Science for All: Engaging Students with Special Needs in and About Science

The notion of “science for all” suggests that all students—irrespective of achievement and ability—should engage in opportunities to understand the practice and discourse of science. Improving scientific literacy is an intrinsic goal of science education, yet current instructional practices may not effectively support all students, in particular, students with special needs. Argument‐based inquiry approaches, such as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), require all students to construct their scientific understandings by engaging in investigations and negotiating their ideas in multiple contexts, such as discussions and writing. Various SWH studies demonstrated that students engaged in appropriating the language, culture, practice, and dispositions of science generally improved their critical thinking and standardized test scores. The implementation of such an approach has several implications for science and special education research and practice, including how learning environments should be established to encourage the inclusion of all students’ ideas, as well as how scaffolded supports can and should be used to support science learning.     

Creating a Science E-book with Fifth Grade Students

This article explains how one teacher used iBooks Author, a free digital textbook creation tool that makes iBooks for iPads, in an upper elementary classroom to improve students’ expository writing skills and understanding of science content. The classroom teacher taught students pre-requisite writing and technology skills for two weeks, and then helped these students design, develop, and publish their own iBook. Students planned and developed content using Thinking Maps, storyboards, Google Docs, iMovie and other technology tools to create their iBook. A comparison of students’ work in the iBook to previous written work revealed an improvement in expository writing in multiple ways: better organization and connection of ideas; increased use of academic vocabulary; and an increased use of clarifying details and analogies. Students also gained a deeper understanding of science concepts as reported through their comments after the project was finished. Students became more proficient users of the technology, and also reported an increased sense of self-efficacy and confidence because they published a book in the iBookstore     

Engaging Students in Science Courses: Lessons of Change from the Arctic

Where you live should have something to do with what you teach. In the Arctic, the idea of place-based education – teaching and sharing knowledge that is needed to live well – is central to the UARCTIC consortium and the 4^th International Polar Year educational reform effort. A place-based issue oriented context can engage students in chemistry concepts when it intersects with their experience and lives. This article examines the rationale and means of integrating local concerns such as world view, culture, traditional knowledge, and policy into both general and specialized chemistry courses. More broadly, capacious placebased issues should be widely adapted by all curriculum reform efforts to demonstrate the connectivity between science and societal understanding of technological options. A case in point is the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in a non-majors general chemistry course when the concepts of scientific method, ice and water resources, genetic engineering, and so forth are discussed. In a specialized course on radioactivity in the north, topics connected nuclear chemistry and radioactivity to people and energy. The local landscape should be central to science courses and involve issues relevant to stewardship, a component of the indigenous world view. The historical issues can be connected to current nuclear energy and uranium mining as they relate to the risks and benefits for the local community. This article will make the case that curriculum reform that focuses on real-world topics will not only engage students so that they perform well in class but also spark their interest so that they continue learning after the course is over.     

Group Project Work with Undergraduate Veterinary Science Students

This paper evaluates the experience of second year undergraduate veterinary science students performing group project work. The goals of the study were to encourage deep learning and to develop specific 'life skills', such as decision making, teamwork and communication skills. The results were compared with two similar studies by using a similar survey form to collect student responses. Overall, the students appeared to enjoy the group project and developed new learning skills, although the issue of passengers (poor contributors) was not fully eliminated.     

为学生和谐发展搭建平台——广西南宁市初中毕业生综合素质评价总结

为了进一步深化基础教育课程改革实验,积极稳妥地推进南宁市课改实验区初中毕业考试和普通高中招生制度改革。南宁市在2004年中考制度改革的基础上,结合课改实验区的实际,加大了改革的力度,制定了2005年《南宁市初中毕业生综合素质评价方案》,并把评定结果作为衡量学生是否达到毕业标准的主要依据,以及高中阶段学校招生的重要依据之一,为今后在更大范围内进行初中毕业和普通高中招生制度改革奠定基础。     

Computer Technology in an Authentic Science Project

Summary

While a constructivist approach to the integration of technology in the science curriculum can enable teachers to educate students on the cyclical nature of the research process and interrelate various scientific concepts, there are several considerations for educators must take to assure that it is done effectively. The authors provide a review of a project that was designed and implemented for high school science students that integrated the use of technology in a constructivist environment. This review summarizes the strengths and limitations of the project and provides educators with further considerations when implementing such a project. As educators become more familiar with what is required to successfully integrate technology in a constructivist environment, the limitations and obstacles that may be encountered can be limited. More research devoted to the use of computer technology to teach science process skills will bring teachers and students closer to harnessing the potential powers of both project-based learning strategies and the computer environment.     

