Evaluating Portfolio Use as a Learning Tool for Professionals

We have earlier reported overall teacher emphases on six general educational goals. In the present study we present school level analyses of the same goal variables. The new focus of the present study was on possible school differences in teacher goal emphases. It is assumed that school differences may indicate a process of teacher socialisation in schools, particularly if these characteristics are relatively stable over time. About 40 schools were analysed at two points in time and they were represented by two different samples of teachers (144 and 157 teachers). We analysed both individual goal variables and goal profiles defined by how the teachers ranked the six goals. Only the 'profile approach' indicated school-specific goal priorities. The results also showed that the degree of goal consensus in schools should not be regarded as an aspect of the school climate. In addition, the measure of school goal consensus was weakly related to other examined aspects of the school climate.     

Perceptual Mapping Software as a Tool for Facilitating School-Based Consultation

Perceptual mapping is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and presenting group perceptions that is potentially useful in consultation. With input and feedback from a consultee group, perceptual mapping allows the consultant to capture the group's collective perceptions and display them as an organized image that may foster meaningful understanding of their shared beliefs and serve as a stimulus for discussion and problem solving. Perceptual mapping can give school-based consultants an additional means to bring ideas “to the table” that consultees can clearly conceptualize as originating with them as opposed to the notions of the consultant. The authors illustrate the potential use of and offer support for perceptual mapping as a tool for consultation in schools.     

Performance Assessment as a Diagnostic Tool for Science Teachers

Research in Science Education - Information on students’ development of science skills is essential for teachers to evaluate and improve their own education, as well as to provide adequate...     

The Cavendish Experiment as a Tool for Historical Understanding of Science

Following an ever growing literature which takes serious the relevance of case-studies in the history of science for science education and understanding of science, I provide a detailed historical reconstruction of the Cavendish Experiment, which remains as close as possible to the original. In this paper, I call attention to three educational benefits of familiarizing students with the Cavendish Experiment and its aftermath.     

Using the Science Writing Heuristic as a Tool for Learning from Laboratory Investigations in Secondary Science

This article presents and discusses preliminary research on a new heuristic tool for learning from laboratory activities in secondary science. The tool, called the science writing heuristic, can be used by teachers as a framework from which to design classroom activities. Theoretically, the science writing heuristic represents a bridge between traditional laboratory reports and types of writing that promote personal construction of meaning. Two eighth‐grade classes participated in using the science writing heuristic during an 8‐week stream study. The teacher and one of the researchers collaboratively developed activities based on the science writing heuristic that the teacher implemented. Nineteen target students were studied in depth. Characteristics of report writing and students' understanding of the nature of science were investigated, using interpretive techniques. There is evidence that use of the science writing heuristic facilitated students to generate meaning from data, make connections among procedures, data, evidence, and claims, and engage in metacognition. Students' vague understandings of the nature of science at the beginning of the study were modified to more complex, rich, and specific understandings. The implications of the study for writing in science classrooms is discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 1065–1084, 1999     

Causal Mapping as a Teaching Tool for Reflecting on Causation in Human Evolution

Science & Education - Teleological reasoning is viewed as a major hurdle to evolution education, and yet, eliciting, interpreting, and reflecting upon teleological language presents an arguably...     

Using Self-Efficacy as a Construct for Evaluating Science and Mathematics Methods Courses

The focus of this study was elementary preservice teachers’ development as effective teachers of science and mathematics as influenced by their participation in elementary science and mathematics methods courses. Preservice teachers’ reports of factors that influenced their perception of their teaching abilities were analyzed according to Bandura’s (1994) 4 sources of efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and stress reduction. This investigation allowed the researchers to evaluate the courses based on these sources. The analysis indicated all 4 sources influenced preservice teachers’ teaching self-efficacy beliefs, with mastery experiences considered the most influential. Embedded within discussions of mastery experiences were references to the other sources of efficacy, which suggest an interrelationship between mastery experiences and the other sources.     

Critiquing Science Lessons for their Authenticity as a Means of Evaluating Teacher-Candidate Understanding of the Nature of Science

This inquiry uses teacher-candidate critiques of science lessons as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of an instructor's pedagogical approach to promote teacher candidate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) in a science methods course. Three cohorts of teacher candidates enrolled in a middle-years teacher education program were required to evaluate science lessons for their authenticity based on their developing understanding of the nature of science. The results indicated that the most detailed and accurate analysis of the authenticity of the lessons occurred in the cohort where the nature of science was developed (a) explicitly throughout the course, (b) through the use of exemplars of historical science development, and (c) through a setting that encouraged collaborative consideration of the nature of science.     

