Collaborating in the Evolution of a Middle School Science Learning Environment

This study describes a collaborative study involving a teacher and university researcher using learning environment research to transform a middle school science learning environment. Habermas' idea of knowledge constitutive interests (technical, practical, and emancipatory) is used as a perspective to make sense of the learning environment. Student perceptions of science and the nature of science were explored. Classroom observations and student interviews were the primary data sources. Students perceived science as primarily a set of facts to be learned and did not view it as an inquiry method or a social process. Despite the characterization of the course by the teacher and students as hands-on and experimental, technical interests were prevalent. Through negotiation, a plan of action was outlined for recreating the learning environment to make it more practical and emancipatory, as well as more consistent with contemporary perspectives on the nature of science.     

Students' Conceptions of Learning,the Classroom Environment,and Approaches to Learning

Abstract

A model that hypothesized relationships between high school students' conceptions of learning, their percpetions of the classroom environment, and their approaches to learning was tested using structural equation modeling. Results suggested that important associations exist between conceptions of learning and approaches to learning. Students who reported qualitative and experiential conceptions were likely to use deep approaches to learning, whereas students who had quantitative conceptions of learning tended to use surface approaches. The implications of these findings for teachers and the way they function in the classroom environment are discussed.     

探索我国初中学生学习科学的自主性动机

本研究的主要目的是调查和描述我国初中学生学习科学的自主性动机状态。为了辨明学生对自己学习科学的自主性感知,研究中采用了四个归因变量：学习科学的自主性、科学学习的价值功能、社会控制归因及不明确动机的状态。研究结果表明,我国初中生学习科学的动机中学习自主性扮演着重要的角色。     

初中科学作业的“生本化”设计

"生本化"的科学作业其出发点是学生的生活世界,目的是学生的发展,包括学生个体的发展和最终实现全体学生的发展。兼顾差异性,发挥主动性是实现最终目的的必然过程和必要手段。     

Broadening the Learning in University Environment: Process Reengineering Through Information and Networking Technologies (BLUEPRINT 2000)

This paper presents the result of an extensive study funded by HEFCE HEFCE is UK government Higher Education Funding Council for England. and the European Commission (EC) for Broadening the Learning in University Environment: Process Reengineering through Information and Networking Technologies (BLUEPRINT 2000) model. In comparison to other existing models which are merely focusing on stand-alone computer-based learning environment, this paper describes a complete model covering all aspects of tertiary education, not only servicing but also administering in an all virtual and electronic manner. The model considers an asynchronous and synchronous part. The asynchronous part deals with the discovery of learning material, course work, institution, course and institution brokerage. It also describes learning material and course development tools, administration and tutorship. The synchronous part of the model focuses on the intercommunication between virtual university members to ensure that isolation of learners is prevented as much as technology is able to help. The aim of this paper is to establish a commercial operation for administering, operating, marketing, delivering and supporting online and all electronic higher education, using information and communication technologies (ICT). The system would eliminate student's techno phobia across the range of organizations and disciplines by ‘total immersion’ using groupware, desktop videoconferencing with application sharing and access to resources via the Internet. Furthermore, the system will enable a high degree of online interactions from student-to-student, student-to-tutor, tutor-to-tutor, administrator-to-administrator and institution-to-institution both on one-to-one and forum basis. The BLUEPRINT 2000 model develops new and cost-effective methodologies for teaching dynamic subjects whilst improving the quality of student support in general. The system will lead to a potentially global club of life-long learners with access to the ‘first and best’ sources of education. In addition, it supports dynamic role assignment, that is a student of one subject can be a lecturer or tutor of another subject. It therefore utilizes resources and allows knowledge sharing in an optimal way on both individual and institutional basis. Hence it offers significant commercial benefits to all partners involved in the venture. The business case allows modular implementation based on pilots which will both generate revenues in the short term but also instigate the setting up of a dedicated IT infrastructure to support many new telematics services thus the implementation would be low risk in respect of financial and administrative operations.     

The Effects of a Web-Based Learning Environment on Student Motivation in a High School Earth Science Course

Collaborating closely with a 10th-grade science teacher, we designed a Web-based learning environment (Web-LE) to improve student motivation to learn science. Factors believed to enhance intrinsic motivation (challenge, control, curiosity, and fantasy) were integrated into the instructional design of the Web-based learning tool. The Web-LE was implemented in the teacher’s 10th-grade classroom as a three-day student-centered learning activity. Data collection methods included individual student interviews, teacher interviews, motivation questionnaires, and observations. This study revealed multiple forms of evidence that the Web-LE and the associated learning activity improved student motivation. This study illustrates the benefits of educational researchers working closely with teachers using design-based research methods to successfully solve instructional problems and identify reusable design principles. Design principles for the integration of intrinsic motivation factors into the development of similar Web-LEs are presented as well as directions far future research.     

