Supporting Scientific Conceptual Consciousness or Learning in ‘a Roundabout Way’ in Play‐based Contexts

Little change has been noted over 10 years of research into teacher knowledge and confidence to teach science in the early and primary years of schooling. There is a significant body of research demonstrating that early childhood and primary teachers lack confidence and competence in teaching science. However, much of this research blames the victim, and offers little analysis for the systemic reasons for teachers’ confidence and competence in science education other than a lack of science knowledge. This paper reports on a study that examined teacher philosophy and pedagogical practices within the context of an analysis of children’s concept formation within playful early childhood settings. Through teacher interviews, video recordings of science play, and photographic documentation of children’s science activities in one rural preschool, it was noted that teacher philosophy about how young children learn is a significant contributing factor to learning in science. It is argued that teacher philosophy makes more of a difference to children’s scientific learning than does teacher confidence to teach science or knowledge of science. The study also shows that without a mediational scientific framework for using materials in play‐based contexts, children will generate their own imaginary, often non‐scientific, narratives for making sense of the materials provided.     

Reflections on and implications of the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 (PISA 2015) performance of students in Taiwan: The role of epistemic beliefs about science in scientific literacy

The 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has drawn a substantial amount of attention from science educators and educational policymakers because it marked the first time that PISA assessed students' ability to evaluate and design scientific inquiry using computer-based simulations. We undertook a secondary analysis of the PISA 2015 Taiwan dataset of 7,973 students from 214 schools to identify critical issues of student learning and potentially reshape our educational system and policies. Thus, this study sought to identify potential latent clusters of students' scientific literacy performance according to a set of focus variables selected from the PISA student questionnaires. In addition, significant determinants of students' scientific literacy and resiliency were analyzed. Cluster analysis results demonstrated the presence of four clusters of high, medium, low, and inferior scientific literacy/epistemology/affective dispositions. Specifically, students in cluster 1 compared with other clusters showed that the higher the scientific literacy scores are, the more positive epistemic beliefs about science, achievement motivation, enjoyment of science, interests in broad science, science self-efficacy, information and communications technology (ICT) interest, ICT autonomy, more learning time, more teacher supports and teacher-directed instructions are. Regression results indicated that the most robust predictor of students' scientific literacy performance is epistemic beliefs about science, followed by learning time, interest in broad science topics, achievement motivation, inquiry-based science teaching and learning practice, and science self-efficacy. Decision tree model results showed that the descending order of the variables in terms of their importance in differentiating students as high- versus low-performing were epistemic beliefs about science, learning time, self-efficacy, interest in broad science, and scientific inquiry, respectively. A similar decision tree model to determine students as resilient versus non-resilient also was found. Various interpretations of these results are discussed, as are their implications for science education research, science teaching, and science education policy.     

Teaching the process of science: faculty perceptions and an effective methodology

Most scientific endeavors require science process skills such as data interpretation, problem solving, experimental design, scientific writing, oral communication, collaborative work, and critical analysis of primary literature. These are the fundamental skills upon which the conceptual framework of scientific expertise is built. Unfortunately, most college science departments lack a formalized curriculum for teaching undergraduates science process skills. However, evidence strongly suggests that explicitly teaching undergraduates skills early in their education may enhance their understanding of science content. Our research reveals that faculty overwhelming support teaching undergraduates science process skills but typically do not spend enough time teaching skills due to the perceived need to cover content. To encourage faculty to address this issue, we provide our pedagogical philosophies, methods, and materials for teaching science process skills to freshman pursuing life science majors. We build upon previous work, showing student learning gains in both reading primary literature and scientific writing, and share student perspectives about a course where teaching the process of science, not content, was the focus. We recommend a wider implementation of courses that teach undergraduates science process skills early in their studies with the goals of improving student success and retention in the sciences and enhancing general science literacy.     

