Assessing the psychosocial environment of science classes in Catholic secondary schools

Much Catholic school and church rhetoric suggests that Catholic schools possess distinctive learning environments. Research into this aspect of Catholic schooling has been hampered by the lack of an appropriate assessment instrument. By drawing on contemporary church literature, the perceptions of personnel involved in Catholic education and existing classroom environment questionnaires, a new instrument was developed to assess student perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in Catholic schools. The use of this instrument in 64 classrooms in Catholic and Government schools indicated significant differences on some scales. The distinctive nature of Catholic schooling did not extend to all classroom environment dimensions deemed important to Catholic education. Specializations: Catholic education, learning environments. Specializations: conceptual change in students, science teacher professional development, scientific reasoning, learning environments. Specializations: learning environments, science education, educational evaluation, curriculum.     

Software review: Groupware gains momentum

Theoretical Principles of Distance Education. D. Keegan, ed. (London: Routledge, 1993, 272 pp., $54.95).

Open Learning Courses for Adults: A Model of Student Progress. David Kember (Educational Technology Publications, 1995, 271 pp.)     

Associations between school-level environment and science classroom environment in secondary schools

This article describes a study of links between school environment and science classroom environment. Instruments to assess seven dimensions of school environment (viz., Empowerment, Student Support, Affiliation, Professional Interest, Mission Consensus, Resource Adequacy and Work Pressure) and seven dimensions of classroom environment (viz., Student Affiliation, Interactions, Cooperation, Task Orientation, Order & Organisation, Individualisati n and Teacher Control) in secondary school science classrooms were developed and validated. The study involved a sample of 1,318 students in 64 year 9 and year 12 science classes and 128 teachers of science in Australian secondary schools. Using the class mean as the unit of analysis for student data, associations between school and classroom environment were investigated using simple, multiple and canonical correlational analyses. In general, results indicated weak relationships between school and classroom environments and they reinforced the view that characteristics of the school environment are not transmitted automatically into science classrooms.     

Student control ideology and the science classroom environment in urban secondary schools of sudan

An examination was made concerning the relationships between Sudanese secondary science teachers' pupil control ideology and their students' perceptions/observations of the psychosocial environment of their science classrooms. One hundred secondary science teachers were classified as possessing humanistic (N = 20) or custodial (N = 20) control ideologies. A class (N = 40) of students was randomly selected for every teacher in both groups. The findings revealed that no significant relationships existed between the control ideologies of the teachers and their students' perceptions/observations of the classroom environment. Custodialism in control ideology was significantly related to the classroom environment psychosocial aspect of low “support.” Discussion and implications of the findings have been approached from both Sudanese and American perspectives.     

浅谈传统玩具在中小学科学教学中的应用

中国传统玩具是中华民族传统智慧的结晶。合理地运用传统具,可以培养学生的观察、思维和创新能力,促进学生主动学习、探索。本文对传统玩具进行了分类,并结合具体的课程,探讨了在中小学科学教学中的应用。     

Public understanding of science as a separate subject in secondary schools in The Netherlands

This paper describes and analyses an attempt to introduce the public understanding of science as a subject in its own right to be taught to all students in upper secondary education in The Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to make some of the experiences gained in this attempt, especially those related to the development of curriculum content, available to others. As the large-scale implementation of the new subject is still in progress, we focus on the initial stages of the introduction, covering the period 1994-1998. This period includes: (i) the launching of the initiative by a departmental advisory committee; (ii) the subsequent formulation of attainment targets; (iii) a curriculum development project that produced four teaching units tested in classroom experiments and meant as specimens to guide and inspire the authors of schoolbooks; and (iv) the publication of the first schoolbooks on the new subject. We conclude that in spite of its status as a separate subject, the current version of the course does not yet have a clear identity that distinguishes it, in the eyes of students as well as teachers, unmistakably from the traditional science subjects in the school.     

Inquiry-based science teaching in community secondary schools in Tanzania: role played by the language of instruction

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Developing learners’ critical thinking skills through inquiry-based teaching has been an important aspect of science education. This is an exploratory...     

The momentum behind the International Primary Curriculum in schools in England

This paper evaluates the extent to which the implementation and assessment of the new citizenship curriculum in England treats learners as citizens or subjects by evaluating whether the interests of state or citizen predominate. Philosophical, contextual, and practical perspectives on citizenship education are drawn upon to evaluate mechanisms which mediate state power in young citizens’ lives. Current methods of delivering and assessing the citizenship curriculum in schools are challenged and the ideology underpinning citizenship education, as conceptualized in official discourse, is questioned. The view is advanced that citizenship cannot be reduced to what learners know (the informed citizen) or do (the active citizen) as it cannot be divorced from who they are. This paper focuses on citizenship education in the context of English liberal democracy but has a wide application as it addresses issues relevant to the state education of citizens elsewhere.     

Behaviour support in secondary schools

Student voice and pupil empowerment projects are common in many mainstream schools. However, such initiatives are more challenging to implement in provision for students experiencing (social), emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). As a consequence, they are less frequently attempted. This article reports one such attempt at an SEBD special school, where a student research group was formed to evaluate the school's behaviour policy. The students' views remind professionals of the need for consistency, positive relationships and communication underpinning behaviour management strategies. The article also reflects on a number of issues to consider when implementing such projects in special education contexts.     

Student fear in secondary schools

Our data have shown that physical aggression has an extreme psychological effect on the student body of American secondary schools; it creates a subgroup of youngsters so adversely affected by fear as to merit the often-misused label of socially disadvantaged. This study has discovered that fearful youngsters differ importantly from others by virtue of much more than simple avoidance patterns. More than others, apprehensive youth tend to dislike their school, their teachers, and their fellow students. They see themselves as suspicious of their surroundings and helpless to modify conditions of a game which appears beyond their control.     

Geometry in English secondary schools

In the past twenty years many countries have implemented new approaches to the teaching of geometry at school level. In England, most schools seem to have changed towards an experimental science approach to geometry, whilst a significant number appear to have continued the traditional geometry of Euclid. The new approach uses a great variety of techniques, and thereby loses coherence: it is based largely on practical work and seems to have forsaken the deductive approach entirely.The paper attempts to quantify the present situation in England and suggests a way of building upon the experimental science approach to provide a unified knowledge of spatial configurations through deductive methods.     

Independent study in secondary schools

This paper reviews research and other publications on independent study in secondary schools in the United States appearing subsequent to the Alexander-Hines survey of the field in 1965–66. Particular attention is given to the rationale of independent study, types, characteristic features, independent study students and teachers, schedules, facilities, and outcomes. To the extent possible in the absence of another, more recent, comprehensive national survey, comparisons are made with the findings of the Alexander-Hines study. The state of the field, burgeoning but somewhat confused by the use of independent study as time rather than process, is summarized in a final section.

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Résumé Cette étude passe en revue la recherche et autres publications sur l'étude indépendante dans les écoles secondaires aux Etats-Unis, parues consécutivement à l'exposé du sujet par Alexander-Hines en 1965–66. Une attention particulière est donnée à l'analyse raisonnée de l'étude indépendante, aux types, traits caractéristiques, étudiants et professeurs adeptes de l'étude indépendante, programmes, facilités et aux résultats. Autant que possible en l'absence d'autres études d'ensemble national plus récentes, des comparaisons sont faites avec les conclusions de l'exposé Alexander-Hines. La situation actuelle, bourgeonnante tout en étant quelque peu confuse par l'utilisation de l'étude indépendante en matière de temps plutôt que de méthode, est résumée sommairement dans le dernier chapitre.