A Student-centred Approach: Assessing the Changes in Prospective Science Teachers’ Conceptual Understanding by Concept Mapping in a General Chemistry Laboratory

Although researchers in higher education propose alternatives to traditional approaches to assessment, traditional methods are commonly used in college or university science courses. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility and validity of Prospective Science Teachers’ (PSTs) concept maps as authentic assessment tools in a student-centred approach to describe the changes in the conceptual understanding of the PSTs in general chemistry laboratory investigations. After the PSTs (n = 47) decided on important issues, such as who would assess their concept maps and what scoring strategy and criteria would be used, they practiced assessing their own and peers’ concept maps during the first five laboratory investigations. They subsequently constructed and assessed pre- and post-laboratory concept maps in a student-centred approach consisting of self, peer, and instructor assessments for the five remaining laboratory investigations. The results of the study showed using pre- and post-laboratory concept maps as authentic assessment tools in a student-centred approach was valid and reliable for describing the conceptual understanding of the PSTs in a university general chemistry laboratory course. The results of individual interviews indicated most PSTs had positive views of their assessment practices in the laboratory course. This study also provides pedagogical implications for the training of science teachers.     

The Nature of Pre-service Science Teachers’ Argumentation in Inquiry-oriented Laboratory Context

The aim of this study was to investigate the kinds of argumentation schemes generated by pre-service elementary science teachers (PSTs) as they perform inquiry-oriented laboratory tasks, and to explore how argumentation schemes vary by task as well as by experimentation and discussion sessions. The model of argumentative and scienti?c inquiry was used as a design framework in the present study. According to the model, the inquiry of scientific topics was employed by groups of participants through experimentation and critical discussion sessions. The participants of the study were 35 PSTs, who teach middle school science to sixth through eighth grade students after graduation. The data were collected through video- and audio-recordings of the discussions made by PSTs in six inquiry-oriented laboratory sessions. For the analysis of data, pre-determined argumentation schemes by Walton were employed. The results illustrated that PSTs applied varied premises rather than only observations or reliable sources to ground their claims or to argue for a case or an action. It is also worthy of notice that the construction and evaluation of scientific knowledge claims resulted in different numbers and kinds of arguments. Results of this study suggest that designing inquiry-oriented laboratory environments, which are enriched with critical discussion, provides discourse opportunities that can support argumentation. Moreover, PSTs can be encouraged to support and promote argumentation in their future science classrooms if they engage in argumentation integrated instructional strategies.     

Exploring the Development of Preservice Science Teachers’ Views on the Nature of Science in Inquiry-Based Laboratory Instruction

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of the inquiry-based and explicit–reflective laboratory instruction on preservice science teachers’ (PSTs) conceptions of the nature of science (NOS) aspects. This study was carried out during the Laboratory Application in Science II course. All 52 preservice elementary science teachers enrolled in the course consented to participate in the study; 37 were female and 15 were male, with a mean age of 22.8 years. All had the same science major background, and all of them were juniors. The course provided meaningful and practical inquiry-based experiences, as well as explicit and reflective instruction about NOS. Each week, a specific NOS aspect was targeted related to the inquiry-based laboratory investigation. The design of the study was qualitative and exploratory in nature. At the beginning of the study, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire Version B open-ended questionnaire was applied to explore PSTs’ NOS views. At the end of the semester, the same questionnaire was conducted to determine the impact of the explicit–reflective and inquiry-based laboratory instruction. The results showed that many PSTs improved their views of NOS in each element, although to different degrees.     

Investigating Pre-service Science Teachers’ Developing Professional Knowledge Through the Lens of Differentiated Instruction

In this study, the author implemented a problem-based learning (PBL) experience that allowed students in an advanced science methodology course to explore differentiated instruction. Through working systematically in small, collaborative groups, students explored the nature of differentiated instruction. The objective of the study was to examine pre-service teachers’ developing conceptions of differentiated instruction (DI) as a way to teach for diversity. The author adopted action research as a strategy to explore students’ perceptions of DI in the context of science teaching and learning. Several data collection methods and sources were adopted in the study, including student-generated products, student interviews, classroom observation, and journal writing. Outcomes report on students’ perceptions of both the potential and challenges associated with adopting a DI approach to science teaching and learning.     

