Investigating Students’ Conceptions of Technology-Assisted Science Learning: a Drawing Analysis

This study investigated high school students’ conceptions of technology-assisted science learning via drawing analysis, and explored how students with different degrees of computer experience and science learning self-efficacy may show different conceptions via their drawings. The participants included 335 senior high school students in Taiwan (179 male and 156 female). All of them were asked by guiding questions to make two drawings to represent their conceptions of technology-assisted science learning in actual and ideal contexts, respectively. Their background information including computer experience and science learning self-efficacy were obtained using self-reported questionnaires. Through drawing analysis, seven categories of conceptions of technology-assisted science learning were identified, including types of technology, location of learning, types of learning activities, content of learning, participants of learning activities, affordance of learning technology, and effects of learning technology. The results further revealed that the students’ conceptions of actual and ideal technology-assisted science learning significantly differed in some sub-categories of all categories except the category of participants of learning activities. Moreover, students’ computer experience and science learning self-efficacy may link to different conceptions of technology-assisted science learning. Future research and directions are also discussed.

     

Grade Level Differences in High School Students’ Conceptions of and Motives for Learning Science

Research in Science Education - Students’ conceptions of learning science and their relations with motive for learning may vary as the education level increases. This study aimed to compare...     

Relational Analysis of College Science‐Major Students’ Epistemological Beliefs Toward Science and Conceptions of Learning Science

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest among educational researchers in exploring the relationships between learners’ epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of learning. This study was conducted to investigate these relationships particularly in the domain of science. The participants in this study included 407 Taiwanese college science‐major students. All of them responded to two major questionnaires, one assessing their scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) and the other one probing their conceptions of learning science (COLS). The SEB questionnaire included four factors: “certainty,” “source,” “development,” and “justification” of science knowledge. The COLS survey consisted of six factors in a hierarchical order, that is, learning science as “memorizing,” “preparing for tests,” “calculating and practicing,” “increasing one’s knowledge,” “application,” and “understanding and seeing in a new way.” The students’ confidence and interest toward learning science were also assessed by additional questionnaire items. Stepwise regression analyses, in general, showed coherence between students’ SEBs and their COLS, indicating that the sophistication of SEBs was consistent with less agreement with lower‐level COLS (such as “memorizing” and “preparing for tests”) as well as more agreement with higher‐level COLS (such as “understanding and seeing in a new way”). However, the SEB’s “justification” factor was positively related to almost all of COLS factors from the lower‐level to higher‐level. This study finally found that among all of the SEB and COLS factors, the “preparing for tests” factor in COLS was the solely significant variable for predicting students’ interest in science and confidence toward learning science.     

Influence of Motivating Science Class,Family, and Peer Models on Students’ Approaches to Learning Science: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Research in Science Education - Classroom environment, family, and peers are important factors in influencing students’ science learning. The primary aim of this study was to examine the...     

Secondary School Students’ Reasoning About Science and Personhood

Science & Education - Scientific advances, particularly in evolutionary biology, genetics, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, present many challenges to religious and popular notions of...     

Secondary School Students’ Understanding of Science and Their Socioscientific Reasoning

Research in socioscientific issue (SSI)-based interventions is relatively new (Sadler in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 41:513–536, 2004; Zeidler et al. in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 46:74–101, 2009), and there is a need for understanding more about the effects of SSI-based learning environments (Sadler in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 41:513–536, 2004). Lee and Witz (International Journal of Science Education 31:931–960, 2009) highlighted the need for detailed case studies that would focus on how students respond to teachers’ practices of teaching SSI. This study presents case studies that investigated the development of secondary school students’ science understanding and their socioscientific reasoning within SSI-based learning environments. A multiple case study with embedded units of analysis was implemented for this research because of the contextual differences for each case. The findings of the study revealed that students’ understanding of science, including scientific method, social and cultural influences on science, and scientific bias, was strongly influenced by their experiences in SSI-based learning environments. Furthermore, multidimensional SSI-based science classes resulted in students having multiple reasoning modes, such as ethical and economic reasoning, compared to data-driven SSI-based science classes. In addition to portraying how participants presented complexity, perspectives, inquiry, and skepticism as aspects of socioscientific reasoning (Sadler et al. in Research in Science Education 37:371–391, 2007), this study proposes the inclusion of three additional aspects for the socioscientific reasoning theoretical construct: (1) identification of social domains affecting the SSI, (2) using cost and benefit analysis for evaluation of claims, and (3) understanding that SSIs and scientific studies around them are context-bound.     

