Teaching Electric Current and Circuits Through an STSE Lens: Upper Secondary Physics Teachers' Practices, Perceptions, and Readiness in Vietnam

The 2018 General Education Curriculum in Vietnam requires physics teaching to develop students’ scientific competence, and the science, technology, society and environment (STSE) model has been proposed as one way to meet this requirement. Evidence on how upper secondary physics teachers currently teach specific topics in relation to STSE remains limited. This study surveyed 55 physics teachers about the topic “Electric current and circuits” (Physics 11). A 15-item questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale covered four areas: teaching practice, STSE integration, teacher-rated student scientific competence, and awareness of and readiness for the STSE model. Descriptive statistics and internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω) were computed. Lecturing combined with problem solving was reported by 61.8% of teachers, whereas 38.9% had implemented project-based learning for the topic, and 72.2% reported time and facility constraints. Teachers more often linked the topic to social issues (87.3%) and environmental issues (76.4%) than to modern technology (59.3%). Collecting and processing data was the lowest-rated student capability (M = 3.18). Although 40.7% of teachers were familiar with the STSE model, 70.4% were willing to adopt it if given materials and training. The findings indicate a gap between awareness and readiness, and point to the need for topic-specific STSE resources, professional development, and low-cost technological projects.