Not just skills: what a focus on knowledge means for vocational education

This contribution to the symposium on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge based approach’, supports his contention that curriculum theory has lost sight of its object—‘what is taught and learned in schools’, and argues that this has particularly deleterious consequences for vocational education and training (VET). VET is unproblematically positioned as applied, experiential and work-focused learning, and it is seen as a solution for those who are alienated from or unsuccessful in more traditional forms of academic education. This article argues that rather than being a mechanism for social inclusion, VET is instead a key way in which social inequality is mediated and reproduced because it excludes students from accessing the theoretical knowledge they need to participate in debates and controversies in society and in their occupational field of practice. It presents a social realist analysis to argue why VET students need access to theoretical knowledge, how a focus on experiential and applied learning constitutes a mechanism for social exclusion and what a ‘knowledge rich’ VET curriculum would look like.     

Infusion or confusion: A meta–analysis of Environmental Education in the 21st century curriculum of Botswana

The purpose of this article is to examine the integration of environmental education (EE) in the secondary school curriculum of Botswana. In order to achieve effective environmental literacy, EE needs to be integrated into all aspects of students’ learning experience. The article draws on a variety of qualitative meta-analyses of Botswana government documents and journal articles, published between 2002 and 2012. Although EE is integrated primarily in social studies and science subjects, the findings suggested that it is in a state of confusion due to ineffective professional development of teachers and neglect of educational authorities. Teachers at the secondary level rarely include EE because students are not tested on it. The study suggested that teachers’ values towards EE, subject flexibility, integration and child-centred learning should be enhanced as strategies for halting the confusion of its infusion into the curriculum     

On the road to science education for sustainability?

In this paper I discuss three issues relevant to the ideas introduced by Colucci-Gray, Perazzone, Dodman and Camino (2012) in their three-part paper on epistemological reflections and educational practice for science education for sustainability: (1) social studies of science for science education, (2) education for sustainability or sustainable development, and (3) curriculum studies and action-research. For the first issue, I address the need for science education efforts dedicated to an epistemological renewal to take seriously into consideration the contributions of the social studies of science. This perspective may be fruitful for an education for sustainability that also requires one to consider the political dimension of environmental issues and their intrinsic power relationships. It also encourages the abandonment of dichotomies that hamper democratic participation: experts/lay people, science/society, scientific knowledge/values, etc. For the second issue, my commentary focuses on the challenges that education for sustainability or sustainable development pose to science education with a shift from subject matter contents to socio-educative aims and socio-political actions. These challenges lead to the third issue with an invitation to apprehend science education for sustainability within the frameworks of curriculum theory and design-based research.     

A study of practical‐moral knowledge in science teaching: Case studies in physical science classrooms

This study further extends a conceptual framework that explores science teaching as a “practice” not reducible to the application of formal knowledge, but as informed by teachers' practical‐moral knowledge. A hermeneutic model was developed to examine practical‐moral knowledge indirectly by investigating teachers' commitments, interpretations, actions, and dialectic interactions between them. The study also aimed to analyze teachers' actions in terms of their interpretations and commitments as they realize “internal goods” of their practice. Ethnographic case studies of three science teachers were conducted through classroom observation, in‐depth interviews and dialogues, and artifact analysis. A commitment of preparing students for national exams was common to the three teachers but was manifested differently in classroom practices. This commitment originated from interpretations about the duty of “good” teachers not letting students and schools down. Other emergent commitments were commitments: to conceptual understandings, to “challenge” learners, and to social modeling. We present each with associated interpretations and actions. The concepts of practical wisdom (phronesis) and gap closing are used to characterize teachers' practical knowledge and its development respectively. Implications for teacher education are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 929–951, 2010     

Environmental education,national curriculum and primary school teachers. Findings of a research study in England and possible implications upon education for sustainable development

This article reports the results of a research study on the impact of environmental education (EE) upon English primary school teachers, and it then discusses the findings of the study in relation to education for sustainable development, as EE is considered one of the two precursors of education for sustainable development. The article begins by considering the development of EE in the English national curriculum of primary schools and then briefly outlines and reports two major findings of the study, comparing them against the new context of education for sustainable development. Overall, the article demonstrates how EE, the national curriculum and teachers have interacted with each other, while arguing that there seems to be a parallel course among education for sustainable development and EE in the national curriculum, with no apparent crossroad to link the two and explain how education for sustainable development is partly based on EE as well.     

Curriculum coherence and teachers’ decision-making in Scottish high school history syllabi

Abstract

Debates over which historical content should be compulsory for study in the school curriculum are a common feature of education systems across the globe. These debates invariably weigh the perceived benefits to social cohesion of a ‘common core’ of knowledge against the perceived risks to democracy of government-sanctioned ‘official knowledge’. Scotland has, perhaps, taken an extreme position on this debate by specifying no mandatory historical content in its social studies curriculum. This paper uses 21 interviews with Scottish history teachers to explore how schools use this curricular autonomy: which historical periods they choose to teach and why.

?The paper suggests that, without access to theoretical debates about the nature of historical knowledge, schools fall back on instrumental justifications for content selection within the curriculum. The result in many cases is an extremely narrow and fragmented syllabus in which pupil preference, teacher interests and the logistics of timetabling guide content selection.

