The Impact of Administrators' Interest in Science Teaching upon Teachers' Perceptions of the Importance of Teaching Science

The purposes of this pilot study were to determine if elementary and middle school teachers and principals have similar perceptions of science education, and to compare the teachers' perceptions of science education with their perceptions of the principals' enthusiasm for the teaching of science. The study used three elementary and two middle schools in southwest Alabama. There were 90 elementary and 51 middle school teachers in the study, and 5 elementary and 2 middle school administrators. The survey consisted of questions to ascertain demographic data, the number of science/science education courses taken at the undergraduate and graduate level, and to compare teachers' perception of the importance of teaching science and administrators' views on the importance of teaching science. The findings of the study indicated that the vast majority of elementary school teachers believe that teaching science is important or very important in the curriculum. They also perceive their principals' view of science as important or very important in the curriculum. This is consistent with the principals' own perception of science, indicating that good communication exists between administrators and their faculty concerning science education. Middle school teachers view science more highly than their elementary counterparts, while their perceptions of the principals' enthusiasm for science is somewhat lower. The middle school principals viewed their enthusiasm for science as very important. Data indicated that elementary school teachers spend about 50 minutes per day in science instruction and that middle school science teachers spend approximately 25 hours per week in science instruction. (ND)