The reality of the suitability of the science teacher specialization path in the intermediate stage in Saudi Arabia for teaching science courses and the difficulties of implementation from the point of view of teachers in Tabuk: واقع ملاءمة مسار تخصص معلم العلوم بالمرحلة المتوسطة في السعودية لتدريس مقررات العلوم وصعوبات التنفيذ من وجهة نظر المعلمين بتبوك

The study aimed to identify the appropriateness of the science teacher's specialization path in the intermediate stage in Saudi Arabia for teaching science courses and the difficulties of implementation from the point of view of teachers in Tabuk. The study used the descriptive method, and a questionnaire surveyed the opinions of teachers. It was distributed to a sample of (41) middle school science teachers in public schools in the city of Tabuk. The results of the study showed that the reality of the appropriateness of the science teacher's specialization path in the intermediate stage for teaching science courses obtained an overall average of (4.18). Or by (83.6%) and reflects the appropriateness of (weakly), and it also revealed difficulties that hinder the appropriateness of science books from the teachers’ point of view with a total average (4.18 from 5), a degree (highly), and at the level of sub-specialties, physics got the highest average (4.20). Then chemistry with an average of (4.19) and finally biology with an average of (4.14), all of which are difficulties with a degree of (highly), meaning that the contents of science courses do not fit with the course of their specialization , also there is no statistical significant differences between the teachers’ responses on the scale of the appropriateness of the science teacher’s specialization path to the scientific subject content of the science book at the intermediate stage , the study recommended the need to re-planning and implementing the science method in proportion to the method of separate subjects, and to reconsider the plans of preparation of science teachers in Saudi universities.

Teaching evolution in U.S. public middle schools: results of the first national survey

Background Despite substantial research on the teaching of evolution in the public high schools of the United States, we know very little about evolution teaching in the middle grades. In this paper, we rely on a 2019 nationally representative sample of 678 middle school science teachers to investigate how much time they report devoting to evolution and the key messages they report conveying about it, using this information to assess the state of middle school evolution education today. Throughout these analyses, we provide comparative data from high school biology teachers to serve as a baseline. Results We find that, compared to high school biology teachers, middle school science teachers report themselves as less well-equipped to teach evolution, devoting less class time to evolution, and more likely to avoid taking a stand on the scientific standing of evolution and creationism. We show that middle school science teachers with extensive pre-service coursework in evolution and in states that have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards are more likely to report devoting more class time to evolution. Similarly, we show that middle school teachers in states that have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards and who are newer to the profession are more likely to report themselves as presenting evolution as settled science. Conclusion Our findings suggest avenues for the improvement of middle school evolution education through teacher preparation and public policy; in addition, a degree of improvement through retirement and replacement is likely to occur naturally in the coming years. More generally, our results highlight the need for further research on middle school education. Our broad statistical portrait provides an overview that merits elaboration with more detailed research on specific topics.