?The paper concludes that the formulation of coherent school-level history curricula is dependent on the fostering agency among a theoretically-informed teaching profession.     

Science education and worldview

Is there a place for Indigenous Knowledge in the science curriculum for a Zulu community in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa? This article argues “yes,” based on a participative research and development project that discovered relevant science learning in a Zulu community. Among community concerns for relevant factual and performative knowledge, we found that culture and worldview are critical to community identity, to visioning educational outcomes, and to learning in school science. Cultural practices may contribute to pedagogy and curriculum; curriculum, in turn, may affirm cultural practices. Further, worldview needs to be understood as an aspect of knowledge creation. By understanding key aspects of an African worldview, science educators can contribute to both meaningful science education and community well-being. By fostering culture and worldview, a rural community can make a unique contribution to science education.     

建构高职体育教育课程知识体系 提升高职学生的综合素质

体育教育在我国还是一门新兴学科,在当前我国构建和谐社会、推进全民健身的背景下,体育教育正面临着难得的发展机遇。高职体育教育是中国特色的高等职业教育的重要组成部分,不但面临发展机遇,也面临培养人才目标的挑战。通过资料研究法和规范分析法,建构高等职业院校体育教育课程知识体系,研究高职体育教育课程知识体系中的课程项目对学生综合素质的影响,进而得出结论:集体运动、户外运动和健康科普知识课程对提升高职学生的综合素质有更优的教学应用价值。     

人文及人文教育与素质教育之关系

在厘清了人文、人文精神、人文教育和素质教育等术语基本内涵之后,我们发现,人文教育乃是素质教育的内在要求,是实现人的可持续发展与社会的可持续发展的需要;人文科学不仅是一门博大的知识体系,而且是一种精神体系和价值体系,比起自然科学体系来,人文科学知识则更容易直接“内化”为学生个体的人格品质;人文精神的弘扬有助于学生创新素质的培育;而素质教育的人文本质特征是完满人格的培养;我们还必须关注人文教育与思想道德教育的关系。     

Environment and Public Opinion

Abstract

Initiated by recommendations in the reports of the study groups that examined the status of science education in the United States early in this decade, science-technology-society (STS) education has become accepted as a viable part of the school science curriculum. The social responsibility perspective on STS education that was embodied in those recommendations has become the most widely accepted. Approached from a social responsibility perspective, the goal of STS education is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and affective qualities to take responsible action on the myriad of STS issues facing humankind. That goal is congruent with the superordinate goal of EE. Given the parallel and the lack of a body of research in STS education, recent EE research on responsible environmental behavior was used to generate a goal structure for STS education that is similar to one prepared for EE by Hungerford et al. in 1980. The STS goal structure is further explicated in a set of fifty-three learner competencies.     

Toward citizenship science education: what students do to make the world a better place?

With increased focus on sustainability and socioscientific issues, dealing with issues related to citizenship is now seen as an important element of science education. However, in order to make the world a better place, mere understanding about socioscientific issues is not enough. Action must also be taken. In this study, 35 international gifted students—potential scientists—aged 15–19 were interviewed to investigate what they were doing to make the world a better place. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with focus on students’ actions toward a better world, their rationalizations for such actions, and the role of science in the rationalizations. The analysis shows that students consciously take a wide range of actions, and that they see citizenship as a process of constant self-development. The three categories created to highlight the variation in the ways students take action were personally responsible actions, participatory actions, and preparing for future. Although many students saw that science and scientists play a big role in solving especially the environmental problems, most of them also discussed the structural causes for problems, as well as the interplay of social, economic, and political forces. The results indicate that citizenship science education should take the variety of students’ actions into consideration, give students the possibility to take individual and participatory action, as well as give students opportunities to get to know and discuss the ways a career in science or engineering can contribute to saving the world.     

Engaging youth of color in applied science education and public health promotion

Participation in inquiry-based science education, which focuses on student-constructed learning, has been linked to academic success. Whereas the benefits of this type of science education are evident, access to such high-quality science curriculum and programming is not equitable. Black and Latino students in particular have less access to supplementary science programming, and fewer opportunities to engage in inquiry-based education. This paper describes outcomes associated with an inquiry-based out-of-school time science education program, Nuestro Futuro: Applied Science Education to Engage Black and Latino Youth (NFASE), which sought to build the capacity of middle school students of color to ‘think’ like health scientists from diverse disciplinary perspectives. The program was designed with the intent of (1) improving student attitudes toward and motivation for science and (2) increasing active and engaged citizenship (AEC). NFASE students explored health inequity and the social determinants of health locally and engaged in developing health promotion, outreach and education efforts targeted to their peers, parents/families, and community. Interest in the program was high overall, but implementation was not without challenges. Although evaluation outcomes indicate that there were no statistically significant changes in science-related attitudes or motivation, students reported significant increases in neighborhood social connection, as well as overall AEC.     

