Forwarding a ‘science-ethics nexus’ to critique and reorient science education pedagogy toward greater social and ecological justice

In this paper, I engage with arguments put forth by Blue Mahy in his article “A speculative-posthumanist examination of the ‘science-ethics nexus’ in Australian secondary schools.” Mahy argues that by using relational posthumanist concepts as a diffractive lens, his critiques of Australian school science standards find the underlying hegemonies of masculine, Euro-Western ideologies that infuse the stance on ethics in science education. He uses a ‘plug in process’ of posthumanist concepts to generate a ‘speculative fiction’. This is a method used to reclaim ethics and science by creating narratives produced by the diffracted projections of posthumanist concepts. In my own research on science teacher education, I explore Mahy's use of diffraction for both critiquing science curriculum and providing projections for future ethical commitments in school science education. I utilize data from my science methods course which is situated in Central California’s agricultural region at a largely Hispanic-Serving Institution.

     

Critical Factors in On‐Campus Clinical Experiences: Perceptions of Preservice Teachers

In this paper, I present the findings of a self‐study into my teaching practices as a sociology‐of‐education lecturer working in the pre‐service teacher education programme of a regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The principal data source is a logbook of the teaching practices which characterised several tutorial classes taught in 2007. To understand these practices, the paper draws upon Aristotle's concepts of techne and praxis, and Bourdieu's understanding of practices as socially constructed and contested. The paper situates tensions between more technicist and praxis‐oriented teaching approaches to pre‐service teacher education, within the teacher education and university contexts in which these classes were undertaken. In doing so, the paper reveals tensions between assessment‐driven and more authentic teaching practices, and more student‐ and teacher‐centred teaching practices. The paper also shows how accountability pressures within tertiary settings have led to a more instrumental approach to tertiary teaching. I conclude that there is a need for greater attention to the conditions of work which influence teacher educators' practices, rather than fetishising individualistic instantiations of such practices.     

Teachers’ Concerns about Implementing Teaching/Learning Approaches Informed by Constructivism

Changing emphases in science education during the past decade have placed teaching/learning approaches informed by constructivism on the ascendancy. However, implementing these approaches, which are not the usual classroom practices for many teachers, is likely to create difficulties. In this study, these difficulties were examined in terms of concerns expressed by a group of eight science teachers in one school prior to, and upon completion of, an 18‐month inservice programme specifically aimed at promoting teaching/learning approaches informed by constructivism. Teachers’ initial concerns were related to how the new approaches would affect their own teaching and how they could fulfil their responsibilities for completing the required syllabus. Post‐inservice concerns changed to a focus on how to maximise student involvement in science learning and to the consequences of their teaching. This paper concludes with implications for teacher educators who wish to use teachers’ concerns as indicators of difficulties encountered by teachers implementing new teaching/learning approaches.     

Reflections on being female in school science: Toward a praxis of teaching science

This essay interrogates the phenomenon and the implications of being female in school science through girls' and young women's stories interwoven with my own narrative as a woman teacher/researcher in science education. The intent is to raise awareness of issues related to being female in conventional science teaching, and to suggest some alternative perspectives and approaches for action and reflection. I discuss several directions within my teaching which announce my own interpretation of bell hook's “engaged pedagogy,” which emphasizes a commitment to self-actualization and well-being for both teacher and student. My choice to integrate disparate writing styles (conversational and scholarly) was a deliberate effort to resonate issues between practice and theory and interrupt this separation. J Res Sci Teach 35: 463–471, 1998.     

Shifting Identities: An investigation into student and novice teachers' evolving professional identity

This paper focuses on recent and innovative moves towards flexible learning in initial teacher education programmes in England and Wales, as part of the ‘widening participation’ agenda in higher education and in response to changes in teacher recruitment patterns. We take as our perspective our own experience as two course tutors in a higher education institution that introduced flexible routes into its secondary teacher education programme at the beginning of the academic year 2002/2003. Using the university's model for our case study, we have undertaken a small‐scale research project and reviewed the literature describing flexible learning discourses in higher education, to consider the extent to which concepts of flexibility are being translated into practice. In particular we highlight some implications for pedagogy and practice that have become apparent at this early stage in the development of flexible courses and which will have an impact upon their progress in the future.     

Assisting Performance: A case study from a primary science classroom

The interactions of a primary school teacher with her class during two sessions of science are analysed to find the extent to which the teacher can be considered to be assisting the performance of her class. The qualitative analysis is in terms of both Tharp and Gallimore's six assisting behaviours and Coulthard's 'initiation-response-feedback' pattern for typical classroom discourse. The teaching shows features which suggest children's science concepts are being developed and features which are consistent with assisted performance, though it is not possible to show a causal relationship between these two aspects. It is suggested that there would be potential for exploring assisted performance further as a framework for teaching for conceptual development in primary science.     

