الملخص الإنجليزي
Abstract
The current study aims to reveal the perceptions of science teachers
about the difficulties of implementing the STEM integrated approach in
the Sultanate of Oman, according to gender and teaching experience
variables in science.
To achieve the objectives of the study, the descriptive approach was
used and a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. It consisted of
three parts. They are; difficulty related to the teachers in implementing the
STEM approach and included 13 items, difficulties related to the learning
environment and included 11 items, and difficulties related to the content
that included 12 items. After verifying the validity and its reliability, it was
applied to the sample of the study which was chosen purposively. The
sample consisted of 117 science teachers in the Sultanate of Oman, applied
STEM in their schools. The findings showed that teachers' perceptions of
STEM-related difficulties were high. Where the third part (difficulty
related to content) ranked first with an average of 3.51 with a degree of
great difficulty. Followed by the second part (difficulty related to the
learning environment) came in second place with an average of 3.31 with
a degree of medium difficulty. Then, the first part (difficulty related to the
teacher) with an average of 2.77 with a degree of medium difficulty.
Also, there were differences of statistical significance due to the
variable of teaching experience, for the second group (more than 10 years),
and the absence of statistically significant differences due to gender
variable.
In the light of these findings, the study recommends that the content
of science curriculums should be developed through STEM-oriented
design, to prepare classrooms and provide tools that help students to
practice work associated with STEM orientation, and to develop the
performance of science teachers by providing intensive training courses on
the ideal application of STEM in teaching science.
