Exploring college students’ cognitive patterns during reasoning*

This research aimed to investigate the nature of cognitive processes when college students reason about evidence on global climate change (GCC). Twenty-six undergraduate students participated in this qualitative study, where they were interviewed to evaluate competing arguments on key issues related to GCC and discuss their own perspectives. Constant comparative analysis of data from think-aloud protocols and semi-structured interviews revealed three patterns of reasoning: minimum reasoning, constrained reasoning, and deliberative reasoning. Minimum reasoning demonstrated that participants predominantly favoured arguments which supported their own beliefs, with limited reasoning about the relative correctness of opposing arguments. Constrained reasoning showed participants’ emphasis on surface features of evidence on GCC rather than its scientific underpinnings. In contrast, deliberative reasoning involved more sophisticated cognitive efforts in coordinating evidence and claims, and a key characteristic of this pattern was in-depth statistical and causal reasoning. The current findings added to our understanding of college students’ reasoning processes when they are faced with controversial issues like GCC. This work contributed to current efforts in using cognitive research to inform science and environmental education, and laid a foundation for future endeavours in promoting scientific reasoning and argumentation in climate change education.     

‘It’s a gassy world’: starting with students’ wondering questions to inform climate change education

Abstract

There is extensive evidence showing that the climate system is warming and human behavior is linked to the change. Despite increasing attempts to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. The study aims to look at (a) the kinds of wondering questions middle school students construct after they are engaged in a climate change activity called ‘It’s a Gassy World’ and (b) what teachers highlight in their reflections on these questions to improve their teaching. In this multi-case explorative study, the data comes from student artifacts, teachers’ written reflections, and semi-structured conversational interviews with teachers. A constant-comparative analysis of students’ wondering questions (N = 165) showed that the nature of the questions varies. These were grouped under three different categories: direct observation, interdisciplinary connections, and future projections questions. We then analyzed five teachers’ written reflections and interviews from a cultural historical activity theoretical perspective. This analysis revealed that teachers paid particular attention to certain tools (physical and conceptual), norms (epistemic and teaching), emotions, and division of labor routines in classrooms. We discuss how students’ wondering questions help teachers notice essential features of climate change learning such as spatiotemporal thinking.     

Socio-demographic composition of primary initial teacher education entrants in Ireland

The homogeneity of the teaching profession is an international, as well as national, phenomenon. In an era of significant demographic change in schools and education policy development in Ireland and across Europe, the lack of solid data about the backgrounds of teachers and initial teacher education (ITE) applicants and entrants has hindered informed policy development, including in relation to ITE application procedures, selection criteria as well as teacher supply and demand. In this paper we discuss findings from the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) national project. We present analyses of application (N?=?2,437) and survey data (N?=?530) to explore 2014 undergraduate primary (UG P) ITE entrants’ socio-demographic backgrounds. Key findings confirm that primary teaching remains a popular career choice attracting high academic achievers in Ireland. We note the continuing underrepresentation of males and of people from minority national and ethnic backgrounds. Roman Catholics and students without disabilities are overrepresented in the UG P cohort compared to postgraduate post-primary ITE cohorts and the general Irish population. Findings are discussed with reference to Irish and international literature on teacher diversity.     

Factors influencing teachers’ innovative teaching behaviour with information and communication technology (ICT): the mediator role of organisational innovation climate

The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation among teachers’ perceived acceptance of technological innovation, organisations’ innovation climate, and innovative teaching using information and communication technology (ICT) in Taiwan. The participants (N?=?482) responded to a questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale for each factor, and their responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). This research found that an organisation’s innovation climate is significantly and positively related with innovative teaching using ICT, and that the acceptance of technological innovation is significantly and positively related with innovative teaching using ICT, as supported by the organisation’s innovation climate. The influence pattern and empirical data of the acceptance of technological innovation and the organisation’s innovation climate on innovative teaching with ICT exhibited a good fit. The implications of such findings were discussed.     

Engaging in vocabulary learning in science: the promise of multimodal instruction

To a science ‘outsider’, science language often appears unnecessarily technical and dense. However, scientific language is typically used with the goal of being concise and precise, which allows those who regularly participate in scientific discourse communities to learn from each other and build upon existing scientific knowledge. One essential component of science language is the academic vocabulary that characterises it. This mixed-methods study investigates middle school students’ (N?=?59) growth in academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher’s instructional practices that supported academic language development. Students made significant gains in their production of general academic words, t(57)?=?2.32, p?=?.024 and of discipline-specific science words, t(57)?=?3.01, p?=?.004 in science writing. Results from the qualitative strand of this inquiry contextualised the students’ learning of academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher’s instructional practices and intentions as well as the students’ perceptions of their learning environment. These qualitative findings reveal that both the students and their teacher articulated that the teacher’s intentional use of resources supported students’ academic vocabulary growth. Implications for research and instruction with science language are shared.     