Engaging Quiet Students in the College Classroom

Quiet students are sometimes misunderstood in the college classroom. Students may be quiet for reasons related to personality traits, learned behaviors, or situational factors, but regardless, their silences may be misinterpreted by their instructors as a lack of engagement in their courses. In fact, quiet students are often very engaged in the learning process but may need space to express their interest in ways that are suited to their quiet tendencies. This article describes how quiet students are perceived in the classroom, reviews the reasons why quiet students often serve as a source of uncertainty for college instructors, and explains a number of strategies that instructors can use to meet the learning needs of quiet students.     

Engaging Kenyan secondary students in an Oral History Project: Education as emancipation

This article uses a case study approach to explore the viability and impact of learner-centered, emancipatory pedagogies. The research focuses on the implementation of an Oral History Project with students at a Kenyan secondary school. Findings reveal that the project had a significant impact on participants’ beliefs about teaching and learning, strengthened students’ sense of self-efficacy, and enhanced participants’ perceptions of community knowledge. The study suggests that while learner-centered, emancipatory pedagogies are viable and can have a transformative impact on students and teachers, systematic and sustained instructional support and professional development are needed to ensure long-term success.     

Engaging Undergraduate Kinesiology Students in Clinically-based Research

Many undergraduate students in kinesiology are interested in clinical careers and seek research opportunities for advanced study and unique learning experiences. This article describes a process of engaging undergraduate students in a multi-disciplinary, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded program project investigating factors that may affect pelvic floor support and symptoms in primiparous women during the first year postpartum. Students complete general and protocol-specific training prior to engagement, have specific tasks that reinforce skill development and require independence, and are invited to participate in additional opportunities with the investigative team. The topic of pelvic floor health is novel to most students and participation in this research expands their knowledge beyond a mainstream kinesiology curriculum. Institutionalizing this type of program could formalize undergraduate student research experiences and facilitate ongoing clinical research efforts with a kinesiology focus.     

Engaging Students in Macro Issues Through Community-Based Learning

Abstract

This paper describes the revision of a curriculum that was initiated to engage and sustain students' interest in the macro dimension of social work practice. Specifically, we describe how two junior policy courses, a seniormacro practice course, and a research methods course were revised to include a service learning approach. This article provides a review of the literature and focuses on the development of service learning in two social work courses. Results of subsequent research are discussed, indicating service learning provides successful opportunities to engage students in macro social work practice.     

高职工科类毕业设计改革探索

高职工科类单一的传统毕业设计已经不适应高职教育的人才培养目标,因而其毕业设计应在选题、形式、内容、评价等方面进行全面改革。高职工科类毕业设计应有自己的特色,充分体现操作技能的特点,遵循制作水平为主、理论水平为辅的原则。     

谈科学教学中的有效情境创设

在科学课堂上构建多种有创造性的学习活动情境,诱发学生的好奇心,调动学生的探究动机,鼓励学生大胆并且有效地合作。结合教学实践,提出了多种情境创设途径及教学实例。     

Engaging in Science: A Feeling for the Discipline

Most accounts of affect and motivation in the science education literature have discussed them as relevant to, but distinct from, disciplinary pursuits. These include Pintrich’s seminal work on affective and motivational factors in learning science (P. R. Pintrich, 1999, 2003; P. R. Pintrich & E. De Groot, 1990; P. R. Pintrich, R. W. Marx, & R. A. Boyle, 1993). Our purpose here is to build on those ideas, drawing as well on accounts of scientists’ practices (e.g., H. E. Gruber, 1974; E. F. Keller, 1983) and of students’ taking up of disciplinary pursuits (R. A. Engle & F. R. Conant, 2002; R. Lehrer, 2009; M. Scardamalia & C. Bereiter, 1991, 2006) to propose that affect and motivation are inherent in the disciplinary practices of science. Thus, we introduce notions of epistemic affect and epistemic motivation, and we illustrate how these are evident in a case study of a student we have followed from 4th to 7th grade. We consider how this perspective aligns with and contributes to research on interest (e.g., S. Hidi, 2006; S. Hidi, K. A. Renninger, & A. Krapp, 2004; C. Sansone, 2009), and we discuss implications for research and instruction in science education. We argue that part of what should happen in the science class is to cultivate students’ feelings and motivations within the discipline.