The Development and Evaluation of the Teacher Science Fair Knowledge Sharing Community System

Abstract

Science fair is one of the most common open inquiry activities which can facilitate learners to construct their science knowledge and develop science literacy in school. However, there are a great deal of difficulties and challenges for science teachers in their science fair instruction. Therefore, promoting teachers’ professional development in science fair instruction should be crucial. Previous research has revealed the effectiveness of teacher community on teachers’ professional development. This study developed a “Teacher Science Fair Knowledge Sharing Community System” (TSFKS) as a platform for teacher professional development community. After the development of the TSFKS, this study also conducted system evaluations of the TSFKS. A total of 182 elementary school teachers participated the system evaluation of the TSFKS. They expressed satisfactory perceived usefulness and ease of use of the TSFKS. Also, they expressed high willingness to use the TSFKS. Some suggestions and implications for teacher professional development, system design, and future work are also discussed.