Sexuality in the Science Classroom: One teacher's methods in a college biology course

One concern when teaching a college biology course is how to deal with sex and sexuality. The 'safe' answer is to reduce the topics to anatomy and hormone cycles. However, 'safe' does not meet the needs of students who are or will be sexually active; nor does it adequately serve those who plan to work in athletic training or the health sciences. This article discusses the author's goals for sexuality education within the science classroom: (1) to create a safe and inclusive environment; (2) to fully teach the anatomy and physiology of the reproductive systems; (3) to help the students develop critical thinking skills; and (4) to help the students become aware of how issues of sexuality relate to their chosen fields. The article goes on to discuss the author's experience of teaching sexuality education within a science classroom.     

Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications

This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students' attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated. Starting from a consideration of what is meant by attitudes to science, it considers the problems inherent to their measurement, what is known about students' attitudes towards science and the many factors of influence such as gender, teachers, curricula, cultural and other variables. The literature itself points to the crucial importance of gender and the quality of teaching. Given the importance of the latter we argue that there is a greater need for research to identify those aspects of science teaching that make school science engaging for pupils. In particular, a growing body of research on motivation offers important pointers to the kind of classroom environment and activities that might raise pupils' interest in studying school science and a focus for future research.     

Teachers' implementation of gender-inclusive instructional strategies in single-sex and mixed-sex science classrooms

Debate continues over the benefits, or otherwise, of single-sex classes in science and mathematics, particularly for the performance of girls. Previous research and analyses of the circumstances surrounding the implementation of single-sex classes warn that the success of the strategy requires due consideration of the nature of the instructional environment for both boys and girls, together with appropriate support for the teachers involved. This article reports the circumstances under which teachers were able to implement gender-inclusive strategies in single-sex science classes in coeducational high schools and documents some of the difficulties faced. The study was part of the Single-Sex Education Pilot Project (SSEPP) in ten high schools in rural and urban Western Australia. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered during the project from teachers, students and classroom observations. Overall, it was apparent that single-sex grouping created environments in which teachers could implement gender-inclusive science instructional strategies more readily and effectively than in mixed-sex settings. Teachers were able to address some of the apparent shortcomings of the students' previous education (specifically, the poor written and oral communication of boys and the limited experience of girls with 'hands-on' activities and open-ended problem solving). Further, in same-sex classrooms, sexual harassment which inhibited girls' learning was eliminated. The extent to which teachers were successful in implementing gender-inclusive instructional strategies, however, depended upon their prior commitment to the SSEPP as a whole, and upon the support or obstacles encountered from a variety of sources, including parents, the community, students, and non-SSEPP teachers.     

Teachers as researchers: Classroom inquiry initiatives at undergraduate and graduate levels in early childhood education

Abstract

This article discusses the importance of including a teacher‐as‐researcher strand in college courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. It describes four competency areas that contribute to the ability to engage in classroom inquiry including frequent and quality clinical experiences, practicing data collection methods of authentic assessment, opportunities to learn reflective practices, and experience using the inquiry cycle. Two undergraduate courses in early childhood education and a masters degree program in teaching & learning provide illustrations for embedding the teacher‐as‐researcher strand into the teacher education program. The article discusses the potential for classroom inquiry to stimulate renewal in university and public school settings. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Discourses about a teacher's self-initiated change in praxis: Storylines of care and support

At the foreground of this article is an account of an experienced science teacher's self-initiated change in praxis within an inquiry community. From classroom observation and interviews, data interpretations are made about the discursive practices of the teacher and his colleagues. In particular, the teacher's change in praxis is attributed to his dissatisfaction with previous practice, realization that alternatives were likely to provide better outcomes for his students, commitment to improving his practice, and a supportive school community in which teachers felt comfortable taking personal risks and engaging in professional discussions. The collaborative culture of the study site was characterized by the teachers' caring ethic for their students.     

