This presentation will focus on a study of Israeli Jewish and Arab chemistry teachers` beliefs regarding teaching and learning of chemistry in the upper secondary schools. The study is based on two different instruments that are both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The qualitative data stem from chemistry teachers` drawings of themselves as teachers in a typical classroom situation accompanied by four open questions. The data analysis follows three qualitative scales: Beliefs about classroom organization, beliefs about teaching objectives, and epistemological beliefs. A quantitative study gives insight into teachers` beliefs about what characterizes good education. The main goal of the present lecture is to determine whether both groups of chemistry teachers with different cultural background in Israel hold different views about education in general and chemistry education in particular. The findings provide evidence that in Israeli chemistry classrooms the beliefs of Arabic teachers differ from those of the Jewish teachers although both groups live in the same country and operate the same educational system.

One country, two cultures: A multi-perspective view on Israeli chemistry teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning

255th National Meeting (2018)

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