Teaching the Nature of Science from a Philosophical Perspective

This paper draws attention to basic philosophical perspectives which are of theoretical and methodological interest for science education, general education and curriculum research. It focuses on potential contributions philosophy class can offer if philosophy education opens up for science and for a collaboration of teachers in the context of post-compulsory education. A central educational goal is to connect basic philosophical skills with any curricular intellectual practice. This implies the possibility of crossing disciplinary boundaries. Hence, the present paper questions the disciplinary rigidity of education and aims at bridging the artificial gap between teaching philosophy and teaching science in order to enrich the individual school subjects involved. Towards this end, this article sketches out a conceptual framework for the issue of interdisciplinarity with regard to philosophy and science in upper secondary school. This framework takes into account aspects of the nature of science (NOS), history and philosophy of science (HPS) and the critical thinking approach which have significant implications for teaching. It aims to facilitate a basic understanding of the significant positive impact philosophy could have on improving scientific literacy as well as decision-making in general. I set forth methods of cross-curricular teaching which can promote innovation in education as interdisciplinarity already does in research since there is growing appreciation of collaboration and partnership between philosophy and science.

     

影响教育理念的根本问题之一——艺术优先于科学

艺术优先于科学。这个"先"字并不单是一个时间概念,它主要指艺术与科学的关联实质。通常以为,技术是最有用的,从技术到科学,再到艺术和哲学,似乎是用处越来越不大了。这种观念给我们的教育、科学乃至社会的发展所带来的危害之烈,可能是不易被感觉到的。历史和现实都能说明,重大的科学理论,从开端到展开的过程中,艺术和哲学都是不可或缺的。     

德国古典哲学的繁盛与科学黄金时代的到来

哲学对于科学有着重要的指导作用。19世纪以前,德国的科学与英、法等国相比,长期处于十分落后的状态。1781—1831年,德国古典哲学的发展为科学方法的进步和科学体制的改革奠定了思想基础,使德国在具备了当时最先进的科研体制的同时,又培育出一批优秀的科学家,于是德国进入了科学的黄金时代。     

Science Teaching: What Does It Mean?

This study considers the relationship between science, science teaching and the philosophy of science perceiving these three cultural phenomena as a semantic triad. This approach presents science teaching as being a form of a scientific reflection. The relationship of science teaching to the philosophy of science is advocated to be essential, revealing the conceptual meaning of science in the science curriculum and thus removing the semantic degeneracy taking place when the philosophy of science is ignored in science education. The study points at the bricolage as well as magic nature of the science curriculum preserving as long as science teaching preserves semantic degeneracy. Different types of meaning of Schwab’s commonplaces were recognized. The study challenges the common view of the relationship between science, science teaching and pedagogy and suggests effective representation of individual knowledge of science educators.     

The exclusive language of science? Comparing knowledge gains and motivation in English-bilingual biology lessons between non-selected and preselected classes

The dominant role of English as the global language of science entails a requirement for science teachers to equip their non-native English-speaking students with receptive and productive language skills for communication in scientific contexts. Although science courses with English elements are part of some schools’ bilingual programmes, they are usually not available to a wider student audience, but are restricted to high achieving or highly motivated students. The present study was to test whether a newly developed biology content and language integrated learning (CLIL) unit could also benefit standard ninth grade classes. The learning gains and motivation of bilingually inexperienced students were compared to those of a preselected group and a comparison group that had been taught solely in their native language. All participating classes achieved similar gains in content knowledge, and the standard students rated their motivation for bilingual science lessons as positive, albeit not as high as the preselected group. We thus provide evidence against concerns that teaching non-selected students bilingually might lead to deficits in content knowledge acquisition. Following this, we conclude that scientific English should be a part of standard science lessons regardless of specific school programmes.     