Middle School Students’ Science Self-Efficacy and Its Sources: Examination of Gender Difference

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate middle school students?? science self-efficacy as well as its sources and outcomes as a function of gender. Bandura??s hypothesized sources of self-efficacy (i.e., mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal) in addition to being inviting with self and inviting with others were examined as sources of self-efficacy, while cognitive and metacognitive strategy use was examined as an outcome of self-efficacy. A total of 1,932 students participated in the study and were administered self-report instruments. Results showed that the relationship between science self-efficacy and its proposed sources does not change as a function of gender. All proposed sources, except for vicarious experience, were found to be significantly related to students?? scientific self-efficacy. Moreover, girls were found to experience significantly more emotional arousal and to send positive messages to others more than boys. On the other hand, no gender difference was found concerning science self-efficacy and strategy use. The findings also revealed a positive association between science self-efficacy and strategy use. Overall, findings supported Bandura??s conception of self-efficacy and suggested invitations as additional sources of self-efficacy.     

Influence of Psychosocial Classroom Environment on Students’ Motivation and Self-Regulation in Science Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The primary aim of this study was two-fold: 1) to identify salient psychosocial features of the classroom environment that influence students’ motivation and self-regulation in science learning; and 2) to examine the effect of the motivational constructs of learning goal orientation, science task value and self-efficacy in science learning on students’ self-regulation in science classrooms. Data collected from 1360 science students in grades 8, 9 and 10 in five public schools in Perth, Western Australia were utilized to validate the questionnaires and to investigate the hypothesized relationships. Structural Equation Modeling analysis suggested that student cohesiveness, investigation and task orientation were the most influential predictors of student motivation and self-regulation in science learning. In addition, learning goal orientation, task value and self-efficacy significantly influenced students’ self-regulation in science. The findings offer potential opportunities for educators to plan and implement effective pedagogical strategies aimed at increasing students’ motivation and self-regulation in science learning.     

Differentiating the Sources of Taiwanese High School Students’ Multidimensional Science Learning Self-Efficacy: An Examination of Gender Differences

The main purpose of this study was to investigate Taiwanese high school students’ multi-dimensional self-efficacy and its sources in the domain of science. Two instruments, Sources of Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SSLSE) and Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE), were used. By means of correlation and regression analyses, the relationships between students’ science learning self-efficacy and the sources of their science learning self-efficacy were examined. The findings revealed that the four sources of the students’ self-efficacy were found to play significant roles in their science learning self-efficacy. By and large, Mastery Experience and Vicarious Experience were found to be the two salient influencing sources. Several gender differences were also revealed. For example, the female students regarded Social Persuasion as the most influential source in the “Science Communication” dimension, while the male students considered Vicarious Experience as the main efficacy source. Physiological and Affective States, in particular, was a crucial antecedent of the female students’ various SLSE dimensions, including “Conceptual Understanding,” “Higher-Order Cognitive Skills,” and “Science Communication.” In addition, the variations between male and female students’ responses to both instruments were also unraveled. The results suggest that, first, the male students perceived themselves as having more mastery experience, vicarious experience and social persuasion than their female counterparts. Meanwhile, the female students experienced more negative emotional arousal than the male students. Additionally, the male students were more self-efficacious than the females in the five SLSE dimensions of “Conceptual Understanding,” “Higher-Order Cognitive Skills,” “Practical Work,” “Everyday Application,” and “Science Communication.”     

Teachers’ and Students’ Conceptions of Good Science Teaching

Capitalizing on the comments made by teachers on videos of exemplary science teaching, a video-based survey instrument on the topic of ‘Density’ was developed and used to investigate the conceptions of good science teaching held by 110 teachers and 4,024 year 7 students in Hong Kong. Six dimensions of good science teaching are identified from the 55-item questionnaire, namely, ‘focussing on science learning’, ‘facilitating students’ understanding’, ‘encouraging students’ involvement’, ‘creating conducive environment’, ‘encouraging active experimentation’ and ‘preparing students for exam (PSE)’. Significant gaps between teachers’ and students’ conceptions on certain dimensions have been revealed. The inconsistency on the dimension ‘PSE’ is particularly evident and possible reasons for the phenomenon are suggested. This study raises the important questions of how the gap can be addressed, and who is to change in order to close the gaps. Answers to these questions have huge implications for teacher education and teacher professional development.     

Elementary and Middle School Students’ Conceptions of Knowledge,Information, and Truth

Although the study of epistemic beliefs has received growing interest in the past decades, this research tends to focus on high school and undergraduate students, and does not address beliefs about information and truth, concepts that have been regarded as critical for learners in 21st-century educational contexts. In this study, the authors examined 87 elementary and middle school students’ beliefs about the definitions of and relations among knowledge, information, and truth through the use of a graphical and justification task, and addressed the consistency of beliefs across contexts and domains. Results indicated that students tended to regard knowledge, information, and truth as interrelated, and the majority of students described their beliefs as consistent across contexts and domains.     