Heuristic Diagrams as a Tool to Teach History of Science

The graphic organizer called here heuristic diagram as an improvement of Gowin’s Vee heuristic is proposed as a tool to teach history of science. Heuristic diagrams have the purpose of helping students (or teachers, or researchers) to understand their own research considering that asks and problem-solving are central to scientific activity. The left side originally related in Gowin’s Vee with philosophies, theories, models, laws or regularities now agrees with Toulmin’s concepts (language, models as representation techniques and application procedures). Mexican science teachers without experience in science education research used the heuristic diagram to learn about the history of chemistry considering also in the left side two different historical times: past and present. Through a semantic differential scale teachers’ attitude to the heuristic diagram was evaluated and its usefulness was demonstrated.     

Assignments as a Pedagogical Tool in Learning to Teach Science: A Case Study

Fostering student teachers' confidence and competence to teach science in early childhood settings is a complex and challenging task for teacher educators situated in university classrooms. The research reported in this paper is based on an analysis of 3rd-year early childhood student teachers' assignments. The assignment required them to interview young children in order to find out what the children knew about a specified science topic. Three themes emerged from a constant comparison analysis. The first was the artificiality of the situation as constrained by the task. The second was the importance of sound subject knowledge in being able to ask questions of the children that were not misleading or difficult to answer. The third theme encompassed the difficulties associated with engaging young children in meaningful conversations. As a result of this analysis, the assignment task was modified to enable student teachers to work in more pedagogically appropriate and authentic ways.     

The Correspondence of Charles Darwin as a Tool for Reflecting on Nature of Science

Science & Education - This study took place in an introductory science inquiry course for preservice elementary school teachers as a supplement to lessons on critical thinking. The...     

Factors Affecting the Use of MIS as a Tool for Informing and Evaluating Teaching and Learning in Schools

This study looks at the way in which Management Information Systems (MISs) are being used in Primary Schools in Birmingham. Analysis was from data collected through a questionnaire, to a 50% sample of schools in May 1999 and semi structured interviews with a cross section of staff at 20 schools, conducted during the period September 1999 until September 2001. The findings indicate that despite an overwhelming acceptance of the value of such systems, they are generally being used to provide specific statutory returns and administrative type functions. This is as opposed to use as a constant monitoring tool for self-evaluation, performance management, alerting and feedback, which is then used to inform the teaching and learning process. The paper goes on to propose a hypothesis as to why this is occurring and makes suggestions as to how the situation may be remedied. The research and its findings are part of the LEAs continuous evaluation of the use of ICT in its schools and the remedies which follow are part of its planning for the future.     

Metaphor as a Tool for Evaluation

This paper analyses the use of metaphor as a tool for evaluation through the case study of a cohort of students on the first year of a Diploma in Social Work/Diploma in Higher Education, a professional social work training programme. It concludes that such a use can generate energy and images containing clear messages which are less constrained than those which arise from some more traditional evaluative techniques. The considerable restraints imposed on the use of metaphor in the case study are evaluated. Several suggestions are made for developing its use into personal and academic assessment and into group and individual supervision.     

Critical Thinking: Art Criticism as a Tool for Analysing and Evaluating Art,Instructional Practice and Social Justice Issues

Recent educational initiatives have emphasised the importance of fostering critical thinking skills in today's students in order to provide strategies for becoming successful problem solvers throughout life. Other scholars advocate the use of critical thinking skills on the grounds that such tools can be used effectively when considering social justice issues. In this article we make the case that the teaching and learning strategies of analytic art criticism can serve as fundamental tools used not just for the study of art but can also centre critical thinking and analysis in all aspects of the art education curriculum. Our argument begins with a review of literature on the use of art criticism for critical thinking and meaning making. Then we describe our efforts to address critical thinking with our students by using the critical analysis model of art criticism and applying it to learning environments for forming reasoned judgments about teaching and learning, and also as springboard for examining social justice issues. We believe that promoting this form of affectively driven, intellectually guided critical thinking makes our students potentially more successful not just in their encounters with art and education, but also in their lives as human beings beyond school.     

Evaluating the Usability of a Professional Modeling Tool Repurposed for Middle School Learning

This paper reports the results of a three-stage usability test of a modeling tool designed to support learners’ deep understanding of the impacts of climate change on ecosystems. The design process involved repurposing an existing modeling technology used by professional scientists into a learning tool specifically designed for middle school students. To evaluate usability, we analyzed students’ task performance and task completion time as they worked on an activity with the repurposed modeling technology. In stage 1, we conducted remote testing of an early modeling prototype with urban middle school students (n = 84). In stages 2 and 3, we used screencasting software to record students’ mouse and keyboard movements during collaborative think-alouds (n = 22) and conducted a qualitative analysis of their peer discussions. Taken together, the study findings revealed two kinds of usability issues that interfered with students’ productive use of the tool: issues related to the use of data and information, and issues related to the use of the modeling technology. The study findings resulted in design improvements that led to stronger usability outcomes and higher task performance among students. In this paper, we describe our methods for usability testing, our research findings, and our design solutions for supporting students’ use of the modeling technology and use of data. The paper concludes with implications for the design and study of modeling technologies for science learning.     

