Primary teachers' confidence about and understanding of process skills

Abstract

This article investigates the possibility of changing confidence about and understanding of the teaching of process skills in primary science involving a group of 30 teachers from 15 primary schools. Process skills (often termed AT1 in England) were considered a suitable area to investigate as they are viewed as vital skills for the future citizen. Prior to the intervention described in this article the teachers claimed great confidence concerning process skills, but showed a poor ability to recognise them or to rate their significance in practical work. Afterwards, the teachers showed a significant improvement in their ability to recognise skills and determine whether they were important or not in given tasks. Their confidence had, on average, fallen across the skills considered. However, their comments suggested that they attributed this to a clearer appreciation of the subject. They now knew what they did not know. There was no evidence of any strong link between confidence and understanding either before or after the intervention.