the schools with necessary tools before implementing a new curriculum. Yousef, a public school teacher, complimented the regional science supervisors: They try their best to build collaboration between novice teachers and experienced ones …. I see that they tried their best to arrange workshops before the implementation of the new McGraw-Hill curriculum. It, therefore, appears that at least some school administrations are trying to support teachers with the new curricula, which creates reason to be optimistic for the future. However, collectively, the barriers (time, class size, diversity, laboratory, equipment, and leadership) have slowed or biased the implementation of the new science curricula. The participants outlined the imbalance between the
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
objectives and requirements of the new curricula and the capacity of the educational system to address these objectives and requirements. Assertion 4: Beliefs About the Level of Professional Development and Specialized Knowledge The MoE did not provide professional learning opportunities for inservice teachers that would allow them to build understanding of the new curricula and to use the new teaching approach. High-quality private schools made professional development available to their science teachers, which is likely why private school teachers were more confident in moving into inquiry-based instruction, critical thinking, and problem solving. Eighty percent of the participants were convinced of the value of hands-on activities and co-operative learning from their pre-service university methods courses and from general pedagogical workshops attended as practicing teachers. However, they generally experienced some degree of challenge in attempting to engage students with science content from the activities; 60 % indicated that from time to time they needed to review the theoretical background of the relevant scientific concepts with students before launching the activity. A minority (30 %) indicated that their school administration was supportive of professional development. However, many—especially those in the public system —struggled because they rarely had the opportunity to participate in workshops and seminars; it seems that most teachers are essentially left to improve themselves. Omara argued: My school never supports my professional development and it does not initiate any plans to support other science teachers. [Implementation of the new curricula] does not make a difference to the school administration. It is just a curriculum and it is the teachers’ job to work on it. Faris said: The last workshop I attended was 4 years ago, which was prior to the introduction of the new curricula, and … professional development does not seem to be a priority for many school administrations. Ayman explained: Teachers are relying on the school administration [for professional development opportunities and funding, but they are] depending on and waiting for the support of the MoE. However, Samar, a public school teacher, explained: Before the new curriculum was implemented, the teachers in my school were invited to four-day workshops and we benefited from discussions with the other female colleagues who were already quite familiar with the new curriculum.
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In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like many Western educational systems, curriculum development is done by the MoE, but implementation and professional development is left to schools and regional supervisors or agencies. Unfortunately, many local agencies do not have the financial resources or human expertise to design and deliver effective professional development workshops or facilitate self-directed professional learning focused on science curriculum, classroom practices, and on-going classroom support (Shymansky et al., 2012). Assertion 5: Beliefs About the Joys of Teaching the New Curricula Despite the many challenges of teaching the new curricula, 80 % of the participants experienced and expressed great pleasure in implementing the ethos of student-centered, inquiry-based learning. The enjoyment appears to be greater than it was with the old curricula and textbook. These teachers provided a basis for optimism that the current curricula reform would ultimately be successful. Wafaa stated: The major joy was seeing her students attain scientificinquiry skills such as observing, inquiring, comparing and contrasting. When students master these skills, I experience my most exciting joyful moments in teaching science. When we first received the new curricula and the new textbooks for Grades 5 and 6, we thought: How can we teach the children these concepts? They are too advanced for them! However, sometimes we underestimate our students’ abilities to analyze and comprehend scientific concepts. Sara stated: I feel the joy when I teach the new curricula … the books are much more engaging, lots of colorful pictures and many exercises, but then the challenge I face appears when I remember that I have to cover a lot of content in a short timeframe and also the number of students I have in each class prevents me from engaging everyone. I feel excited when I see that my students are trying to solve problems, search for answers, and brainstorm for scientific meanings. Faris said: The boys are smart; once they are given the opportunity to explore, they do not like to stop. They are vibrant until the next session I meet them. The evidence indicates that the two private school teachers, Mira and Wafaa, experienced greater pleasure and success in implementing the new curriculum while Sara, a public school teacher, faced mixed experiences of enjoyment and concern. The disparity between idealistic beliefs and reality illustrated the general inadequacy of the resources directed to the public schools while the proposition that the curricula itself is
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
fundamentally sound. The school where Mira and Wafaa were colleagues was achieving success within the framework of inquiry-based learning defined by the new curricula to some extent because of the administration’s support and because of the teachers’ continuous engagement in professional development workshops focused on implementation and instruction. Indeed, this school organized 1 month of professional development for all its teachers and invited international speakers. The new science curricula did not come as a surprise nor did it trigger major alterations in the schedule of this school as it was already providing three science sessions per week, unlike public schools that provide students only two sessions per week. This, along with small class sizes, laboratory space and equipment, made the implementation of experiments and problem-solving approaches much easier. However, the public school teachers and school administrators were taking a proactive collaborative approach to marshaling the limited resources at their disposal. Colleagues collaborated to provide hands-on settings and to make tangible the curricular changes intended by the new reform.
