The Extent to Which the First Three Grades Teachers Use Problem Solving Approach in Teaching Sciences and the Effective Factors in it at Jerash District in Jordan

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the extent to which the first three grades teachers use problem
solving approach in teaching science and the effective factors in it at Jerash district in Jordan.
The sample of the study which was selected randomly consisted of 98 teachers (35 males, 63
females) out of 500 male and female teachers of the first three grades at Jerash District in
Jordan was chosen. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Results revealed apparent
differences between the means of the number of the teachers’ use of the content of the first
part’s items of the questionnaire as item 14 “ during teaching science, I keen to clarify the
scientific concepts to the students” got the highest mean with (4.77). So, this result showed
the teachers’ inability to implement the problem solving approach in teaching sciences where
items (1, 5, 6, 7, 11, 26, 28, and 29) revealed that the student did not participate in the
activities of problem solving approach. Moreover, the school’s environment did encourage
the use of problem solving approach in addition to teachers’ lack of mastering the problem
solving approach.