Education Without Failure? Education For All?∗

The terms difficultyand disabilityreflect two major concerns in contemporary education. Can we ensure education without failure? Can education be provided for all? Research conducted with adults who are poor readers suggests that they view themselves as failures when often they were victims of educational practices which treated as misfits all children who experienced difficulties in school. Evidence has accumulated which shows that a flexible education system can accommodate almost all children and that difficulties are symptoms of a mismatch between student needs and educational provision. For many children categorized as disabled, these difficulties could be resolved by modifying their educational program. Where there is true disability, which results from biological impairment, the major aim should be to prevent disability from becoming a handicap. Technological advances can help modify the physical constraints imposed by impairment; of greater importance to today's children is the need for greater community awareness and acceptance of disability.

While parents and teachers have reservations concerning the increased integration of disabled children some activists are pressing for legislation similar to US PL 94‐142 to ensure that all children, regardless of disability level, are provided with education in the mainstream to the maximum feasible extent. To argue about the effectiveness of integration is to miss the point; both regular school and special education support services need to recognize the many changes essential to minimize failure and to encompass the reasonable developmental needs of all children. Presently, there is a great discrepancy between what is known about effective instruction and current educational practice; until this gap is narrowed, for children with difficulties and disabilities failure will remain all too common.

     

Is Christian Education Compatible With Science Education?

Science education and Christian education are not compatible if byChristian education one means teaching someone to be a Christian. Onegoal of science education is to give students factual knowledge. Even whenthere is no actual conflict of this knowledge with the dogmas ofChristianity, there exists the potential for conflict. Another goal ofscience education is to teach students to have the propensity to be sensitiveto evidence: to hold beliefs tentatively in light of evidence and to rejectthese beliefs in the light of new evidence if rejection is warranted by thisevidence. This propensity conflicts with one way in which beliefs are oftentaught in Christian education: namely as fundamental dogmas, rather than assubject to revision in the light of the evidence.     

Science and Engineering Education: Europe?U.S.A.

A definition of basic philosophy for our future education is given, and the implications with regard to our future teaching system are analyzed. Then the European primary and secondary education, and automatic selection in the precollege year are discussed. The teaching system in a European engineering school is explained, and a discussion of the main results of the 1957 International Conference on Engineering Education and Training, in Paris, is included. Finally, it is explained why, in many fields of science and engineering, the European university education appears superior to ours.     

Respect for Evidence: Can Science Education Deliver It?

Science & Education -     

Education in Sustainable Development: How Can Science Education Contribute to the Vulnerability Perception?

Education for human development within the constraints of sustainability is problematic for schools. On one hand, it is a political idea that continues to evolve with successive compromises between social groups with differing or even conflicting interests. ESD is therefore inherently ‘non-disciplinary’ and cannot be the basis of a single school subject if we wish to keep the creativity that results from the dynamics at work. On the other hand, SD leads us to think collectively about solutions that ensure a future of our choosing that preserves the biological capacity of the planet and to reduce our vulnerability. The sciences thus have a key role: their ability to question the world and to model the consequences of collective and individual choices. But there is a risk of technocratic drift and SD leads us to think about society’s values and aims. A new link is established between sciences and humanities with a democratic model in sight. This paper presents what is possible out of the prospective scenarios method within general and compulsory education by seeking, through an empirical approach, to determine its feasibility, its contributions, its limits, and to locate the place of science education in the elaboration of the perception of “vulnerability”. Both primary and secondary schools are concerned.     

Philosophers Without Borders? Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Education

One important element of globalization is the dissemination of western educational ideals and organizational frameworks through educational development projects. While postcolonial theory has long offered a useful critique of this expansion, it is less clear about how educational development that eschews neo-imperialist tendencies might proceed. This problem poses a question that requires philosophical reflection. However, much of comparative and international development education ignores philosophical modes of inquiry. Moreover, as Libbrecht (2007) Libbrecht, Ulrich. 2007. Within the Four Seas: Introduction to Comparative Philosophy, Leuven, Belgium: Peeters.  [Google Scholar] argues, philosophy all too often sees itself as synonymous with the Euro-American intellectual tradition, thus ignoring indigenous educational thought that might more appropriately guide local educational development. Drawing on John Dewey's (1938) call for deeper and more inclusive plans of operations in response to social conflicts and Jurgen Habermas (2008) call for “reciprocal learning processes” and “cooperative acts of translation,” we will attempt to reach beyond our individual philosophical borders to explore the necessity and possibilities of comparative philosophy of education by sharing three examples of our current efforts to apply philosophical analysis to international educational development. These examples will articulate and embody the necessity and the challenges of applying philosophical analysis to educational development work.     

Do Preservice Science Teachers Develop Goals Reflective of Science Teacher Education? A Case Study of Three Preservice Science Teachers

Research in Science Education - One broad research question researchers continue to pursue is: to what degree does science teacher education influence the thinking of preservice science teachers?...     

Preservice Primary Teachers' Geometric Thinking: Is Pre-Tertiary Mathematics Education Building Sufficiently Strong Foundations?

