When the black box springs open: practical work in schools and the nature of science

The aim of this paper is not to bury practical work in school science but to (once again) reconsider it. We draw on three main areas of discussion: accounts of science and ‘school science work'; teachers and others’ views of the nature of science; and our own data on teachers’ reactions to ‘critical incidents’ and practicals which go wrong. We use this as a basis for re‐thinking the role of practicals. An account of practical work is suggested which has as its main feature diversity rather than a single model or template. Within this diversity we believe that teachers should be open and honest with pupils about which type of practical work they are doing and why. We advocate that students should be made aware of the different kinds of practical work they do and the purposes of this practical work. In short, teachers should explain to students what type of practical work they are doing and why. Our second message is that teachers’ views about the nature of science both inform and are informed by their classroom practices and experiences‐‐especially during lab‐work. To encourage, promote and support critical reflection of these classroom practices and experiences is therefore a vital part of teacher professional development; this in time will promote science curriculum development.     

Preservice and Inservice Teachers’ Challenges in the Planning of Practical Work in Physics

Practical work in school science plays many essential roles that have been discussed in the literature. However, less attention has been paid to how teachers learn the different roles of practical work and to the kind of challenges they face in their learning during laboratory courses designed for teachers. In the present study we applied the principles of grounded theory to frame a set of factors that seem to set major challenges concerning both successful work in the school physics laboratory and also in the preparation of lessons that exploit practical work. The subject groups of the study were preservice and inservice physics teachers who participated in a school laboratory course. Our results derived from a detailed analysis of tutoring discussions between the instructor and the participants in the course, which revealed that the challenges in practical or laboratory work consisted of the limitations of the laboratory facilities, an insufficient knowledge of physics, problems in understanding instructional approaches, and the general organization of practical work. Based on these findings, we present our recommendations on the preparation of preservice and inservice teachers for the more effective use of practical work in school science and in school physics.     

Science centers and outdoor education centers provide valuable experience for pre-service teachers

Conclusion It is recognised that data from self-reporting and interviews alone cannot be regarded as conclusive, and that the findings have to be treated with some degree of caution. Nevertheless, it appears that the experiences of pre-service teachers led to an increased desire to instruct children in hands-on science. The findings from the science center support the conclusions of Diamond et al (1987) who suggested that relatively short-term programs at science centers, may be successful in stimulating self-confidence, communication abilities and interest in science. The self-reports and the interview data also suggest that it is likely that these gains will transfer to the classroom. It is vital that teacher educators continually make use of new strategies that help trainee teachers to become more competent and enthusiastic teachers of science. This innovation is one example that had significant outcomes for the pre-service teachers involved, and follow-up studies planned for 1994 should indicate if the outcomes were sustained.     

Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us: Egyptian teachers’ views of science education in secondary schools in London,UK

Small differences in working patterns and social relationships can be indicators of deeper cultural differences. It is these non‐educational issues which point to the serious difficulty of making cross‐cultural comparisons. Data collected from Egyptian science teachers who have visited science classes in London are reported here. UK teachers may be habituated, or unaware of features of school life that are quite striking to the Egyptians as new observers. These include well resourced laboratories, considerable practical work done in small groups and a wide variety of classroom activities. However, it is the professionalism and the good interpersonal relationships that they see in the UK that the Egyptian teachers come to appreciate even more on their return to Egypt. Such a feature of UK teachers’ work cannot be identified by international test score comparisons.     

Research interests of secondary science teachers

In the past few years, science educators and the nation at large have become increasingly concerned about the “Crisis in Science Education.” An underlying cause of this crisis is the nonuniform quality of instruction delivered by secondary science teachers. One way to improve the quality of teaching in the schools is the application of science education research findings to teaching. Most teachers are unaware of the research findings and/or do not apply them in their classrooms. This study helps determine the areas of research which are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers. Results will be used by NSTA to determine the contents of future volumes of the monograph What Research Says to the Science Teacher. A random sample of 600 secondary science teachers was obtained from the National Registry of NSTA. Teachers were sent a 23 item questionnaire that asked them to rate their interest in each research topic on a five point scale. The questionnaire contained the 12 items prepared by a NARST-NSTA committee in 1979 and an additional 11 items using the same format. Demographic data collected from the survey included sex, teaching assignment, role in school, type of school, type of community, years of teaching experience, and familiarity with What Research Says. … Data were analyzed using this demographic data as well as according to whether teachers returned the original or a follow-up questionnaire. Teachers who returned the first questionnaire had basically the same preferences as those who returned the follow-up questionnaire. Sixty percent of the teachers completed the questionnaire in usable form. Overall results of the study based on both frequency of response and on mean rating indicate that the following five topics are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers: laboratory experiences, motivational techniques, effect on college courses, problem solving, and meaningful learning. Analysis of data according to the subject taught indicated that chemistry and physics teachers are more interested in problem solving than biology teachers, and that chemistry, physics, and earth science teachers are also interested in the sequence of the content. Males and females had the same top five interests but in a different order. The same is true for teachers of grades 7–9 versus grades 10–12. Rural teachers preferences varied substantially from those in other settings and differences were also found for teachers familiar with What Research Says … compared to the rest of the sample. For every classification of teacher, the area of least interest was sex difference research.     

