Inquiry-based Learning and Digital Libraries in Undergraduate Science Education

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe robust rationales for integrating inquiry-based learning into undergraduate science education, and to propose that digital libraries are potentially powerful technological tools that can support inquiry-based learning goals in undergraduate science courses. Overviews of constructivism and situated cognition are provided with regard to how these two theoretical perspectives have influenced current science education reform movements, especially those that involve inquiry-based learning. The role that digital libraries can play in inquiry-based learning environments is discussed. Finally, the importance of alignment among critical pedagogical dimensions of an inquiry-based pedagogical framework is stressed in the paper, and an example of how this can be done is presented using earth science education as a context.     

An evaluation of local teacher support strategies for the implementation of inquiry-based science education in French primary schools

This article presents the results of an evaluation of local teacher support strategies for implementing inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in French primary schools. The research objective was to determine which aspects of the French model of IBSE are implemented in class, and the efficiency of each teacher support strategy. Data were recovered through class observations. Findings confirm the need for long and continuous forms of teacher support, and expose the advantages and disadvantages of support delivered by pedagogues and support delivered by university science students. Writing in science class, which isa fundamental aspect of the French IBSE programme, is far from being implemented according to advocated practices.     

生命科学史的教育价值

生命科学史揭示了人们思考和解决生物学问题的思想历程,展示了生命科学各个学科形成的历史以及各个学科之间的联系,揭示了自然科学的本质,揭示了每一个知识点的产生过程就是一个探究的过程,展示了在探究知识的过程中科学家之间的合作以及科学家所持观点之间的碰撞和论争,展示了成功的实验与选择合适的实验对象之间密切相关,呈现了科学家的科学态度、科学精神和科学世界观。生命科学史对于培养学生的生物学素养乃至科学素养具有积极的意义,在探究性学习中将发挥重要的作用。     

Enhancing Inquiry, Understanding, and Achievement in an Astronomy Multimedia Learning Environment

As an example of design-based research, this study refined an assessment strategy for simultaneously enhancing inquiry-based learning and supporting achievement on conventional assessment measures. Astronomy Village ^® : Investigating the Universe? is a software program designed to engage secondary science students in authentic and inquiry-based learning over core topics in astronomy. The software was enhanced with a 20-hour curriculum and three levels of assessment to ensure successful inquiry experiences and high-stakes achievement. The first year implementation of Astronomy Village^® yielded significant gains on a curriculum-oriented exam but not a standards-oriented test, and provided useful design insights that were integrated into the second year implementations. Significant gains were obtained on the test during the second year as well. It is expected that many existing inquiry-oriented science curricula might be similarly enhanced, and is suggested that a large-scale effort to do so might have a lasting impact on science education.     

我国科技馆设置开放实验室的初步探讨

开放实验室是我国科技馆建设的一种创新形式,是科技馆可持续发展的需要.开放实验室应该遵循STS的教育理念,从科学技术的发展趋势、社会热点以及深层次挖掘社会问题等宏观视角选题,体现科学技术对社会的作用、实验形式应该是探究式实验.     

“做中学”:作为儿童科学教育的一种形式

“做中学”既是一种教育理念,又是一种教育方法,同时也是一个教育过程。作为儿童科学教育的一种形式,它也体现着素质教育的目的和精神。“做中学”的教学流程有其鲜明的特色和基本模式。历经三年的“做中学”研究成果表明:“做中学”不仅能培养儿童的科学精神和动手能力,也能培养儿童的团队合作精神,是儿童科学启蒙教育的重要形式。     

科学教育的重要途径—非正规学习

非正规学习在培养学生科学素质方面具有正规学习不可替代的重要作用。了解非正规学习的特点、规律和怎样影响人的科学素质的形成和发展对当前我国政府倡导的大力普及科学教育,提高全民,特别是未成年人的科学素质具有重大意义。非正规科学学习不仅能为学生提供丰富的认知冲突和社会互动机会,使他们建立起更加完善的知识结构,而且还能提高他们的科学论证能力。非正规学习是发展学生科学素质的必经之路。     

Getting real: the authenticity of remote labs and simulations for science learning

Teachers use remote labs and simulations to augment or even replace hands-on science learning. We compared undergraduate students’ experiences with a remote lab and a simulation to investigate beliefs about and learning from the interactions. Although learning occurred in both groups, students were more deeply engaged while performing the remote lab. Remote lab users felt and behaved as though they completed a real scientific experiment. We also examined whether realistic visualizations improved the psychological and learning experiences for each lab. Students who watched live video of the device collecting their data in the remote lab felt most engaged with the task, suggesting that it is the combination of the realistic lab and realistic video that was of the greatest benefit.     

浅谈物理实验与科学素质培养

本文简要说明了人才素质在社会发展和科技进步中的作用,分析了物理实验教学在素质教育中的作用和地位,讨论了在物理实验教学中如何培养学生的科学素质。     

中学开设综合理科课程的必要性

综合理科就是将原来的物理、化学、生物、地理(自然地理部分)等分科课程,融合成为一门综合课程.学科内容范围进行如此变革,是义务教育、素质教育的需要;是社会进步、科学发展的必然要求;符合教育学、心理学的观点;也符合社会实际、实践的需要.     

建构主义给科学课堂带来了什么

在当今世界的科学教育改革中,建构主义已经成为指导科学教学的主要理论.本文阐述了建构主义学习理论对科学教育各方面的影响,并对其在实际教学中的重要作用进行了分析.     

