Strengthening teacher competency through ICARE approach to improve literacy assessment of science creative thinking

Abstract

Teacher competency requires current and continuous professional development. ICARE (Introduction, Connection, Application, Reflection, and Extension) is a program designed to develop teachers’ competency. This study aims to improve elementary school teachers’ competency in literacy assessment, specifically for creative thinking skills in science, through ICARE. Twenty-one elementary school teachers in public elementary schools from urban, suburban, and rural settings were involved. The study was conducted in 40 sessions. Data were collected using pre-test and post-test and observation of training sessions. This study used two tools for data analysis: Normalized Gain (N-Gain) and inferential statistic (t-test). The results show that elementary school teachers in urban, suburban, and rural areas had good knowledge of literacy assessment for creative thinking skills in science. The ICARE approach was very effective in helping the teachers improve their knowledge in creating an assessment instrument of creative thinking skills in science. Further research must involve more teachers, from both public and private elementary schools and other educational institutions.