Learning Environments and Learning Styles: Non-traditional Student Enrollment and Success in an Internet-based Versus a Lecture-based Computer Science Course

Colleges and universities are increasingly using information technologies to enhance the learning environment. Many educational institutions offer Internet-based on-line courses in an effort to meet the educational needs of students. The primary goal of this research was to determine if there is a relationship between students' preferred learning environment (i.e. face-to-face or on-line) and their learning style. The secondary goal was to determine if there were any differences in the academic success of students in the face-to-face versus on-line sections. Participants were adult (ages 22+ years), non-traditional computer science students given the option to take a face-to-face lecture-based or an on-line Internet-based computer science course. Results revealed that computer science students in the face-to-face learning environment were more likely to have the Assimilator learning-style, whereas computer science students in the on-line Internet-based learning environment were more likely to have the Converger learning-style. Student academic success did not reliably differ as a function of learning environment selection. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of learning style characteristics of computer science students, learning styles and gender differences and implications of student academic success in on-line vs face-to-face environments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Cross-cultural Study of Classroom Learning Environments in Australia and Taiwan

This research is distinctive in that it not only provides an example of one of the few cross-cultural studies in science education, but also it used multiple research methods from different paradigms in exploring classroom learning environments in Taiwan and Australia. This article describes the validation and use of an English and Mandarin version of the What is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire in junior high school science classes in Australia and Taiwan. When the WIHIC was administered to 1,081 students in 50 classes in Australia and to 1,879 students in 50 classes in Taiwan, data analysis supported the reliability and factorial validity of the questionnaire, and revealed differences between Taiwanese and Australian classrooms. Although the study commenced from a more positivistic framework, favouring a more objectivist view, as the study progressed, it employed an interpretative framework and drew on elements of constructivist and critical theory paradigms. This article outlines the researchers' use of multiple research methods including classroom observations, in-depth interviews and narratives. The themes which emerged from the data gathered using these methods helped to make sense of classroom environments that were created in each country.

     

学习进程:美国科学教育改革新思路

学习进程是近几年美国科学教育改革中出现的新理念,描述学生在恰当的教学条件下,对科学概念以及相关科学实践的理解和应用能力,以及随着时间的推移逐渐生长,趋于复杂、深入的过程。学习进程具有以下三个特点:由起点、中间过程和目标构成;基于学生对核心概念理解过程的实证研究;需经过实证验证。学习进程有望将课程、教学、评价三者联系起来,实现科学教育的转变。     

Conceptualisation,Development and Validation of an Instrument for Investigating the Metacognitive Orientation of Science Classroom Learning Environments: The Metacognitive Orientation Learning Environment Scale – Science (MOLES-S)

Metacognition refers to an individual's knowledge, control and awareness of his/her learning processes. An important goal of education is to develop students as metacognitive, life-long learners. However, developing students' metacognition and evaluating whether classrooms are oriented to the development of students' metacognition are difficult and often time-consuming tasks. Further, no instruments that measure key dimensions related to classroom factors that specifically influence the development of students' metacognition have been available. This article describes the conceptualisation, design, and validation of an instrument for evaluating the metacognitive orientation of science classroom learning environments. The metacognitive orientation of a learning environment is the extent to which that environment supports the development and enhancement of students' metacognition. Social constructivism was the guiding referent informing the instrument's orientation and development. This instrument measures students' perceptions of the extent to which certain psychosocial dimensions, evident in learning environments where interventions have resulted in enhanced student metacognition, are evident in their science classrooms. Findings from the use of this instrument complement what is already known from research studies to be generally the case in relation to science classrooms' metacognitive orientation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

谈科学教学中学生的兴趣培养

兴趣是学习的关键。科学教学中培养学生的学习兴趣,有利于激发学生的动力,从而提高教学效果。教师要采用多种教学方式激发学生兴趣,注重教学语言严密的逻辑性、丰富的情感性和灵活的趣味性;注重通过练习解决疑难问题;注重运用现代教学技术手段;注重适当安排热点问题和小插曲。要运用表扬艺术激发学生兴趣。要根据基础较差学生和女学生的实际因人施教,来激发他们的兴趣。     

"第二人生"与数字化游戏式学习环境

“第二人生”（Second Life）是一部模拟真实的大型多人在线角色扮演游戏，它巧妙融合了联网游戏和在线虚拟社区的诸多概念，创造了一种新型的网络空间。SL为信息时代的学习、教育提供了积极的、浸润式的数字化游戏式学习环境，一些大学和教育机构已经开始使用SL，鼓励师生探索、学习和合作。基于人与人、人与对象、对象与对象三种活动方式，SL中的教育潜力可以被不断发掘出来。     

