In-service chemistry teachers' pedagogical beliefs and use of ICT tools in classroom teaching in selected ordinary level secondary schools in Kampala District - Uganda

Abstract

Chemistry being a fundamental interdisciplinary science subject requires chemistry teachers to possess the right pedagogical beliefs that can enable them to choose and use a variety of appropriate teaching and learning resources such as the Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools, to promote faster conceptualization, creativity and innovation by learners of chemistry. Thus, the aim of the study was to explore in-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and use of ICT tools for teaching chemistry at ordinary level in Kampala district. The study used a qualitative research approach to gather data from ten purposively sampled in-service chemistry teachers from ten different secondary schools within Kampala district. The researcher interviewed each of the sampled in-service chemistry teachers after observing each of their lessons. The data obtained from the participants’ classroom lesson observations and interviews was analyzed using an inductive content analysis process. The study findings revealed that most of the in-service chemistry teachers possessed a mixture of teacher centred pedagogical beliefs and student centred pedagogical beliefs. In addition, the findings revealed that the teacher centred pedagogical beliefs were more manifested in the interviews and classroom practices of the participants than the student centred teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The study findings also indicated that most of in-service chemistry teachers infrequently use ICT tools in their classes most of them never showed any willingness to use ICT tools in their lessons. The findings further showed that the chemistry teachers possessed a more negative attitude towards the use of ICT, negative subjective norms and a greater negative perceived behavioral control belief factors about the use of the available technology tools in their chemistry lessons. The researcher concluded that, the in-service chemistry teachers possessed a more centrally held teacher centred pedagogical beliefs and peripheral student centred pedagogical beliefs. The researcher also concluded that, most of the teachers failed to use the available ICT tools for teaching chemistry. The researcher further concluded that, both internal and external belief factors influenced the in-service chemistry teachers to ignore the use of ICT tools in teaching chemistry in their schools. The researcher therefore recommended that, the ministry of education and sports through the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) should design continuous professional development programs to change the existing teacher centred pedagogical beliefs amongst other recommendations.

Key words: In-service chemistry teachers, teacher centered pedagogical beliefs, student centered pedagogical beliefs and ICT.