Abstract
This study sought to determine teachers’ views about scientific inquiry in teaching genetics, while addressing socio-scientific issues. Over the years there has been a profound interest in the teaching of science in various societies. Many have concentrated on the learner presentation, perception and the teaching of socio-scientific issues to develop citizenship. Much interest around the topic of genetics has arisen and more interest is being directed at the teacher’s views in addressing socioscientific issues, as this has a benefit of developing critical metacognitive reasoning among learners, thus developing learners’ attitudes and interest in science and bringing meaning to the science knowledge in the classrooms. The study was guided by two research questions: 1. What are the teachers’ views about scientific inquiry in teaching genetics, while addressing socio-scientific issues? and 2. How do the views of teachers in township schools compare with those of the teachers in suburban schools? An exploratory mixed method research design was used for the study. The design was suitable for this study because determining teachers’ views requires that they provide these views followed by the possible explanation of why they hold those views, hence the use of various strategies. From the Johannesburg population of high school Life Sciences teachers, a group of 44 teachers was randomly selected, 21 from township and 23 from suburban schools where Grade 12 results for 2017 were poor. Data collection involved the administration of an adapted version of the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) instrument to the 44 teachers and then interviewing six teachers whose responses (based on the analysis of data from the VOSI questionnaire) were considered informed, partially informed and naïve views...
M.Ed. (Science and Technology Education)