A Phenomenological Study of Elementary School Teachers' System Thinking-based Science Teaching Experiences

The purpose of this study was to understand science teaching experiences of elementary school teachers who taught the system thinking-based science inquiry class. The phenomenological methods were applied to analyze four elementary teachers' meaningful experiences. The four step methods of phenomenological experience research proposed by Giorgi (1985) and interview questions developed by Seidman (1998) and Schuman (1982) were used in order to collect qualitative data. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, teachers intentionally tried to ask divergent thinking questions which promoted the system thinking in classes. The teachers used divergent thinking questions to promote their students' thinking activities and to induce students' system thinking In addition, the receptive mood created by teachers and interactive environments had a positive effect on promoting system thinking skills. Second, teachers remarked lack of teaching and learning materials and difficulties in selecting themes of their classes in order to teach the system thinking-based science inquiry class effectively. In addition, it was very difficult for teachers to evaluate the contents and processes of students' learning correctly because there were little evaluative tools and methods readily available. The findings indicated that there were some limitations in maximizing the effects of system thinking-based science inquiry instruction due to elementary students' inappropriate process skills of inquiry activities. Findings of this study revealed significant insights about elementary school teachers' experiences regarding the system thinking-based science class.