Reflections on quality teaching in primary science classrooms in diverse cultural settings

Abstract

Quality teaching can appear in many different forms and is arguably framed differently within settings that have distinctive cultural values and expectations. In the selection and analysis of the data for elements of quality teaching, consideration was given to each researcher’s cultural background and educational knowledge and perception of what constitutes quality, in order to bring together multiple perspectives on quality. The appearance of quality teaching differed across the cases. However, there were common characteristics but they were expressed in different ways. The characteristics of quality teaching in the sampled case studies across the three countries include: teachers’ beliefs and engagement; teacher-student interactions that are used purposefully in shaping the construction of science knowledge; the attention to evidence and requests for students to justify interpretations; the use of hands-on activities to support meaning making; the use and quality of dialogue and questioning to direct student learning; and, the co-ordinated use of representations. Despite the globalisation of education, it is argued that there is no overarching descriptor for quality teaching that is universally applicable.