Exploring the relationship between physics-related epistemological beliefs and physics understanding

Three studies are reported that investigated the relationship between secondary school students’ physics-related epistemological beliefs and physics conceptual understanding. Study 1 involved the development of a Greek Epistemological Beliefs Evaluation Instrument for Physics (GEBEP) which was administered to 394 students (10th graders). Study 2 investigated the hypothesis that physics epistemological sophistication as measured by the GEBEP is a good predictor of physics understanding. The participants were selected from the 394 students who participated in Study 1. More specifically we selected the 10% (38) students with the highest scores in the GEBEP (high epistemological sophistication group, HES) and the 10% (38) students with the lowest GEBEP scores (low epistemological sophistication group, LES) and measured their understanding of Newton’s three laws using the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation instrument (FMCE) developed by Thornton and Sokoloff (1998). The results showed that the HES group had significantly higher scores in the FMCE than the LES group. Regression analysis showed that beliefs regarding the Construction and Stability of physics knowledge and the Structure of physics knowledge were good predictors of physics understanding. Study 3 re-examined the same hypothesis on a new independent sample of students. The results based on the entire sample, showed again that beliefs regarding the Construction and Stability of physics knowledge predicted physics understanding. Overall, the results suggest that sophisticated physics-related epistemological beliefs are necessary but not sufficient for physics understanding and point to the importance of taking them into consideration in physics education.     

Real vs virtual physics experiments: comparison of learning outcomes among fifth grade primary school students. A case on the concept of frictional force

This paper compares students’ conceptual understanding of a standard physics law, i.e. frictional force, following the execution of real vs virtual experiments. The research sample was made up of 110 fifth grade students attending a primary school in the city of Ioannina, Northwestern Greece who were randomly assigned to either the control group (55 students) or the experimental group (55 students). The control group carried out experiments with real world objects, while the experimental group used Interactive Physics simulation software. Data was collected by administering to both groups identical pre and post tests, before and after the experiments respectively and which contained six questions each. The SOLO taxonomy model was used to evaluate student answers and the findings reveal that both experimentation methods are equally effective in the conceptual understanding of frictional force.     

An education policy paradigm that fails upper secondary school pupils

In this article, we illustrate the creation of the education policy paradigm that constitutes the framework of vocational education and training (VET) programmes, and analyse local school representatives’ perception of VET in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The education policy paradigm, established through three periods of reform during the twentieth century, undervalues VET as being less worthy than general/academic education. This paradigm generates the rhetoric used by interviewed school representatives that encourages school pupils to choose the ‘right’ (academic) programmes in order to foster a specific citizenship competence, even if this competence is not fully compatible with labour market demands. Young people who cannot, or will not, attain the ‘right’ education, and thus the advocated citizenship competence, lose out in a school system where general/academic education and higher education preparatory programmes are consistently prioritised over VET. An educational system that advocates discrimination and suspicion of VET limits career options and restricts entry into the labour market, as well as risk stigmatising pupils undertaking VET; this paradigm is neither justified nor democratic.     

探究学习模式在中学体育教学中的应用研究

2001年,我国正式启动了以《基础教育课程改革纲要（试行）》为标志的新一轮基础教育课程改革。大力提倡培养学生的独立性和自主性,引导学生质疑、调查、探究。探究学习模式成为我国新一轮基础教育课程改革的重点之一。本文首先阐述了在中学体育课学习中采用探究学习模式的意义。其次,从让学生真正成为学习的主体,让学生在创造性活动中学习,加强中学体育教师素质培养等方面,对如何在中学体育教学中应用探究学习模式提出了自己的建议和看法,具有一定的参考价值。     

Understanding Possibilities and Limitations of Abstract Chemical Representations for Achieving Conceptual Understanding

When learning with abstract and scientific multiple external representations (MERs), low prior knowledge learners are said to have difficulties in using these MERs to achieve conceptual understanding. Yet little is known about what these limitations precisely entail. In order to understand this, we presented 101 learners with low prior knowledge of abstract scientific MERs to see (a) how many, and what kind of ideas (propositions) learners remembered from these MERs and (b) what the impact of these ideas is on conceptual understanding of the content. Propositional analysis indicates that learners created flawed internal representations. The discussion analyses the potentials that the learners have in using abstract representations to increase their understanding of scientific information and possible effects of instruction.     

