Socio-Scientific Issues in Health Contexts: Treading a rugged terrain

The science–technology–society agenda has evolved over time to meet emerging educational aims in the light of changes in society and the environment. There is increasing emphasis on students' decision-making on socio-scientific issues (SSIs) not only to highlight the intricate relationships between science, technology, society, and the environment, but also to allow students to incorporate multiple viewpoints into the development of critical reasoning and responsible citizenship. Most research emphases have been on the rationality of reasoning rather than on the internal psychological context that underpins reasoning. This paper explores how these various aspects of reasoning interact in decision-making on SSIs in health contexts through case studies of recent issues in this field. The case studies reveal the negotiation of multiple influences in addressing SSIs in health contexts and the potential interactions between the psychological processes of individuals, science, and sociocultural perspectives. A tentative model to address these interactions emerges from this explorative study and has implications for the use of health-related issues in promoting SSI education.     

Multiplicative reasoning: teaching primary pupils in ways that focus on functional relations

This paper examines a problem described as widespread and long-standing in mathematics education: supporting pupils into multiplicative reasoning, a form of reasoning that has been noted as central to large tracts of secondary mathematics and beyond. Also noted, however, is a persistent perception of multiplicative situations only in terms of repeated addition – a perception held not only primary pupils, but also among primary teachers and curriculum developers. The focus of this paper is to synthesize literature on multiplicative reasoning as a conceptual field together with a sociocultural discussion of the role of mediating artifacts in the development of this conceptual field. Bringing MR into the primary classroom can then be achieved, I propose, through a pedagogy oriented toward model-eliciting and teacher appropriation of pupils’ models as pedagogic tools with the subsequent re-appropriation of refined models by pupils. This pedagogy is illustrated through the analysis of two vignettes from a teaching experiment which demonstrate the beginnings of MR as an emergent conceptual field in the classroom. The paper concludes that it is possible to move primary teaching and learning toward understanding the functional aspects of multiplicative reasoning, but that any such moves requires attention to teachers’ pedagogic and content knowledge.     

From social interaction to individual reasoning: an empirical investigation of a possible socio-cultural model of cognitive development

This study explores the theory that individual reasoning ability, as measured using standard reasoning tests, has part of its origin in dialogue with others. In the study, 64 eight- and nine-year-old children were taught the use of ‘exploratory talk’, a type of talk in which joint reasoning is made explicit. The relationship between the talk of the children and the solving of Raven's test problems was studied using discourse analysis of groups working together. The findings of the study support four claims: that use of exploratory talk can improve group reasoning, that exploratory talk can be taught, that the teaching of exploratory talk can successfully transfer between educational contexts and that individual results on a standard non-verbal reasoning test significantly improved as a result of the intervention teaching exploratory talk. Our results offer support for the hypothesis that experience of social reasoning can improve scores on measures of individual reasoning. The stronger hypothesis that general cognitive development is a product of induction into social reasoning remains in doubt.     

Decision-making models in a Tunisian university: Towards a framework for analysis

Abstract

This study investigates how decisions are made in Tunisian public higher education establishments. Some factors are identified as having a potentially significant impact on the odds that the decision-making process follows the characteristics of one of the most well known decision-making models: collegial, political, bureaucratic or anarchical model. For this, this investigation was based on some statistical methods related to qualitative variables and allowing to measure whether the hypotheses, identified through an inductive analysis, are expressible in the same terms and with the same acuteness in all Tunisian public higher education establishments. In particular, the results showed that how decisions are made is related to the nature of the decision itself: collegiality for pedagogic and scientific decisions, bureaucratic for decisions related to institutional management and politic for academic personnel decisions. This finding can help the university leadership to evaluate and improve the governance in the higher education establishment.     

Studying activities that take place in speech interactions: a theoretical and methodological framework

The paper proposes a theoretical and methodological framework based on a pluralistic, concerted approach to the study of activities that take place in and through speech interactions. The framework has a general scope, applying to any collective activity taking form through language interactions. It contributes to a fuller understanding of the dynamics of activity and the emergence of the phenomena observed. The framework fits a constructivist and interactionist paradigm. It allows an approach to different dimensions of the activity: communicational, functional, discursive and interlocutory. The theories, models, concepts and methods chosen to address each of the dimensions are presented. From the study of a collaborative philosophical inquiry produced in the first year of a French primary school, we illustrate the use of the framework and show how it can be enriched according to the nature of the activity studied and researchers’ aims.     