Moving Beyond Collaboration: Re-describing research relationships with classroom teachers

Drawing on my own difficult experience as a well-intentioned educational researcher working in collaboration with an elementary school teacher, this article highlights some of the dilemmas and complexities of collaboration with classroom teachers. Specifically, I raise questions about a previously underexplored yet surprisingly powerful factor in collaborative educational research: the language we use to talk about research relationships. I offer an interpretation of a recent 'collaborative' study that positions our difficulties as a conceptual-language problem rooted in our severely limited vocabulary for discussing and understanding research relationships. I conclude the article with a call for the development of a richer, fuller range of terms to describe research currently labeled 'collaborative'.     

Understanding natural sciences education in a Reggio Emilia‐inspired preschool

This ethnographic study explored aspects of how the natural sciences were represented in a Reggio Emilia‐inspired laboratory preschool. The natural sciences as a discipline—a latecomer to preschool curricula—and the internationally known approach, Reggio Emilia, interested educators and researchers, but there was little research about science in a Reggio Emilia classroom. The current research aimed to gain insight into natural science experiences in a Reggio Emilia‐inspired classroom. To gain in‐depth information, this inquiry‐based study adapted a research design with ethnographic data collection techniques (i.e., interview, observation, document/artifact collection, and field‐notes), namely Spradley's Developmental Research Sequence Method, which was a well‐known, pioneer ethnographic method. The data were analyzed from an interpretive perspective using multiple lenses. These lenses included Spradley's DRS for the classroom culture, Corsaro's peer culture theory, the Reggio Emilia approach, and Ohio's Early Learning Content Standards. The study involved 18 preschoolers, 10 teachers, and a program director. The results indicated that the Reggio Emilia‐inspired preschool offered a science‐rich context that triggered and supported preschoolers' inquiries, and effectively engaged preschoolers' hands, heads, and hearts with science. The natural sciences learning in this Reggio Emilia‐inspired preschool classroom met and exceeded some of Ohio's prekindergarten standards. The results suggested that the Reggio pedagogy, grounded in inquiry, is compatible with science education goals. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1186–1208, 2010     

The Python Project: A Unique Model for Extending Research Opportunities to Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate science education curricula are traditionally composed of didactic instruction with a small number of laboratory courses that provide introductory training in research techniques. Research on learning methodologies suggests this model is relatively ineffective, whereas participation in independent research projects promotes enhanced knowledge acquisition and improves retention of students in science. However, availability of faculty mentors and limited departmental budgets prevent the majority of students from participating in research. A need therefore exists for this important component in undergraduate education in both small and large university settings. A course was designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in a research project in a classroom setting. Importantly, the course collaborates with a sponsor''s laboratory, producing a symbiotic relationship between the classroom and the laboratory and an evolving course curriculum. Students conduct a novel gene expression study, with their collective data being relevant to the ongoing research project in the sponsor''s lab. The success of this course was assessed based on the quality of the data produced by the students, student perception data, student learning gains, and on whether the course promoted interest in and preparation for careers in science. In this paper, we describe the strategies and outcomes of this course, which represents a model for efficiently providing research opportunities to undergraduates.     

Coherence,contradiction, and the development of school science identities

This study demonstrates the potential for collaborative research among participants in local settings to effect positive change in urban settings characterized by diversity. It describes an interpretive case study of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse eighth grade science classroom in an urban magnet school in order to explore why some of the students did not achieve at high levels and identify with school science although they were both interested in and knowledgeable about science. The results of this study indicated that structural issues such as the school's selection process, the discourses perpetuated by teachers, administrators, and peers regarding “who belongs” at the school, and negative stereotype threat posed obstacles for students by highlighting rather than mitigating the inequalities in students' educational backgrounds. We explore how a methodology based on the use of cogenerative dialogues provided some guidance to teachers wishing to alter structures in their classrooms to be more conducive to all of their students developing identities associated with school science. Based on the data analysis, we also argue that a perspective on classrooms as communities of practice in which learning is socially situated rather than as forums for competitive displays, and a view of students as valued contributors rather than as recipients of knowledge, could address some of the obstacles. Recommendations include a reduced emphasis on standardized tasks and hierarchies, soliciting unique student contributions, and encouraging learning through peripheral participation, thereby enabling students to earn social capital in the classroom. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1209–1228, 2010     

