Attitudes of preschool teachers towards teaching science and their relationship with attitudes toward gender roles

Ujević, Manuela. (2019). Attitudes of preschool teachers towards teaching science and their relationship with attitudes toward gender roles. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Huić, Aleksandra].

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Abstract

One of the main goals of the present-day preschool teachers is to encourage children to discover, experiment and research in a rich environment for the purpose of developing a scientific way of thinking. However, for years PISA tests in the field of science and mathematics are in favor of boys. The observed difference may be the consequence of the various contextual influences present from the earliest age. The attitudes of preschool teachers about children gender roles can be related to attitudes about scientific activities as traditional "male" activities reserved for boys. The aim of this study was to investigate attitudes of preschool teachers about teaching science, as well as to establish correlations with general data and attitudes about children gender roles. 481 preschool teachers between the ages of 23 and 64 with an average of 14 years of work experience participated in On-line survey. Their attitudes were studied by the Child Rearing Sex- Roles Attitudes Scale and Dimensions of Attitude Toward Science. Also, general and demographic data were collected. The results show that attitudes towards teaching science are not related to their age or experience, but to their importance of religion. Furthermore, preschool teachers who have more traditional attitudes towards gender roles experience more anxiety and less comfort when demonstrating scientific activity, perceive less self-efficiency in teaching, are more dependent on contextual factors (e.g., the existence of science teaching materials) and experience more difficulty in teaching. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are addressed in this paper.

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