Science teachers' perceptions of nanotechnology teaching and professional development: A survey study in Taiwan

Inclusion of nanotechnology in the science curriculum has received great attention in many countries. Taiwan's government has been funding the National Program on Nanotechnology (NPNT) for nearly 10 years. The purpose of this study was to examine Taiwanese secondary school science teachers' understanding of nanotechnology teaching after implementing the NPNT, as well as the teachers' perceptions of school support and their professional development intentions. The study adopted the questionnaire survey method. Using stratified cluster sampling, a total of 1600 questionnaires were distributed to 178 secondary schools. Finally, the responses of 663 junior high school teachers and 632 senior high school teachers who completed the instrument were analyzed. The instrument for the study is the Teachers' Perceptions of Nanotechnology Teaching Scale (TPNTS). The TPNTS included 42 Likert-scale items. The results reveal that secondary school teachers' intentions to pursue professional development are high, but their perceptions of school support are low. Teachers' knowledge and understanding of nanotechnology teaching is significantly above average, but failed to reach the "very satisfied" level. In addition, the senior high school teachers' perceptions of nanotechnology teaching and professional development are significantly higher than those of the junior high school teachers. Implications of the findings are discussed.