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From Transmission to Inquiry: Influence of Curriculum Demands on In-Service Teachers’ Perception of Science as Inquiry

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Inquiry into the Singapore Science Classroom

Part of the book series: Education Innovation Series ((EDIN))

Abstract

A new primary science syllabus with science as inquiry as its foundation and guiding philosophy was implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we present perspectives of science as inquiry as experienced by teachers teaching science under the current educational landscape that is routinised and highly teacher-fronted. We invited 41 in-service teachers to participate in (1) questionnaires and narratives, (2) reflective writings and (3) group discussions related to science inquiry. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding using NVivo8, with over 80 % inter-coder coding agreement level, was carried out. Three key interrelated aspects of in-service teachers’ perceptions of science as inquiry were revealed: (1) pressure of assessment demands, (2) perceived need for strong teacher intervention in inquiry and (3) favouring content knowledge rather than process skills. These considerations surface conflicts of teaching science as inquiry that are driven by assessment demands and resulted in a mode of science as inquiry that has tight teacher control with a strong focus on learning the canonical science content. We also explored the underlying reasons behind the perceptions of inquiry practices held by these in-service teachers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Walk 1, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Aik-Ling Tan & Frederick Talaue

  2. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Mijung Kim

Authors
  1. Aik-Ling Tan
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  2. Frederick Talaue
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  3. Mijung Kim
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Correspondence to Aik-Ling Tan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Singapore, Singapore

    Aik-Ling Tan

  2. Ministry of Education, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Chew-Leng Poon

  3. National Institute of Education, Singapore, Singapore

    Shirley S.L. Lim

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Tan, AL., Talaue, F., Kim, M. (2014). From Transmission to Inquiry: Influence of Curriculum Demands on In-Service Teachers’ Perception of Science as Inquiry. In: Tan, AL., Poon, CL., Lim, S. (eds) Inquiry into the Singapore Science Classroom. Education Innovation Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-78-1_6

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