Promoting students’ use of epistemic understanding in the evaluation of socioscientific issues through a practice-based approach

Instructional Science - The epistemic understanding of science has always been an important part of science education, and critical engagement with socioscientific issues (SSI) is a desirable...     

Play in the primary school classroom? The experience of teachers supporting children’s learning through a new pedagogy

In Scotland in recent years there has been growing interest in a more play‐based pedagogy commonly described as Active Learning. The research reported in this article is an exploration of moves towards creating an active play‐based learning environment in six Primary 1 classrooms in Scotland and is concerned with (i) the children’s experiences in such a play‐based active learning environment in school and (ii) their teachers’ perspectives on this pedagogical innovation and their roles in supporting the learners. This study examined experiences and perspectives within and across each of the six child‐centred and play‐focused classes. The main findings suggest that the role of the teacher varies between what could be considered as teacher‐intensive and teacher‐initiated activities. ‘Active’ or ‘play‐based’ learning was interpreted differently by teachers; play in some classrooms was peripheral rather than integral to the learning process and curriculum‐embedded.     

Unawareness to Production,Dropout to Innovator—Primary teachers' understanding and use of a science,technology and society approach to science teaching

This paper investigates the process of teacher change in a group of 8 primary school teachers during their exposure to a science, technology and society (STS) approach to teaching Science in Swaziland. The research aimed to establish the effect of support given to teachers in using the approach through a series of workshops, followed by a 5-week supported implementation of the unit ‘matter and energy’. An analysis of the way in which the STS approach impacted on the classroom practice of the teachers yielded 2 outcomes that were hierarchical. First, teacher understanding of the approach was observed to go through levels of unawareness, recognition of differences in approach, utilisation, personalisation and production. Second, the teachers' level of use of the STS approach was observed to have been affected by their levels of understanding, characterised by the following typologies: dropouts, strugglers, domesticators, succeeders and innovators. Some relationship between levels of understanding and typology of use was found, however, the level of understanding was not the exclusive determinant of typology of use. Only teachers reaching the utilisation level were able to use the innovation in a sustainable way, while those at the level of unawareness were able to become domesticators, adapting the innovation to their usual teaching approach.     

How did autistic children,and their parents,experience school transition during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the start of the academic year in September 2020 was a unique time for those transitioning to a new school. This study aimed to explore the experiences of parents who supported autistic children making a range of different school transitions in 2020. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 parents of autistic children in the UK, and data were analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis. For some parents, the Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted on aspects of school transitions. However, other parents expressed the view that these same circumstances created opportunities to approach the school transition in a unique, improved manner. This article sheds light on the heterogeneity of experiences and perceptions of parents of autistic children, and highlights the need to examine the impact of Covid-19 on school transitions, including practices that it may be advantageous to retain.     

SMART moves? A case study of one teacher’s pedagogical change through use of the interactive whiteboard

This case study investigates how the use of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) leads to pedagogical change within a UK secondary school classroom. A teacher’s experiences as recorded in a reflective journal, and the responses of students as recorded in a questionnaire, are set within the context of rhetoric about the value of IWBs. It is argued that this action research approach is particularly valuable because of the insights a teacher has on the complexities of the classroom environment. Assumptions about the way in which IWBs should (and do) change the dynamics of interactivity within the classroom are considered by questioning the definition of terms such as ‘interactive’ and ‘pace’. The case study concludes that if a teacher understands and utilises appropriate strategies to meet given learning objectives, pedagogical change will emerge, with teachers empowered by the IWB to consider how learning takes place, and match activities to learners’ needs. However, IWB use will be within the context of the philosophy of the teacher and how much he or she wants to pursue new ideas in order to support learning.     

Can the use of background music improve the behaviour and academic performance of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties?

Historically, there have been many claims regarding the beneficial effects of music on behaviour and development, but there has been little empirical work to verify them. Our present research studied the effects of providing background music in the classroom on the behaviour and performance in mathematical tasks of ten children attending a school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, who exhibited a high frequency of disruptive behaviour. There was a significant improvement in behaviour and mathematics performance for all the children. The effects were particularly marked for those whose problems were related to constant stimulus-seeking and over-activity. Improvements were also observed in improved co-operation and a reduction in aggression during the lessons immediately following the study.     

Trainee teachers’ experience of primary science teaching,and the perceived impact on their developing professional identity

This study took place within an environment of educational change in teaching and assessment in the UK, where the National Curriculum (NC) and National External Examination syllabi undertook significant revision. Science education specifically, has seen aspiration raised to allow pupils to achieve a greater depth of understanding at Key Stage 4 and hence facilitate advanced study. Central to the development of effective scientific understanding is teacher preparation. This study examined the factors that impacted on the experiences of primary teachers during their training. Questionnaires completed by a sample of one hundred and sixteen trainee teachers followed by semi-structured interviews of sixteen trainees were used as a means of interpreting Post-Graduate Certification in Education (PGCE) trainee teachers’ experiences during taught university sessions and school based training. The findings showed that the majority of the trainees rated their training highly, and perceived themselves to be confident primary science pedagogues. They felt, however that the very limited opportunities to observe and teach science during their training negatively influenced their overall development.     

Can the subaltern ‘speak’ science? An intersectional analysis of performances of ‘talking science through muscular intellect’ by ‘subaltern’ students in UK urban secondary science classrooms

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This paper draws on Judith Butler’s concepts of intelligibility and identity as performance to make sense of enactments of ‘subaltern’...     

