The effect of the Chicago Science Explorers Program on teachers' attitudes about teaching science: A program designed to increase minority participation in science

Teachers who volunteered to participate in the Chicago Science Explorers Program were investigated to determine their attitudes toward the endorsement (or lack of endorsement) of the program as a factor to increase minority involvement in science and to assess the effect the program had on the development of positive attitudes toward teaching science. The sample was drawn from urban and suburban teachers who had participated in the program during three operational phases.Data were collected using a Likert-type survey and focus group interviews to assess the difference in attitudes toward teaching and perspectives on the programs value. Participants were asked to respond to a written questionnaire which was developed for this study. Randomly selected teachers were selected to participate in focus group interviews.Analysis of data collected from the questionnaire revealed (a) the unexpected findings that the teacher who participated in Phase 1 possessed a greater understanding of how to implement games which illustrate science concepts than those teachers in Phase 2, (b) that Phase 1 teachers had more difficulty implementing new science programs, and (c) that teachers who participated in four inservice workshops had more positive attitudes toward the program as a factor to increase involvement in science.Although no significant differences were found among the three phases of operation on most measures used in this study, the magnitude of differences that exist when inservice workshops are controlled appear great enough to clearly distinguish Chicago Science Explorers Program as a factor to affect teacher attitudes toward teaching in a positive direction.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio