The Relationship between Teachers' Knowledge, Attitude and Belief with the Implementation of Inquiry-Based Learning in Zhengzhou, China

Abstract

This study investigates the level of teachers' knowledge
towards the nature of science (NOS), attitude and belief towards inquiry
teaching, and the implementation of inquiry-based learning (IBL); the
difference of the implementation of IBL based on teachers year'of
experience; and the relationship between teachers' knowledge on NOS,
attitude and belief towards inquiry teaching with the implementation of
IBL. The quantitative research methodology has been used to complete
this study. The sample involved is 728 in-service primary science
teachers in China. They are asked to answer a questionnaire which
consists of four sections. The items measuring teachers' knowledge on
NOS, teachers' attitude towards inquiry teaching and the
implementation of IBL are adopted from previous studies with the
permission of the respective author; whereas, the items measuring
teachers' belief towards inquiry teaching has been adapted from another
study to meet with the research objectives. The descriptive and
inferential statistics have been used to analyses the data. The findings
show that the level of teachers' knowledge on NOS, teachers´ attitude
and belief towards inquiry teaching, and the implementation of IBL are
at the medium level; there is no significant difference in the
implementation of IBL according to the teachers' years of experience;
and, there are significant relationship between teachers' knowledge on
NOS, attitude and belief towards inquiry teaching with the
implementation of IBL. These findings implicate that teachers'
knowledge, attitude and belief are the three main predictors for the
implementation of IBL in the teaching of science in primary schools in
China.