Describing the Self-Efficacy of Tanzania Secondary School Biology Teachers in Teaching Integrated Science Process Skills

Abstract

This study intended to examine the self-efficacy levels of the current secondary school science teachers in Tanzania towards teaching of science process skills. Science process skills have been heavily emphasized in the newly introduced Competence Based Curriculum of 2005. Specifically, the study intended to; (i) determine the self-efficacy level of Morogoro Municipality Biology teachers with regard to the teaching of integrated science process skills, and (ii) determine the influence of teachers’ knowledge level of science process skills on their self-efficacy towards teaching these scientific skills to learners. Science process skills approach by Chiappetta & Koballa (2002), and Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory formed the conceptual and theoretical frameworks of the study respectively. Science Teaching Self-Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-A) and a test of Integrated Process Skills developed by Mungandi (2005) were used to collect data among 63 sampled biology teachers. The results indicated that Morogoro Biology teachers have unsatisfactory knowledge of integrated science process skills and average self-efficacy level. The study recommends an urgent need to refocus on science teachers’ training and professional development programmes.

Effect of Problem-Based Learning on Developing Science Process Skills and Learning Achievement on the topic of Safety in Our Environment

“…Science process skills are of two categories, namely, basic SPS and integrated SPS (Aydoğdu, 2015). While integrated SPS are complex and therefore used in higher grade students, basic SPS are simple skills that are essential for foundational cognitive functioning in students at lower levels, such as ordinary level students in Tanzania (Athuman, 2017). SPS are very important and are a part and parcel of the everyday life of an individual.…”

“…There are six important SPS that are used in learning science, especially at the lower level of education. These are observation, communication, classification, measurement, inference, and prediction (Athuman, 2017;Yadav & Mishra, 2013). Developing SPS of students is pivotal in science education provision worldwide.…”

“…Studies have shown that the development of SPS requires learning approaches that promote their development. Problem-based Learning (PBL) as among the learner-centred approaches lacks more information on its ability in developing SPS and learning achievement (Athuman, 2017;Rabacal, 2016).…”

“…In this context, various studies have been conducted to find out the learning of sciences subjects including Biology. Studies conducted by Kasuga (2016) and Athuman (2017) on teaching and learning approaches used in teaching and learning Biology revealed that the predominant teaching and learning methods used by teachers were traditional and teacher-centered. Teachers failed to promote student-centered learning procedures such as observations, generation and testing of hypotheses through experimentation, and discussion of findings from observations and experiments.…”

“…The candidates who scored from 2 to 3.5 marks were 30.8 percent whereas 31.4 percent scored from 4 to 6 marks. (URT, 2020) The factors for poor achievement in this topic include the methods used to deliver the content on the topic that does not promote the development of SPS (Athuman, 2017). Studies have indicated that the traditional methods used, cannot instill in students problem-solving skills Athuman, 2017;Mkomele, 2015).…”