Is systematic synthetic phonics enough? Examining the benefit of intensive teaching of high frequency words (HFW) in a year one class

A comparative analysis of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) and the intensive teaching of high frequency words (HFW) revealed the latter had greater impact on pupils’ reading attainment and fluency. Data were collected using multiple methods, including miscue analysis, Salford Reading Test, a phoneme skills test and HFW audits.     

Teaching one thing at a time or several things together? – teachers changing their way of handling the object of learning by being engaged in a theory-based professional learning community in mathematics and science

Twelve lower secondary schoolteachers in mathematics and science were asked to teach a topic of their choice during a lesson that was video-recorded. We were able to analyse 10 of the cases and we found that all of them were similar in one respect: concepts and principles were introduced one at a time, each one followed by examples of the concept or principle in question, apparently to highlight its essential meaning. All the teachers participated in three modified lesson studies with three cycles in four different groups during three semesters. The modified lesson studies were built on a theoretical idea supported by a large number of recent studies. The theory states that new meanings (of concepts and principles, for instance) are learned through engaging with instances of contrasting concepts and principles. The core idea is that new meanings derive from differences, not from sameness. After the three modified lesson studies, the teachers were asked to once again teach the same topic as in the recorded lessons before the lesson studies. The new lessons were also recorded and the analysis showed that there was one thing in common in all cases: all of the 10 teachers dealt with the relevant concepts and principles in relation to each other (i.e. simultaneously) and not one at a time. By thus bringing out the differences between them, their meaning was made possible to grasp for the students. The study lends support to the conjecture that the modified lesson study is a powerful tool for enabling teachers to structure the content of their teaching in accordance with a principle that is more powerful in making learning possible, even if this contradicts their taken-for-granted practice.     

Do parents,teachers, and psychoeducational evaluators agree in their perceptions of the problems of black and white emotionally disturbed children?

The aim was to examine the agreement among parents, teachers, psychologists, and educational diagnosticians in their perceptions of the problem behaviors of emotionally disturbed children. The sample of 194 emotionally disturbed boys and girls included 129 whites and 65 blacks. The use of measures of relationship showed that there was significantly greater consensus among the raters in perceptions of white than of black children; agreement was particularly poor between parents and teachers of black youngsters. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Enhancing student‐teachers’ understanding of nature of science and scientific inquiry through a case study of the scientific research in severe acute respiratory syndrome

Interviews with key scientists involved in research on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports and documentaries produced during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry. This novel insight into practice in the rapidly growing field of molecular biology was used in the development of instructional materials for use in the pre‐service and in‐service teacher education programme at The University of Hong Kong. The elements of NOS and scientific inquiry identified in the scientific research on SARS were explicitly emphasized in our instructional materials. The contemporary real‐life context of SARS was found to be effective in promoting student‐teachers’ understanding of NOS and scientific inquiry, particularly in terms of: the realization of inseparable links between science and the social, cultural, and political environment; deeper understanding of how science and technology impact on each other; and a richer appreciation of the processes of authentic scientific inquiry and the humanistic character of scientists. The effectiveness is attributed to immediacy, relevance, and familiarity, making the abstract tangible, personal experience of science history, and the powerful affective impact of the interviews with scientists.     

A motivational account of the undergraduate experience in science: brief measures of students’ self-system appraisals,engagement in coursework,and identity as a scientist

ABSTRACT

As part of long-standing efforts to promote undergraduates’ success in science, researchers have investigated the instructional strategies and motivational factors that promote student learning and persistence in science coursework and majors. This study aimed to create a set of brief measures that educators and researchers can use as tools to examine the undergraduate motivational experience in science classes. To identify key motivational processes, we drew on self-determination theory (SDT), which holds that students have fundamental needs – to feel competent, related, and autonomous – that fuel their intrinsic motivation. When educational experiences meet these needs, students engage more energetically and learn more, cumulatively contributing to a positive identity as a scientist. Based on information provided by 1013 students from 8 classes in biology, chemistry, and physics, we constructed conceptually focused and psychometrically sound survey measures of three sets of motivational factors: (1) students’ appraisals of their own competence, autonomy, and relatedness; (2) the quality of students’ behavioural and emotional engagement in academic work; and (3) students’ emerging identities as scientists, including their science identity, purpose in science, and science career plans. Using an iterative confirmatory process, we tested short item sets for unidimensionality and internal consistency, and then cross-validated them. Tests of measurement invariance showed that scales were generally comparable across disciplines. Most importantly, scales and final course grades showed correlations consistent with predictions from SDT. These measures may provide a window on the student motivational experience for educators, researchers, and interventionists who aim to improve the quality of undergraduate science teaching and learning.     

Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure?

This study examined ways in which children's risk of school failure may be moderated by support from teachers. Participants were 910 children in a national prospective study. Children were identified as at risk at ages 5-6 years on the basis of demographic characteristics and the display of multiple functional (behavioral, attention, academic, social) problems reported by their kindergarten teachers. By the end of first grade, at-risk students placed in first-grade classrooms offering strong instructional and emotional support had achievement scores and student-teacher relationships commensurate with their low-risk peers; at-risk students placed in less supportive classrooms had lower achievement and more conflict with teachers. These findings have implications for understanding the role that classroom experience may play in pathways to positive adaptation.     

Imagination, emotions and scientific thinking: what matters in the being and becoming of a teacher of elementary science?

Christina Siry and Johaira Lara in researching pre-service teachers field based experiences of elementary science education bring to the fore the importance of teacher identity. In this paper, an alterative reading of pre-service teaching experience is given, one that complements the analysis provided by Siry and Lara, but which utilizes the cultural-historical concepts of emotions and imagination and creativity. It is argued that these important concepts give further insights into becoming a teacher of elementary science.