Science education research and cognitive science

Cognitive science has the potential for offering explanatory models for many of the findings of empirical research in science education. In this paper, I use recent editions of international journals of science education to produce a categorisation of types of science education research, and what possible contributions each might make to cognitive science or the potential of results from cognitive science for enriching the science education research accounts. In a short, final section, the relationship of our own cognitive work to cognitive science is explored.     

Science teaching in science education

Reading the interesting article Discerning selective traditions in science education by Per Sund, which is published in this issue of CSSE, allows us to open the discussion on procedures for teaching science today. Clearly there is overlap between the teaching of science and other areas of knowledge. However, we must constantly develop new methods to teach and differentiate between science education and teaching science in response to the changing needs of our students, and we must analyze what role teachers and teacher educators play in both. We must continually examine the methods and concepts involved in developing pedagogical content knowledge in science teachers. Otherwise, the possibility that these routines, based on subjective traditions, prevent emerging processes of educational innovation. Modern science is an enormous field of knowledge in its own right, which is made more expansive when examined within the context of its place in society. We propose the need to design educative interactions around situations that involve science and society. Science education must provide students with all four dimensions of the cognitive process: factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. We can observe in classrooms at all levels of education that students understand the concepts better when they have the opportunity to apply the scientific knowledge in a personally relevant way. When students find value in practical exercises and they are provided opportunities to reinterpret their experiences, greater learning gains are achieved. In this sense, a key aspect of educational innovation is the change in teaching methodology. We need new tools to respond to new problems. A shift in teacher education is needed to realize the rewards of situating science questions in a societal context and opening classroom doors to active methodologies in science education to promote meaningful learning through meaningful teaching.     

Understanding and overstanding: Feminist-poststructural life histories of physical education teachers

This article discusses theoretical tensions within a feminist-poststructural life history study that used a hybrid methodology for data analysis, including speech act theory, deconstruction, psychoanalysis and social postmodernism. In particular, the article explores the paradox of using "spoken accounts" to investigate "homophobic silences" about lesbian sexuality in the life histories of six lesbian and heterosexual physical education teachers. This paradox was, in part, resolved by drawing on Jonathon Culler's (1992) distinction between understanding, which asks questions the text insists upon, and overstanding, which asks questions the text did not pose. Excerpts from the life history interviews about coming out, marriage, lesbians in sport and teacher-student crushes illustrate how speech act theory and social postmodernism led to understanding while deconstruction and psychoanalytic theory contributed to overstanding.     

Intersections of life histories and science identities: the stories of three preservice elementary teachers

Grounded within Connelly and Clandinin’s conceptualization of teachers’ professional identity in terms of ‘stories to live by’ and through a life-history lens, this multiple case study aimed to respond to the following questions: (a) How do three preservice elementary teachers view themselves as future science teachers? (b) How have the participants’ life histories shaped their science identity trajectories? In order to characterize the participants’ formation of science identities over time, various data regarding their life histories in relation to science were collected: science biographies, self-portraits, interviews, reflective journals, lesson plans, and classroom observations. The analysis of the data illustrated how the three participants’ identities have been in formation from the early years of their lives and how various events, experiences, and interactions had shaped their identities through time and across contexts. These findings are discussed alongside implications for theory, specifically, identity and life-history intersections, for teacher preparation, and for research related to explorations of beginning elementary teachers’ identity trajectories.     

Science education — I: The spirit of science

In these two essays we explore the questions: what are the essential features of a workable context for science education? What are the givens, the “of courses,” the “fundamental dispositions” toward science and toward education necessary — or at least sufficient — to provide a fertile ground upon which a functional approach to science education can be established? In the present essay it is argued first that science education must reflect that science is a way of thinking — in fact, more comprehensively, a way of being; and second, and that the fundamentally antiauthoritarian spirit of science must be reconciled with education, with its built-in tendency to be authoritarian.     

美国科学教育标准中的生命科学教育

介绍了美国相关教育领域对各年龄段的学习者或学生 ,其中包括幼儿园～四年级、五年级～八年级、九年级～十二年级学生对生命科学学习的不同内容和要求 ,并对教师提出了应用讨论、实验探索、实践、信息探索与总结等方法 ,引导学生开展积极主动和延伸性科学探究的要求 ,有利于中学生生物学教师了解国外教育动态 ,也可供有关教师在实践中参考     

Taiwanese science and life technology curriculum standards and earth systems education

This research examines whether UK primary teachers are aware of the potential of highly able young 'scientists' and whether they differentiate their teaching accordingly. The support that the National Curriculum gives to highly able children is also examined. A questionnaire was chosen for initial data collection, followed by a semi-structured interview with teachers who sent children to master classes. Analysis would indicate that teachers recognize that children who are scientifically highly able have the capacity to use higher order thinking to perform all aspects of science investigations. There does, however, seem to be a mismatch between theory and practice. The data from the questionnaires suggest that teachers do use a variety of methods to differentiate their science teaching. There was, however, no correlation between teachers' opinions related to scientifically able children's investigative skills and the associated methods of differentiating their teaching. The interview data reinforced this further as many able children had been given limited experience of science investigations in mixed ability groups.     

