Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article 1 (Jun., 2012) Mahbub SARKAR & Deborah CORRIGAN Teaching for scientific literacy: Bangladeshi teachers’ perspectives, practices and challenges Contents Next

Teaching for scientific literacy: Bangladeshi teachers’ perspectives, practices and challenges

 

Mahbub SARKAR
Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
Faculty of Education, Monash University, AUSTRALIA
E-mail: Mahbub.Sarkar@monash.edu; sabuz_du@yahoo.com

Deborah CORRIGAN
Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
Faculty of Education, Monash University, AUSTRALIA
E-mail: Debbie.Corrigan@monash.edu

Received 30 Oct, 2011
Revised 20 Jun, 2012

---

Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Scientific Literacy and Science Knowledge
• Scientific Literacy and Values
• Methodology
• Research Design and Data Sources
• Data Analysis
• Results and Discussion
  • Teachers’ Perspectives of Scientific Literacy
  • Translation of Teachers’ Perspectives into Classroom Teaching
  • Values Teachers Consider in Relation to Scientific Literacy
  • Challenges to Teach for Scientific Literacy
  • Curriculum issues
  • School issues
  • Assessment issues
• Concluding Remarks
• References

---

Abstract

This paper reports on the way three Bangladeshi science teachers perceive scientific literacy, translate their perspectives into classroom teaching, the values they consider pertaining scientific literacy and the issues they perceive as challenging in their teaching. Employing a case study approach, data in this research were gathered through observing each teacher teach a series of lessons of the General Science course, interviewing them twice – once before and once after the class observation, and interviewing their students in focus groups. Analysis of these data reveals that whilst participating teachers held a range of perspectives of scientific literacy, in practice they demonstrated limited capacity to translate their perspectives into their classroom teaching practice. They mostly promoted a culture of academic science that reduces the capacity to make science important to all students in their everyday lives and in developing scientifically literate students. The data also reveal that whilst teachers mostly perceived the importance of the curriculum-identified values, they experienced difficulties in finding suitable teaching approaches to promote these values. These findings may contribute to understanding science teachers’ efforts to promote scientific literacy in a teaching-learning context that challenges teachers with an academically oriented, outdated and rushed curriculum, large class size, and a traditional assessment-oriented education system.

Keywords: scientific literacy; science values; nature of science; science teaching; Bangladesh