The Collaboration of Cooperative Learning and Conceptual Change: Enhancing the Students’ Understanding of Chemical Bonding Concepts

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction on ninth-grade students’ understanding in chemical bonding concepts compared to traditional instruction. Seventy-two ninth-grade students from two intact chemistry classes taught by the same teacher in a public high school participated in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as the experimental and control group. The control group (N?=?35) was taught by traditional instruction while the experimental group (N?=?37) was taught cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction. Chemical Bonding Concept Test (CBCT) was used as pre- and post-test to define students’ understanding of chemical bonding concepts. After treatment, students’ interviews were conducted to observe more information about their responses. Moreover, students from experimental groups were interviewed to obtain information about students’ perceptions on cooperative work experiences. The results from ANCOVA showed that cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction led to better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding concepts than traditional instruction. Interview results demonstrated that the students in the experimental group had better understanding and fewer misconceptions in chemical bonding concepts than those in the control group. Moreover, interviews about treatment indicated that this treatment helped students’ learning and increased their learning motivation and their social skills.     

Effectiveness of Conceptual Change Text-oriented Instruction on Students’ Understanding of Energy in Chemical Reactions

The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of conceptual change text instruction (CCT) in the context of energy in chemical reactions. The subjects of the study were 60, 10th grade students at a high school, who were in two different classes and taught by the same teacher. One of the classes was randomly selected as the experimental group in which CCT instruction was applied, and the other as the control group in which traditional teaching method was used. The data were obtained through the use of Energy Concept Test (ECT), the Attitude Scale towards Chemistry (ASC) and Science Process Skill Test (SPST). In order to find out the effect of the conceptual change text on students’ learning of energy concept, independent sample t-tests, ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) and ANOVA (analysis of variance) were used. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant mean difference between the experimental and control group in terms of students’ ECT total mean scores; however, there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of students’ attitude towards chemistry. These findings suggest that conceptual change text instruction enhances the understanding and achievement.     

Enhancing Pre-service Teachers’ Professional Practice Through Reflection on the Action of Others: The Development of the Heterospective Reflection Framework Informed by Virtual Field Experiences

Abstract

In this study, a grounded theory approach was adopted to develop the heterospective reflection framework as an explanatory and analytical schema for the investigation of reflection on the action of others via video observations. Borrowed from the arts, the term heterospective denotes “otherness.” Data collection was conducted over four years through semi-structured interviews with 25 pre-service teachers at a higher education institution in midwestern United States. The data analysis generated the framework’s mechanism, comprising the core elements termed guided observation, retrospective reflection, integrative reflection and introspective reflection, and its mediating devices consisting of the action of others and the reframing of teaching practice. Findings suggest that the framework’s reflective modes function in nonhierarchical interactions, as cognitive-metacognitive shifts occur bi- or multi-directionally on a horizontal plane rather than sequentially on a vertical plane as pre-service teachers reflect on the action of others. Implications for research and practice include enhancements to teacher preparation programs and the development of instruments to evaluate reflective practice.     

The Influence of Teachers’ Efficacy and Beliefs Regarding Mathematics Instruction in the Early Childhood Classroom

This was a correlational study conducted with a population of prekindergarten educators from a large, metropolitan school district. The purpose was to examine if there were relationships between and among early childhood teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, their beliefs about the importance of mathematics, and their mathematics instructional practices. Examining teachers’ efficacy and beliefs can inform educational practice and help to differentiate between more and less successful instructional practices when teaching mathematics in the early childhood classroom. Data were collected on teacher efficacy and teacher beliefs about the importance of mathematics with two self-report questionnaires. The hypothesis that the teachers higher in efficacy will rate the importance of mathematics higher on the teacher-belief scale than the teachers with lower efficacy was found to be true with this sample, but the correlation was weak. The level of efficacy of the early childhood teachers in this sample confirmed that in assessing their capabilities, they rate themselves high in instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. The early childhood teachers did not rate their belief in mathematics as high as their efficacy. Observations of mathematics instructional practices were conducted with twenty teachers. It was hypothesized that the combination of high teacher efficacy and high teacher mathematics beliefs would show alignment with the presence of standards-based mathematics instructional practices. The results were not statistically significant. No correlation signals a need for more research to explore what other personal or external factors relate to mathematics instructional practices in the early childhood classroom. The research may inform pre kindergarten teachers and teacher educators about effective instructional strategies and knowledge needed to launch early childhood students on a developmentally appropriate pathway to mathematical literacy.     