Probeware and Handhelds in Elementary and Middle School Science

This paper reports a test on the feasibility and educational value of probeware and associated instructional materials in middle school science education. We addressed feasibility through consideration of costs, teacher professional development, and instructional design. In order to test our approach, we developed 2 middle school science curriculum units, 6 low-cost probes that interface between handheld Palm computers, and CCLabBook software for the Palms that presents the curriculum, interfaces with the probes for data collection and visualization, and supports guided exploration. The materials were tested by 30 teachers in the first year, and in a follow-up study by 8 of those teachers the second year. We found that teachers were able to conduct the investigations successfully in their classrooms, and that student learning was enhanced through the use of the probes and handhelds. Specifically, students experienced the physical correlation between phenomenon and modeling, which helped them to develop understanding and to confront misconceptions.     

Influence of the Curriculum and Learning Environment on Group Learning Approaches Outside the Classroom

Case studies are presented of the out-of-class behaviour of two contrasting class groups of university students from departments with very different learning environments. One group displayed avoider behaviour, by working together to minimise the amount of work each individual had to do. The other class consisted of more coherent groups of students who socialised together and worked to reach a better understanding of conceptual material; we labelled this engager behaviour. The cases show that both the levels of social coherence of the groups and the out-of-class group learning approaches were strongly influenced by: the curriculum, the type of teaching, the nature of the assessment, the relationship between teachers and students, and the environment within the respective departments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

开设《自然科学导论》新课程探讨

探究在中学开设《自然科学导论》课程的必要性以及该课程的设计,阐述以多媒体辅助教学为主要教学方式,播放科教节目,同时结合科学家的故事及生活科学小实验,摆脱传统的教学模式,以生动有趣、师生互动共同讨论的形式使课堂变得活跃,激发学生的科学探索精神,提高学生的学习兴趣.     

论促进知识建构的学习环境设计

本文从理解知识和知识建构的概念出发,分析了知识建构的特点,比较了知识建构与传统学习的差异,阐述了知识建构的方式,从建构主义学习环境设计理论的角度讨论了有效促进知识建构的学习环境设计方法。文章认为,有效促进知识建构的学习环境设计必须围绕活动、情境、资源、工具、支架、学习共同体和评价等七大基本要素来进行。这一学习环境设计方法为知识建构提供了一种思考和实践框架,有益于教师帮促学习者运用高阶思维开展有意义的学习,实现高阶能力的发展。     

学习科学视阈的深度学习

学习科学重新揭示了学习的本质和规律,它与深度学习紧密相联。学习科学视阈的深度学习是学习者遵循学习原理,在学校场域中对以重要概念为核心的知识进行理解性和创新性学习的有效学习过程。深度学习的典型机制主要有生长机制、颉颃机制、建模机制、互动机制和表达机制等。深度学习需要全面引导,但关键是课程与教学的重建。深度学习在核心素养的培育、课程和教学的变革等方面给予我们诸多启示。     

Fostering Distributed Science Learning Through Collaborative Technologies

TACTICS (French and Spanish acronym standing for Collaborative Work and Learning in Science with Information and Communications Technologies) is an ongoing project aimed at investigating a distributed community of learning and practice in which information and communications technologies (ICT) take the role of collaborative tools to support social construction of knowledge. This community is composed of researchers, graduate students, and high-school teachers and their students, from six schools and four universities in Canada and Mexico. It set out in fall 2000 to develop a community around the general topic of integrating concepts in science school subjects. Once a prototype community is established, it can become a terrain where different aspects could be studied. Subsequently, researchers could gradually take a back seat allowing as well as ensuring the autonomy of the school members involved and, thereby, the viability of the learning community. The set up of the proposed prototype distributed science learning community was therefore an essential yet far from trivial first step. This paper discusses the process of setting up the community and the lessons learned.     

设计最优化学习环境:OECD研究的视角

设计最优化学习环境是面向21世纪的"适应性教育"所提出的要求,它有助于学习者形成"适应性能力"。OECD的研究认为,要善于提炼新学习的基本特征,这就是主动建构、自我调节、情境相依和协同努力。与此相连的新学习本质观主张:在学习过程中学习者应积极投身于学习活动中,持续努力,确保成功;重视学习者已有知识,强化知识组织,形成合理的知识结构与线索,形成一种完整的知识图景;遵循信息加工能力的限制条件,重视学习中动机、情感与认知的动态交互;培养学习者理解概念、通晓程序和自我调节的协调能力,致力于达到学习迁移的效果。为此,设计最优化学习环境的基本原则是:生本教学、自我调节;注重交往、善用合作;关注动机、情知相依;利用旧知、因人施教;富有挑战、减负增效;紧扣目标、不断反馈;学科融合和内外互通。