Science Learning in Special Education: The Case for Constructed Versus Instructed Learning

Throughout the history of education, debate has existed between the relative merits of instructed versus constructed knowledge. In this article, we review our program of research in science education for students with disabilities in order to reveal some insights into this debate. We review research in science curriculum, mnemonic strategies, text-processing strategies, hands-on approaches, coached elaborations, “discovery” learning, correlates of effective inclusive science classrooms, and class-wide peer tutoring with differentiated curriculum enhancements. Overall, both instructed and constructed knowledge are important and can be facilitated with appropriate instructional strategies. Implications for practice and future research are provided.     

Editorial: Special Issue (SI): International Conference on Science Education (ICSE)

In the context of science education globalization, the International Conference on Science Education was held in Nanjing, China, in October 2012. The purpose of this conference was to provide a forum for science education researchers from China and from the rest of the world to exchange research ideas and best practices in science education. A call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of Science Education and Technology was made to all conference participants, and a set of six articles was resulted from a standard peer review process. This set of six articles provides a snapshot of research in China and in some other countries, and represents a dialogue between Chinese science education researchers and science education researchers from other countries. We call for more exchange and collaboration in science education between China and the rest of the world.     

Briging it all back home: some implications of recent science and technology studies for the classroom science teacher

In this paper, we support the validity of drawing from science studies to reshape science education. While true educational reform must involve alternative curricular structures, we stress that we do not propose here either a comprehensive curricular framework or a report on a pilot classroom project, as our research perspective comes from science studies rather than from education. Instead this paper is intended to encourage educators to draw from methodologies used in science studies to further their goals in education research and in classroom teaching. First, we examine theoretical connections and divergences between science studies and theories of education. Secondly, we discuss the benefits of teaching science as a social process and offer some suggestions that can be introduced by classroom teachers into pre-existing science curricula.     

Intervention fidelity in participatory research: a framework

ABSTRACT

In community interventions more generally, the concept of fidelity refers to the degree to which a program is delivered as intended. The present paper discusses ways in which fundamental aspects of participatory research challenge the concept of fidelity and differ from more traditional science-dominated approaches. We begin with a discussion of the fidelity concept and some of its strengths and limitations. We then discuss both social problems and proposed solutions as representing complex problems defying simple or permanent solutions. We suggest that three prominent aspects of participatory research highlight this complexity and pose challenges in assessing fidelity. First, in participatory research, the goal is not only scientific but also social action on a local issue as well. Second, the participatory process among varied partners is itself part of the intervention itself to be understood as affecting both processes and outcomes. Third, the goals of participatory research include community-level as well as individual-level changes. These issues are illustrated in a discussion of how culture is conceptualized and acknowledged in fidelity assessment. We conclude with some recommendations for approaching fidelty in participatory research in a way that appreciates its differences from more traditional paradigms underlying community interventions.     

Applying a resilience systems framework to urban environmental education

A growing body of literature on community gardening, watershed restoration, and similar ‘civic ecology’ practices suggests avenues for integrating social and ecological outcomes in urban natural resources management. In this paper, we argue that an environmental education programme in which learning is situated in civic ecology practices also has the potential to address both community and environmental goals. Further, we suggest that civic ecology practices and related environmental education programmes may foster resilience in urban social‐ecological systems, through enhancing biological diversity and ecosystem services, and through incorporating diverse forms of knowledge and participatory processes in resource management. By proposing interrelationships among natural resources management, environmental education, and social‐ecological systems, we hope to open up discussion of a research agenda focusing on the role of environmental education in systems processes and resilience.     

Pedagogies on the edge: researching complex practice in youth and adult community education

This research arose from our involvements in adults and community education, adult literacy, youth issues, and in researching the new movement in Australia for the inclusion of ‘generic skills’ in education and training curriculum. We recruited twenty-two practitioners in Adult and Community Education (ACE) in a participatory action research approach to assist us in exploring how ‘generic skills and attributes’ are fostered in the context of adult and community education and to theorise pedagogies of ACE in the light of the changed demographic of those who access ACE programs (especially disaffected young people and older unemployed men). A ‘Framework for ACE Pedagogy’ was one outcome of the research. In this paper we describe the five ‘elements’ which we found to constitute ‘The Teacher’ in ACE. The elements include: personal engagement with learners; self-reflection on one's teaching and one's own learning journey; improvisation and risk-taking; awareness of relations of power; and having patience and trust in the learning process.     