Children's Reasoning as Collective Social Action through Problem Solving in Grade 2/3 Science Classrooms

Research on young children's reasoning show the complex relationships of knowledge, theories, and evidence in their decision-making and problem solving. Most of the research on children's reasoning skills has been done in individualized and formal research settings, not collective classroom environments where children often engage in learning and reasoning together to solve classroom problems. This study posits children's reasoning as a collective social activity that can occur in science classrooms. The study examined how children process their reasoning within the context of Grade 2/3 science classrooms and how the process of collectivity emerges from classroom interactions and dialogue between children as they attempt to solve their classroom problems. The study findings suggest that children's reasoning involves active evaluation of theories and evidence through collective problem solving, with consensus being developed through dialogical reasoning.     

A survey of the use of newspapers in science instruction by secondary teachers in Northern Ireland

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent and nature of teachers' use of newspapers in the secondary science classroom. A survey was conducted in 50 schools. Through semi-structured interviews with the heads of their science departments, three broad issues were investigated: the prevalence, pattern and purpose of use, classroom practice and curricular priorities. It was found that a great many teachers use newspapers, in some way, to support science instruction. The majority, however, used the resource incidentally rather than systematically. By far their most common intention was to highlight the link between school science and everyday life. Only a few reported that they used newspapers to develop among their students an aptitude and ability to read and respond critically to science in the media. It is suggested that such findings are significant in the context of current discussion of the school curriculum and 'scientific literacy'.     

Technology‐rich inquiry science in urban classrooms: What are the barriers to inquiry pedagogy?*

What are the barriers to technology‐rich inquiry pedagogy in urban science classrooms, and what kinds of programs and support structures allow these barriers to be overcome? Research on the pedagogical practices within urban classrooms suggests that as a result of many constraints, many urban teachers' practices emphasize directive, controlling teaching, that is, the “pedagogy of poverty” (Haberman, 1991 ), rather than the facilitation of students' ownership and control over their learning, as advocated in inquiry science. On balance, research programs that advocate standards‐based or inquiry teaching pedagogies demonstrate strong learning outcomes by urban students. This study tracked classroom research on a technology‐rich inquiry weather program with six urban science teachers. The teachers implemented this program in coordination with a district‐wide middle school science reform. Results indicated that despite many challenges in the first year of implementation, students in all 19 classrooms of this program demonstrated significant content and inquiry gains. In addition, case study data comprised of twice‐weekly classroom observations and interviews with the six teachers suggest support structures that were both conducive and challenging to inquiry pedagogy. Our work has extended previous studies on urban science pedagogy and practices as it has begun to articulate what role the technological component plays either in contributing to the challenges we experienced or in helping urban science classrooms to realize inquiry science and other positive learning values. Although these data outline results after only the first year of systemic reform, we suggest that they begin to build evidence for the role of technology‐rich inquiry programs in combating the pedagogy of poverty in urban science classrooms. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 128‐150, 2002     

Teaching and learning science in linguistically diverse classrooms

In this paper we reflect on the article, Science education in a bilingual class: problematising a translational practice, by Zeynep Ünsal, Britt Jakobson, Bengt-Olav Molander and Per-Olaf Wickman (Cult Stud Sci Educ, doi: 10.1007/s11422-016-9747-3). In their article, the authors present the results of a classroom research project by responding to one main question: How is continuity between everyday language and the language of science construed in a bilingual science classroom where the teacher and the students do not speak the same minority language? Specifically, Ünsal et al. examine how bilingual students construe relations between everyday language and the language of science in a class taught in Swedish, in which all students also spoke Turkish, whereas the teacher also spoke Bosnian, both being minority languages in the context of Swedish schools. In this forum, we briefly discuss why close attention to bilingual dynamics emerging in classrooms such as those highlighted by Ünsal et al. matters for science education. We continue by discussing changing ontologies in relation to linguistic diversity and education more generally. Recent research in bilingual immersion classroom settings in so-called “content” subjects such as Content and Language Integrated Learning, is then introduced, as we believe this research offers some significant insights in terms of how bilingualism contributes to knowledge building in subjects such as science. Finally, we offer some reflections in relation to the classroom interactional competence needed by teachers in linguistically diverse classrooms. In this way, we aim to further the discussion initiated by Ünsal et al. and to offer possible frameworks for future research on bilingualism in science education. In their article, Ünsal et al. conclude the analysis of the classroom data by arguing in favor of a translanguaging pedagogy, an approach to teaching and learning in which students’ whole language repertoires are used as valuable resources for constructing meaning and for developing academic competences in the language of instruction. This is a conclusion that we support wholeheartedly and an educational practice that we hope to promote with this forum discussion.     

