Using the Internet to Enhance Student Understanding of Science: The Knowledge Integration Environment

We have developed the Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE) to promote lifelong learning. We believe that science courses can promote lifelong learning by offering students science models that apply to problems they encounter in their everyday lives and by engaging students in personally relevant science projects where they connect science models to typical science resources such as those found on the Internet. Our instructional framework, Scaffolded Knowledge Integration (SKI), guides the design of the Knowledge Integration Environment. In this paper we describe the Knowledge Integration Environment and report results of “design experiments” carried out to guide improvement of Knowledge Integration Environment instruction as well as to help us improve our understanding of lifelong learning.     

Using the Science Writing Heuristic Approach to Enhance Student Understanding in Chemical Change and Mixture

This study investigated the effect of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach on grade 9 students’ understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts. Four intact classes taught by two chemistry teachers from a Turkish public high school were selected for the study; one class was assigned as the treatment group, and the other class was assigned as the comparison group. Students in the treatment group were instructed by the SWH approach, while those in the comparison group were instructed with traditionally designed chemistry instruction. Tests measuring students’ conceptual understanding in the units of chemical change and mixture were administered as pre- and posttest for both groups. At the end of the instruction, semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 students from the treatment group and eight students from the comparison group. ANCOVA results revealed that the SWH approach was superior to the traditional approach on students’ understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts. Interview results indicated that students in the treatment group demonstrated better scientific understanding of chemical change and mixture concepts compared to those in the comparison group.     

The Impact of Science Fiction Film on Student Understanding of Science

Researchers who have investigated the public understanding of science have argued that fictional cinema and television has proven to be particularly effective at blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. The rationale for this study lies in the notion that to teach science effectively, educators need to understand how popular culture influences their students’ perception and understanding of science. Using naturalistic research methods in a diverse middle school we found that students who watched a popular science fiction film, The Core, had a number of misunderstandings of earth science concepts when compared to students who did not watch the movie. We found that a single viewing of a science fiction film can negatively impact student ideas regarding scientific phenomena. Specifically, we found that the film leveraged the scientific authority of the main character, coupled with scientifically correct explanations of some basic earth science, to create a series of plausible, albeit unscientific, ideas that made sense to students.     

Using an Attribution Support Tool to Enhance the Teacher Efficacy of Student Science Teachers

To increase the teacher efficacy of student teachers, they need positive classroom experiences: mastery experiences. These mastery experiences have to be created by the student teachers themselves. Therefore, student teachers need a tool to better understand problematic teaching experiences and help them create positive classroom experiences. Nine student biology teachers used this attribution support tool when reflecting on multiple lessons taught in classes they considered difficult. They scored their lessons and filled in a teacher efficacy questionnaire after each lesson. The results show that teacher efficacy increased and the number of failures during the lessons decreased; on average, the self-awarded marks per teacher per lesson increased, indicating an increase in mastery experiences. Therefore, the attribution tool seems to be a promising tool for student teachers to enhance their teacher efficacy and to support reflection on problematic teaching experiences.     

Using TED to Enhance Student Autonomous Learning

Based on the literature review about autonomous learning,the study put forward four steps for using TED to enhance student autonomous learning,which are preparation,activity design,presentation and evaluation. By doing so,both teachers and students can achieve their teaching and learning objectives.     

提高学生参与度 增强教学有效性

在思想品德课的教学中,学生的参与是提高课堂教学效果的有效策略,教师可采取多种方式增强学生的参与意识,提高学生学习的积极性,如:通过加强师生交流以建立平等的师生关系;通过适时提出问题、组织实践活动、巧设乐学情境等方式,激发学生的学习兴趣;以及及时反馈、适度评价等方式提高思想品德课的课堂有效性。     

Assessment Practices: Empowering Mathematics and Science Teachers in Rural Secondary Schools to Enhance Student Learning

Aligned with recent changes to syllabuses in Australia is an assessment regime requiring teachers to identify what their students ‘know’ and ‘can do’ in terms of the quality of understanding demonstrated. This paper describes the experiences of 25 secondary science and mathematics teachers in rural schools in New South Wales as they explore the changing nature of assessment and its implications on their classroom practice. To help reconceptualise these changes, teachers were introduced to a cognitive structural model as a theoretical framework. Throughout the 2-year study, teachers attended a series of professional development sessions and received ongoing consultative support. Each session was taped and transcribed while interviews were conducted with each teacher at the end of both years. Analysis of these data using a grounded theory approach identified seven major components of teacher practice impacted by the study. The core component was questioning while the six contributing components were teachers’ pedagogical practices, attention to cognition, teaching strategies, assessment linked to pedagogy, classroom advantages for students, and classroom advantages for teachers. These findings represent a major shift in teachers’ perceptions of assessment from a focus on the accumulation of students’ marks to one of diagnosis as a means of directing teaching to enhance students’ scientific and mathematical understandings.     