移动教育:社区老年教育新视野

移动教育是基于移动学习理念提出的新的教育方式,对于社区老年教育具有借鉴意义。推进社区老年移动教育,有其价值性和现实的可行性。推进社区老年移动教育,必须实现教育路径、教育方式、教育平台的建构以及社区老年媒介素养教育、特别是新媒介素养教育的开展。     

A Review of Studies in Science Education in Singapore: 1971 - 1990

Research should play a central role in decision making. Practitioners as well as policy makers can illafford to ignore the importance of research, particularly those involving the local context, in informing practice. Contextual differences are often incurred when overseas research findings are imported. A very strong case can therefore be made for more local research studies for use within the local context. There is, however, a dearth of local studies in science education over the past two decades. This paper attempts to briefly survey the field to account for the impoverished state. It will then review some thirty-six research studies carried out in Singapore spanning the period from 1971 to 1990—these representing the studies where documentation were available—with the view of pooling together the findings of the studies and eliciting trends for the benefit of future research efforts as well as enlightening practice and policy.     

Supporting collaborative inquiry during a biology field trip with mobile peer-to-peer tools for learning: a case study with K-12 learners

This study explores how collaborative inquiry learning can be supported with multiple scaffolding agents in a real-life field trip context. In practice, a mobile peer-to-peer messaging tool provided meta-cognitive and procedural support, while tutors and a nature guide provided more dynamic scaffolding in order to support argumentative discussions between groups of students during the co-creation of knowledge claims. The aim of the analysis was to identify and compare top- and low-performing dyads/triads in order to reveal the differences regarding their co-construction of arguments while creating knowledge claims. Although the results revealed several shortcomings in the types of argumentation, it could be established that differences between the top performers and low performers were statistically significant in terms of social modes of argumentation, the use of warrants in the mobile tool and in overall participation. In general, the use of the mobile tool likely promoted important interaction during inquiry learning, but led to superficial epistemological quality in the knowledge claim messages.     

Science education: innovation in rural and remote Queensland schools

Outside its heavily-populated south-eastern corner, Queensland is a huge administrative area with many small, remote communities that can be separated by hundreds of kilometres of dirt road, or, in other areas, not accessible by road. In this study, parents, students and teachers in nine schools from rural and regional Queensland were interviewed about their perceptions of school science. Teachers, parents and students defined remoteness by reference to their social ties, as well as the social capital and resources they drew on to teach science meaning that not only did different groups differ in their interpretations of remoteness; different teachers in similar circumstances also responded differently. Science teachers’ responses to remoteness were related to their perceptions of school-community communication and their perceptions of their freedom to innovate. Teachers who felt that remoteness gave them more freedom and recognised opportunities to utilise their environment created innovative and relevant science programmes. Teachers who felt their remoteness gave them less freedom felt isolated from the community were less likely to innovate.     

Scaffolded Inquiry-Based Instruction with Technology: A Signature Pedagogy for STEM Education

Inquiry-based instruction has become a hallmark of science education and increasingly of integrated content areas, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Because inquiry-based instruction very clearly contains surface, deep, and implicit structures as well as engages students to think and act like scientists, it is considered a signature pedagogy of science education. In this article the authors discuss the nature of scaffolded inquiry-based instruction and how it can be applied to the use of emerging technologies, such as data mashups and cloud computing, so that students not only learn the content of STEM, but can also begin answering the critical socioscientific questions that face the modern era.     

Inquiry-based science education: towards a pedagogical framework for primary school teachers

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been promoted as an inspiring way of learning science by engaging pupils in designing and conducting their own scientific investigations. For primary school teachers, the open nature of IBSE poses challenges as they often lack experience in supporting their pupils during the different phases of an open IBSE project, such as formulating a research question and designing and conducting an investigation. The current study aims to meet these challenges by presenting a pedagogical framework in which four domains of scientific knowledge are addressed in seven phases of inquiry. The framework is based on video analyses of pedagogical interventions by primary school teachers participating in open IBSE projects. Our results show that teachers can guide their pupils successfully through the process of open inquiry by explicitly addressing the conceptual, epistemic, social and/or procedural domain of scientific knowledge in the subsequent phases of inquiry. The paper concludes by suggesting further research to validate our framework and to develop a pedagogy for primary school teachers to guide their pupils through the different phases of open inquiry.     

A Randomized Trial of Teacher Development in Elementary Science: First-Year Achievement Effects

Abstract

This article describes 1st-year experimental effects of a large-scale reform providing professional development to elementary school teachers to implement an extended, inquiry-oriented science curriculum. Known as “immersion teaching” because it “immerses” teachers and students in the full cycle of scientific inquiry, this approach developed through a partnership involving university-based science and mathematics content experts and educators and K-12 educators from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Multilevel analyses, which examined school-level effects of assignment to the professional development intervention, nested Grade 4 students and their science achievement outcomes within the 80 study schools. The analyses revealed a statistically significant negative 1st-year treatment effect of school-level assignment to the initiative on the key science achievement outcome. We also tested whether the treatment had differential effects for English language learners, schools with large proportions of English language learners, and students of new teachers. We found an interaction effect of the treatment by teacher experience level for the teachers who were the primary target of the intervention, with the treatment having positive effects for novice teachers (3 years of experience or less) but a larger, negative effect for veteran teachers. We explore analytically three sets of explanations for the unexpected negative main effect of treatment: potential statistical and design artifacts, possible misalignment between the assessments and content of the treatment, and practical issues related to implementation of the treatment.     

日本"脑科学与教育"研究的进展

脑科学从基础研究向应用研究展开,与教育跨学科融合形成了"脑科学与教育"新的研究领域。日本率先在世界上倡导"脑科学与教育"的跨学科研究,并且将脑科学研究作为国家教育发展的一项战略任务,将脑科学的原理运用到教育中去,进行面向教育理论和实践的应用研究。本论文介绍的日本近年来"脑科学与教育"研究的最新进展,对推动我国尚处于起步阶段的脑科学与教育领域研究的发展有一定的启示。