The Pedometer as a Tool to Enrich Science Learning in a Public Health Context

The United States is experiencing an obesity epidemic: A science-technology-society public health issue tied to our built environment, which is characterized by heavy dependence on automobiles and reduced opportunities to walk and bicycle for transportation. This presents an informal science education opportunity within “science in personal and social perspectives' to use pedometer technology for enhancing students' understandings about human energy balance. An exploratory study was conducted with 29 teachers to investigate how pedometers could be used for providing academic enrichment to secondary students participating in after-school Health Sciences and Technology Academy clubs. Frequency analysis revealed that the pedometer activities often investigated kilocalorie expenditure and/or incorporated hypothesis testing/experimenting. Teachers' perspectives on learning outcomes most frequently conveyed that students increased their awareness of the importance of health habits relative to kilocalorie intake and expenditure. Pedometers have considerable merit for the regular science curriculum as they allow for numerous mathematics applications and inquiry learning and target concepts such as energy and equilibrium that cut across the National Science Education Standards. Pedometers and associated resources on human energy balance are important tools that science teachers can employ in helping schools respond to the national call to prevent childhood obesity.     

Inquiry-Events as a Tool for Changing Science Teaching Efficacy Belief of Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers

Researchers agree that science education should begin at childhood, due to its contribution to later cognitive skill development. However, in most cases only a small portion of kindergarten and elementary school activities is related to science. Given the tremendous impact teachers have on children and on the success or failure of their curriculum, teachers' efficacy belief toward science teaching (TEBTST) should be of significant concern. It is suggested herein that in order to improve TEBTST, the science curriculum should be developed not only from the perspective of the child's needs, but will explicitly consider the teachers' needs as well. Such an approach is described in this study, and is labeled as the Inquiry Events (IE) teaching method. This method involves relating to an open-ended problem situated in real life, that encourages investigation of a variety of issues—ethical, economic, scientific, etc.—which both kindergarten and elementary school teachers are accustomed to considering. The method encourages teachers to relate to these daily situations by introducing scientific questions, which they would ordinarily ignore or omit. Using the STEBI (Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument) questionnaire before and after a 4-day workshop introducing the IE method, it was found that IE improved TEBTST and increased their confidence in teaching science.     

Classroom Discourse as a Tool to Enhance Formative Assessment and Practise in Science

This study details an innovative approach to coordinating and enhancing multiple levels of assessment and discursive feedback around an existing multi‐media curricular environment called Astronomy Village^®. As part of a broader design‐based research programme, the study analysed small group interactions in feedback activities across two design cycles. The goal of this analysis is to develop an understanding of the ways that a situative approach to assessment and practise supports learning. Findings demonstrate ways that student and teacher engagement in collaborative activities support and constrain meaningful understanding, which we consider in terms of a trajectory of participation in and across conversations and written assessments, as well as individual learning gains on formal classroom examinations and standards‐oriented external tests. Analyses of complementary formulations of domain concepts—discourse practises and assessment performance—suggest that participation in social forms of scientific engagement supports both learning and subsequent performance in more formal contexts. We suggest design principles for integrating the formative functions of discursive feedback with the summative functions of traditional assessment, through participation in different forms of science discourse(s).     

'Bully Dance': Animation as a Tool for Conflict Resolution

This paper presents the outcomes of a 4-hour activity day centred upon a short film entitled Bully Dance , a non-verbal animation featuring a unique soundtrack that focuses on identifying bullying behaviours and coping strategies, and understanding the role of the bystander. Participants were 34 year 6 children, aged 10/11 years old, from one primary school in a London Local Education Authority. The activity day consisted of an initial brainstorming session, with the whole class, entitled 'what is bullying?' followed by a viewing of the film. In groups of five or six, subsequent structured activities (brainstorming, poster making, letter writing, role-play, worksheets) were facilitated with the aim of stimulating discussion. Using the Children's Attitudes to Bullying scale, data were collected both before and after the activity day. Overall, the results suggested that children mostly expressed anti-bullying attitudes about bullying in schools; however, a minority reported pro-bullying attitudes. Anti-bullying attitudes did not significantly increase and, in the case of males, anti-bullying attitudes actually decreased. Females expressed higher anti-bullying attitudes than males, both before and after the activity day. The authors suggest that participating in the activity day may have had an impact upon knowledge and understanding of bullying, rather than attitudes as such. Furthermore, the results indicate that further consideration of the design and delivery of structured activities is required so that boys can be reached as effectively as girls can.