Evaluating climate change behaviors and concern in the family context

Abstract

Although research suggests that family dynamics likely play a role in shaping children’s behaviors, few studies focus on environmental behaviors, and none to our knowledge investigate how parents shape climate change mitigation behaviors among their children. We begin to fill this gap through a quantitative case study using matched household-level survey data from 182 coastal North Carolina families (n?=?241 parents aged 29–77; n?=?182 students aged 11–14) associated with 15 middle school science teachers. Family climate change discussions, parent behaviors, and children’s climate change concern levels predicted the degree to which children will participate in individual-level climate mitigation behaviors. These results provide evidence that promoting climate-related conversations within households may promote climate action even when parents are apathetic about climate change. Similarly, parental behaviors, but not their concern levels, were important predictors of adolescent behaviors. This study highlights novel ways that family dynamics may promote climate change mitigating behaviors and a new pathway to promoting climate mitigation at familial, and ultimately, societal levels.     

Task-oriented reading of multiple documents: online comprehension processes and offline products

We explored readers’ judgments of text relevance and strategy use while they read about a controversial scientific issue in multiple conflicting documents using a think-aloud methodology and had them write a short essay after reading. Participants were university-level students. There were three main findings. First, readers discriminated between more- and less-relevant information while they read. Second, the frequency with which they used strategies differed while they read more- and less-relevant information. Specifically, while they read more-relevant information, students were more likely to build connections between that information and information in other texts. Third, their judgments of more-relevant segments as relevant and their evaluation of less-relevant information while they read were related to the quality of students’ essays after they read. We discuss how the findings may contribute to the literature on task-oriented reading of multiple documents.     

Students' understanding of cloud and rainbow formation and teachers' awareness of students' performance

This study describes primary school students’ knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers’ predictions about students’ performance. In our study, primary school students’ (N?=?177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school teachers’ (N?=?110) awareness of students’ understanding was measured with questionnaires and the results will be discussed in relation to teaching experience and the use of different teaching practices. Our results show that students in every grade hold a wide-ranging set of misconceptions that reflect different combinations of their own understanding and learnt scientific knowledge. Teachers tended to overestimate students’ performance and described second-grade students’ knowledge more accurately than fourth- and sixth-grade students’ knowledge. Teachers with less teaching experience were found to less overestimate and more underestimate sixth-grade students’ knowledge than teachers with more teaching experience.     

A Design-based Approach to Fostering Understanding of Global Climate Change

To prepare students to make informed decisions and gain coherent understanding about global climate change, we tested and refined a middle school inquiry unit that featured interactive visualizations. Based on evidence from student pre-test responses, we increased emphasis on energy transfer and transformation. The first iteration improved comprehension of the visualizations resulting in better understanding of energy transfer (n?=?67). The second iteration improved understanding of energy transformation (n?=?109) by adding pivotal cases, reducing deceptive clarity, and emphasizing distinguishing of ideas. Focusing student investigations in the second version allowed students to make more normative, personally relevant decisions related to their energy use. These iterative refinements reflected knowledge integration principles and offer guidance for designers of inquiry units.     

Youth science expertise,environmental identity,and agency in climate action filmmaking

Abstract

The Green Ninja Film Academy (GENIE) is an interdisciplinary curriculum development project that examines the efficacy of combining climate science concepts and practices with digital storytelling for middle school youth. We present findings from iterative enactments of this design-based research project in 2017 (N?=?296) and 2018 (N?=?539). On average, youth increased scores on assessments of science content and practices while demonstrating competencies in filmmaking and science explanations. Further, an inverse correlation was seen between initial identification with the environment and change in environmental identification throughout the unit. Results suggest that integration of creative filmmaking into a climate science curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards can increase engagement and science proficiency particularly for youth who initially show less engagement in environmental science.     

How Physical Education Teachers’ Interpersonal Behaviour is Related to Students’ Health-Related Quality of Life

ABSTRACT

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), this cross-sectional study tested relations of students’ perceptions of autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviour from teachers in physical education with students’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and the potential role of students’ perceived need satisfaction and need frustration as a mediator of these relationships. School students (N?=?1031) completed self-report measures of perceived autonomy support, perceived teachers’ controlling behaviour, students’ need satisfaction and need frustration, and HRQoL. Results indicated that students’ perceptions of autonomy support from teachers was positively associated with HRQoL through need satisfaction. Students’ perceptions of controlling behaviour from teachers was negatively related with HRQoL through need frustration. There was no significant association between autonomy support and need frustration, or between controlling behaviour and need satisfaction. Findings provide evidence that perceived autonomy support and controlling behaviour from the teacher in PE contributes to students’ HRQoL through unique pathways.     

