Application of cluster analysis to the study of piagetian stages of intellectual development

The purpose of this study was to reexamine Piagetian stages by way of the application of cluster analysis and to seek information concerning the occurrence of stages and the influence of different tasks and gender on cluster patterns. Six Piagetian tasks were administered to 182 males and 176 females ages 9 through 18 years old. Analysis and interpretation of the data suggested the following conclusions: (1) Piagetian stages exist as a general sequence through which intellectual development progresses; however, the males in the study conformed more to Piagetian stages than did the females; (2) deviation from Piagetian stages was influenced by gender and the type of task; (3) lack of synchronization of substages across several tasks suggested that Piagetian tasks were more situation-specific than indicated by Piaget, and it also helped to explain why strong, correlations among tasks at a given level have been difficult to obtain; (4) for the males, the greatest discontinuity occurred between substages IIIA and IIIB, not between IIB and IIIA as stated by Piaget; and (5) the group of 13-year-old females tended to cluster with the 17- and 18-year-old female groups, but it was not known why.     

Epistemological understanding and the development of intellectual values

We propose a concept of intellectual values as (a) shared within a group and defined by the extent to which intellectual engagement is regarded as worthwhile to the group's interests, (b) supported by an epistemological belief system, and (c) an important dimension of sociocultural practice and learning. A series of studies is described in which assessments of intellectual values and epistemological beliefs were found to show similar patterns of variation across cultural and subcultural groups of parents and children. Such groups may play a role in highlighting to their youth the intrinsic value of intellectual engagement (versus its instrumental value in achieving individual recognition and status). Intrinsically valued intellectual engagement, we suggest, provides the firmest basis for sustaining intellectual motivation through adolescence and into adulthood. Developing mature epistemological understanding, moreover, is key to this enterprise.     

Toward the development of a children's science curiosity measure

Based on the need for, suggestions about the construction, and existing measures serving as models found in the literature both inside and outside of science education, the “Children's Science Curiosity Scale” has undergone six versions using four different samples of fifth graders. Respectable internal consistency (alpha) and test-retest reliabilities have been calculated. Concurrent validity has been demonstrated by significant positive correlations with another recognized curiosity measure, and by way of significant differences between students who were interested in science and students uncertain about interest in science. Somewhat weak predictive validity has been decided by way of significant positive correlations with students' semester science grades. Construct validity has been described and established by eight judges using six criteria, and supported through the use of factor analysis where four underlying factors were hypothesized as characteristics of science curiosity. Sex differences were also explored where significant differences were not found between the genders. Suggestions have been made concerning future attempts at instrument refinement, establishing conceptual validity, future research involving other variables, and classroom use in a variety of contexts.     

The development of a questionnaire to measure students' motivation towards science learning

The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that measures students' motivation toward science learning (SMTSL). Six scales were developed: self‐efficacy, active learning strategies, science learning value, performance goal, achievement goal, and learning environment stimulation. In total, 1407 junior high school students from central Taiwan, varying in grades, sex, and achievements, were selected by stratified random sampling to respond to the questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha for the entire questionnaire was 0.89; for each scale, alpha ranged from 0.70 to 0.89. There were significant correlations (p?<?0.01) of the SMTSL questionnaire with students' science attitudes (r?=?0.41), and with the science achievement test in previous and current semesters (r ^p?=?0.40 and r ^c?=?0.41). High motivators and low motivators showed a significant difference (p?<?0.01) on their SMTSL scores. Findings of the study confirmed the validity and reliability of the SMTSL questionnaire. Implications for using the SMTSL questionnaire in research and in class are discussed in the paper.     

Public understanding of science as a separate subject in secondary schools in The Netherlands

This paper describes and analyses an attempt to introduce the public understanding of science as a subject in its own right to be taught to all students in upper secondary education in The Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to make some of the experiences gained in this attempt, especially those related to the development of curriculum content, available to others. As the large-scale implementation of the new subject is still in progress, we focus on the initial stages of the introduction, covering the period 1994-1998. This period includes: (i) the launching of the initiative by a departmental advisory committee; (ii) the subsequent formulation of attainment targets; (iii) a curriculum development project that produced four teaching units tested in classroom experiments and meant as specimens to guide and inspire the authors of schoolbooks; and (iv) the publication of the first schoolbooks on the new subject. We conclude that in spite of its status as a separate subject, the current version of the course does not yet have a clear identity that distinguishes it, in the eyes of students as well as teachers, unmistakably from the traditional science subjects in the school.     

