Teachers’ Knowledge and their Perceived Competency in Integrated STEM Concepts: Implications on National and Global Trends

Year 2019, Volume: 14 , 47 - 54, 20.09.2019

Akilu Isma’ıl Abdullahi Bello Suleiman Bashır Umar Sodangı

Abstract

This
study was carried out to investigate science teachers’ perceived competency and
their knowledge in the implementation of Integrated STEM in Gusau
Local Government of Zamfara State, Nigeria. Descriptive and causal
non-experimental design was adopted for the study. Three research questions
were raised and answered using descriptive statistic, while Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used in testing the formulated hypotheses at
P<0.05 probability level. The data was collected using two research
instruments; Perceived Competency
Questionnaire (PCQ) and Performance Test on Integrated STEM (PTIS) which were validated
by experts and have reliability coefficient of 0.78 and 0.81 respectively. Both
were administered to 37 science teachers who were purposively sampled from two
Science and one Technical school in Gusau. The findings revealed that, the
perception held by science teachers about their competence in implementing
Integrated STEM curriculum at secondary school level was relatively high.
However, difference was found between their
perceived competency and their performance in Integrated STEM unit, and this
varies according to their subject specializations. It was recommended that,
government should look into the possibility of introducing Integrated STEM
curriculum in Nigerian schools and also train science teachers in that regard
so as to align them with global trends in STEM education.

Keywords

Science teachers, Perception, Competency, Integrated STEM

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