科学教育中的知识、方法与信念——基于科学哲学的考察

科学教育强调学生理解科学的本质,而不仅仅是知识,这是因为科学与社会之间的联系越来越紧密,凸显了将科学看作了解世界的方式在认识论上的重要性。出于个体认识论的需要、科学研究的认识论特征以及科学外行与科学家在认知劳力上的区分,科学教育的目标转向受教育个体未来的社会行动,应培育学生建立对科学的信任和维护科学的认识论权威。为实现这种目标,科学教育应从理解科学的本质转向理解真实的科学实践的本质,在科学教育中呈现真实的而非理想化的科学实践,采纳基于科学哲学模型和理论的实用主义进路。科学哲学对科学实践的新近研究,虽然可以提供理论基础,但应该与科学教育进行建设性对话,更加关注非科学家理解科学的模式,将哲学模型转化为适合学生认知水平和需要、符合教学情境的教学资源。     

A strengthened teaching mission in preschool: teachers' experiences,beliefs and strategies

This paper aimed to explore how preschool teachers' experience their strengthened teaching mission, specifically when working with scientific exploration. The study was based on the philosophy of the life-world, a branch of the phenomenological movement. Life-world philosophy focuses on the concrete reality humans inhabit and is responsive to its inherent ambiguity. The data consisted of written teacher responses and follow-up interviews. The findings showed a broad and multidimensional way of working with science and exploration in which embodied experiences and intertwined relationships were prominent. Teachers' notions of what constitutes scientific exploration and learning represent a combination of science as literacy and science as inquiry, emphasising democracy, aesthetics, experimentation and reflection. Being present and focusing children's relationship with the phenomena seem to be teachers' strategies of handling their strengthened teaching mission.     

近30年来中国古代自然哲学与科技哲学研究

20世纪80年代以来,中国古代自然哲学与科技哲学的研究已经愈来愈成为中国哲学研究的重要组成部分。其内容主要可以分为三大块,一是对中国古代自然哲学及其特点的研究,包括哲学家和著作中的自然观、哲学范畴中的自然哲学内涵、自然哲学中的生态观等方面;二是对中国古代科技史中哲学思想的研究,包括科学家、科学著作的自然哲学思想以及古代科学的研究方法等方面;三是对中国古代哲学与科技关系的研究,包括哲学与科技发展的相互作用、哲学家和哲学著作对科技的研究、儒家文化对古代科技的影响等方面。已出现了不少重要的研究成果,形成了一些重要的观点,但仍存在着诸多问题,主要有三个方面,一是偏重于个案研究,整体性研究不足;二是局限于分门别类的资料梳理,理论分析研究不足;三是简单判断有余,深入思考不足。     

Rekindling Phlogiston: From Classroom Case Study to Interdisciplinary Relationships

First, I show how to use the concept of phlogiston to teach oxidation and reduction reactions, based on the historical context of their discovery, while also teaching about the history and nature of science. Second, I discuss the project as an exemplar for integrating history, philosophy and sociology of science in teaching basic scientific concepts. Based on this successful classroom experience, I critique the application of common constructivist themes to teaching practice. Finally, this case shows, along with others, how the classroom is not merely a place for applying history, philosophy or sociology, but is also a site for active research in these areas. This potential is critical, I claim, for building a stable, permanent interdisciplinary relationships between these fields.     

Evidence-based teaching: a simple view of “science”

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the insistent claims by advocates of evidence-based teaching that it is a rigorous scientific approach. The paper questions the view that randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses are the only truly scientific methods in educational research. It suggests these claims are often based on a rhetorical appeal which relies on too simple a notion of “science”. Exploring the tacit assumptions behind “evidence-based teaching”, the paper identifies an empiricist and reductionist philosophy of science, and a failure to recognise the complexity of education and pedagogy. Following a discussion of large-scale syntheses of evidence (Hattie’s Visible Learning; the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit), it examines in detail one strand of the latter concerning sports participation, which is used to illustrate flaws in procedures and the failure to take seriously the need for causal explanations.     