Conceptual change through vicarious learning in an authentic physics setting

Recent research on principles of best practice for designing effective multimedia instruction has rarely taken into account students’ alternative conceptions, which are known to strongly influence learning. The goal of this study was to determine how well students of quantum mechanics could learn ‘vicariously’ by watching a student-tutor dialogue based on alternative conceptions. Two video treatments were created to summarize key aspects of quantum tunneling, a fundamental quantum mechanical phenomenon. One video depicted a student-tutor dialogue, incorporating many of the common alternative conceptions on the topic, and resolving inconsistencies in reasoning through discussion. The other presented the same correct physics material in an expository style without alternative conceptions. Second year physics students were randomly assigned to one of the two treatments and were tested before and after watching the video during a lecture. Results show a statistically significant (p < .01) advantage for the learners in the dialogue treatment (d = 0.71). Follow-up interviews of students yielded insight into the affective and cognitive benefits of the dialogue video.     

浅谈中专语文教学中的探究式学习

要在中专语文教学中进行探究式学习,有必要认识探究式学习的意义,掌握开展探究式学习的一些策略,同时懂得应该遵循的基本规律。在策略上,要创设问题情境,引导学生进行探究式学习,结合专业特点,创设多种实践活动或体验性活动,同时要采有多元化方式评价,鼓励学生发表意见。这些策略遵循着从内容到设计实施以及内外结合四个环节的原则。     

中职语文教学中的审美教育分析

改革开放以来,我国的经济建设取得了重大发展成果。产业结构更加的科学、合理,高新技术产业逐渐成为经济发展的领跑者。中职作为培养技术型人才的重要场所,在当前经济发展背景下,已经逐渐走出了教育的低谷,焕发出第二次青春。但是,我们也不难发现,教师在教育过程中,对学生的专业基础以及实践能力培养格外关注,但是,在学生的审美教育中,却是有所忽视。这对于学生综合素质的提升造成了一定的阻碍。本文重点探索中职语文教学中的审美教育。     

浅谈中专物理素质教育

论述在中专物理教学中如何加强素质教育。     

Measuring learning quality in Ethiopia,India and Vietnam: from primary to secondary school effectiveness

Abstract

This paper examines the way in which learning quality has been conceptualised and measured in school effectiveness surveys conducted by Young Lives, a longitudinal study of child poverty. Primary school surveys were conducted in Vietnam in 2010–11 and Ethiopia in 2012–13, and surveys at upper-primary and secondary level were conducted in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam in 2016–17. The paper discusses the design of cognitive tests to assess Maths and reading at primary level, and then focuses on the development of cognitive tests to assess Maths, functional English and transferable skills at upper-primary and secondary level. In particular, the paper explores how learning quality can be conceptualised and measured in relation to ‘twenty-first century skills’, which are increasingly seen as an important outcome of secondary education. The challenges of designing cognitive tests to measure and compare learning quality across three diverse country contexts are also explored.     

Measuring language learning environments in secondary science classrooms

The purpose of this study was to explore a new learning environment instrument which could be used by teaching practitioners and other educators to measure the language learning environment in the secondary science classroom. The science teacher is central in creating science classrooms conductive to the language needs of students and should be promoting the learning of language in the science curriculum and in the teaching strategies with English as second language learners. The data in this study were collected using a structured self-administered survey with a sample of 240 secondary school students from eight science classrooms. Factor analysis identified five dimensions, namely, Teacher Support, Vocabulary Development, Assessment, Motivation and Language for Learning Science. These five dimensions explained 56.9% of the variance in the language learning environment instrument. The internal reliability of the dimensions using Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.603 to 0.830. The study revealed significant differences in the dimensions of the language learning environment between what the students perceived to actually be occurring to what they would prefer. Implications from this preliminary research include the ability for measuring the language learning environment in the secondary science class and the potential for practitioners to use the information to develop teaching strategies conducive to learning for all students.     