Teacher knowledge is a critical focus of educational research in light of the potential impact of teacher knowledge on student learning. The dearth of research exploring entry-level preservice teachers' geometric knowledge poses an onerous challenge for mathematics educators in initial teacher education (ITE) when designing experiences that develop preservice teachers' geometric knowledge to support the task of teaching. This study examines the geometric thinking levels of entry-level Irish preservice primary teachers (N = 381). Participants' geometric thinking levels were determined through a multiple-choice geometry test (van Hiele Geometry Test) prior to commencing a Geometry course within their ITE program. The findings reveal limited geometric thinking among half of the cohort and question the extent to which pre-tertiary experiences develop appropriate foundations to facilitate a smooth transition into ITE mathematics programs. The study also examines the nature of misconceptions among those with limited geometric thinking and presents suggestions to enhance the geometric understandings of preservice teachers.     

K-16 Computationally Rich Science Education: A Ten-Year Review of the Journal of Science Education and Technology (1998–2008)

Computing is anticipated to have an increasingly expansive impact on the sciences overall, becoming the third, crucial component of a “golden triangle” that includes mathematics and experimental and theoretical science. However, even more true with computing than with math and science, we are not preparing our students for this new reality. It is appropriate and compelling therefore to consider how computer science can be fundamentally integrated into science education. This study is a ten-year review (1998–2008) of the Journal of Science Education and Technology, with the following research questions in mind: What are the intersections at the K-16 level between science and computing? What do K-16 science educators already know about the newly emerged field, computational science?     

Elementary Science Methods Courses and the National Science Education Standards: Are We Adequately Preparing Teachers?

Despite the apparent lack of universally accepted goals or objectives for elementary science methods courses, teacher educators nationally are autonomously designing these classes to prepare prospective teachers to teach science. It is unclear, however, whether science methods courses are preparing teachers to teach science effectively or to implement the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). Using the Science Teaching Standards as a framework for analysis, this research proceeded in two phases. During the first phase, the elementary science methods courses, perspectives, and practices of six science teacher educators were examined to determine similarities and differences in the course goals and objectives, overall emphases, and their efforts to prepare their students to implement the Science Teaching Standards. The second phase of the study investigated the elementary science methods courses of a national sample of science teacher educators as reflected in their course syllabi. It was found that universal inclusion of content related to the Science Teaching Standards does not exist, nor are there clear linkages between course goals, activities, and assignments.     

Do We Need a Philosophy of Science Education?

Reflection on several decades of science teaching at the secondary-school level leads to the strong suggestion that a theory of science education should be based on arguments emanating from insights into the process of meaningful communication in the light of modern epistemology. These arguments show that the teacher’s personality and engagement with the subject is a major source of interest and devotion of students who try to understand the presented ideas. An analysis of the conditions of this engagement leads to a vision for a future understanding of the teaching process, especially in science teaching.     

Too Philosophical,Therefore Useless for Science Education?

Science & Education -     

A Research Approach to Science Education at Göteborg

This paper discusses preservice science teachers’ conceptualizations of learning. The data for this study were obtained from eight Canadian science graduates enrolled in a teacher education programme. All students participated in a series of three interviews, consisting of a variety of questions about how learning occurs. The interviews were conducted every four months, beginning at the start of the academic year. The data were analysed using a phenomenographic perspective and the conceptualizations are illustrated using excerpts from the interviews. Implications for science teacher education programmes are discussed.     

The Changing Structure of British Higher Education: How diverse is it?

With the passage of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act the British system of higher education formally moved from a binary to a unitary structure. However, ever since successive governments have argued for a diversified model of higher education within which institutions should pursue contrasting goals. This article offers an interpretation of the key ingredients of institutional diversification and constructs alternative structural models of higher education. It proceeds by exploring the changing structure of British higher education since the creation of the unitary model. The argument is that there has been a steady emergence of flexible sectors, which both converge and diversify. However, there is a danger that the 2011 White Paper, rather than sustaining flexible sectors, could intensify the nascent shift in the direction of stratification marked by increasing differentiation between sectors as they converge internally.     

The Changing Structure of British Higher Education: How diverse is it?

With the passage of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act the British system of higher education formally moved from a binary to a unitary structure. However, ever since successive governments have argued for a diversified model of higher education within which institutions should pursue contrasting goals. This article offers an interpretation of the key ingredients of institutional diversification and constructs alternative structural models of higher education. It proceeds by exploring the changing structure of British higher education since the creation of the unitary model. The argument is that there has been a steady emergence of flexible sectors, which both converge and diversify. However, there is a danger that the 2011 White Paper, rather than sustaining flexible sectors, could intensify the nascent shift in the direction of stratification marked by increasing differentiation between sectors as they converge internally.

     

Science Teacher Education in Brazil: 1950–2000

This paper analyzes the most significant events occurring in Brazil’s educational, social and political areas over the last half century, viewed against a background of relevant worldwide events. The hypothesis presented here is that the relations between the country’s educational policies, the demands of the various segments of academia, and the public school system have always been strained. This strain has contributed positively to the evolution of academic knowledge and production, to the design of more modern curricular projects by institutional authorities, and to the initial recognition of the specific construction of school knowledge by the school system itself. However, the interaction of these major institutions lacks a crucial element—one that would lead to an effective change in the education of science teachers and produce a positive impact on Brazil’s schools—namely, the wholehearted participation of science teachers themselves. With this analysis, we intend to contribute by offering some perspectives and proposals for science teacher education in Brazil.