Page 110 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 110
ra Pejić Papak, Jasna Arrigoni, and Željka Ivković
survey was made up of the following items: ‘Education in the field of science
is necessary for pupils to be more involved in the technological problems
of society;’ ‘Content of science classes is essential for the pupils’ develop-
ment;’ ‘Science in primary school is necessary so that pupils would be able to
make the right choices in their education;’ ‘Science must be represented in
primary education as early as possible;’ ‘Teachers with less experience work-
ing on scientific topics should also be additionally trained in this area;’ ‘Sci-
ence is the foundation of social development;’ ‘Building a society rests on
studies in science;’ ‘If a child loves to learn, (s)he should be directed to sci-
ence;’ ‘Knowing the methods of scientific work is the deciding factor in the
decision whether to teach natural science in the classroom or not;’ ‘Availabil-
ity of resources and aids determines my decision to teach science content;’
‘I am very capable of dealing with pupils’ science questions;’ ‘I have enough
knowledge of the content to be able to provide quality support to pupils in
research and project design;’ ‘If pupils do not come up with solutions when
working on science projects, I believe I can successfully assist them in finish-
ing the task;’ ‘In terms of the content, I consider science a difficult subject
to teach; In terms of spatial and material condition, I consider teaching sci-
ence content as challenging;’ ‘I feel insufficiently competent to teach natural
sciences in the classroom.’
A school excellence index was also created with Cronbach alpha 0.739 on
the following particles: ‘Teachers who inspire new ideas methods of educa-
tion and approaches are supported; The content of teaching is adjusted to
the pupils’ interests in different areas of action; School equipment enables
the use of different knowledge sources; Excellence is encouraged in each
pupil; Emphasis is placed on steering the pupils towards science.’ The re-
sponses were measured on a five-point assessment scale (ranging from 1 –
not applicable to my school to 5 – fully applicable to my school).
Apart from the aforementioned, the following socio-demographic indica-
tors were analysed: gender (dichotomous variable), age (open question), de-
gree of education (two categories: college and university), counties where
the respondents work (Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Istria, and Lika-Senjska coun-
ties) the size of the residence area where the respondent grew up and is cur-
rently living (two categories: up to and more than 10,000 inhabitants).
Statistical Analysis
Data were processed using the IBM SPSS Version21. Descriptive statistics
determined the basic response distribution of teachers’ attitudes towards
science, and a factor analysis of attitudes was conducted. The t-test for in-
108
survey was made up of the following items: ‘Education in the field of science
is necessary for pupils to be more involved in the technological problems
of society;’ ‘Content of science classes is essential for the pupils’ develop-
ment;’ ‘Science in primary school is necessary so that pupils would be able to
make the right choices in their education;’ ‘Science must be represented in
primary education as early as possible;’ ‘Teachers with less experience work-
ing on scientific topics should also be additionally trained in this area;’ ‘Sci-
ence is the foundation of social development;’ ‘Building a society rests on
studies in science;’ ‘If a child loves to learn, (s)he should be directed to sci-
ence;’ ‘Knowing the methods of scientific work is the deciding factor in the
decision whether to teach natural science in the classroom or not;’ ‘Availabil-
ity of resources and aids determines my decision to teach science content;’
‘I am very capable of dealing with pupils’ science questions;’ ‘I have enough
knowledge of the content to be able to provide quality support to pupils in
research and project design;’ ‘If pupils do not come up with solutions when
working on science projects, I believe I can successfully assist them in finish-
ing the task;’ ‘In terms of the content, I consider science a difficult subject
to teach; In terms of spatial and material condition, I consider teaching sci-
ence content as challenging;’ ‘I feel insufficiently competent to teach natural
sciences in the classroom.’
A school excellence index was also created with Cronbach alpha 0.739 on
the following particles: ‘Teachers who inspire new ideas methods of educa-
tion and approaches are supported; The content of teaching is adjusted to
the pupils’ interests in different areas of action; School equipment enables
the use of different knowledge sources; Excellence is encouraged in each
pupil; Emphasis is placed on steering the pupils towards science.’ The re-
sponses were measured on a five-point assessment scale (ranging from 1 –
not applicable to my school to 5 – fully applicable to my school).
Apart from the aforementioned, the following socio-demographic indica-
tors were analysed: gender (dichotomous variable), age (open question), de-
gree of education (two categories: college and university), counties where
the respondents work (Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Istria, and Lika-Senjska coun-
ties) the size of the residence area where the respondent grew up and is cur-
rently living (two categories: up to and more than 10,000 inhabitants).
Statistical Analysis
Data were processed using the IBM SPSS Version21. Descriptive statistics
determined the basic response distribution of teachers’ attitudes towards
science, and a factor analysis of attitudes was conducted. The t-test for in-
108
