An evaluation of the effect of two different lengths of inservice training on teacher attitudes

This investigation compares the effectiveness of two types of inservice training offered through the Arizona Portal School Program. Both methods were designed to provide teachers with positive attitudes toward activity‐centered energy education. The methods differed in length and energy‐related content with one course running for 5 sessions and the other for 15 sessions. The longer course placed more emphasis on content knowledge. Three types of attitudes were assessed: attitudes toward curricular change, opinions on energy concepts, and beliefs about science education. Although the longer course had a more positive effect on the participants' views of and willingness to participate in curricular change and the shorter course had a more positive effect on the participants' views of teaching activity‐oriented science, both courses produced the same type of change in the participants' views of energy issues.