Chemistry Teachers' lnservice Needs

Are They Unique?

Peter A. Rubba Curriculum, Instruction and Media, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901

Science educators have long looked upon inservice educa- tion as a means for increasing the professional effectiveness of practicing science teachers. Science teachers, on the other hand, often hold a different perspective toward inservice ed- ucation due mainly to personal experience. More times than not. the inservice nroerams that teachers attend. a maioritv , ~~~~ ~~

of which are held at thk local level, violate a hasicbrinci&e of inservice education when onlv suoerficial consideration is " . given to the participating teachers' needs. Consequently, manv teachers have formed neaative opinions toward inservice education, as witnessed by theTr opencriticism of it. Teachers frequently descrihe inservice activities as dull, poorly planned and run, and generally a waste of time.'

In preparation for designing a number of inservice activities for science teachers, the author completed an inservice needs assessment on a random sample of the 4956 Illinois science teachers in grades six through twelve. The sample was strat- ified across the 78 Illinois Office of Education Regions such that one science teacher was selected a t random for everv five in each region. The sample contained 992 science teachers. Of those. 403 teachers (41%) submitted usable needs assessment instruments in response to one of two mailings completed during April and May of 1979, respectively. For this paper, data from the 87 chemistry teachers who returned instruments were analyzed to determine- 1) What are the inservice needs identified by at least 50% of the

chemistry teachers? 2) Did chemistry teacher responses to their top inservice needs differ

from those of the science teachers in general?

Instrumentation The survey was carried out using the Moore Assessment

Profile, MAP, an instrument which had been developed spe- cifically to identify the inservice needs of science teachers. The MAP contains 117 need statements. for each of which re- spondents mark a four point scale (not needed = 1, little needed = 2. moderatelv needed = 3, much needed = 4). The need statements are organized under six category headings: 1) The development of a better understanding of students 2) The betterment of diagnosis and evaluation practices 3) The develooment of hetter classroom manaeement aractices ~~~~ ~ ~

4) The impro;ement of classroom instruction and planning 5) The more effective use of instructional materials 6) The self-improvement of the classroom science teacher.

The reliability estimate on the MAP is 0.986 using Hoyt's analvsis of variance method. Construct validitv was estab-

- strument."

Top Ynservice Needs Twelve inservice needs were identified as either much

needed or moderately needed by 50% or more of the chemistry teachers. Those 12 inservice needs are listed on Table 1, rank ordered by the percentage of chemistry teachers marking the "much needed" and the "moderately needed" responses for each.

The top dozen inservice needs indicated by the chemistry teachers were distributed across five of the six categories of

Table 1. Chemistry Teachers' Top 12 lnservice Needs

Rank CategoryiNeed 'Yo

6-16 Updating of present knowledge of content in the area of physics

4-13 Making science meaningful la students 5- 3 Utilizing the library and its facilities so as

to increase the students' abilities lo develoo reference skills

4-29 Developing in students an understanding of the interrelationships that exist between science and other school subjects

5- 4 Utilizing the library and its facilities so as to increase the students' abilities la supplement ciassroom learning

5- 2 More effective utilization of science

materials. etc) 1- 1 Determining pupil readiness for learning

(physical. intellectual, social. emotimal)

5- 7 Using computers 4-30 Developing techniques for teaching

science in overcrowded conditions 5- 5 Utilizing audiovisual materials a3

instructional media (slides. filmstrips, television, projectors, transparencies. etc.)

3-10 Maintaining adequate safety conditions in the iaboratory

5- 1 Procuring supplementary science books for students on appropriate grade lev~ ls

needs contained in the MAP, with between 50% and 60% of the teachers registering need for each. Six of these needs were from category 5, the more effective use of instructional ma- terials, thieefrom category 4, the improvement of classroom instruction and planninx, and one each from category 1, the development of better understanding of students, category 3, the development of better classroom management practices, and category 6, the self-improvement of the classroom science teacher.

Amone the needs were areas traditionallv dealt with in the preservice training and the inservice training of science teachers, including, securing and utilizing science textual and supplemental instructional materials (needs 5-1 & 5-21 the use of audiovisual media to support instruction (need 5-5). and maintaining laboratory saf& (need 3-10). Unanticipated was the chemistry teachers' desire for content updating in physics (need 6161, and help in utilizing the l i h r w to develop reference skills in students, particularly as these can he used by students to supplement classroom instruction (needs 5-3

' Harris. B. M. and Bessent, W., "lnservice Education: A Guide to Better Practice." Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 1969, chapter 1.

Moore, Kenneth D., Journalof Research in Science reaching, 14, 145 (1977).

430 Journal of Chemical Education

Table 2. 1-Test Cornoarisons

Chemistry Teachers Science Teachers

- n = 87 - n = 403 - CategoryINeed X sij- X S.D

1 - 1 2.58 0.92 2.58 0.96 3-10 2.49 1.06 2.60 1.09 4-13 2.60 0.81 2.97 1.04 4-29 2.58 0.94 2.80 0.94 4-30 2.54 1.04 2.46 1.11 5- 1 2.46 1.00 2.44 0.99 5- 2 2.56 0.99 2.45 0.94 5- 3 2.64 0.93 2.60 0.93 5- 4 2.66 0.99 2.62 0.96 5- 5 2.55 1.01 2.42 1.02 5- 7 2.53 0.98 2.35 1.10 6-16 2.68 1.08 2.55 1.04

& 5-4). Under closer consideration, however, t,hese needs aonear to he consistent with the teachers' desire for heln in &king science meaningful to students (need 4-13), and showing science's interrelationship with other subjects (need 4-29). And when one stops to consider that many chemistry teachers also teach a physics or physical science courseb), the teachers' need for physics content work becomes clearer.

The other three perceived needs which were among the top

tellectual. social. and emotional readiness for instruction (need ~- ~~ ~~ ,~ , 1-I), techniques of teaching in overcrowded conditions (need 4-30), and using computers (need 5-71,

Comparison to Science Teachers In General Table 2 nresents t-test data on each of the chemistrv

teachers' top 12 inservice needs when that group's mean need resoonses were comnared to those of the entire science teacher sample.

The data in Table 2 shows mean need response differences between the two groups on 11 of the 12 needs. Two of these differences proved to be statistically significant under t-test analysis. On need 4-13, making science meaningful to stu- dents, the difference was statistically significant a t the 0.01 level. For need 6 2 9 , developing in students an understanding of the interrelationships that exist between science and other school subjects, it was statistically significant a t the 0.05 level. In both cases the mean need response was greater for the science teachers overall than for the chemistry teacher subgroup. Otherwise, the degree of need expressed by the chemistry teachers in their top dozen needs was not statisti- cally different from the degree of need expressed in these by the entire sample of science teachers.

Synopsis

.. . degree of need designated for 10 of those areas by the cbem- istry teachers did not differ statistically from that designated by the entire sample of secondary science teachers. I t would appear that chemistry teachers shared a large number of their top inservice needs with secondary science teachers, in general, and that inservice activities planned around those needs would be well accepted by secondary teachers of a variety of sciences and over the range of grade levels.

Volume 58 Number 5 May 1981 431