Understanding creative cultural divergence: a Bakhtinian reflection from a culture-crossing scholar

I respond to Baron and Chen’s article on creative cultural divergence, which they describe as the novel pedagogy of diverging from culturally generated educational expectations. Their article provides an analysis on how an experienced Taiwanese teacher drew on different forms of creative cultural divergence to facilitate students’ critical thinking and science inquiry. To better understand the phenomenon of creative cultural divergence, I draw on Bakhtin’s concepts of outsideness, novelization, and internally persuasive discourse to analyze how these divergences are produced. These concepts not only help us to understand the phenomenon of creative cultural divergence, they also help me to reflect on my own culture-crossing experience. The implications of these concepts for culture and education are further discussed.     

Gender Politics and Conceptions of the Modern Teacher: Women,identity and professionalism

The main purpose of this paper is to critique the concepts of 'teacher professionalism' and 'professional identity' as they are currently manifest in the field of teaching and teacher education from two related feminist perspectives. In the first instance, feminist critiques of liberal democracy are drawn upon to expose the gendered assumptions which underlie dominant conceptions of the 'professional' teacher. Particular attention is paid to the now dominant view of the teacher as a rational and instrumental actor, and its gendered dimensions are explored. Second, the gender dualisms which reside at the heart of the concept 'teacher professionalism' are identified and discussed. The discussion is then widened to examine the role of gender politics in shaping the epistemological premises upon which teacher professionalism is developed and its more formative role in the exploitation of women teachers' labours. Drawing upon examples of current feminist research and my own preliminary empirical data, the paper concludes by presenting an alternative conceptual framework for assessing the gendered nature of identity formation in teaching.     

Imagination, emotions and scientific thinking: what matters in the being and becoming of a teacher of elementary science?

Christina Siry and Johaira Lara in researching pre-service teachers field based experiences of elementary science education bring to the fore the importance of teacher identity. In this paper, an alterative reading of pre-service teaching experience is given, one that complements the analysis provided by Siry and Lara, but which utilizes the cultural-historical concepts of emotions and imagination and creativity. It is argued that these important concepts give further insights into becoming a teacher of elementary science.     

Articulating the Relationships Between Theory and Practice in Science Teaching: A model for teacher professional development

In-depth analysis of science teachers' idiosyncratic instructional behaviors combined with the notion of deliberated 'teacher reflection' as a means of improving professional teaching practice has become one of the most pervasive concepts to influence science teacher education during the past decade. Sweeney and coworkers have described how the notion of teacher reflection and Lytle and Cochran-Smith's typology of teacher research were utilised to examine the relationships between a beginning high school chemistry teacher's articulated personal practice theories and his actions as demonstrated by his curricular decisions and instructional practices. Using data drawn from the previous study, this report focuses on examining how the methodological approach taken in the investigation (explicit, deliberate articulation and analysis of a teacher's instructional behaviors and rationales within the context of a mentoring relationship) may serve as a useful model for teacher professional development across all areas of instruction.     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science

Pre‐service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre‐service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre‐conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty‐one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience‐based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 497–523, 2008     

How a qualitative approach to concept map analysis can be used to aid learning by illustrating patterns of conceptual development

This paper describes a qualitative approach to analysing students' concept maps. The classification highlights three major patterns which are referred to as 'spoke', 'chain' and 'net' structures. Examples are given from Year 8 science classes. The patterns are interpreted as being indicators of progressive levels of understanding. It is proposed that identification of these differences may help the classroom teacher to focus teaching for more effective learning and may be used as a basis for structuring groups in collaborative settings. This approach to analysing concept maps is of value because it suggests teaching approaches that help students integrate new knowledge and build upon their existing naive concepts. We also refer to the teacher's scheme of work and to the National Curriculum for science in order to consider their influence in the construction of understanding. These ideas have been deliberately offered for early publication to encourage debate and generate feedback. Further work is in progress to better understand how students with different conceptual structures can be most appropriately helped to achieve learning development.     

Speed,education and children as pedestrians: a cognitive change approach to a potentially dangerous naive concept

Previous studies have indicated that children, in the pedestrian accident‐prone age range of 4‐9 years, hold a range of naive concepts of speed, which could be a possible causal factor in determining young children's vulnerability when interacting with traffic. This research reports an attempt to bring about conceptual change in children's concept of speed via the teaching of the science of speed. The course incorporated elements of an integrated educational experience and was specifically designed to involve the minimum of teacher preparation and the maximum of hands‐on experiences. The results indicate that it may indeed be possible to modify naive conceptions via teaching that targets particular concepts.     

Science Education and Health Education: Locating the Connections

Context-based chemistry education aims to improve student interest and motivation in chemistry by connecting canonical chemistry concepts with real-world contexts. Implementation of context-based chemistry programmes began 20 years ago in an attempt to make the learning of chemistry meaningful for students. This paper reviews such programmes through empirical studies on six international courses, ChemCom (USA), Salters (UK), Industrial Science (Israel), Chemie im Kontext (Germany), Chemistry in Practice (The Netherlands) and PLON (The Netherlands). These studies are categorised through emergent characteristics of: relevance, interest/attitudes/motivation and deeper understanding. These characteristics can be found to an extent in a number of other curricular initiatives, such as science-technology-society approaches and problem-based learning or project-based science, the latter of which often incorporates an inquiry-based approach to science education. These initiatives in science education are also considered with a focus on the characteristics of these approaches that are emphasised in context-based education. While such curricular studies provide a starting point for discussing context-based approaches in chemistry, to advance our understanding of how students connect canonical science concepts with the real-world context, a new theoretical framework is required. A dialectical sociocultural framework originating in the work of Vygotsky is used as a referent for analysing the complex human interactions that occur in context-based classrooms, providing teachers with recent information about the pedagogical structures and resources that afford students the agency to learn.     