职前科学教育教师专业素养亟待提升——基于首届全国科学教育专业师范生教学技能大赛

教学技能大赛是一种对话、反思与研究的专业行为,论文以首届全国科学教育专业师范生教学技能创新大赛中的即席讲演、模拟上课与教学设计文本为案例,阐述职前科学教师专业素养现状。具体表现为科学教学理论的缺失,教学设计能力的失语,课堂教学技能的不足。进而提出需要建构适切职前科学教师的实践培养途径……加强对科学教育研究前沿的关注与理论学习;促进科学教学设计理论与实践的学习;创造教学实践机会,促进其教学技能的自我建构。     

Using citizen science beyond teaching science content: a strategy for making science relevant to students’ lives

I respond to Pike and Dunne by exploring the utilization of citizen science in science education. Their results indicate that students fail to pursue science beyond the secondary level, in part, because of prior educational experiences with science education. Students lack motivation to pursue degrees and careers in science because they feel science is not relevant to their lives or they are simply not good at science. With this understanding, the science education community now needs to move beyond a discussion of the problem and move forward with continued discourse on possible solutions. Science educators need to focus on developing connections between students’ everyday lives and science so that they will have tangible reasons for continuing with the lifelong learning of science. In this response, I will show that citizen science as an educational context holds much promise, respectively. Participation in citizen science projects moves scientific content from the abstract to the tangible involving students in hands-on, active learning. In addition, if civic projects are centered within their own communities, then the science becomes relevant to their lives because it is focused on topics in their own backyards.     

Relationship between science knowledge levels and beliefs toward science instruction held by preservice elementary teachers

Aspects of science background knowledge and attitudes toward teaching science were examined among preservice elementary teachers. The results indicated a low level of science knowledge, a negative relationship between science knowledge and attitude toward teaching science, and a marked lack of confidence toward teaching science among the prospective teachers. Some interesting paradoxes were also found. Recommendations concerning preservice preparation, inclusion of academic science coursework, and collaborative efforts between college departments are offered.     

任务型语言教学法在英语泛读课中的运用

任务型语言教学法是近年来新兴的课堂教学手段,是一种以任务为核心来计划、组织语言教学的教学方法,旨在强调把语言运用的基本理念转化为具有实践意义的课堂教学模式,在课堂教学活动中让学生用英语完成各种真实生活、学习、工作等活动,从而培养学生运用英语的能力.目前,大多数高校英语泛读教学还是采用传统的方式授课,表现为过多地承担了词汇、语法等语言基础知识的任务,逐字逐句地讲解、翻译等.这种“满堂灌”的方法忽略了学生参与课堂教学的积极性,学生缺乏主动建构知识的动力,严重影响了阅读教学的效果.以英语泛读教学为突破点,依托任务型语言教学的核心理据,结合英语泛读课堂教学实际,对英语任务型泛读教学进行探析.     

也谈新建本科高校青年教师的教学动力

新建本科高线青年教师普遍存在教学动力不足的现象,主要表现为教师精力投入不足、重科研轻教研,这与学校的政策导向与教师个人的修养密切相关。提升青年教师教学动力,一方面需要学校改革完善相关制度、提高教学服务水平,另一方面青年教师自己要增强责任意识和教学自信,提高教学能力。     

科学的本质与学生科学本质观的培养

开展科学的本质教育是培养学生科学素养的核心内容。正确的科学本质观建立在科学知识、科学方法以及科学情感态度与价值观的形成基础之上。通过实施新的科学教育理念,改革科学课程的教学内容,转变教师教学策略,使学习科学成为学生主动探究的过程,必将进一步引导学生加深对科学本质的认识和理解,促进学生科学本质观的形成与发展。     

Introductory Comments on Philosophy and Constructivism in Science Education

This article indicates something of the enormous influence of constructivism on contemporary science education. The article distinguishes educational constructivism (that has its origins in theories of children's learning), from constructivism in the philosophy of science (usually associated with instrumentalist views of scientific theory), and from constructivism in the sociology of science (of which the Edinburgh Strong Programme in the sociology of scientific knowledge is the best known example). It notes the expansion of educational constructivism from initial considerations of how children come to learn, to views about epistemology, educational theory, ethics, and the cognitive claims of science. From the learning-theory beginnings of constructivism, and at each stage of its growth, philosophical questions arise that deserve the attention of educators. Among other things, the article identifies some theoretical problems concerning constructivist teaching of the content of science.