One country, two cultures – a multi-perspective view on Israeli chemistry teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning

Abstract

This paper presents a study focusing on differences in Israeli Jewish and Arab chemistry teachers' beliefs regarding teaching and learning of chemistry in the upper secondary schools. Israel is a country experiencing the problems of diverse cultural orientation of its inhabitants but applying the same educational system to its diverse cultural sectors. Education includes the same curriculum in chemistry for both the Israeli Jewish and Arab cultural sectors as well as final examinations (matriculation) set centrally by the Ministry of Education. Thus, this study can serve as a striking case for other countries facing similar cultural diversity. The study is based on two different instruments that are both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The qualitative data stem from chemistry teachers' drawings of themselves as teachers in a typical classroom situation accompanied by four open questions. The data analysis follows three qualitative scales: beliefs about classroom organization, beliefs about teaching objectives and epistemological beliefs. A quantitative study gives insights into teachers' beliefs about what characterizes good education. The main goal of the present paper is to determine whether both groups of chemistry teachers with different sociocultural background in Israel hold different views about education in general and chemistry education in particular. The findings provide evidence that in Israeli chemistry classrooms, the beliefs of Arabic teachers differ from those of the Jewish teachers, although both groups live in the same country and operate the same educational system.

Instructional practices of science teachers from the Arab community in Israel

“…In accordance with a previous literature survey and conceptual framework (Dkeidek et al 2011(Dkeidek et al , 2012Markic et al 2016; Gross and Issa 2020) and the Research Authority for Measurement and Evaluation (2019), the current study aimed to examine the teaching practices science teachers from the Arab community in Israel use when they teach science. Because teaching practices affect students' development of scientific skills and scientific literacy, understanding these practices is necessary in order to construct a suitable intervention program that leads to future change.…”

Women’s leadership in chemistry education: An interview with Rachel Mamlok-Naaman

“…More specifically, the professional development programs and models that I developed, implemented, and researchered over the last 30 years in the Jewish and Arab sectors in Israel, as well as in USA, Georgia, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, Estonia, Japan, Tanzania, and other countries are based on research findings related to my topics of practice and the research that I mentioned above, as well as inquiry-based skills, e.g., argumentation, asking questions, postulating (Blonder, Rap, Mamlok-Naaman and Hofstein, 2015;Cai and Mamlok-Naaman (Eds. )., 2020), laboratory skills (Mamlok-Naaman and Barnea, 2012), and cultural aspects (Dkeidek, Mamlok-Namman and Hofstein, 2011;Markic, et al, 2016;Mamlok-Naaman and Taitelbaum, 2019).…”

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) of Chemistry Teachers

“…Bryk et al [7] identified professional communities, along with a work culture oriented [8], toward improvement and access to professional development, with elements of "professional capacity" associated with improvements measured in primary school achievement in Chicago over a period of 6 years in the 1990s. A recent study by Kraft and Papay [9] reinforced this important insight.…”