SAIP 2025 Teacher Training Workshop: Monitoring the Impact on Teacher Confidence in Science and Mathematics Instruction
Keywords:
Teacher professional development; STEM education; Science and Mathematics teaching; Teacher self-efficacy; Pedagogical content knowledge; Teacher confidenceAbstract
This article provides a comprehensive summary of the monitoring and evaluation of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics teacher development workshops held during the 69th South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) Annual Conference, which took place from 7 to 9 July 2025 at a South African university. The workshops aimed to enhance the pedagogical content knowledge and instructional confidence of high school teachers in key curriculum topics through structured training and interactive sessions. The Physical Sciences workshop covered electric circuits, internal resistance, AC and DC motors, the photoelectric effect, and redox reactions and electrochemistry, while the mathematics sessions focused on calculus and probability. Participating teachers completed pre- and post-training evaluations to assess changes in their confidence levels. In Physical Sciences, average confidence improved from 62.82% to 79.41%, with the most significant gains observed in redox reactions and electrochemistry (26.47%) and AC/DC motors (22.35%). In Mathematics, confidence rose from 67.63% to 84.67%, with substantial improvements in calculus (17.58%) and probability (16.49%). Teachers expressed satisfaction with both workshops and recommended the inclusion of more practical components, quarterly training opportunities, and early-term scheduling to better align with teaching needs. The findings underscore the effectiveness of focused professional development in enhancing teacher self-efficacy in STEM subjects and offer insights for scaling similar interventions nationally to strengthen science and mathematics education.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.24.9.39
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