On the muckiness of science,ethics, and preservice teacher education: contemplating the (im)possibilities of a ‘right’-eous stance

In this article, we wade through the muckiness of ethics in science, teaching, and teacher education, in the form of a generative metalogue. Grounded in Sara’s experience with preservice teachers learning about ethics through a case study of a high school dissection, we contend with what it means to shift away from colonial and masculinist binaries that produce particular moralistic orientations as 'wrong' or 'right.' We contemplate what it means to attempt to teach-think-feel with ethics as 'mucky,' without diminishing attention to relations of power in science and ethics. Through our own thinking–feeling process and grappling with the ways that science and education can be simultaneously oppressive and liberating in an unfinished, complex, and interdependent world (of difference), we propose: Thinking with muckiness is ethical praxis; drawing from our own embodied resources for ethical feelingthinkingdoing is central to this praxis; and (place-conscious) powered relations in science and education must be made explicit.

     

Inferring teacher epistemological framing from local patterns in teacher noticing

In this work we use research from science education on teacher framing and work from mathematics education on teacher noticing to develop new approaches to modeling teacher cognition. The framing literature proposes a dynamic cognitive model of teaching in which teacher epistemological framing, or moment‐to‐moment understanding of what is going on with respect to knowledge and learning in the classroom, drives much of teacher practice. The teacher noticing literature documents patterns and trends in teachers' attention during instruction. We suggest first that noticing patterns, particularly local noticing patterns, can be leveraged to make inferences about teacher framing that maintain sensitivity to its dynamics but are also more reliable than existing analytic approaches. Second, we suggest that understanding noticing as driven by framing requires researchers to anticipate, allow for, and capitalize on the fact that teachers are capable of multiple, internally consistent variations in noticing at any given time. To illustrate these claims we present an analysis of one high school biology teacher who implemented a new digital recording technology in her classroom. Using the data from that implementation we identify two distinct local patterns in the teacher's noticing and from those patterns infer two different epistemological frames, one that she adopts during lab work and another during class discussions. We also discuss implications of these multiple framings for the study and training of teacher noticing more broadly. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:284–314, 2013     

Aesthetic experience in a dynamic cycle: Implications for early childhood teachers and teacher educators

Abstract

This study describes early childhood teachers’ own beliefs and concepts of aesthetic experience in young children. The teachers involved in this study were directly engaged in preschools for 4 and 5 year‐olds where arts and aesthetic education are a primary consideration of their integrated curriculum. These teachers identified a variety of features of aesthetic experience in three dimensions, which develop in a dynamic, non‐linear cycle. This study suggests that early childhood teacher's awareness and knowledge of aesthetic experience is critical to support the high quality of young children's learning through the arts. It concludes with implications for both teacher education programs and early childhood teacher educators. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.     

Are the Notion of Mean and Related Concepts too Difficult for 6th and 7th Grade Biology Students?

Basic statistical concepts are considered to be part and parcel of any modern biological education. Micro‐computer assisted activities may offer new opportunities for the early development of relatively young children's skills and understandings, thus preparing them efficiently for a meaningful secondary school science education. However, the relevant skills and concepts may well be beyond the ken of such children. In this study, we attempted to check the level which could be reached with 6th and 7th grades primary school students (11‐12 years of age), concerning the connected concepts of “mean” and “deviation” from the mean, and some major implications of these concepts. Special learning activities were developed, and an electronic spreadsheet was used as the main tool for the quantitative tasks. A one year period of intensive teacher training preceded the actual experiment. The main results will be delineated, as well as the main responses of the students and of the teachers. Although the schools selected for the experiment (experimental as well as control groups) were located in areas of a relatively high socio‐economic level, there was some heterogeneity in the classes. The results will show that educators are confronted with problems of heterogeneity even in “good” classes, and that finding the appropriate level of intellectual stimulation of different pupils is not an easy task. Some concepts appeared to be at the limit of, or beyond, the abilities of many students, but by no means of all of them.     

Editorial

The aim of this paper is to reflect upon the ways in which 'sex', as an unchanging biological given, is often implicitly taken for granted in tertiary sex education. The paper details my own attempt to move beyond what I have come to experience as the predictable order of teaching students about sex and sexuality: the exploration of sexuality and gender anchored by the unquestioned assumption of biological sexual difference. I provide a practical example of introducing new material ism in science, and social science critiques of sex, into a tertiary level course. Consideration is given to the importance of fostering critical thinking in education: principally in being open-minded to evidence that challenges one's own belief system.