A Canonical Correlation Analysis of Filipino Science Teachers' Scientific Literacy and Science Teaching Efficacy

Abstract

Science teacher's self-efficacy has been at the center of many investigations on students' achievement in science, teacher burnout, and teacher performance. While overly studied, this construct has not been examined with scientific literacy in depth. Thus, this study aims to identify the influence of science teacher's scientific literacy on their science teaching efficacy through a canonical correlation analysis. The study utilized an explanatory-correlational research design to unravel the correlation between scientific literacy and science teaching efficacy. It was found out that scientific literacy was correlated with science teaching efficacy. Further the study revealed that Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and content knowledge in earth science, life science, and health science were positively associated with science teachers' self-efficacy in biology, chemistry, and physics. On the other hand, knowledge in physics and Nature of Science (NOS) were not associated as highlighted in the literature. This suggests that a science teacher's content knowledge in specific sciences predicts their efficacy in teaching science. More so, the teacher's knowledge of how science and technology affect society and how society directs science and technology shapes their confidence to teach science. This implies that practical and observable science allows teachers to demonstrate science concepts to their students effectively.

Go Carb Deck: A Card Game for Teaching Classification of Simple Monosaccharides

“…In the Philippines' K−12 curriculum, grade 10 is the final level in the junior high school basic education curriculum. In this curriculum, science is taught in a spiraling approach 3 where the scope and sequence of science contents are developed such that these skills are revisited at each grade level to allow mastery from one level to another with increasing difficulty. 20 Students entering the final level of the junior high school curriculum are expected to have mastered the bonding characteristics of carbon, which results in a large variety of compounds; in this level, biomolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids are introduced.…”

“…Several reports have shown difficulty among students, both high school and undergraduate, in learning important concepts in biochemistry. These challenges in learning the course may be attributed to the usual lecture-driven delivery, which involves arduous coursework, full of dense information which easily overwhelms students. , Similarly, assessments often employed are multiple-choice formats requiring students to memorize information instead of understand concepts . More so, students perform poorly in their biochemistry courses because they rely on only rote memorization of basic and advanced concepts.…”

Graphic Organizer-Based Science Literacy Learning Models In Elementary Schools

“…PISA (Program OECD for International Student Assessment-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) definition of scientific literacy is as follows: "the ability to make decisions about the natural world and how human activity has changed it by using Science knowledge to identify issues and generate conclusions based on evidence. "This definition of scientific literacy sees scientific literacy as having multiple dimensions in its measurement, including science procedures, science content, and the context of science applications (Suryanti et al, 2018;Paristiowati et al, 2019;Walag et al, 2022). As a result, students are able to apply their Science knowledge to real-world issues that are connected to the subject matter they are studying.…”

“…A person's scientific literacy after the learning process varies depending on previous understanding, understanding during the learning process, and the ability of students to associate their understanding with other concepts or situations. According to Irmita and Atun (2018) and Walag et al (2022), a comprehensive theoretical scale for the assessment of diving scientific literacy in schools is divided into four levels. The four stages of scientific literacy are as follows: 1) Lack of scientific literacy.…”

A Project Monitoring Study on the Improvement of Elementary Science Teacher's Science Teaching Efficacy through a Flexible Online Training Course

“…Although many papers have highlighted the link between teacher efficacy and student outcomes, several reports also found no correlation between the two, making this link inconclusive (Digal & Walag, 2019;Mahler, Großschedl, & Harms, 2017). Although the debate is still on whether teacher efficacy directly impacts student outcomes, it is still worthwhile to examine how teachers develop teaching efficacy (Walag, Fajardo, Bacarrisas, & Guimary, 2022).…”