DISCUSSION The SMEBS provided the foundation for discussing the results of this study that contextualized belief systems for internalization and enactment of the curricular intentions, outcomes, and instructional practices within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sociocultural context. SMEBS frames the teacher’s beliefs that anchor instructional decisions and teaching actions within the perceived cultural appropriateness for teaching, assessment, and learning. The teachers interviewed believed in student-centered approaches to teaching and learning science although some gaps existed between their beliefs about what constituted student-centered approaches and the reform principles. Their responses suggested that, in general, teachers enacted modified instruction and embraced science education reform if they received professional learning and development opportunities for teaching the new curriculum and perceived ways to overcome the barriers to enacting the prescribed instructional approaches and outcomes. Our examination of these teachers’ beliefs and suggestions regarding learning and teaching suggested that their belief systems were encompassing and could incorporate a variety of teaching approaches on the student-centered to teacher-directed continuum. Surprisingly, some experienced teachers believed the old curricula endorsed inquiry-oriented
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approaches and that the new curricula did the same, but the explicit endorsement of critical thinking and problem solving as outcomes of effective inquiry-oriented teaching was new. Other less experienced teachers, again surprisingly, believed that traditional teaching approaches were not excluded by the new reform and principles of effective instruction involving “just-in-time” delivery on an “as-needed basis” (Shymansky et al., 2012). Their beliefs and classroom actions provided insights into the kind of experiences on which teacher education and professional development programs should be built to promote the inquiry-based teaching and learning that happens through critical thinking and problem solving. The point of this research is that experienced teachers were receptive to the new curricula and goals, which had not been previously documented in the literature. Teachers believed that the MoE had not fully enacted the premises related to modern science education reforms in selecting and modifying the textbook and instructional policy. The comparison of topic coverage in the old and new textbooks indicated that the less-is-more premise was not explicit and there was no indication of reducing the topic coverage to match the instructional time available. However, the MoE did avoid inclusion of controversial topics and maintained priority topics in the elementary science curricula since teachers did not mention such concerns. Our analyses revealed the importance of class size, class time, student diversity, and the lack of laboratory space and equipment. Similar imagined and real barriers are reported by elementary school teachers of science in Canada and the USA (Yore et al., 2007). Graue, Hatch, Rao & Oen (2007) reported that class-size reduction helped support teachers’ endeavors in nine elementary schools located in underprivileged areas. They discussed how having a smaller number of students per class provides greater opportunity for teachers to engage in practices that improve student learning. Snider & Roehl (2007) argued that, “Small class size, especially in the primary grades, has received overwhelming support from the rank and file of teachers …. The question is whether small class size, in and of itself, leads to achievement gains that make it worth the price tag” (p. 86). However, Anderson (2002) stated, “It is what teachers do in and with smaller classes that make a difference, not simply being in a smaller class” (p. 52). Teachers with small classes are able to spend more time engaging in learning–teaching activities and less time on behavioral misconduct and classroom management issues (Graue et al., 2007). Hill (2003) found that many researchers observed a positive correlation between class size and increased student achievement as well as a statistically significant effect of smaller classes on achievement.
AMANI HAMDAN ALGHAMDI AND MISFER SAUD AL-SALOULI
Yet, teachers’ intensified work responsibilities and the 45-min, twiceweekly science period in public schools make it difficult to promote the spirit of inquiry and project-based learning that underlies the new curricula. Private schools have three periods per week. Limited instructional time was one of the major challenges that teachers encountered, especially for the public school teachers who were struggling to keep with the new constructivist approach. Students’ diverse abilities and learning styles are also a limitation that teachers face with limited class time; these issues are important and must be dealt with by teachers. Limited resources and the lack of administration support for professional development were factors that all eight public school participants agreed discourage science teachers from delivering the intended reform. Some participants raised interesting questions about the imported textbook and whether the community should shape the curricula or whether the curricula should shape the community. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia context involves unique challenges to those of the country of origin (USA) for the textbook and its contents. It was interesting that few concerns were expressed about potential sociocultural or sociopolitical conflicts. Teachers in this study appeared to be absorbed in the process of covering the curricula when they should also have had a role in selecting what should have been included. Without empowering teachers, it is unlikely that they will create an empowering environment for their students.
