EXAMINING THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ USE OF CURRICULUM MATERIALS: FROM THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the impact of different factors on high school chemistry teachers’ use of curriculum materials in China. The examination was conducted on a theoretical framework in which three aspects of curriculum materials and three ways of curriculum use are involved and nine factors are suggested. Through a questionnaire survey of 212 chemistry teachers, the findings included the following aspects. Firstly, the nine factors more induced teachers to supplement the teaching elements, but less affected teachers to delete the original contents in the curriculum materials. Secondly, among the nine factors, ‘knowledge about students’ was recognized as the core factor in the three dimensions of teaching objectives, teaching strategies, and teaching activities, whereas ‘class size’ was regarded as the peripheral factor in all three dimensions. ‘Teaching resources’ was another peripheral factor for the dimensions of teaching strategies and teaching activities. Thirdly, two factors were found to be significantly different among teachers who are in different areas of economic development: ‘knowledge about students’ and ‘class size’. Fourthly, ‘knowledge about curriculum’ and ‘knowledge about instructional strategies’ were two factors that made significant differences in the comparison among teachers who have different years of teaching experience. Keywords: curriculum materials, curriculum use, chemistry teachers, influencing factors