A sociocultural perspective on mediated activity in third grade science

This ethnographic study of a third grade classroom examined elementary school science learning as a sociocultural accomplishment. The research focused on how a teacher helped his students acquire psychological tools for learning to think and engage in scientific practices as locally defined. Analyses of classroom discourse examined both how the teacher used mediational strategies to frame disciplinary knowledge in science as well as how students internalized and appropriated ways of knowing in science. The study documented and analyzed how students came to appropriate scientific knowledge as their own in an ongoing manner tied to their identities as student scientists. Implications for sociocultural theory in science education research are discussed. John Reveles is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education Department at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 3 years. His research focuses on the development of scientific literacy in elementary school settings; sociocultural influences on students' academic identity; equity of access issues in science education; qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, he teaches elementary science curriculum methods courses, graduate science education seminars, and graduate research courses. Gregory Kelly is a professor of science education at Penn State University. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1994. His research focuses on classroom discourse, epistemology, and science learning. This work has been supported by grants from Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Education. He teaches courses concerning the uses of history, philosophy, sociology of science in science teaching and teaching and learning science in secondary schools. He is editor of the journal Science Education. Richard Durán is a Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and publications have been in the areas of literacy and assessment of English Language Learners and Latino students. He has also conducted research on after school computer clubs, technology and learning as part of the international UC Links Network. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, he is implementing and investigating community and family-centered intervention programs serving the educational progress of Latino students in the middle and high school grades.     

Planned educational change in Japan: the case of elementary science instruction

Available evidence suggests that Japanese elementary science education has shifted, in recent decades, away from lecture‐style, rote ‘teaching as telling’ toward ‘teaching for understanding’. How has this change been accomplished? Drawing on our ongoing study of innovations in Japanese elementary science instruction, we describe three features of the Japanese system that may facilitate planned change. First, we describe Japan's broad national goals for elementary education and the alignment of textbooks with these goals. We point out that Japan's national goals focus on the whole child (social, ethical and intellectual development), a breadth which, we speculate, may reduce the kind of pendulum swings between goals of academic and social development that have plagued some other countries’ educational policies. In addition, we note that the national goals are abstract and are translated into classroom practice through the collaborative work of teachers. Second, we describe three routes through which the national goals are translated into classroom practice: research lessons, teachers’ research groups, and national elementary schools. Finally, we speculate on some elements of the educational context (for example, collaborative habits and norms, beliefs about the pace and nature of change, and the practice of self‐critical reflection) that may support planned educational change in Japan.     

Challenging accepted wisdom: Looking at the gender and science education question through a different lens

This article reports on a research project designed to explore a group of women scientists' understandings of themselves and science. The project uses an unconventional methodology: - a mixture of conventional qualitative research methods and techniques developed for use in psychotherapy. Its preliminary results appear to contradict some of the assumptions on which much of past work on girls and science education is based. For example, we found that, for the women involved in this project, factors such as the presence in their lives of strong female role models and/or the use of 'girl-friendly' curriculum materials were not important in their decision to continue the study of science to university level. Other factors - some of which were quite unexpected - had a much greater effect. The article outlines the methodology of this project and some of its findings, and explores the implications of these findings for future work on the gender and science education question.     