The Collaboration of Cooperative Learning and Conceptual Change: Enhancing the Students’ Understanding of Chemical Bonding Concepts

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction on ninth-grade students’ understanding in chemical bonding concepts compared to traditional instruction. Seventy-two ninth-grade students from two intact chemistry classes taught by the same teacher in a public high school participated in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as the experimental and control group. The control group (N?=?35) was taught by traditional instruction while the experimental group (N?=?37) was taught cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction. Chemical Bonding Concept Test (CBCT) was used as pre- and post-test to define students’ understanding of chemical bonding concepts. After treatment, students’ interviews were conducted to observe more information about their responses. Moreover, students from experimental groups were interviewed to obtain information about students’ perceptions on cooperative work experiences. The results from ANCOVA showed that cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction led to better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding concepts than traditional instruction. Interview results demonstrated that the students in the experimental group had better understanding and fewer misconceptions in chemical bonding concepts than those in the control group. Moreover, interviews about treatment indicated that this treatment helped students’ learning and increased their learning motivation and their social skills.     

The effects of different types of text and individual differences on view complexity about genetically modified organisms

ABSTRACT

View change about socio-scientific issues has been well studied in the literature, but the change in the complexity of those views has not. In the current study, the change in the complexity of views about a specific scientific topic (i.e. genetically modified organisms; GMOs) and use of evidence in explaining those views was examined in relation to individual factors and type of text (informational, persuasive, or narrative). Undergraduate students completed measures of their prior views about GMOs their epistemic beliefs about the nature of science, and activities related to food consumption. Participants then read either an informational, persuasive, or narrative passage about GMOs and again answered a question related to their views about GMOs. Participants who read the persuasive passage decreased in the complexity of their views, while those who read the narrative and expository passage increased in the complexity of their views. Additionally, while cultural activities related to the complexity of individuals’ views during the pretest, these significant differences were not evident at posttest after the text intervention. These findings can be used to help scientists and teachers better understand how to communicate information critical to understanding complex science and environmental issues to the public and their students.     

A cross‐cultural study of pre‐adolescents’ moral,religious and spiritual questions

This study investigated differences across four countries in the amount and nature of above‐average ability and average‐ability pre‐adolescents’ everyday life, scientific, moral, spiritual and religious questions. The participants (N?=?975) of this study were fifth‐and sixth‐grade elementary school students from different schools in Finland (N?=?367), the USA (N?=?164), Hong Kong (N?=?169) and Bahrain (N?=?275). Approximately half of the students in each country came from special programmes or schools serving above‐average‐ability students. The results showed that above‐average‐ability students from each participating country asked more scientific and moral questions than their average‐ability peers. This finding was not found to be gender‐related. Furthermore, in each country the average‐ability students asked more everyday life questions than their gifted peers. The Christian influence in the Finnish and US data, and Muslim influence in the Bahrain data were seen in the spiritual and religious questions asked by pre‐adolescents. Additionally, in all the data sets girls asked more spiritual and religious questions than boys. The results point to the need for teachers to discuss moral, religious and spiritual questions influencing pre‐adolescents’ futures.     

Development of Scientific Thinking Facilitated by Reflective Self‐Assessment in a Communication‐Intensive Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

A one‐credit seminar on controversies in food science and human nutrition was a platform to introduce students to learning frameworks for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist. We hypothesized that explicitly engaging students in thinking about their thinking abilities within these frameworks would enhance their self‐perception of scientific thinking, an important general ability for food scientists. Our objectives were to assess thinking‐like‐a‐scientist using a student self‐assessment survey, and analyze their self‐reflections for evidence of such thinking. For students enrolled in one of the offerings of this course among 5 semesters from 2012 to 2014, differences in scores on a survey instrument for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist from the beginning to the end of the course showed gains in self‐assessed abilities (N = 21 to 22 students/semester). In each of the first 2 semesters in which we introduced thinking‐like‐a‐scientist frameworks, students thought they were better at defining problems scientifically by 13% to 14%. In the 3rd course offering, students’ self‐assessment of their abilities to seek evidence improved by 10%. In the 4th and 5th semester course offerings, students’ self‐assessed abilities to develop plans based on evidence improved by 7% to 14%. At the end of each semester, students’ self‐reflections on scientific thinking (N = 20 to 24/semester) included specific reference to asking questions (45% to 65% of reflections) and making plans based on evidence (26% to 50% of reflections). These data support the usefulness of self‐reflection tools as well as specific learning frameworks to help students to think about and practice thinking‐like‐a‐scientist.     

