Perception of Practical Activities by Chemistry Teachers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of “practical work” in chemistry lessons as perceived by teachers varies and does not always correspond with an emphasis on procedural learning. Teachers project various objectives in them. These activities have various characteristics and potential. The goal of this study is to find out the set of characteristics of practical activities in chemistry lessons as perceived by teachers. We identify and characterize the diversity of the sets of participants’ perspectives across a given topic. Q-methodology was used to investigate the perspectives of 33 chemistry teachers regarding practical activities in chemistry lessons. The teachers ranked and sorted 61 statements about practical activities according to their preferences. The analysis showed three sets of perspectives: (Factor 1) focusing on experience with phenomena, (Factor 2) the teacher is in control, and (Factor 3) focusing on the process of learning. Based on the results, the study addresses some issues that need to be communicated with the teachers and their educators.

KEYWORDS:

• Chemistry teacher
• in-service teacher
• practical work
• Q-methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical statement

The study was performed in compliance with Trnava University’s policy on ethics. All participants signed a consent letter prior to completing the Q sort or filling out the questionnaire. All data were used in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the KEGA Agency under [Grant number 004TTU-4/2020].