质疑物理课程知识的绝对化和权威性

基础教育物理教材编制和实际教学中普遍存在知识绝对化、简单化倾向,正视和反思这些问题,重构课程知识的权威性或合法性,尊重并有效利用师生的知识解释空间和解释权利,充分实现课程知识的教育价值,将有利于我们理解科学的本质和科学教育的目标,有利于理性思考基础教育课程改革的理念,有利于教师教育专业的健康发展,有利于国民科学素质和人文素质的提高。     

Perceptions,challenges and coping strategies of science teachers in teaching socioscientific issues: A systematic review

Science education in recent years has increasingly emphasized the connections between knowledge and matters of social importance. Socioscientific issues (SSIs)—complex, often controversial issues linked to the development of science and technology—are widely recognized as a valuable arena for the school curriculum to foster students’ scientific literacy. This paper reviews the research literature on how science teachers teach socioscientific issues with 25 empirical studies published between 2004 and 2019. The results show that teachers generally hold a partially informed understanding of SSI-based teaching. Multifarious challenges facing teachers in teaching SSIs are mainly at the teacher, student, and policy levels. However, our findings suggest that teachers lack explicit strategies to cope with these challenges and that SSI-based teaching should not rely on individual teachers alone. We argue for more support for teachers to improve the quality of their implementation of SSIs. This review has implications for education policymakers, teacher educators, school leaders, and teachers to respond to the challenges facing teachers in teaching SSIs collaboratively. Potential directions for further research are also discussed.     

以互联网知识产品生产为导向的高校艺术理论课程教学模式改革研究

互联网发展与知识生产社会化正推动高等院校艺术理论课程教学改革。依托知识生产模式转型理论与联通主义学习论,以互联网知识产品生产为导向的艺术理论课程教学模式改革将教学过程划分为产品的设计、产品的样品制作与验证、产品的发布和产品使用效果反馈四个阶段。该模式将构建多位一体的课程资源体系,推动师生角色转变为知识生产的共同主体,出产形式丰富的教学成果,并形成多主体、多角度的教学评价体系,有助于提升学生的学习动力和知识的创新利用,实现艺术理论创意向产品转化,推进高校艺术理论知识生产向社会开放、与市场接轨,最终将艺术理论课堂打造成内外相互促进、持续更新的互联网知识产品生产动态系统。     

科学课程的认识内涵及实践论意义

科学课程是科学课程决定者以社会意识形态的媒介、个体看问题的特定视角来选择、组织科学知识而形成的。科学课程是与一定社会的意识形态、科学课程决定者看待科学知识的角度等密切相关的,是具有“价值性”、“社会性”和“选择性”的。这一新的阐释将使研究者、师生认识到科学课程是不可避免地要涉及到特定社会的价值因素以及个体看问题的“角度”的,科学课程知识并不完全代表人类探索自然的真实状况,而是具有局限性、境域性和片面性的,是需要不断完善、修正与发展的。只有放弃“客观”、“价值中立”、“普遍正确”的科学课程理念,不断反思和追问科学课程知识的真理性,才能真正深化科学教育研究、深入进行科学教育实验。对于师生而言,在科学课程面前是人人平等的,没有人掌握着永远正确、不容反驳的知识真理,由此促使教师在教学以及社会生活中以平等、宽容的态度对待学生,并在实践中尊重学生的个体差异,建立民主、平等的师生关系。     

Knowing,researching, and reporting science education: Lessons from science and technology studies

Recent research in science and technology studies changed the way we understand science as it is practiced—that is, how scientific knowledge emerges from social, natural, social, political, cultural, historical, and economic contingencies of scientific work. Many science educators agree that students should learn not only science but also about science. In this article, we (a) outline important findings, research methods, and ways of reporting research that emerged from science and technology studies; and (b) show how familiarity with science and technology studies research can provide science educators with valuable insights about curriculum design and research on learning. We conclude that science and technology studies can serve as a resource to science education and that there is a potential for conducting collaborative work between science education and science and technology studies. Such collaborations have the potential to yield better theories about how people become competent in science from childhood to adulthood. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 213–235, 1998.     

The right to enhancement: students talking about music knowledge in the secondary curriculum

In this paper the idea of social entitlement to conceptual knowledge is considered in relation to students’ views of music at secondary school in New Zealand. The data was collected as a means of triangulating the key focus of a study concerning the beliefs and actions of teachers in relation to curriculum. In interpreting the student data I utilise thematic categories developed in the study but also Bernstein's concepts of pedagogic rights and identities to consider whether students’ experience of the curriculum empowered them to look beyond what they already know to consider alternatives. Most students were able to recognise themselves and their aspirations within their school music departments while also recognising the potential importance of the theoretical knowledge of the discipline. The interplay between enabling pedagogy and curriculum content appears to be pivotal in developing these rights for students.     

默会知识观下的创新教育

创新靠人才，培养创新人才是当今教育的一项重要任务，增强学生的创新意识是新课程改革的核心内容之一。科学知识的生产包含了大量个体默会知识的参与。科学的创新根源于默会的力量。教育要想培养学生的创新意识和创新能力，只向他们传授已有的显性知识、成果和方法是不够的，还必须使他们掌握大量默会的认识、信念、概念、框架、方法与技巧等等。默会知识对创新教育产生深刻的影响。