Middle school students’ learning of mechanics concepts through engagement in different sequences of physical and virtual experiments

ABSTRACT

Physical and virtual experimentation are thought to have different affordances for supporting students’ learning. Research investigating the use of physical and virtual experiments to support students’ learning has identified a variety of, sometimes conflicting, outcomes. Unanswered questions remain about how physical and virtual experiments may impact students’ learning and for which contexts and content areas they may be most effective. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined eighth grade students’ (N?=?100) learning of physics concepts related to pulleys depending on the sequence of physical and virtual labs they engaged in. Five classes of students were assigned to either the: physical first condition (PF) (n?=?55), where students performed a physical pulley experiment and then performed the same experiment virtually, or virtual first condition (VF) (n?=?45), with the opposite sequence. Repeated measures ANOVA’s were conducted to examine how physical and virtual labs impacted students’ learning of specific physics concepts. While we did not find clear-cut support that one sequence was better, we did find evidence that participating in virtual experiments may be more beneficial for learning certain physics concepts, such as work and mechanical advantage. Our findings support the idea that if time or physical materials are limited, using virtual experiments may help students understand work and mechanical advantage.     

Sources of Instructional Feedback, Job Satisfaction, and Basic Psychological Needs

This study examined college instructors’ utilization and perceived value of sources of instructional feedback (institutional student ratings, consultation with an instructional specialist, soliciting feedback from students, self-assessment, self-observation, peer/administrator observation, and peer coaching). We examined relationships between the utilization of each source of feedback with job satisfaction and psychological needs satisfaction. We solicited instructors (N?=?126) via email. Results revealed self-assessment was the most utilized source of instructional feedback, and instructor-solicited feedback from students was perceived as the most useful. Job satisfaction was significantly correlated with basic psychological needs. We discuss qualitative findings, implications, and suggestions for future research.     

Teacher attitudes towards inclusive education in Finland and Brandenburg,Germany and the issue of extra work

Positive teacher attitudes are considered an important prerequisite for the successful inclusion of students with special educational needs in the mainstream classrooms. This study surveyed teacher opinions about inclusion in Finland (N?=?298) and Brandenburg, Germany (N?=?163), two educational systems in which the number of students transferred to segregated special education is exceptionally high in international comparison. For the measurement of attitudes, a 10-item scale, teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education, was used. The results showed that Finnish teachers were more positive towards inclusion than Brandenburg teachers (d?=?0.46). The Brandenburg teachers were especially worried about the extra work caused by inclusion. This concern was possibly related to the different structures of educational organisation. Additional support services were more easily available for the Finnish teachers than for their Brandenburg colleagues. It is argued that teachers’ concerns should be addressed to promote inclusion in schools.     

Personality predictors of scholastic cheating in a Chinese sample

Previous research on Western college samples has identified a number of personality traits associated with scholastic cheating. Based on these findings, we suggest a model integrating personality predictors of cheating. However, it remains unclear whether the proposed model can be generalised to the Chinese culture, which has different norms and societal values. We filled this gap by estimating the associations between scholastic cheating and key personality constructs (i.e. the Big Five and the Dark Triad) in a sample of Chinese university students (N?=?634). Our results indicated that older and male students were more likely to engage in scholastic cheating than other students. After controlling for the constructs’ overlap, only extraversion and psychopathy remained significant correlates. We discuss the implications of our findings for both research and practice.     

Mindfulness and situational interest

In an attempt to exploit the concept of mindfulness for educational contexts, we investigated the role of dispositional mindfulness as an internal resource for the development of situational interest. Using an online questionnaire, we assessed participants’ (N?=?161, mean age?=?30.4 years, 74% female, 66% university students) mindfulness, presented them with a text on bionics, and asked them to indicate their situational interest regarding the material (t1). One week later, they indicated their maintained situational interest (t2). Findings reveal a positive relationship between mindfulness and situational interest at t1, especially with regard to participants’ ability to be momentarily ‘present’ and affective aspects of situational interest. Furthermore, we found an indirect effect of mindfulness on maintained situational interest at t2 via participants’ interest at t1. These findings were independent from participants’ initial interest and knowledge. Contrary to our expectation, we did not find a moderation effect for mindfulness on the relation between situational interest at t1 and t2. We discuss these findings in terms of implications for formal learning contexts.