UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS�� OUT-OF-SCHOOL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PRACTICE

This study examined standard 6 and 8 (Standards 6 and 8 are the sixth and eighth years, respectively, of primary level schooling in Kenya.) students’ perceptions of how they use mathematics and science outside the classroom in an attempt to learn more about students’ everyday mathematics and science practice. The knowledge of students’ everyday mathematics and science practice may assist teachers in helping students be more powerful mathematically and scientifically both in doing mathematics and science in school and out of school. Thirty-six students at an urban school and a rural school in Kenya were interviewed before and after keeping a log for a week where they recorded their everyday mathematics and science usage. Through the interviews and log sheets, we found that the mathematics that these students perceived they used outside the classroom could be classified as 1 of the 6 activities that Bishop (Educ Stud Math 19:179–191, 1988) has called the 6 fundamental mathematical activities and was also connected to their perception of whether they learned mathematics outside school. Five categories of students’ perceptions of their out-of-school science usage emerged from the data, and we found that 4 of our codes coincided with 2 activities identified by Lederman & Lederman (Sci Child 43(2):53, 2005) as part of the nature of science and 2 of Bishop’s categories. We found that the science these students perceived that they used was connected to their views of what science is.     

CHILDREN��S GESTURES AND THE EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE OF GEOMETRY

There is mounting research evidence that contests the metaphysical perspective of knowing as mental process detached from the physical world. Yet education, especially in its teaching and learning practices, continues to treat knowledge as something that is necessarily and solely expressed in ideal verbal form. This study is part of a funded project that investigates the role of the body in knowing and learning mathematics. Based on a 3-week (15 1-h lessons) video study of 1-s grade mathematics classroom (N = 24), we identify 4 claims: (a) gestures support children’s thinking and knowing, (b) gestures co-emerge with peers’ gestures in interactive situations, (c) gestures cope with the abstractness of concepts, and (d) children’s bodies exhibit geometrical knowledge. We conclude that children think and learn through their bodies. Our study suggests to educators that conventional images of knowledge as being static and abstract in nature need to be rethought so that it not only takes into account verbal and written languages and text but also recognizes the necessary ways in which children’s knowledge is embodied in and expressed through their bodies.     

IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF TAIWANESE CHILDREN’S CONCEPTIONS OF LEARNING MATHEMATICS

The aim of the present study was to identify children’s conceptions of learning mathematics and to assess the identified conceptions. Children’s conceptions are identified by interviewing 73 grade 5 students in Taiwan. The interviews are analyzed using qualitative data analysis methods, which results in a structure of 5 major conceptions, each having 2 subconceptions: constructivist (interest and understanding), interpretivist (liberty and innovation), objectivist (academic goal and perseverance), nativist (confidence and anxiety (reverse)), and pragmatist (vocational goal and application). The conceptions are assessed with a self-developed questionnaire, titled “the Conception of Learning Mathematics Questionnaire” (CLMQ), which is administered to 513 grade 5 students in Taiwan and examined with a reliability measure, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlations with 2 criteria: mathematics achievement and approaches to learning mathematics. The results show that the CLMQ has desirable internal consistency reliability and construct validity. The conceptions are also sensibly in relation to the 2 criteria, suggesting that the CLMQ is a valid measure for evaluating the quality of children’s learning mathematics in relation to teaching contexts.     

ARGUMENTATION AND STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF PROPERTIES AND BEHAVIORS OF GASES

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of argumentation-based pedagogy on college students?? conceptual understanding of properties and behaviors of gases. The sample consists of 108 students (52 in the control group and 56 in the intervention group) drawn from 2 general chemistry college courses taught by the same instructor. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests. The results of the study show that the intervention group students performed significantly better than the control group students on the post-test. The intervention group students also showed significant increase in their test scores between pre- and post-test. While at least 80?% of the students in the intervention group abandoned their initial ideas on all of the 17 alternative conceptions that were identified by the authors but one, the percent of student abandoning their initial ideas in the control group was less than 50. The discussion focuses on the implications of these results for addressing students?? alternative conceptions, promoting the argumentation?Cpedagogy in college science courses and the challenges associated with the use of argumentation in college science classrooms.     