Young children's emotional practices while engaged in long‐term science investigation

In this article, the role of young children's emotional practices in science learning is described and analyzed. From the standpoint of performativity theory and social‐constructionist theory of emotion, it is argued that emotion is performative and the expression of emotion in the classroom has its basis in social relationships. Arising from these relationships is the emotional culture of the classroom that plays a key role in the development of classroom emotional rules as well as the legitimation of science knowledge. These relationships are reflected in two levels of classroom dialogue: talking about and doing science, and expressing emotions about science and its learning. The dynamics of the negotiations of classroom emotional rules and science knowledge legitimation may dispose students to act positively or negatively toward science learning. This analysis is illustrated in the experiences of a teacher and her students during a 3‐year ethnographic study of emotions in science teaching and learning. This research suggests the importance of the interrelationship between emotions and science learning and the notion that emotional practices can be powerful in nurturing effective and exciting science learning environments. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 693–719, 2004     

Relationships among informal learning environments,teaching procedures and scientific reasoning ability

Informal learning experiences have risen to the forefront of science education as being beneficial to students' learning. However, it is not clear in what ways such experiences may be beneficial to students; nor how informal learning experiences may interface with classroom science instruction. This study aims to acquire a better understanding of these issues by investigating one aspect of science learning, scientific reasoning ability, with respect to the students' informal learning experiences and classroom science instruction. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to investigate possible differences in students' scientific reasoning abilities relative to their informal learning environments (impoverished, enriched), classroom teaching experiences (non-inquiry, inquiry) and the interaction of these variables. The results of two-way ANOVAs indicated that informal learning environments and classroom science teaching procedures showed significant main effects on students' scientific reasoning abilities. Students with enriched informal learning environments had significantly higher scientific reasoning abilities compared to those with impoverished informal learning environments. Likewise, students in inquirybased science classrooms showed higher scientific reasoning abilities compared to those in non-inquiry science classrooms. There were no significant interaction effects. These results indicate the need for increased emphases on both informal learning opportunities and inquiry-based instruction in science.     

Change from Within: an account of school‐based collaborative action research in an English secondary school

Abstract

The paper argues that for change in schools to occur, the active collaboration of significant actors within each institution is essential. Attempts to introduce change are more likely to succeed if they: recognise the interdependence of individual actors and their institutional settings; are conducted in language accessible to the participants; start with the work‐a‐day experiences and perceptions of individual actors, both staff and pupils; address the ‘social’ as well as the ‘material’ realities and barriers within the institution's unique culture. In an English secondary school with a tradition of school‐based in‐service activities, a two‐term collaboration between a Norwegian ethnographic researcher, the school's professional tutor, and a voluntary teacher action research group of staff, used a variety of approaches, to attempt to change classroom practice and perceptions about school ‘realities’. The article describes how the collaboration evolved and the highly personal nature of change from within based on self‐help. It presents an alternative to other attempts to bring about change, which are based on the withdrawal of actors from the setting which they are seeking to change.     

Teacher management behaviors and pupil task involvement during small group laboratory activities

A major concern of many beginning and experienced teachers is that of classroom management and control. This article describes recent research into defining classroom management procedures that are used by high school science teachers and their relationship to pupil ontaskness. The classroom is conceptualized as a manipulable behavioral system. This construct arises directly from Barker's (1968) ecological psychology, the classroom and its occupants being conceptualized as a behavior setting. The behaviors of the teacher and the pupils are an integral part of the unit (behavior setting), which in turn coerces certain behaviors from its participants. Thus settings, and, in particular, subsettings, are seen as more important determiners of social behavior than the personality of individual teacher or pupil. The methodology employed in this research has involved the extensive use of video in naturalistic science classrooms. Tapes of both teacher and pupil behaviors were continuously and independently recorded. Intensive analysis using electronic recording instruments interfaced with the computer has allowed the collection and sophisticated analysis of the observational data. Data relating to teacher management behavior in small group settings have been analyzed and the relationships to pupil task involvement have been explored.