Behavioural objectives in a reading programme: An experiment

Maria Edgeworth was a nineteenth century novelist, primarily remembered for her adult and children's novels. Yet her book, Letters for literary ladies discussed the importance of science education for girls and in conjunction with her father, Richard Edgeworth, she wrote several treatises on education. Their book Practical education advocates an inquiry approach to teaching science and also using scientific practices, such as observation and data collection, to examine and plan children's education. They emphasised the importance and the role of experimentation, observation and critical thinking in the development of children's knowledge, skills and attitudes towards learning. However, the history of science education has to date ignored this seminal work and Maria's contributions to women's science education.     

Early Science Instruction and Academic Language Development Can Go Hand in Hand. The Promising Effects of a Low-Intensity Teacher-Focused Intervention

Early science instruction is important in order to lay a firm basis for learning scientific concepts and scientific thinking. In addition, young children enjoy science. However, science plays only a minor role in the kindergarten curriculum. It has been reported that teachers feel they need to prioritize language and literacy practices over science. In this paper, we investigate whether science lessons might be integrated with learning the language functional for school: academic language. The occurrence of scientific reasoning and sophisticated vocabulary in brief science lessons with 5-year-olds is evaluated. The aim of the study was twofold: first, to explore the nature of kindergarten science discourse without any researcher directions (pre-intervention observation). Second, in a randomized control trial, we evaluated the effect on science discourse of a brief teacher training session focused on academic language awareness. The science lessons focussed on air pressure and mirror reflection. Analyses showed that teachers from the intervention group increased their use of scientific reasoning and of domain-specific academic words in their science discourse, compared to the control group. For the use of general academic words and for lexical diversity, the effect was task-specific: these dependent measures only increased during the air pressure task. Implications of the study include the need to increase teachers' awareness of possibilities to combine early science instruction and academic language learning.     

Situation awareness in sea kayaking: towards a practical checklist

Ever-changing weather and sea conditions constitute environmental hazards that sea kayakers must pay attention to and act upon to stay safe. The aim of this study was to propose a tool to aid sea kayakers’ situation awareness (SA). We developed a checklist guided by theory on the concept of SA and expert problem detection, judgement and decision-making, along with knowledge concerning previous incidents and important risk factors in sea kayaking. The checklist consists of two parts: a guide to how paddlers can improve their SA and decision-making skills, and an overview of what critical factors should be evaluated before and during a sea kayak trip. We argue that the checklist may improve risk assessment and management among sea kayakers, help to prevent distress and future incidents, and ultimately potentially save lives. Finally, we wish to stimulate debate concerning risk management in sea kayaking and outdoor education.     

Doing phenomenology in science education: a research review

This article is a review of applications of phenomenology, as a philosophy of knowledge and qualitative research approach, to the field of science education (SE). The purpose is to give an overview of work that has been done as well as to assess it and discuss its possibilities of future development. We ask: what attempts for connecting phenomenology and SE do we find in the research literature, and what possible effects could such connections have for teaching and learning? In approaching this field we distinguish between three sources of phenomenological SE: (1) Goethe’s phenomenology of nature; (2) philosophical phenomenology; and (3) anthropological phenomenology. Existing research based on phenomenological approaches is categorised as phenomenology of SE, phenomenology in SE, and phenomenology and SE integrated. Research examples from each category are critically evaluated and discussed. Finally we discuss the question of the relevance of phenomenology to science teaching. Our review indicates that phenomenology has considerable potential as a method for investigating science learning as a holistic process. It also seems that phenomenology and SE meet most fruitfully when phenomenology is done in the classroom, that is, when it is turned into actual efforts for promoting learning.     

Longitudinal study of levels of moral reasoning of undergraduate students in an Irish university: the influence of contextual factors

This paper reports a longitudinal study of levels of moral reasoning in a convenience sample of Irish undergraduate university students, using the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT2). The study was timely, as higher education institutions are becoming increasingly interested in the promotion of social capital and the development of the whole person. A total of 259 students completed the DIT2 at the beginning, mid-point and conclusion of their degree course. As with similar international studies, increases in levels of moral reasoning over time were statistically significant. However, Irish students' DIT2 scores were markedly lower than their international peers with 62% of graduating students at the pre-conventional and conventional stages. The paper suggests some context-related explanations for the under-performance of Irish students including the instrumentalist nature of Irish post-primary education, the prevailing culture of consensualism, authoritarianism and anti-intellectualism, the conflation of religious and moral education and the emphasis on economic outputs and contractual accountability.     