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS This exploratory study was performed with the objective of documenting the beliefs of Saudi elementary school science teachers within the context of the new science curricula and instructional reform. We found that the participating teachers believed the new curricula was interesting in that it encourages students to think, argue, and discuss scientific concepts that were previously treated strictly as a series of facts. Yet, they experienced some difficulties with the internal barriers, lack of external support and professional development. These findings indicate that science education reform is a systemic issue in which sponsors, advocates, change agents, and targets of change must work together to achieve the development and implementation of the innovation (Shymansky et al., 2012). Clearly, this study illustrated the importance of a coordinated effort amongst the MoE, school administration, regional supervisors, and teachers to plan, design, and deliver support to classroom
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teachers. The support should take the form of pre-service courses, professional development workshops, self-directed learning, and daily mentoring focused on teachers’ beliefs and associated classroom practices related to teaching and assessment. One of the main conclusions of this study is the need for the MoE to review public policy related to the time allocated to teaching science or the prescribed topic coverage in each grade level. All public school teachers indicated that only two periods of science instruction per week was insufficient to achieve student-centered approaches and critical thinking and problem-solving outcomes across the required topics. The MoE should ensure that teachers’ beliefs and evaluations are given greater credence when it comes to employing the curricula. Another aspect of teacher concern was demands in the public sector for the need to reduce the number of students per class. Like Graue et al. (2007), we argue that “the intensification of teacher work as a result of working with high densities of students … influenced their chosen methods for instruction” (p. 690). Teachers, especially those working in public schools, criticized the lack of opportunities for professional development. School administrations can enhance teachers’ ability to deliver high-quality instruction to all students and to more fully realize the effects of the new curricula and instructional resources on student achievement (Banilower et al., 2007; Shymansky et al., 2012). Future research needs to expand the study of teachers’ beliefs into actual classroom practices rather than self-reported teaching and assessment practices. Interview data on beliefs should be associated with formalized classroom observations using established techniques and protocols; this would allow much stronger inferences to be made about beliefs and practices. Future research studies should focus on what type of professional development would be needed to support teachers’ preparation to teach for science inquiry. Saudi science classroom teachers’ experiences in influencing student learning of scientific concepts is a new area of research, and researchers should focus on this in order to understand the complexity of issues related to science teaching especially now that the government is paying a more attention to science and education in general.
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS The authors are grateful to the teachers who participated in this project. We are grateful to the Center of Excellence of Math and Science Teaching at King Saud University and to the National Science Council of
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Taiwan for the mentoring provided by Dr. Larry D. Yore and Mrs. Sharyl A. Yore to publish this article. The research is supported by The Excellence Center of Science and Mathematics Education (ECSME) at King Saud University. APPENDIX Survey Questions Please thoroughly provide your answers to the following questions: 1. How long have you been teaching science? 2. What are the challenges and joys you experience as a science teacher with respect to the students themselves? 3. How do you feel about teaching science in upper grades? 4. I know you are teaching different subject matters in this classroom. So, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, how much do you like teaching science? Could you explain? 5. How does teaching science compare to other subjects? Are there specific things you like and dislike about teaching science? 6. Do you think it is important for an elementary teacher to have strong science skills? Do higher grades of elementary teachers need more science skills than lower elementary grade teachers? 7. How good were you in science prior to becoming a teacher? Did your performance change over time? 8. Some people argue that in order to teach science effectively, you must follow the textbook closely. What do you think about this argument? 9. What do you think about the following statement: If a student is confused about science, the teacher should go over the material again more slowly. 10. How important is memorization in science? Can someone be good in science without being good at memorizing? How? 11. What do you think of having children work in groups in science class? 12. When you look at students’ work on complex problems, do you focus on the final answer or on their procedures of getting the answer? 13. What are the factors that you always keep in mind when planning a lesson? 14. To what extent do the following factors affect your teaching problem solving? (probe for teachers’ science content knowledge, teachers’
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pedagogical knowledge, teachers’ teaching experience, students’ ability, class size, class time, teaching materials, etc.) 15. In what ways does your school administration support teaching science through problem solving, and to what degree do they get in the way? (probe for parents, other teachers, observing each other as part of improving instructional strategies) 16. Have you participated in any seminars or workshops for science recently? Did other teachers in this school participate? Do you think more seminars or workshops are needed for science teachers? Why or why not? 17. Is there anything that you think is important about teaching science that you haven’t said?
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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) & Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Economy & Planning (2003). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Human development report. New York: UNDP. Available from http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Saudi%20Arabia/ Saudi%20Arabia%20HDR%202003%20en.pdf. Wang, D. (2011). The dilemma of time: Student-centered teaching in the rural classroom in China. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 157–164. Yore, L. D., Henriques, L., Crawford, B., Smith, L., Gomez-Zwiep, S. & Tillotson, J. (2007). Selecting and using inquiry approaches to teach science: The influence of context in elementary, middle, and secondary schools. In E. Abrams, S. A. Sutherland & P. Silva (Eds.), Inquiry in the classroom: Realities and opportunities (pp. 39–87). Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Amani K. Hamdan Alghamdi University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia E-mail:
[email protected] Misfer Saud Al-Salouli King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia E-mail:
[email protected]