Learning How to Make Inquiry into Electricity and Magnetism Discernible to Middle Level Teachers

As university professors we sought to disrupt the practice of giving our students the actions we felt they should imitate in their teaching practice. Instead, we sought to actively engage teachers in the creation of workable solutions to real-life problems. We accomplished this by conducting a participatory action research project. This paper illustrates our action research project focused on preparing middle level science teachers to foster inquiry-based learning in their classrooms. The findings of this study not only lead to a revised professional development opportunity for science teachers, but also provided an example of university faculty engaging in pragmatic research focused on addressing contemporary issues in K-12 science education. The work reported within was partially supported by a National Science Foundation Grant. The opinions, views and conclusions expressed in this paper may not reflect those of the funding agency.     

Conceptual Metaphor and the Study of Conceptual Change: Research synthesis and future directions

Many of the goals of research on conceptual metaphor in science education overlap with the goals of research on conceptual change. The relevance of a conceptual metaphor perspective to the study of conceptual change has already been discussed. However, a substantial body of literature on conceptual metaphor in science education has now emerged. This work has not yet been synthesized or related explicitly to the goals of conceptual change research. This paper first presents a broad sketch of the study of conceptual change, characterizing the goals of this body of work, its contributions to date, and identifying open questions. Next, the literature on conceptual metaphor in science education is reviewed against this background. The review clarifies the natural theoretical connections between the conceptual metaphor perspective and the phenomenon of conceptual change. It then examines the contributions made by the literature on conceptual metaphor in science education to the goals of research on conceptual change—namely, characterizing student conceptions, identifying obstacles to learning, understanding the process of conceptual change, and designing productive pedagogical strategies that could achieve conceptual change. The paper concludes with a discussion of further avenues for research into conceptual change, suggested by adopting a conceptual metaphor perspective.     

Peer Review in Science Education: An Introduction

This is an introduction to a special issue of Research in Science Education that focuses on peer review in science education. We introduce each of the articles in the special issue and highlight some of the issues that are addressed and the methods employed in the articles that follow. We regard peer review as central to issues of research in science education and publication of this special issue as just in time.     

The utopia of science education

In this forum I expand on the ideas I initially presented in ??Extending the purposes of science education: addressing violence within socio-economic disadvantaged communities?? by responding to the comments provided by Matthew Weinstein, Francis Broadway and Sheri Leafgren. Focusing on their notion of utopias and superheroes, I ask us to reconsider science as inevitably violent. Utopia is a concept that contributes to articulating our ideals, and serves to give us perspective on how our current reality differs from our goals. I suggest that by recognising alternative views of nature, science and ??superheroes?? we could see a science that is committed to the lives and struggles of students as well as the lives and struggles of other animals.     

Digital games and the US National Research Council’s science proficiency goals

This review synthesises research on digital games and science learning as it supports the goals for science proficiency outlined in the report by the US National Research Council on science education reform. The review is organised in terms of these research-based goals for science proficiency in light of their alignment with current science education standards and reform documents worldwide. Overall, the review suggests that digital games can support science learning across the four strands but also suggests that there are few strong quantitative studies examining some of the strands. Much of the research conducted to date has centred primarily on the potential of games to scaffold conceptual knowledge, engagement and participation. Less research has focused on epistemological understanding and science process skills. While much debate has asked whether digital games are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for learning, the research across the strands highlights that the design of digital games, rather than their medium, ultimately determines their efficacy for learning.     

Student Peer Teaching: An Innovative Approach to Instruction in Science and Engineering Education

This paper reports the results of a pilot-study in a senior paper science and engineering class, of an innovative instructional method designed to foster student problem-solving and in-depth learning of material, namely, student peer teaching. We review related literature focusing on active learning methods in science and engineering education, describe the method of student peer teaching used in this pilot-study, present the evaluation method and results, and discuss implications for further development of this method of instruction. Results suggest that students were able to effectively teach significant curricular content. In addition, the method of student peer teaching served important purposes in helping students develop in-depth understanding and expertise in the issues related to their teaching session, as well as teaching and presentation skills which will be useful in their professional practice. However, students expressed concern that, while achieving in-depth learning of the content of their teaching session, they tended to focus on the content area of their teaching session at the expense of other content areas and may not have learned as well from other students as from the Professor. We recommend a modified structure for student peer teaching which incorporates cooperative learning methods; increased Professor involvement in class sessions, in the role of the mentor; and modifications in performance evaluation methods to ensure ongoing student monitoring of progress and self-assessment. The method of student peer teaching, in science and engineering education, combined with cooperative learning methods, is viewed as a major extension of cooperative learning methods, used in the service of preparation for professional careers.