Family Background,Students’ Academic Self-Efficacy,and Students’ Career and Life Success Expectations

This study examined the relationship of family background on students’ academic self-efficacy and the impact of students’ self-efficacy on their career and life success expectations. The study used the national dataset of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Based on a path model, results demonstrated that family background predicted academic self-efficacy positively and students’ career and life success expectations negatively. However, with the mediating influence of academic self-efficacy, family background positively influenced students’ career and life success expectations. School counselors should consider interventions to enhance interactions between parents and students and seek to develop positive perceptions about students’ capabilities and futures. In addition, school counselors need to be knowledgeable about curricula, enrichment classes, summer opportunities, various educational options, and students’ academic and career aspirations for providing better guidance.     

Developing Middle School Students’ Interest in Learning Science and Geology Through Slowmation

Research in Science Education - Given that interest is associated with learning in educational research, understanding how its development can be supported in different learning contexts represents...     

Connecting Soccer to Middle School Science: Latino Students’ Passion in Learning

Building on a pedagogical model designed to support the teaching and learning of the language of science investigation practices with middle school emergent bilingual learners, we developed a series of soccer and science investigations to promote interest and engagement in science learning. We used assemblage theory to study how students engaged in and acted within this bilingual curriculum situated in an afterschool soccer practice context. We found that soccer, a passion for several Latino students, can be used as a cultural tool for science teachers to support the emerging bilingual students’ learning process. Implications for educators and researchers considering ways of integrating diverse students’ cultural practices and passions with culturally sustaining pedagogies for science teaching and learning are discussed.     

Students’ Views About Secondary School Science Lessons: The Role of Practical Work

This paper reports an interpretive study that sought students' views about the role that practical work plays in their school science lessons. Twenty-nine students aged between 13 and 16 years were selected from three secondary schools in England. Data were collected from initial lesson observations and in-depth interviews in order to explore students’ views about practical work. The findings suggest that students have three main reasons why practical work is important in their school science lessons: for interest and activity, including social and personal features such as participation and autonomy; as an alternative to other forms of science teaching involving a pedagogy of transmission, and as a way of learning, including memorizing and recall. The findings are discussed in the context of a critical view of previous work on the role of practical work, work on attitudes to science and on the student voice. The paper concludes that practical work is seen to provide opportunities for students to engage with and influence their own learning but that learning with practical work remains a complex issue that needs further research and evaluation about its use, effectiveness and of the role of scientific inquiry as a component of practical activity.     

Science on the Web: Secondary School Students’ Navigation Patterns and Preferred Pages’ Characteristics

This study aims to explore navigation patterns and preferred pages’ characteristics of ten secondary school students’ searching the web for information about cloning. The students navigated the Web for as long as they wished in a context of minimum support of teaching staff. Their navigation patterns were analyzed using audit trail data software. The characteristics of their preferred Web pages were also analyzed using a scheme of analysis largely based on socio-linguistics and socio-semiotics approaches. Two distinct groups of students could be discerned. The first consisted of more competent students, who during their navigation visited fewer relevant pages, however of higher credibility and more specialized content. The second group consists of weaker students, who visited more pages, mainly of lower credibility and rather popularized content. Implications for designing educational web pages and teaching are discussed.     

Experienced Middle School Science Teachers’ Assessment Literacy: Investigating Knowledge of Students’ Conceptions in Genetics and Ways to Shape Instruction

Using a framework of assessment literacy that included teachers?? view of learning, knowledge of assessment tools, and knowledge of assessment interpretation and action taking, this study explored the assessment literacy of five experienced middle school teachers. Multiple sources of data were: teachers?? predictions about students?? ideas, students?? written and verbal responses to assessment tasks, teacher background questionnaire, and a videotaped teacher focus group. We investigated middle school teachers?? predictions, interpretations, and recommended actions for formative assessment in genetics. Results documented a variety of ways that teachers would elicit students?? ideas in genetics, focusing on discussion strategies. Findings showed how well teachers predicted student conceptions compared to actual student conceptions. We also found that teachers mostly described general topics they would use to address students?? alternative conceptions. Less often, they explained specific content they would use to challenge ideas or pedagogical strategies for conceptual change. Teachers also discussed barriers to addressing ideas. Teacher professional development should provide more support in helping teachers close the formative assessment cycle by addressing conceptions that are elicited with assessments.     

Scientific Inquiry Self-Efficacy and Computer Game Self-Efficacy as Predictors and Outcomes of Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Performance in a Science Assessment in a Virtual Environment

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The primary aim of the study was to examine whether performance on a science assessment in an immersive virtual environment was associated with changes...