Constraints on Conceptual Change: How Elementary Teachers’ Attitudes and Understanding of Conceptual Change Relate to Changes in Students’ Conceptions

Like their students, teachers may hold a variety of naïve conceptions that have been hypothesized to limit their ability to support students’ learning. This study examines whether changes in elementary students’ conceptions are related to their teachers’ content knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of conceptual change. The study takes place in the context of the adoption of a new unit on seasonal change in which students build and use sundials to observe seasonal differences in the apparent motion of the Sun across the sky. A mixed-method approach is used. Data sources include pre- and post-tests for students and teacher interviews and questionnaires. Results indicate that changes in students’ conceptions may be related to their teachers’ knowledge of the content, attitudes toward science, and understanding of conceptual change. One teacher had low attitude toward science and limited knowledge of conceptual change. After instruction, her students’ responses became less accurate but more homogeneous than before instruction. The other teacher had high attitude and moderate knowledge of conceptual change. Her students showed gains from pre- to post-test, including responses that were more scientifically accurate than the teachers’ initial answers.     

Primary School Student Teachers’ Understanding of Climate Change: Comparing the Results Given by Concept Maps and Communication Analysis

Climate change is a complex environmental problem that can be used to examine students’ understanding, gained through classroom communication, of climate change and its interactions. The present study examines a series of four science sessions given to a group of primary school student teachers (n?=?20). This includes analysis of the communication styles used and the students’ pre- and post-conceptualisation of climate change based on results obtained via essay writing and drawings. The essays and drawings concerned the students’ unprompted pre- and post-conceptions about climate change, collected before and after each of the four inquiry-based science sessions (in physics, chemistry, biology and geography). Concept mapping was used in the analysis of the students’ responses. The communication used in the four sessions was analysed with a communicative approach in order to find out the discussion about climate change between teacher and students. The analyses indicated that the students did not have the knowledge or the courage to participate in discussion, but post-conceptualisation map showed that students’ thinking had become more coherent after the four sessions. Given the results of the present study, proposals for using concepts maps and/or communication analysis in studying students’ conceptions are presented.     

Improving Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science Through an Analysis of the Historical Case of Rosalind Franklin and the Structure of DNA

Research in Science Education - This qualitative study analyses how effective an activity based on the critical and reflexive reading of the historical case of Rosalind Franklin and the elucidation...     

The Problematic Nature of the Practicum: A Key Determinant of Pre-service Teachers’ Emerging Inquiry-Based Science Practices

This article disseminates findings from a multi-year study regarding secondary preservice science teachers’ perceptions toward inquiry-based science teaching, and the extent these perceptions are augmented by their practicum. While findings indicated that preservice teachers did improve their understanding and capability of using scientific inquiry due to their methods course, the role of practicum in supporting their newly developed perceptions was problematic. Issues ranging from associate teacher subjugation, availability of resources, time constraints, and the need to address curriculum standards were the most commonly cited reasons for preservice teachers’ difficulty in creating an inquiry-based environment during their practicum. Implications are presented highlighting the importance of practicum experiences as a key determinant of pre-service science teachers’ emerging inquiry-based science views and practices.     

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Development and Use of Multiple Levels of Representation and Written Arguments in General Chemistry Laboratory Courses

Research in Science Education - The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs) development of multiple levels of representation and written arguments using an...     

Upper Secondary Students’ Understanding of the Use of Multiple Models in Biology Textbooks—The Importance of Conceptual Variation and Incommensurability

In this study we investigate students’ ability to discern conceptual variation and the use of multiple models in genetics when reading content-specific excerpts from biology textbooks. Using the history and philosophy of science as our reference, we were able to develop a research instrument allowing students themselves to investigate the occurrence of multiple models and conceptual variation in Swedish upper secondary textbooks. Two excerpts using different models of gene function were selected from authentic textbooks. Students were given the same questionnaire-instrument after reading the two texts, and the results were compared. In this way the students themselves made a classification of the texts which could then be compared with the researchers’ classification of the texts. Forty-one upper secondary students aged 18–19 participated in the study. Nine of the students also participated in semi-structured interviews. Students recognized the existence of multiple models in a general way, but had difficulty discerning the different models and the conceptual variation that occurs between them in the texts. Further they did not recognize the occurrence of incommensurability between multiple models. Students had difficulty in transforming their general knowledge of multiple models into an understanding of content specific models of gene function in the textbooks. These findings may have implications for students’ understanding of conceptual knowledge because research has established textbooks as one of the most influential aspects in the planning and execution of biology lessons, and teachers commonly assign reading passages to their students without further explanation.     