Genetic epistemology,history of science and science education

Conclusions The main feature of Piaget & Garcia's study (1989) is the overture of a new field of research within the Piagetian framework, namely the comparative study of individual and historical development.During the 80's, several alternative models have been offered to account for the relations between individual and historical development. However, it has been suggested that there [...] appears to be widespread agreement among Piagetians and non-Piagetians that common mechanisms and processes underlie the thinking of scientists and children at all times (Gauld 1990, p. 24–5).The development of this field of research demands that theoretical research be conducted regarding the possible patterns of relationship between individual and historical development, that should be integrated to comparative empirical research on diverse topics. Further studies would then be required to provide an empirical basis for the comparative research. In other words, this field of research demands the close collaboration between epistemologists, historians, science educators, and cognitive psychologists.We have suggested that the Piagetian model needs to provide a more convincing account of the differences between individual and historical development, and of the role of internal and external factors in the progress of science. We have also argued for an overcoming of the overemphasized structural aspects of the theory, and for an unambiguous concept of history.The non-Piagetian approaches have their own strength and may be developed as alternatives to the Piagetian model. However, our intention here is to emphasize their potential contribution to the development of Piaget's theory. In McCloskey and Kargon (1988) we may find hints to deal with the specificity of similarities in content. Nersessian (1987) provided an excellent insight on how to deal with Kuhn's concept of incommensurability. ⁵ In our interpretation, Carey's work suggest that considering the relation between content and development of structures may be a productive way of developing Piaget's theory.Finally, we would like to comment on the relationship between Piaget's theory and research on students' thinking in science. Both adopt a constructivist stance. However, the vast majority of researchers have developed a strong resistance to Piaget's theory (e.g. Novak 1978; Gilbert and Swift 1985). On the one hand, this resistance should be considered a natural and healthy tendency toward a pluralistic development of research in science education. On the other hand, it may be a consequence of the difficulty of Piaget's theory in coping with the main research findings on spontaneous reasoning. In short, while many researchers in science education have emphasized the persistence of children's, adolescents' and adults' alternative conceptions, Piaget's theory suggests that reaching the formal stage is a necessary condition to understand science. This contradiction will not be overcome while Piagetian researchers are not able to offer a better account of the differences between commonsense knowledge and scientific knowledge. Freed from the constraints of the Piagetian approach, research on alternative conceptions showed an amazing development during the late 70's and the 80's. ^6,7 Further progress, however, increasingly requires theoretical tools to manage the great amount of data already available, and models to explain, rather than just describe, individuals' thought. This task can be carried out from within different theoretical approaches. In Psychogenesis and the History of Science, Piaget and Garcia presented an updated and strong model for the relationship between individual and historical development. If used in an open-minded way, this model may contribute to the development of research in science education.This study was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico/Brazil.     

Integrating reading and science education: On developing and evaluating WEE Science

Two studies of a new science programme called WEE Science were conducted in two fifth-grade classrooms. The studies lasted for seven days in one of the classrooms and nine days in the other. At the beginning of the programme the students chose a science trade book from among the many that were selected and brought to the classroom. The students then formed groups based on the topics of the books and asked questions (Wondering) about the content. After choosing one of the 'wonderments' to pursue further, the students formed and implemented a plan for investigating (Exploring). In each classroom, each student explored, working in cooperating groups of two or more. The students then explained (Explaining) to a group of their peers what they had wondered and what and how they had explored. The students' wonderments, activities, plans, and explanations were recorded in a science notebook that had been designed for that purpose. In addition, the classrooms were videotaped while WEE Science was in progress. While the studies were successful in that most students eagerly participated in all phases of the project, some problems were encountered which created another round of wondering for the researchers. Some of these were: evaluating students' work, responding to science misconceptions of students, teaching some students to record observations in their notebooks, deciding where WEE Science would fit best in the curriculum, and anticipating its reception in the science education community.     