Teaching beliefs: a comparison between Italian primary and secondary school trainee teachers

This paper presents research which compares the teaching beliefs of primary and secondary school trainee teachers. Participants were 177 trainee teachers, 92 enrolled in a primary school teacher degree course, and 85 enrolled in a postgraduate teacher training course specifically for music teaching at secondary school level (middle and high school). A questionnaire was employed for assessing beliefs. By performing factor analysis, the following four dimensions were extracted: innovative teaching and cooperative learning, teacher-centred approach, learner-centred approach and working collaboratively. Data were subjected to analysis of variance for each factor of the questionnaire. Significant differences between primary and secondary trainee teachers in the way they think about music teaching were found. The relevance of these factors and differences was discussed in considering how to improve the education of teachers.     

Working with schools in identifying and overcoming emotional barriers to learning

This paper reports a case study on working closely with a secondary school, to enhance understanding of disruptive behaviour, through the use of bespoke Continuing Professional Development (CPD) materials. This project evolved from the researchers’ previous research on the extent to which teachers believe disruptive pupils can control their behaviour. A notable finding was the sizeable minority of teachers in both primary and secondary schools who appear to be unaware of the psychological underpinnings of disruptive behaviour. That is, that such behaviour frequently communicates unresolved emotional needs, rather than wilful defiance. The current project aims to develop, implement and evaluate CPD resources developed by the researchers, for a one-day staff training day at a secondary school in north England. Prior to training, school staff completed a questionnaire to “audit” their perceptions of disruptive behaviour in school. Following evaluation, the CPD materials will be made available to other schools. It is anticipated that the materials will enable greater mutual understanding and respect for the ways in which disruptive behaviour is perceived by practitioners and school staff. Moreover, they will provide an urgently needed means of facilitating a shared knowledge base and a shared language for addressing emotional barriers to learning.     

Practical work in schools: An examination of teachers' stated aims and the influence of practical work according to students

In a state-wide questionnaire survey dealing with practical work in school science, science teachers (N = 257) in Tasmanian schools and matriculation colleges were required to respond to a validated list of 10 aims for practical work in order to establish a relative order of importance of aims according to practicing teachers. The aims were then rewritten as possible influences (as perceived by students) and the relative order of importance of influences established for the students (N = 724). The orientation of teachers and students towards the set of aims/influences of practical work were first examined separately and then compared. Teacher's aims are associated with a clear rank ordering of importance which shows little change over the whole grade range. The implications of this educational emphasis is discussed. It is argued that teachers aims are in some respects misguided or misjudged and when viewed against student perceptions there are some major mismatches. The instrument would appear to be a simple and useful way of evaluating the orientation of teachers and students towards the role of practical work in schools and raises many issues about the quality of the enterprise.     

Technology for Girls in Sweden

Sweden is placing much greater emphasis on the technical education and training of young people. Since 1982/83, technology has become a required area of study throughout the compulsory school system. This provides an excellent opportunity for girls to learn much more about science and technology at a young age and to become confident in these fields. However, school teachers of young children themselves lack confidence and expertise in technology and are inclined to approach the teaching of the subject in a diffident, somewhat abstract manner

A range of very practical activities are outlined which can be introduced into the training of compulsory school and indeed nursery school teachers, so that they have a much better approach to the organisation of technology classes. The author has direct experience of all the work she describes and has been very active in developing curriculum content for technology classes at nursery and compulsory school level. She has arranged for a number of her engineering students at LinkÖping Institute of Technology, mainly women, to become involved as instructors of trainee nursery school teachers. Other students have worked on special technology projects with compulsory level school teachers. The women engineering students act as powerful role models for young trainee teachers and for school girls alike

The author stresses that quite simple, often home made and inexpensive materials can be used in imaginative ways to intrigue and involve children and especially girls, in technical activities and studies.     