The role of outside-school factors in science education: a two-stage theoretical model linking Bourdieu and Sen,with a case study

The literature in science education highlights the potentially significant role of outside-school factors such as parents, cultural contexts and role models in students’ formation of science attitudes and aspirations, and their attainment in science classes. In this paper, building on and linking Bourdieu’s key concepts of habitus, cultural and social capital, and field with Sen’s capability approach, we develop a model of students’ science-related capability development. Our model proposes that the role of outside-school factors is twofold, first, in providing an initial set of science-related resources (i.e. habitus, cultural and social capital), and then in conversion of these resources to science-related capabilities. The model also highlights the distinction between science-related functionings (outcomes achieved by individuals) and science-related capabilities (ability to achieve desired functionings), and argues that it is necessary to consider science-related capability development in evaluating the effectiveness of science education. We then test our theoretical model with an account of three Turkish immigrant students’ science-related capabilities and the role of outside-school factors in forming and extending these capabilities. We use student and parent interviews, student questionnaires and in-class observations to provide an analysis of how outside-school factors influence these students’ attitudes, aspirations and attainment in science.     

Science teacher education for sustainable development: a case study of a residential field course in a Norwegian pre-service teacher education programme

In this paper, we explore how a Norwegian teacher education institution promotes education for sustainable development (ESD) through a residential field course. The residential field course was located in a mountain area and data were collected through participant observation. The data included—together with instructional artefacts—evaluation schemes and assignments written by the student teachers, and the analysis was based on categories for science ESD. Through exemplary teaching experiences in an outdoor environment and pupil-active teaching methods, such as inquiry learning and phenomenon-based teaching, the student teachers gained experience in outdoor education and of stepping into the unknown in a safe learning environment. This was further connected to ESD pedagogy.     

Bringing environmental identity research into the classroom context: examining the theoretical foundations influencing its current use in the literature

ABSTRACT

A theoretical review of the literature was conducted to understand how environmental identity is currently being interpreted and applied so the construct can be extended to the classroom context appropriately. The review found three key foundational philosophies contributing to the interpretation of environmental identity in the field of education: Eriksonian identity theories, Meadian identity theories, and those grounded in the conservation movement that revolve around understanding and promoting environmentally responsible behaviours. As expected, these foundational theories were inconsistent in the emphasis given to the social versus physical context within which environmental identities develop. Social network analysis was used to analyse the network of literature reviewed. This revealed that Susan Clayton’s interpretation of environmental identity had greatly influenced the educational research reviewed. However, her definition of environmental identity and the environmental identity scale she developed greatly emphasise the physical context. This commonly referenced interpretation recognises nature as the social ‘other’ and leaves little room to recognise the human social ‘other’ in environmental identity development. The author calls for the consideration of both social and physical contexts in environmental identity research, as well as transparency in the interpretation of the construct for research purposes.     

Beliefs about learning and enacted instructional practices: An investigation in postsecondary chemistry education

While research on and development of evidence‐based instructional practices (EBIPs) in STEM education has flourished, implementation of these practices classrooms has not been as prolific. Using the teacher‐centered systemic reform model as a framework, we explore the connection between chemistry instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning and self‐efficacy beliefs, and their enacted classroom practices. Postsecondary chemistry faculty present a unique population for the study because of their role in teaching prerequisite courses, such as general and organic chemistry, which are key to many science major fields. A measure of teacher beliefs and self‐efficacy was administered to a national survey of postsecondary chemistry faculty members. Instructional practices used in a chemistry course were also collected via self‐report. While instructional practices were not directly observed, a cluster analysis of our data mirrors patterns of instructional practices found in observation‐based studies of chemistry faculty. Significant differences are found on teacher thinking and self‐efficacy measures based on enacted instructional practices. Results support the hypothesized connection between beliefs and instructional practice on a larger scale than in previous studies of this relationship, bolstering the evidence for the importance of this relationship over previously criticized results. These results present a call for reform efforts on fostering change from its core, that is, the beliefs of those who ultimately adopt EBIPs. Dissemination and design should incorporate training and materials that highlight the process by which faculty members interpret reformed practices within their belief system, and explore belief change in the complex context of education reform.     

Developing interactive mathematical talk: investigating student perceptions and accounts of mathematical reasoning in a changing classroom context

In recent years there has been an increased focus on the need for teachers to develop learning communities where all students have opportunities to engage in interactive discourse. However, there are few studies that focus on student perceptions and accounts of mathematical reasoning in classrooms with interactive mathematical talk as a focus of reform. A framework of teacher actions to develop classroom and mathematical practices was developed from classroom observations. Photo-elicitation interviews were used to investigate student perception and accounts of mathematical explanations and reasoning. The professional development programme, shifts in the teacher actions, and subsequent shifts in student perception and their recall of their own and peers’ mathematical reasoning over a school year are highlighted. Developing interactive dialogue in the classroom took considerable time and attention. Facilitating change to the way students both participated and understood their obligations required constant, ongoing attention to both the classroom and mathematical practices.     