Using Learning Style Instruments to Enhance Student Learning

The emergence of numerous learning style models over the past 25 years has brought increasing attention to the idea that students learn in diverse ways and that one approach to teaching does not work for every student or even most students. We have reviewed five learning style instruments (the Kolb Learning Style Indicator, the Gregorc Style Delineator, the Felder–Silverman Index of Learning Styles, the VARK Questionnaire, and the Dunn and Dunn Productivity Environmental Preference Survey) in this article in order to describe the learning style modes or dimensions measured in the instruments; find the common measures and the differences; report on research on instrument validity, reliability, and possible improvement in student performance; suggest classroom activities that work with the different student learning styles; and recommend selection of models under several conditions. We also review one additional learning style instrument, the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, as a complementary approach to using one or more of the first five learning style instruments.     

科学教科书的意识形态

科学教科书的话语结构其实隐喻着“谁的知识最有价值”这一意识形态的问题,只是科学教科书的意识形态功能相对于人文社会科学来讲,更加隐蔽。科学教育作为一种社会事业,其教科书的编制与话语选择必然反映着它所处的社会和时代的主流意识形态。传统科学教科书中宣扬一种个人英雄主义的、实证主义的、归纳主义的、机械还原论的意识,这不利于学生良好科学素养的形成。     

如何提高大学生对《包装工艺学》课程知识的理解与应用技能

为提高北京农学院包装工程学科的教育教学水平,更好地为包装行业输送综合应用型技术人才,结合《包装工艺学》实践教学中存在的问题,本文将从教学内容,教学方法和教学实践三个方面开展《包装工艺学》课程改革与实践,以期提高《包装工艺学》课程的教学水平,为以后从事包装行业的学生们做好理论铺垫和经验积累。     

Nature of Science in School Science Textbooks

Science & Education -     

Effects of Historical Story Telling on Student Understanding of Nature of Science

Science & Education - Concepts related to the nature of science (NOS) have been considered an important part of scientific literacy as reflected in its inclusion in curriculum documents. A...     

Science Education in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Putting Forward a Case to Enhance Student Teachers' Confidence and Competence

New Zealand is moving towards increased qualification requirements for early childhood educators. There is an underlying assumption that there is a correlation between quality early childhood education, teacher qualifications and quality practices in teaching and learning. Two fields of literature, early childhood pedagogy and science specific pedagogy, are reviewed briefly to provide a framework with which to consider why student teachers' attitudes, misunderstandings and misconceptions in science can limit their ability and willingness to create quality teaching and learning opportunities. The study reported in this paper highlights, in general, that early childhood student teachers' subject knowledge in science was poor. It also emerged that the student teachers were unaware of how little they knew and how this might affect their ability to provide appropriate science experiences for young children.     

Using Pictures to Enhance Students' Understanding of Bayes' Theorem

Students often have difficulty understanding algebraic proofs of statistics theorems. However, it sometimes is possible to prove statistical theorems with pictures in which case students can gain understanding more easily. I provide examples for two versions of Bayes' theorem.     

谈如何加强高职学生群体凝聚力的建设

在高职教育中,学生群体的凝聚力对学生人格的健康发展起着不可估量的作用,因此加强学生群体凝聚力的建设势在必行。为此,应从以下几个方面去加强建设:利用学生入学阶段开展思想教育,加强信息沟通与交流,创建高职教育特有的文化氛围,重视必要的教育形式,努力使目标平衡,提高教育质量。     

尊重学生 理解学生

本文讨论了平等对待学生、理解学生对于教育的重要性。通过对学生人格、独立意识、诚信的尊重以及理解学生等的论述,指出:教师对学生的尊重理解是自身获得尊敬和理解的前提,也是取得教育成功的关键。     

Using Quality Management Tools to Enhance Feedback from Student Evaluations

Statistical tools found in the service quality assessment literature—the T² statistic combined with factor analysis—can enhance the feedback instructors receive from student ratings. T² examines variability across multiple sets of ratings to isolate individual respondents with aberrant response patterns (i.e., outliers). Analyzing student responses that are outside the “normal” range of responses can identify aspects of the course that cause pockets of students to be dissatisfied. This fresh insight into sources of student dissatisfaction is particularly valuable for instructors willing to make tactical classroom changes that accommodate individual students rather than the traditional approach of using student ratings to develop systemwide changes in course delivery. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the recommended procedure minimizes data overload, allows for valid schoolwide and longitudinal comparisons of correlated survey responses, and helps instructors identify priority areas for instructional improvement.