SCIENCE AND RESEARCH OF SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY

Southeast University,located at central part of ancient capital city of Nanjing nearbeautiful Xuan Wu Lake,is one of the key universities operated direclty under the StateEducation Commission of China.Southeast University is one of the oldest institutions ofhigher learning in China.Its origins go back to 1902.Southeast University,with fullrange of disciplines and strong faculties,comprises of Graduate School,Faculty of Arts,Faculty of Sciences,15 individual departments of Engineering,Management School,Adult Education School and one Satellite College in Wuxi.It has 22 departments,43 un-     

TRANSLATION OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH IDIOMS

IntroductionPart Ⅰ: The similarities and differences between Chinese and Englishi dioms1. Two similarities.2. Three differences.Part Ⅱ: Five methods used in idioms translation.1. Literal translation.2. Equivalent translation.3. Free translation.4. Combination of literal and free translation.5. Translation with annotation.Part Ⅲ: Essential opinions on idioms translation.Conclusion     

UNDERSTATING AND ARITHMETIC ‐1. THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING

A structured record form was tried out by nursery nurses in one nursery school over a two‐year period. The children's behaviour was monitored in both ‘natural’ and ‘contrived’ situations and records were kept of their changing skills and play interests. Discussion centres on the problems and advantages of the particular approach used and on general issues related to record keeping at nursery school level.     

ENGAGING SCIENCE: PRE-SERVICE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS�� NOTIONS OF ENGAGING SCIENCE LESSONS

If children are engaged in science lessons, their learning is likely to be better and, in the long term, careers in science and technology will remain open. Given that attitudes can develop early and be difficult to change, it is important for teachers of younger children to know how to foster engagement in science. This study identified what a cohort of 79 pre-service teachers in England considered to be engaging elementary science lessons and compared their notions with teacher behaviours known to be conducive to engagement. First, all brought beliefs about how to engage children in science lessons to their training. They tended to favour children’s hands-on activity as an effective means of fostering attentive participation in learning, although many had additional ideas. Nevertheless, the means and ends of their ‘pedagogies of engagement’ tended to be simple and narrow. Trainers need to ensure that notions of engagement are wide enough to cope with a variety of teaching situations, as when hands-on experience is not feasible, effective or appropriate. At the same time, teachers will need to recognise that one approach may not suit all learners. Without this, there is the risk that they will lack the skills to engage children in science. Nevertheless, these beliefs could offer a useful starting point for trainers who wish to widen pre-service teachers’ conceptions of engagement and increase their repertoire of teaching behaviours.     

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THE MEAN AND MEDIAN

This study provides a snapshot of elementary school teachers’ understanding of the mean and median. The research is presented in light of recent work regarding preservice teachers’ understanding of the mean. Common misconceptions are identified which lead to potential implications for teacher preparation programs. One of the primary concerns regarding increasing the standards expected of students to learn statistics is teachers’ preparation to address those standards. Exploring issues with teachers’ understanding of two of the most prominent concepts in the enacted curriculum provides a glimpse into the need to adequately prepare teachers to teach statistics.     

THAI GRADE 10 AND 11 STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF STOICHIOMETRY AND RELATED CONCEPTS

The research reported in this case study explores the understanding of stoichiometry and related concepts of Thai science students in grades 10 and 11 after major national curriculum reforms. Students’ conceptions and alternative conceptions were investigated using a questionnaire - the Stoichiometry Concept Questionnaire (SCQ) (N = 97), which consists of 16 multiple-choice items, the choices for which respondents are required to provide reasons. The findings suggest that less than half of the students surveyed hold what is considered by a panel of experts to be a scientifically acceptable understanding for the conceptions investigated. The main student alternative conceptions are that one mole of all substances has a volume of 22.4 L at STP, that a solution that contains a greater mass of solute has the higher molar concentration, and that the limiting reagent is the reagent for which the lowest mass of reactant is present. Examination of students’ reasons suggests that they resort to the use of algorithms with little understanding of the underlying concepts. It thus seems the national educational reforms have not resulted in a sound understanding of some science concepts. It is recommended that curriculum developers should specify a need for conceptual understanding along with capability in numerical problem-solving in their learning objectives, and link this to assessment regimes that reward conceptual understanding. A need for on-going professional development seems essential if the intentions of the Thai curriculum reforms are to be realized.     

UNDERSTANDING THE ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF PRE-SERVICE SECONDARY SCIENCE TEACHERS ABOUT TIDAL PHENOMENA BASED ON TOULMIN’S ARGUMENTATION

Constructing explanations and participating in argumentative discourse are seen as essential practices of scientific inquiry. The objective of this study was to explore the elements and origins of pre-service secondary science teachers’ alternative conceptions of tidal phenomena based on the elements used in Toulmin’s Argument Model through qualitative research. The data were collected from three pre-service secondary school teachers (D.-K. University, Teachers’ Colleges, junior and senior) in the Republic of Korea using a variety of qualitative research methods. We present three pre-service teachers as examples of 20 pre-service teachers for determining each pre-service teacher whether the pattern of his/her responses to all of the questions investigating a given concept can be explained by the consistent use of components of argument. The results of this study showed “the model with the Earth’s center at rest” backing their warrants as an element of Toulmin’s Argument Model. As a result, science educators must explicitly address these presuppositions or implicit beliefs and must help the students form links between their everyday experiences and scientific knowledge. Therefore, educators must be aware of the influence of students’ presuppositions and must use acceptable scientific concepts (the center of mass of the Earth–Moon system) based on argumentation to guide their construction of scientific concepts.     

STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF EQUILIBRIUM AND STABILITY: THE CASE OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS

Engineering students in control courses have been observed to lack an understanding of equilibrium and stability, both of which are crucial concepts in this discipline. The introduction of these concepts is generally based on the study of classical examples from Newtonian mechanics supplemented with a control system. Equilibrium and stability are approached in different ways at the various stages of a typical engineering syllabus: at the beginning, they are mostly dealt with a static point of view, for example in mechanics, and are subsequently handled through dynamic analysis in control courses. In general, there is a little clarification of the differences between these concepts or the ways in which they are linked. We believe that this leads to much confusion and incomprehension among engineering students. Several studies have shown that students encounter difficulties when presented with simple familiar or academic static equilibrium cases in mechanics. Our study investigates students’ conceptions and misconceptions about equilibrium and stability through a series of questions about several innovative non-static situations. It reveals that the understanding of these notions is shaken when the systems being studied are placed in inertial or non-inertial moving reference frames. The students in our study were particularly uncertain about the existence of unstable equilibrium positions and had difficulty in differentiating between the two concepts. The results suggest that students use a velocity-based approach to explain such situations. A poor grasp of the above fundamental concepts may result from previous learning experiences. More specifically, certain difficulties seem to be directly linked to a lack of understanding of these concepts, while others are related to misconceptions arising from everyday experiences and the inappropriate use of physical examples in primary school.     

THE PERCEIVED USEFULNESS OF TEACHERS�� GUIDES FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS

The processes of curricula, textbooks and student resources development have been broadly surveyed and studied while teachers’ guides have received comparatively little consideration throughout recent reforms in science education. Ideal curriculum materials align instruction with the goals of reform. Well-designed teachers’ guides contribute to communicating and supporting reform-based teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functions and assistance that guides provide science teachers. A questionnaire was developed and administered to science teachers from a stratified sample of elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan. The findings indicated that the guides were of greater benefit to elementary school science teachers than they were to junior high teachers. These groups of teachers perceived the guides’ usefulness differently, but they believed that a clear, concise presentation of the purpose, reminders, answer keys, concept maps of the main topics and learning progression provided the most helpful and preferred layout. Teachers felt that the function of a teachers’ guide is to provide teaching resources rather than to guide teacher thinking. This study discusses design suggestions that can engage teacher thinking.     

USING RASCH MEASUREMENT TO VALIDATE THE INSTRUMENT OF STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF MODELS IN SCIENCE (SUMS)

Scientific models and modeling play an important role in science, and students’ understanding of scientific models is essential for their understanding of scientific concepts. The measurement instrument of Students’ Understanding of Models in Science (SUMS), developed by Treagust, Chittleborough & Mamiala (International Journal of Science Education, 24(4):357–368, 2002), has commonly been used to measure SUMS. SUMS was developed using the Classical Test Theory (CTT). Considering the limitations of CTT, in this study we applied a Rasch model to validate SUMS further. SUMS was given to 629 students in 18 classes of grades 9 and 10 from six high schools in China. The results present both additional evidence for the validity and reliability of SUMS and specific aspects for further improvement. This approach of validation of a published instrument by Rasch measurement can be applied to other measurement instruments developed using CTT.     

THE IMPACT OF PEER INSTRUCTION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT PHYSICS AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

The purpose of this study is to assess students’ conceptual learning of electricity and magnetism and examine how these conceptions, beliefs about physics, and quantitative problem-solving skills would change after peer instruction (PI). The Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM), Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS), multiple-choice test was administered as a pre- and posttest with Solomon 4 group design to students (N  =  138) enrolled on freshman level physics course. The number of chapter taught to the students was 14. Problem-solving strategy steps were asked to students in the exam. The analyses of CSEM showed that the treatment group (g  =  0.62) obtained significantly higher conceptual learning gain than the control group (g  =  0.36). The conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of the students on magnetism considerably enhanced when PI was conducted (37% and 20%, respectively). CLASS results for 5 subscales (conceptual understanding, applied conceptual understanding, problem solving general, problem solving confidence, and problem solving sophistication) supported the findings of CSEM.