Teachers Competency in the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry Practical

This study aims to explore the contribution of teachers' competency in teaching and learning practical chemistry from the interrelated aspects of designing, planning, implementing and evaluating practical training or experiment in improving the quality and standards of teaching and learning practical chemistry. This is a survey using a questionnaire as the main instrument to determine the four aspects of the aforementioned competencies. The samples are randomly selected consisting of 234 chemistry teachers in Riau, Indonesia. Data were analyzed using multiple regression to assess the contribution of the four components of competency to analyze the quality of teaching and learning for practical chemistry. The findings show that the level of competency in all aspects of designing, planning, implementing and evaluating of practical training is at the moderate level. Solid and strategic efforts need to be taken to increase teachers’ competency and acquisition of more sophisticated laboratory materials should be done. Teachers’ creativity and initiative in making practical science to be more meaningful will be discussed in this paper. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n8p31