Scaffolding learning from molecular visualizations     

Hsin‐Yi Chang  Marcia C. Linn 《科学教学研究杂志》2013,50(7):858-886

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Dimensions of Socio-economic Status and their Relationship to Mathematics and Science Achievement at Individual and Collective Levels     

Yang Yang 《Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research》2013,57(1):21-41

Applying two-level structural equation modelling techniques, the current study examined the dimensionality of socio-economic status (SES) and its relationship with mathematics and science performance at student and school levels. Data were drawn from population 2 (13-year-olds) of 17 countries in the Third International Mathematics and Science study (TIMSS). A set of items about the ownership of household materials was used to measure the dimensions of SES. For most of the countries, a general economic dimension and a cultural dimension were identified at the student level. The cultural dimension had the greatest impact on students' mathematics and science achievement. At the school level, however, only a general economic dimension was found in most countries. This dimension was interpreted to represent community wealth. It was found to be highly related to school mean maths-science achievement, except for the countries where an additional cultural dimension is identified. This cultural dimension can be interpreted as the community cultural resources and atmosphere, and is strongly related to average school mathematics and science achievement. The current study confirmed that the ownership of a set of household materials can be used as SES indicators in exploring its multifaceted feature at both individual and school levels. A similar model structure is found in different countries by applying these indicators, despite the fact that the content of the set of household possessions is different. The findings show that the latent structure of SES at individual level is different from that at the school level, and that SES dimensions have different effects on mathematics and science achievement at individual and school levels.  相似文献   

Personal Context and Continuity of Human Thought as Recurrent Themes in a Longitudinal Study     

Gustav Hellde´N 《Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research》2013,57(2):205-217

The present study of personal context and continuity in 23 students' thinking builds upon data from a longitudinal study of the students' conceptualisations of ecological processes. Each student was interviewed 11 times from age 9-15 about these processes. At the ages of 15 and 19, the students listened to what they said at the age of 11 and 15, respectively, and described how they thought their understanding had developed. The occurrence of charac teristic individual elements in the students' conceptions can be followed as themes in the interviews year by year. The students could, as 15- and 19-year-olds, often reveal concrete experiences from an early age that they referred to repeatedly in the interviews. Even if there was a substantial conceptual development, there was also a very strong element of personal continuity. Conceptions that had developed at an early age seemed to be important for future conceptual development.  相似文献   

Developing a science teacher education course that supports student teachers’ thinking and teaching about the nature of science     

Pete Sorensen  Len Newton  Sue McCarthy 《Research in Science & Technological Education》2013,31(1):29-47

This paper reports on part of an ongoing research project in England concerning the Nature of Science (NOS). The particular focus is on the initial thinking of the graduate scientists starting a one-year, Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course and the way the course approaches adopted influence their views and understanding of NOS and their teaching. The research is set against a wealth of literature indicating that teachers find it difficult to teach curricula that emphasise NOS. Thus a key impetus for research in this area has been to look for ways that beginning teachers might be better prepared to face such challenges.

Sample

The paper draws on data from three cohorts of secondary PGCE students in a university–schools partnership, involving a total of 169 students.

Design and method

The research lies within a design research tradition. It has used mixed methods, involving written tasks, interviews and focus groups, with an iterative approach where the outcomes from one cohort have been used to inform course developments in successive years.

Results

The results from these cohorts suggest that, while the students starting the course have a less restricted view of NOS than indicated by some other studies, in most cases there is a lack of breadth and depth to their understanding. There is some evidence that the use of specific tasks focusing on NOS in university-based sessions may be helping to develop and deepen understanding. However, the impact of current approaches remains fairly limited and attempts to develop teaching practices often face considerable barriers in the school-based practicum.

Conclusions

Graduate science students’ understanding of NOS as they embark on the PGCE is not highly developed. Hence, the emphasis on aspects of NOS in the school curriculum presents a considerable challenge. This study suggests that there is a need to both further develop an explicit focus on NOS in university-based sessions and to develop closer relationships between schools and university faculty in seeking to support developments in classroom practice in this difficult area.  相似文献   

Design of a student lab program for nanoscience and technology – an intervention study on students’ perceptions of the Nature of Science,the Nature of Scientists and the Nature of Scientific Inquiry     

Frederike Tirre  Lorenz Kampschulte  Gun-Brit Thoma  Ilka Parchmann 《Research in Science & Technological Education》2013,31(4):393-418

Background: This article describes the design and the evaluation of a student lab program on the topic of nanoscience and technology (NST), mainly focusing on Nanoscience and its applications. The program was designed for students in grades 8–10 and was part of a larger outreach program of the Collaborative Research Center ‘Function by Switching’ at Kiel University. The Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) served as a framework for the research-based design of the student lab.

Purpose: We aimed to develop an authentic science activity in the area of NST in order to support scientific inquiry learning and to provide a deeper understanding of scientific topics.

Sample: A total of 154 secondary school students from grades 8–10 of seven different secondary schools participated in this study.

Design and methods: A pre-post questionnaire with six subscales on students’ perceptions of the Nature of Science (NOS), Scientific Inquiry (NOSI) and the involved scientists (NOST) in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology was applied.

Results: Results show that the applied explicit and reflective approach embedded in the nanoscience content significantly improved the participating students’ perceptions of NOS, NOSI and NOST facets. After the lab visit, students’ answers corresponded to a more adequate perception of today’s science and scientists. Some gender differences in learning gains were also detected.