Using action research as a methodological tool: understanding teachers' understanding of science

A series of questions and answers between Jennifer Nias in her role as supervisor and Steve Waters-Adams as student explores the rationale for the inclusion of action research as a methodological tool within a wider PhD study. The study explored the effect of teachers' understanding of the nature of science on their teaching. In discussing the complexities of the research, Steve Waters-Adams suggests that action research provided a powerful means of gaining access to important tacit and dialectical aspects of teachers' practice. The discussion considers the process of action research, particularly with regard to the extent that its form and purpose may be defined, the importance of collaboration and the centrality of personal commitment. Steve Waters-Adams concludes that there is scope for subject-oriented research in education to make more use of action research as a methodological tool, given that the process engages with, and exposes for scrutiny, practitioners' values, aims and motives.     

A piagetian analysis of process skill test items

Test items used to survey the attainment of science process skills in a representative sample of 11 year olds in Britain were analyzed to determine the level of demand, in Piagetian terms, made by each item. It was found that: the level of cognitive demand was a reliable predictor of the limiting difficulty of an item; that the difference between potential difficulty as measured by supposed demand level and the actual difficulty encountered by subjects was revealing of areas in the curriculum where further effort in teacher education and curriculum development would be profitable; and that there was some evidence for an inherent hierarchy of process skills.     

Public understanding of science as basic literacy

Against the background of an increasing drop‐out rate of students with ethnic minority and working‐class backgrounds, the aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which writing practices in Swedish teacher education produce power and include/exclude subjectivities. A conventional academic writing practice will be compared to a hybrid writing practice that has been experimented with for several years at the Stockholm Institute of Education. This hybrid writing practice is characterized by two intertwined features: a divergent complicity that combines diverse subjectivities and multiple theories in a multigenre text; and a convergent and reductive shift that makes academic writing accessible. As the paper will show, a hybrid writing practice can strengthen the inclusion of students with ethnic minority and working‐class backgrounds and, in turn, help them finish their programs. It is, however, not bereft of all exclusionary tendencies.     

Cross-cultural investigation of the development of selected piagetian science concepts,social status,and reading readiness

The development of Piagetian conservation concepts reflects differences in cultural background rather than in race.     

Rethinking science education: Beyond piagetian constructivism toward a sociocultural model of teaching and learning

In the first part of the article I present an epistemological critique of forms of pedagogy founded on Piagetian constructivism. Despite the appeal of the notion that learners construct their understanding, I argue that constructivism is problematic because it ignores the subjectivity of the learner and the socially and historically situated nature of knowing; it denies the essentially collaborative and social nature of meaning making; and it privileges only one form of knowledge, namely, the technical rational. I then present a critique of active learning and student-centered forms of pedagogy. I argue that in our models of teaching we rely on too many unexamined assumptions from developmental psychology and we take for granted the problematic notion that children learn by doing. My central thesis is that constructivism is flawed because of its inability to come to grips with the essential issues of culture, power, and discourse in the classroom. In the concluding section of the article I present a preliminary account of a sociocultural approach to teaching and learning that takes seriously the notion that learning is situated in contexts, that students bring their own subjectivities and cultural perspectives to bear in constructing understanding, that issues of power exist in the classroom that need to be addressed, and that education into scientific ways of knowing requires understanding modes of classroom discourse and enabling students to negotiate these modes effectively so that they may master and critique scientific ways of knowing without, in the process, sacrificing their own personally and culturally constructed ways of knowing.     

The computer as a mediating influence in the development of pupils’ understanding of variable

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Within a Logo environment, pupils routinely use the notion of variable. However, the process by which they come to develop understandings is more...     

Theory of mind development in deaf children: a nonverbal test of false-belief understanding

Our aim in this study was to investigate whether previous findings pointing to a delay in deaf children's theory of mind development are replicated when linguistic demands placed on the deaf child are minimized in a nonverbal version of standard false-belief tasks. Twenty-four prelingually deaf, orally trained children born of hearing parents were tested with both a verbal and a nonverbal version of a false-belief task. Neither the younger (range: 4 years 7 months-6 years 5 months) nor the older (range: 6 years 9 months-11 years 11 months) children of the final sample of 21 children performed above chance in the verbal task. The nonverbal task significantly facilitated performance in children of all ages. Despite this facilitation, we observed a developmental delay: only the older group performed significantly above chance in the nonverbal false-belief task, even though the younger children were at the average age when hearing children normally pass standard false-belief tests. We discuss these findings in light of the hypothesis that language development and conversational competence are crucial to the acquisition of a theory of mind.     

有关普通话水平测试中一乙等级评分的几点感想

教育部颁布了新的<普通话水平测试管理规定>对普通话测试提出了新的要求,针对"一级乙等"测试中存在的问题和现象,笔者提出了粗浅的见解以期和同仁共同探讨.