A Study of Teachers’ Views on Practical Work in Secondary Schools in England and Wales

Many teachers view practical work as an essential feature of science education. This study examined whether there had been any changes in the relative importance of the aims science teachers assign to the use of practical work, across the full secondary age range (11–18), since the last such national survey undertaken by Kerr 46 years ago. A stratified sample of representative schools was used in which 912 teachers were sent a questionnaire on their views towards the use of practical work in science with a total of 393 responses (42.5%) being received. The coefficient of concordance of the various rankings and their significance were calculated, as too were the z‐scores. The findings suggest that whilst there have been substantial changes in teachers’ views about the use of practical work at Key Stages 4 and 5 (age 15–18) there have been no substantial changes at Key Stage 3 (age 11–14). Furthermore, the results are remarkably similar across subject specialism, teacher gender, and years of teaching experience although this paper will only focus on subject specialism. It appears that changes to the assessment criteria, notably the introduction of Science Investigation (Sc1) at Key Stage 4, and a growing desire amongst educational policy‐makers to improve the image of science, have had an effect on how those in the teaching profession perceive the value and aims of practical work particularly at Key Stages 4 and 5.     

Trainee teachers with dyslexia: personal narratives of resilience

This paper tells the stories of two trainee teachers and their personal experiences of dyslexia. Both informants were English and training to be primary school teachers in England. Through drawing on their own experiences of education, the stories illustrate how dyslexia has shaped the self‐concept, self‐esteem and resilience of each informant. The narratives presented in this paper illustrate powerfully the ways in which teachers can have a positive or negative impact on the self‐concepts of students with dyslexia. Both had been inspired by teachers they had met, and these positive role models had given them the confidence to pursue their own ambitions. However, both had encountered teachers who lacked empathy and patience, and these teachers had a detrimental impact on their self‐concepts. For both of these trainee teachers, personal experiences of dyslexia also shaped their professional identities as teachers. Both trainees described themselves as caring and empathic teachers, suggesting that personal experiences of dyslexia had a positive impact on teacher professional identity.     

Do trainee teachers harm pupil attainment? Isolating the effect of pre-service teachers on contemporaneous pupil performance in ‘high-stakes’ tests

The prevalence of ‘pre-service’ or ‘trainee’ teachers in schools is rising in England, driven by the expansion of school-led routes to qualified teacher status and increasing demand for newly qualified teachers. This may have important implications for schools, which have historically been concerned with the impact of trainee teachers on their pupils’ attainment. There are, however, confounding factors which affect both the decision to host a trainee teacher and pupil attainment. We empirically model the impact of trainee teachers on contemporaneous pupil attainment in ‘high-stakes’ exams, exploiting unique data combining national administrative data on pupil test scores with a survey of schools’ involvement with initial teacher training over multiple academic years. We use school fixed effects to account for time-invariant school factors which may determine both schools’ teacher training decisions and pupil attainment. Counter to schools’ concerns, we find that pupil attainment in high-stakes assessments, on average, is not significantly affected by the number of trainee teachers. This is an important empirical finding, as it suggests that the rapid expansion of school-led teacher training is not likely to have a detrimental effect on pupil attainment in England, conditional on the set of schools that choose to engage with initial teacher training remaining similar: trainee teachers may still affect pupil attainment in schools that do not currently participate in initial teacher training, as these schools are typically more constrained.     

Beyond Generic Mentoring: Helping trainee teachers to teach primary science

Support material to assist primary teacher mentors to help trainee teachers improve their medium-term and individual lesson plans, as well as their science lessons, was developed. This support material comprised checklists that focused on science, rather than generic teaching, illustrated by examples of trainee teachers' work, with a commentary. The trial of the material involved 64 teacher mentors and 26 trainee teachers. Trainees' practice in science was found to have improved in subsequent unmentored lessons, but good practice was not transferred to other subjects. Teachers also reported that their own practice improved and indicated that the material would be valuable in science in-service training with their colleagues.     

XHOSA INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE: STAKEHOLDER AWARENESS, VALUE, AND CHOICE

This study investigated a sample of isiXhosa mother tongue-speaking science teachers’, their pupils’, and adult local community members’ awareness of Xhosa indigenous knowledge. It also investigated what aspects of this knowledge they value and think should and could be integrated into the school science curriculum and their reasons for suggesting that it should (or should not) be incorporated. The participating teachers voluntarily completed an open-ended questionnaire. On completion, they were given the task of administering the questionnaire to at least 1 of their pupils and 1 community member who they believed could contribute ideas about indigenous knowledge that might relate to science education. Interviews were held with a small sample of teachers and community members. The data generated suggest that there is a shared awareness of indigenous knowledge across the respondents (teachers, pupils, and community members). The reasons given for including indigenous knowledge in the school curriculum related mainly to the realm of recognition (social justice and cultural sensitivity), and there was also little evidence that the respondents were aware of current understandings underpinning the demarcation of science and indigenous knowledge as disciplines.     