中学物理探究课的建构性设计

本文论述了探究的特征、思路和活动,及中学物理课的建构性设计原则,在此基础上例举中学物理探究课的建构性设计.     

基于情感教育的中职生物教学

在实际教学活动中,学生的情感需要是非常复杂的,而这就需要教师根据实际情况进行切实可行的阶段性情感教育。本文通过对基于情感教育的生物教学的作用以及情感教育在中职生物中的教学策略分析来对中职生物教学的情感教育进行探讨。     

中等职业学校校企结合现状的探究

从我国中等职业教育校企合作的现状出发,分析目前在很多中等职业学校中校企合作存在的一些突出问题,提出促进校企合作的一些建议。     

浅谈教师对中学生英语自主学习能力培养的作用

培养学生的自主学习能力是课程改革的任务之一,而自主意识是培养学生自主学习能力的前提。英语教师要更新教学理念,培养学生的自主学习意识,激发和培养学生学习英语的兴趣,使学生树立信心,养成良好的学习习惯和形成有效的自主学习方法和策略。     

德国中小学的体育教学

本文从德国中小学体育的历史和现状两方面对德国中小学的体育作了介绍,并分析了德国中小学体育教学的特点.     

Chinese and Australian Year 3 Children's Conceptual Understanding of Science: A multiple comparative case study

Children have formal science instruction from kindergarten in Australia and from Year 3 in China. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact that different approaches to primary science curricula in China and Australia have on children's conceptual understanding of science. Participants were Year 3 children from three schools of high, medium and low socio-economic status in Hunan Province, central south China (n?=?135) and three schools of similar socio-economic status in Western Australia (n?=?120). The students' understanding was assessed by a science quiz, developed from past Trends in Mathematics and Science Study science released items for primary children. In-depth interviews were carried out to further explore children's conceptual understanding of living things, the Earth and floating and sinking. The results revealed that Year 3 children from schools of similar socio-economic status in the two countries had similar conceptual understandings of life science, earth science and physical science. Further, in both countries, the higher the socio-economic status of the school, the better the students performed on the science quiz and in interviews. Some idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses were observed, for example, Chinese Year 3 children showed relative strength in classification of living things, and Australian Year 3 children demonstrated better understanding of floating and sinking, but children in both countries were weak in applying and reasoning with complex concepts in the domain of earth science. The results raise questions about the value of providing a science curriculum in early childhood if it does not make any difference to students' conceptual understanding of science.     

How to foster STEM learning during Covid-19 remote schooling: Combining virtual and video experiments

Understanding scientific concepts is a fundamental aim of science education. Conceptual understanding can be fostered through inquiry learning with experiments. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic school closures hands-on experiments could hardly be realized. Fortunately, digital technologies allow for conducting experiments virtually by using interactive simulations or observing video recordings of hands-on experiments. In the present study, 154 seventh graders in remote schooling were involved in inquiry learning using either a combination of virtual and video experiments in two different orders or only virtual experiments. We hypothesized that in general inquiry learning fosters students' conceptual understanding in physics, which could be confirmed. Moreover, we expected the combinations to be more effective than learning with virtual experiments only due to the complementary roles of the prior, which was, however, not the case. We conclude that virtual and video experiments can be recommended to teachers if hands-on experimentation is not possible.     

在中职体育教学中如何把握健康教育

鉴于健康教育对中职体育教学的重要性,本文首先介绍了中职学校体育健康的教育现状,根据现状及健康教育的重要性,简要地探讨了如何在中职体育教学中把握健康教育,并提出了具体的措施。     

论职业中专英语教学中的小组合作学习方式

对于英语的学习,需要一定的私人时间来完成对单词和语法的记忆和巩固工作,但英语是一种语言,更具实用性,需要被运用到实践中去,换言之就是更需要有人配合来完成效果会更好。所以小组合作学习法就适合用于英语的学习。在组建小组学习的过程中可以进行有效地对话练习,在遇到难题时可以互相帮助,好的学习方法可以相互借鉴分享。在学习中培养合作精神,提高语言沟通交际能力,引发学习热情和积极性。