Lower Primary Teachers’ perceptions and practices of Inquiry-based Science instruction in the Effutu Municipality

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess public lower primary teachers’ perceptions and practices of inquiry-based science instruction in the Effutu Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. The study adopted the sequential explanatory mixed method research design. Census sampling was used to obtain 82 respondents (public lower primary teachers) for the quantitative phase of the study whiles a sub-sample of 12 public lower primary teachers from the 82 respondents were used for the qualitative phase. Questionnaires, semi-structured interview and observational framework were the instruments used to gather data. The questionnaire was used for the quantitative phase which was analysed using mean, standard deviation, frequency counts and Pearson Correlation whiles the semi-structured interview guide was analysed using the directed content analysis with the observation analysed using the 5E observational framework for the qualitative phase. It emerged from the study that teachers possessed high (good) perception of inquiry-based science instruction. The study further revealed that, teachers in the Effutu Municipality do practice inquiry-based instruction to some extent in their classrooms based on topic and their preferred method. While the extent of practices varies among teachers, it was evident that they value its use in enhancing students’ engagement and understanding in science education. It was also revealed that, a positive but moderate relationship existed between teachers’ perceptions and practices of inquiry-based instruction signifying that, teachers increased practices of the approach is as a result of an increased in perceptions. It also emerged from the findings that, classroom-based challenges were significant challenge to the lower-primary teachers as compared to pupil-based challenges and teacher-based challenges. It was recommended from the study that, the Effutu Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Educational Service and heads of schools, should design training programs and targeted professional development programs, that aim to standardized and enhance lower primary teachers’ implementation of inquiry-based instruction in the Effutu Municipality.