Conclusion: The study served its main purpose which was to investigate a well-balanced strategy to develop authentic out-of-school-learning environments with a focus on NOS/NOSI/NOST. Testing students’ perceptions of the nature of nanoscience provided insights into students’ worlds and served as feedback for the lab program. The outcomes of this study might help to better understand and further develop authentic (nano)science programs in out-of-school settings and science outreach programs.  相似文献   

Editorial     

Greville Rumble 《Open Learning》2013,28(3):221-222

The first article in this issue raises some fascinating issues that relate to my own background in research into student learning and experience of courses in conventional higher education. Richardson, Long and Woodley have administered the Academic Engagement Form', used widely in colleges in the USA, and the 'Course Experience Questionnaire', used widely in universities in Australia, to distance learning students. John Richardson and various colleagues have previously shown that these questionnaires, separately, work as well in distance learning contexts as they do in conventional contexts: that is, they identify the same factors as components of students' experience, and the same factors relating to overall perceptions of quality of experience, as in conventional contexts. Of the many findings reported in the study reported in this issue of Open Learning, two stand out for me. First, academic engagement is shown to play a key role in students' perceptions of academic quality: engaged students perceive their course to be of higher quality. This does not tell us if students who are happy with their courses become more engaged or if those who are engaged become happier with their courses, however, merely that they are related. 'Engagement' here encompasses both social and academic engagement as defined in Tinto's model of student retention. Second, students' overall perceptions of academic quality are mediated by their perceptions of their tutors. The authors conclude: '... the attitudes and behaviours of tutors are crucial to students' perceptions of the academic quality of courses in distance education'. In conventional contexts the item on the Course Experience Questionnaire that relates most closely to student performance concerns the quality of teacher feedback, not teaching, and this is easy to understand in a distance context. The methodology of this paper (relying on factor analysis of questionnaires and multivariate analysis of the relationship between questionnaire scale scores and background variables such as age, gender, educational qualifications, workload and hearing status) may be relatively unfamiliar to readers of Open Learning. What is perhaps more familiar is that such an analysis adds to similar conclusions about the centrality of the tutorial role in ODL students' learning from very different kinds of study (such as of the relationship between tutorial attendance and student performance). There is a growing body of evidence that the same variables are involved in student perceptions of courses and of academic quality in distance learning contexts as in conventional contexts.  相似文献   

Open learning in India: evolution,diversification and reaching out     

Ramesh C. Sharma 《Open Learning》2013,28(3):227-241

Distance education has a history of over four decades in India. There has been a vast growth in the number of learners who need education and thus also the corresponding channels of providing education. Due to the constraints of the traditional educational sector, open and distance learning has been found to be a workable alternative strategy in India. This paper traces the evolution and diversification of open learning in India by examining various factors that led to the growth and success of open learning. This system, as other systems of education, is not free from problems and a critique is provided on the various factors affecting the smooth functioning of India’s open and distance learning system.  相似文献   

Departmental characteristics and the experience of secondary science teaching     

James Donnelly 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2013,55(3):261-273

This paper reports findings about the impact of departmental characteristics on secondary science teachers' work. It is drawn from a larger study, which also looked at ideological and material influences on practice. It focuses particularly on those aspects of the departmental environment which teachers themselves referred to frequently when discussing their work. These were: the managerial style of the department; the use made of schemes of work; the emphasis on the science disciplines as compared with 'science'; and the characteristics of pupils. It argues that such departmental characteristics are sometimes symbiotic, and that they are most subtly characterized in mainstream comprehensive schools. It also suggests that, while these influences do not necessarily lead to variation in the broad forms of pedagogy employed, they are perceived by teachers as significantly influencing their professional working environment, and the experience of teaching science.  相似文献   

How a qualitative approach to concept map analysis can be used to aid learning by illustrating patterns of conceptual development     

Ian M. Kinchin  David B. Hay  Alan Adams 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2013,55(1):43-57

This paper describes a qualitative approach to analysing students' concept maps. The classification highlights three major patterns which are referred to as 'spoke', 'chain' and 'net' structures. Examples are given from Year 8 science classes. The patterns are interpreted as being indicators of progressive levels of understanding. It is proposed that identification of these differences may help the classroom teacher to focus teaching for more effective learning and may be used as a basis for structuring groups in collaborative settings. This approach to analysing concept maps is of value because it suggests teaching approaches that help students integrate new knowledge and build upon their existing naive concepts. We also refer to the teacher's scheme of work and to the National Curriculum for science in order to consider their influence in the construction of understanding. These ideas have been deliberately offered for early publication to encourage debate and generate feedback. Further work is in progress to better understand how students with different conceptual structures can be most appropriately helped to achieve learning development.  相似文献   

Pupils' perceptions of practical science in primary and secondary school: implications for improving progression and continuity of learning     

Martin Braund  Mike Driver 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2013,55(1):77-91

In spite of the introduction of a National Curriculum in UK schools and the improved progression and continuity that it promised, pupils still have problems with learning when they transfer from primary to secondary school. These problems are particularly acute in science. One approach is to provide a programme of ‘bridging work’, focused on practical science, that is started in the primary school and continued in the secondary school. The research reported here explored pupils' perceptions and experiences of science practical work before and after transfer to secondary school. The implications of the findings for the design of bridging work in science are discussed.  相似文献