Gender Differences in Omani Students' Perception of the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Their Science Teachers as Appeared in Reality and Students' Preferences

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in Omani 10th-grade students' perception of their science teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in both realities and as they desired. Two versions of electronic questionnaires consisting of sixteen main items were designed to achieve the aims of this study. These two versions were administrated to 1445 randomly selected students from various schools at four educational governorates in Oman. For the first version, 46.7% of the participants were female students and 53.3% were male students; whereas, for the second version, 54.7% were female and 45.3% were male. The results showed that Omani male students gave a higher appreciation of “the actual PCK” in most elements compared to female students for “the actual pedagogical knowledge of their teachers” except for two elements which were "fun and simple in their personality" and "inform students' parents about their progress and achievement in science”. This estimation seemed to be unrealistic for male students because it did not reflect their real achievement. The results also demonstrated variation in preferences related to the learning environment between male and female students. Male students preferred a competitive environment, while female students preferred a collaborative and open environment. In the light of current research’s results, some recommendations were proposed such as conducting teacher training programs about supportive learning environments in their classroom and doing furthermore studies related to PCK in the science field.