Assessing task-orientation potential in primary science textbooks: Toward a new approach

Task orientation is currently a prominent concept under discussion in primary school didactics. It focuses on tasks along which pupils acquire competences on distinct levels of competence. The qualitative empirical study TAPSE (Textbook Analysis in Primary Science Education) pursues the question which conception of task orientation is present in current textbooks in primary science education. The study follows two foci: (a) The introduction of a new category system for the analysis of the task-orientation potential of tasks, based on the further development of existing category systems for analyzing tasks; and (b) the analysis of 994 task statements in science textbooks with respect to the didactic quality of their task orientation. The sample included nine primary science textbooks, four from Germany, and five from Luxembourg. Textbooks were selected from the most frequently sold series in the respective country. All tasks of the textbooks were analyzed deductively and inductively by four coders in three steps: (a) Identifying tasks with task-oriented potential; (b) itemizing different types of task-orientation potential; and (c) comparing the textbooks with respect to country- and period-specific manifestations of task orientation. Analysis indicated that (a) there are few tasks which meet the criteria of task orientation; (b) distinct types of task orientation can be generated, among which implicit forms dominate; and (c) differences occur in the characteristics of task orientation between older and newer textbooks as well as between German and Luxembourgish ones. Central points of discussion ensue from this: The need to develop models for social and cognitive activation for tasks, challenges for professional development for teachers, and support for pupils—in particular high achieving heterogenization.     

The attitude of civil engineering students towards health and safety risk management: a case study

The highest rate of accidents and injuries in British industries has been reported by the construction industry during the past decade. Since then stakeholders have recognised that a possible solution would be to inculcate a good attitude towards health and safety risk management in undergraduate civil engineering students and construction professionals. Consequently, the four accreditation bodies that accredit construction degrees have improved coverage of health and safety risk management. The key issue has now shifted to ensure that Higher Education Centres deliver these requirements. This paper demonstrates innovative assessment methods that have been used to inculcate a safety conscious attitude into undergraduate civil engineering students, and to improve their knowledge of health and safety risk management. Surveys were administered to the students before and after they were subjected to innovative assessment techniques over two semesters in the construction management units. The analyses of the results of the surveys are provided to demonstrate the degree of improvement in the attitude of the students towards, and their knowledge of, health and safety risk management.     

Advice to a New Science Teacher: The Importance of Establishing a Theme in Teaching Scientific Explanations

In the Humanities, my most memorable teachers were those who did more than teach the subject matter of some discipline. They espoused an underlying theme that established a perspective or framework within which to structure the details of the subject being taught. This paper will describe a particularly useful theme that reveals the structure of certain scientific explanations relevant to a study of chemistry. Because it emphasizes the structure of certain scientific explanations found in chemistry, it usually helps a student to distinguish a sensible explanation from one that is not. Some might suggest that the Scientific Method as proposed by Roger Bacon is particularly suitable for such a theme. I disagree. The Scientific Method—no matter what model is used—is too generic. It lacks the specificity necessary to be useful in the role of a theme. This paper is intended to provide an example of a theme for an introduction to chemistry that I have found particularly useful. However, before continuing, let me put in an immediate disclaimer. The theme that I have found most useful is neither the only possible theme nor necessarily the best. However, it does demonstrate what a theme in a science course means to me. Hopefully its usefulness will be apparent to the reader.     

Integrating a moral reasoning game in a blended learning setting: effects on students' interest and performance

A new approach to moral education using blended learning has been developed. This approach involves 10 scenarios that are designed as a web-based game and serves as a basis for group moral-consequence-based reasoning, which is developed based on a hypothetical-deductive model. The aim of the study was to examine the changes in students' blended learning interest and reasoning ability in a time series experimental design. After playing the game with the 10 initial scenarios during the first week of the study, participants were subjected to five blended learning sessions that required them to discuss the consequences of one of the 10 scenarios using hypothetical-deductive reasoning. After six weeks, the data from the 110 participants were analyzed using time series statistics. The results indicated that players were highly interested in the game, although their interest had a tendency to decrease slightly over time. Repetitive game play (i.e. practice) was positively associated with the players' moral reasoning performance. The study results may lend support to the design of a game with additional or more highly complex content for players to further develop students' consequential reasoning ability.