Science content as an important consideration in science education research

Science education researchers have, with few exceptions, not used the conceptual content of science as an important variable in their research. Writings of two groups-philosophers of science, “are concerned with the influence of the conceptual knowledge shared by an intellectual community on the activities of that community and the psychologists are concerned with the influence of the conceptual knowledge held by an individual on that individual's behavior”, science, are concerned with the influence of the conceptual knowledge shared by an intellectual community on the activities of that community and the psychologists are concerned with the influence of the conceptual knowledge held by an individual on that individual's behavior. Suggestions are offered as to what kinds of science education research could be done in which the conceptual content of science is important.     

安徽科技学院生命科学学院

生命科学学院成立于1986年，现设生物科学（师范类）、生物工程、中药学、生物技术、园艺教育、园艺、园林7个本科专业生物科学（师范类）专升本专业，生物教育、城镇规划、园林工程技术3个专科专业。教师中有正副教授18人，博士8人，硕士21人，在校学生1800多人。     

Science initial teacher education and superdiversity: educating science teachers for a multi-religious and globalised science classroom

Steven Vertovec (2006, 2007) has recently offered a re-interpretation of population diversity in large urban centres due to a considerable increase in immigration patterns in the UK. This complex scenario called superdiversity has been conceptualised to help illuminate significant interactions of variables such as religion, language, gender, age, nationality, labour market and population distribution on a larger scale. The interrelationships of these themes have fundamental implications in a variety of community environments, but especially within our schools. Today, London schools have over 300 languages being spoken by students, all of whom have diverse backgrounds, bringing with them a wealth of experience and, most critically, their own set of religious beliefs. At the same time, Science is a compulsory subject in England’s national curriculum, where it requires teachers to deal with important scientific frameworks about the world; teaching about the origins of the universe, life on Earth, human evolution and other topics, which are often in conflict with students’ religious views. In order to cope with this dynamic and thought-provoking environment, science initial teacher education (SITE)—especially those catering large urban centres—must evolve to equip science teachers with a meaningful understanding of how to handle a superdiverse science classroom, taking the discourse of inclusion beyond its formal boundaries. Thus, this original position paper addresses how the role of SITE may be re-conceptualised and re-framed in light of the immense challenges of superdiversity as well as how science teachers, as enactors of the science curriculum, must adapt to cater to these changes. This is also the first in a series of papers emerging from an empirical research project trying to capture science teacher educators’ own views on religio-scientific issues and their positions on the place of these issues within science teacher education and the science classroom.     

Globalisation and science education: Rethinking science education reforms

Like Lemke (J Res Sci Teach 38:296–316, 2001), I believe that science education has not looked enough at the impact of the changing theoretical and global landscape by which it is produced and shaped. Lemke makes a sound argument for science education to look beyond its own discourses toward those like cultural studies and politics, and to which I would add globalisation theory and relevant educational studies. Hence, in this study I draw together a range of investigations to argue that globalisation is indeed implicated in the discourses of science education, even if it remains underacknowledged and undertheorized. Establishing this relationship is important because it provides different frames of reference from which to investigate many of science education's current concerns, including those new forces that now have a direct impact on science classrooms. For example, one important question to investigate is the degree to which current science education improvement discourses are the consequences of quality research into science teaching and learning, or represent national and local responses to global economic restructuring and the imperatives of the supranational institutions that are largely beyond the control of science education. Developing globalisation as a theoretical construct to help formulate new questions and methods to examine these questions can provide science education with opportunities to expand the conceptual and analytical frameworks of much of its present and future scholarship. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Science and its professionals: Views of Australian scientists on science education

Conclusions This study raises a great number of questions, many of which would be valuable for science curricula to reflect upon. Firstly, it would seem that the practising professionals do not believe methodology is easily taught, at least not without a strong factual knowledge base. Secondly, science courses have had little effect on carrer choice, with the possible slight exception of physical scientists working in the public sector. Thirdly, scientists would give strong support to the idea of teaching students to use ‘scientific attitudes’ in their everyday life. And fourthly, the social implications of science are felt to be deserving of close attention in schools-but perhaps not within the science classroom. What clearly remains to be done is the difficult and time-consuming work to follow up these hints. What do the scientists see asthe scientific attitudes? What facts, etc., should form the basis of the science curricula? How should the social implications of science be discussed, and what responses are appropriate to them? To answer these questions will take a national study of great scope and effort, yet it would seem to be an essential part of the process of determinng science education programmes of purpose and value.     

Pseudoscience,the paranormal,and science education

The study of pseudoscience and the paranormal is an important but neglected aspect of science education. Given the widespread acceptance of pseudoscientific and paranormal beliefs, science educators need to take seriously the problem of how these can be combated. I propose teaching science students to critically evaluate the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal, something that can be accomplished in a variety of ways.