Effect of the 5E Model on Prospective Teachers’ Conceptual Understanding of Diffusion and Osmosis: A Mixed Method Approach

The aim of this study was to explore a group of prospective primary teachers’ conceptual understanding of diffusion and osmosis as they implemented a 5E constructivist model and related materials in a science methods course. Fifty prospective primary teachers’ ideas were elicited using a pre- and post-test and delayed post-test survey consisting of ten two-tier questions of which an explanatory part was integral. Individual interviews were conducted with six prospective teachers at the end of the implementation of the unit using four questions. Test scores were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Post-instructional interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA of student test scores pointed to statistically significant differences between pre- and post- and delayed post-test (p < 0.05). A qualitative analysis of the prospective teachers’ explanations in the two-tier questions revealed changes in their ideas overtime. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that the teaching activities promoted students’ conceptual understanding. No statistically significant differences were found between post-test and delayed post-test scores, suggesting that the teaching activities based on 5E model enabled students to retain their new conceptual understanding.     

Of Course Scientists Haven’t Seen Dinosaurs on the Beach: Turkish Kindergartners’ Developing Understanding of the Nature of Science Through Explicit–Reflective Instruction

Although the importance of nature of science (NOS) instruction for learners as young as kindergartners is emphasised in a great number of documents and studies, very little research has been conducted in early childhood contexts. Thus, researchers are still not able to see a comprehensive picture of young children’s understandings of NOS. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate kindergartners’ developmental ability to comprehend tenets of NOS. Using an explicit–reflective approach and activities designed to develop their understandings of NOS, we instructed eight kindergartners for 10 days over the course of a month to document changes in their thinking. To this end, they were interviewed individually using Young Children’s Views of Science before and after instruction. The results indicate that generally, the kindergartners had an inadequate understanding of NOS before instruction but had developed it by the end of instruction. Each child’s understanding of the individual aspects of NOS developed to different degrees, creative NOS improving most substantially. This study corroborates that kindergartners are not developmentally constrained to develop informed NOS understandings. On the contrary, they are able to develop an informed understanding of NOS that can be improved by the implementation of explicit–reflective instruction.     

The Democratization of Schools and the Politics of Teachers’ Work in South Africa

As the South African state begins to democratize, so questions are raised about how this process might be mediated by schools and teachers or how schools’ and teachers’ practices might inform the wider process of social change. This paper explores these issues through an examination of how teachers sought to alter relations of authority and the nature of their work within schools, and how these have interacted with new managerial and state initiatives. It examines the conditions of teachers’ work under apartheid, the challenge to these by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and the struggles in schools over changing relations of authority and teachers’ work in the crucial transition years of 1990‐1997. It argues that alternative conceptions and practices were developed and institutionalized. This paper uses the results of both a 3 year longitudinal study and research conducted on teacher appraisal with the teachers’ union.     

Change or Durability? The Contribution of Metaconceptual Awareness in Preservice Early Childhood Teachers’ Learning of Science Concepts

This longitudinal study examined the role of metaconceptual awareness in the change and the durability of preservice teachers’ conceptual understandings over the course of several months. Sixteen preservice early childhood teachers participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to reveal the participants’ conceptual understandings of lunar phases (pre, post, and delayed-post) and level of metaconceptual awareness (delayed-post only). Based on the change and stability in participants’ conceptual understandings from pre to post and from post to delayed-post interviews, participants’ conceptual understandings were assigned into three groups that described the profile of their long-term conceptual understandings: “decay or stability”, “continuous growth”, and “growth and stability”. The results indicated that participants in the “continuous growth” and “growth and stability” groups had significantly higher metaconceptual awareness scores than participants in the “decay or stability” group. The results provided evidence that metaconceptual awareness plays a more decisive role in the restructuring of conceptual understandings than the durability of conceptual understandings.     

The Experiment ‘Treatment of Telecommunications in the Course of Information and Communication Technology Education’

Abstract

The article looks at work being done in Lower Saxony in which telecommunications are employed to enhance the teaching of various subjects. Not only does this help with the subjects, but it has led to a deeper understanding of telecommunications media.