A study of the association of attitudes to the philosophy of science with classroom contexts,academic qualification and professional training,amongst A level biology teachers in Harare,Zimbabwe

The responses from 33 A level biology teachers to a questionnaire were analysed to test for association between attitude to the philosophy of science and academic qualification professional training. The teachers in Harare, Zimbabwe, also self-reported on their school contexts. From the school context data the teachers were clustered to give two different clusters - richer and poorer schools. Teachers in the poorer school context cluster showed statistically significant differences from those in the richer school context cluster in their attitudes to the philosophy of science. Teachers in the richer schools had more relativist and deductivist attitudes while teachers in the poorer context clusters were more positivist and inductivist. Richer schools are able to employ teachers who are academically and professionally better qualified. This evidence suggests the differential distribution of facilities and resources across school contexts reinforces the differential distribution of attitudes to the philosophy of science.     

高职学前教育专业学生顶岗实习刍议

顶岗实习是学前教育专业教学计划的重要组成部分,是学生在完成公共课、专业课以及实训课以后进行的实践性教学环节,是提高学生专业实践技能的重要途径。目前学前教育专业学生顶岗实习主要存在学生实习缺乏时效性、实习指导教师指导工作缺乏指导性、校外实习基地缺乏成效性等问题,高职学前教育专业学生顶岗实习工作。     

Teachers' conceptions of the contemporary goals of science education

This study was initiated to examine what middle and high school science teachers believe should be the goals of science education for the remainder of the 1980s. Participants were given a questionnaire that had at one extreme statements reflecting 1960s goals, and at the other extreme statements corresponding to modern science education goals. Additional information such as year of degree, grade level taught, and attendance at workshops was compiled. The results of this survey indicated a lack of commitment to modern goals from the majority of respondents. However, when only those responses indicating a preferred goals orientation were considered, teachers expressed predilection towards 1980s goals. Furthermore, those teachers who favor 1980s goals felt stronger in their conviction than teachers expressing a 1960s goals preference. A discriminant analysis was employed to study whether or not differences in definitive 1960s or 1980s views were associated with one or more items on the personal data questionnaire. It was found that a combination of teaching middle school grades (6–8) and attending more in-service workshops is moderately associated with an 80s orientation to the goals of science education. The results of the study lead the authors to recommend that a concerted effort be made by professional organizations to convey the importance of contemporary goals to teachers at the high school level. Additionally, an effort should be made to disseminate these goals through local seminars and workshops.     

初等教育教师脑科学素养状况与对策

采用问卷调查的方法,对四川省某三个市区范围内的部分初等教育教师脑科学素养水平进行了调查与分析。结果表明,被调查教师对脑基本结构与功能知识掌握程度不够;对目前脑科学研究所采用的主要技术手段和主要成果了解甚少;对基于脑的教育原理的认识主要受大众传媒的影响;缺乏对基于脑的教学原理运用于教育实践的行为意识和能力水平。最后,针对初等教育教师脑科学素养水平总体比较低下的状况,从以下三方面提出了相应的对策与建议：①重视初等教育教师脑科学素养的职前和在职培训;②采取必要的激励措施,充分调动初等教育教师学习脑科学的积极性;③通过教育理论工作者与初等教育教师的有效沟通,共同探索基于脑的教育研究工作。     

Teachers' concepts in science

Conclusion The basic assumption underlying this study is that science teachers have misconceptions in some selected science concepts. The overall conclusion which can be drawn is that, although the responses were not consistent across the concepts or within the concepts, there are indeed misconceptions. The result is evidence that the graduate trainee teachers have misconceptions in science. The results show that the view of science held by this group of trainee teachers is sometimes little better than the view of science held by students investigated by Osborne et al. The test appears appropriate for use with science teachers. What do these results imply? They suggest that science teachers may have concepts which are little better than the students they teach. If that is the case, then, is it reasonable to urge teachers to probe their students' concepts before teaching them? Should science educators then redirect their efforts in conceptual change to changing teachers' views before changing students' views?     

Independent research projects in school science: case studies of autonomous behaviour

A group of students were interviewed about their experiences in pursuing independent research projects with a view to building up a picture of autonomous student behaviour in the pursuit of expressed interests. In each case the students were led to autonomous behaviour beyond that normally expected in school science. In quite a few cases the independence and commitment shown were remarkable, and matched by a coherent personal philosophy that valued such behaviour. The range of objects and their sources were varied, but school and teachers had surprisingly little impact on either the topics chosen or the progress of the project. Most encouragement and support was found within the home environment. The projects proved in many cases to be major vehicles for knowledge acquisition, and it is argued that the knowledge was gained in a more valid way than is generally the case in school science.