Some features of causal reasoning: common sense and physics teaching

The idea of causality is central in science and has long given rise to debate among philosophers and scientists. While the tendency to avoid causality seems to have become dominant in science and philosophy, research in science education has shown the strong presence in common reasoning of causal explanations, often conceived as a ‘mechanism’ capable of accounting for physical transformations. Some researchers have proposed using this common causal reasoning as a basis for teaching–learning sequences, especially in electricity and mechanics. This paper analyses some features of causal reasoning used in physics by students, using questionnaires and interviews involving students and teachers. This study has shown three aspects which are related to one another: a confusion between efficient and contingent causes, between the conditions of occurrence of a phenomenon and the cause actually producing it; a tendency to ‘displace’ causes, skipping intermediate objects; and a difficulty in connecting local causes and global effects. The paper highlights the differences between common reasoning and scientific usage, and their effect on learning. In fact, these trends of reasoning must be taken into account in teaching: they should be considered not only as creating an obstacle to learning physics, but also as resources at the learner’s disposal.     

‘Ahead of all Beaten Tracks’: Ryle,Heidegger and the Ways of Thinking

The purpose of this article is to examine two philosophical accounts of thinking—yet examine them anew by considering what I take to be their under‐examined relationship. These are the accounts of Gilbert Ryle and Martin Heidegger. It is often supposed that these two philosophers belong to differing, even conflicting, philosophical traditions. However, this article will seek to demonstrate that an unrecognised affinity exists between them on account of their shared endeavour to venture ahead of the ‘beaten tracks’ of Modern Philosophy. In this way, I will seek to challenge a number of preconceptions that inform the way these thinkers are interpreted and utilised by philosophers of education—particularly preconceptions about Ryle that appear to be active in much ‘thinking skills’ literature. Through exploring certain under‐attended‐to aspects of Ryle's work (including his early essays on phenomenology and his later reflections on the nature of thinking) this article will seek to offer a renewed investigation into these two philosophical accounts of thinking, in terms of both their limitations and the ways of thinking they open.     

The use and misuse of taxpayers’ money: Publicly‐funded educational research

How should educational research be contracted? And is there anything wrong with the way that public funding of educational research is currently administered? We endeavour to answer these questions by appeal to the work of two of the most prominent philosophers of science of the twentieth century, namely Popper and Kuhn. Although their normative views of science are radically different, we show that they would nonetheless agree on a number of key rules concerning the extent to which scientific practice should be influenced ‘from the outside’. We then show that these rules are often broken in the way that research is publicly funded in the UK.     

The underachievement of girls in physics: Towards explanations

The recently initiated debate on the relationship between science and health education is discussed. The notions of ‘everyday’, ‘scientific’ and ‘applied’ knowledge are explored through interview material gathered from a sample of 15‐year old pupils. The topic of the interviews was the common cold. The pupils’ levels of biological knowledge, their mode of applying it, and the frameworks of their thinking about infection and related issues were investigated. It is argued that no simple ‘translation’ of scientific to health knowledge is possible. Some of the complexities of the relationship are explored. In particular, the implications of non‐scientific ('lay’ or ‘traditional') knowledge are taken up and it is suggested that scientific knowledge may face considerable obstacles in displacing these.

     

Behavioural Approaches in Education: explanations in terms of science and in terms of personal justification

Behavioural approaches in education have achieved widespread acceptance in recent years yet they stand in an uneasy relationship to theories of learning. Behaviourism is widely regarded as an inadequate theoretical underpinning for behavioural pedagogy but no alternative explanation has taken its place. Moreover many of the criticisms levelled by philosophers at behaviourism still have force when applied to nominally atheoretical behavioural approaches. This has led some writers to call for the rejection of behavioural techniques by teachers. This article argues that behavioural educational practices are best placed within in a ‘rational’ or ‘justificatory’ framework, rather than within a strictly ‘scientific’ account of human activity. Firstly, the distinction between these two explanatory frameworks is drawn. Secondly, the major criticisms levelled at behavioural accounts of human action are outlined. Thirdly, various aspects of behavioural education are discussed, in the light of a justificatory and rational perspective on human behaviour in order to show how such a viewpoint can both account for and enrich our understanding of behavioural practices.     

Can Science Test Supernatural Worldviews?

Several prominent scientists, philosophers, and scientific institutions have argued that science cannot test supernatural worldviews on the grounds that (1) science presupposes a naturalistic worldview (Naturalism) or that (2) claims involving supernatural phenomena are inherently beyond the scope of scientific investigation. The present paper argues that these assumptions are questionable and that indeed science can test supernatural claims. While scientific evidence may ultimately support a naturalistic worldview, science does not presuppose Naturalism as an a priori commitment, and supernatural claims are amenable to scientific evaluation. This conclusion challenges the rationale behind a recent judicial ruling in the United States concerning the teaching of “Intelligent Design” in public schools as an alternative to evolution and the official statements of two major scientific institutions that exert a substantial influence on science educational policies in the United States. Given that science does have implications concerning the probable truth of supernatural worldviews, claims should not be excluded a priori from science education simply because they might be characterized as supernatural, paranormal, or religious. Rather, claims should be excluded from science education when the evidence does not support them, regardless of whether they are designated as ‘natural’ or ‘supernatural’.     

Some issues arising from an examination of women's experience of university physics

This paper investigates secondary school pupils’ everyday knowledge of the dangers of electricity. It is based on classroom research by a team of teacher‐researchers working with a total of 241 11‐12 and 13‐14 year olds in English comprehensive schools. The initial data were collected by written questionnaires which probed the general meanings pupils had for electricity. When the responses were analyzed, there was a surprisingly high proportion of children (61% of the 11‐12 year olds and 35% of the 13‐14 year olds) who mentioned danger. The pupils were then divided into ‘fearers’ and ‘non‐fearers’, and group interviews were carried out with both in order to explore features of pupil thinking and influences on it. Results of these interviews include pupil quotations around themes such as personal experiences of electric shocks, excitement, the home, socially‐available knowledge and learning about electricity at school. Questions are raised about the possible effect of fear on motivation, participation in practical work and conceptual learning in general; and it is suggested that the pupils’ ideas should be acknowledged and addressed within a supportive classroom environment.     

‘If they can say it they can write it’: Inclusive pedagogies for senior secondary physical education

Pedagogical practices are fundamental to teachers' work, and in the spaces of schooling impact significantly on students' success and achievement (Evans, J. 1986. Physical Education, Sport and Schooling: Studies in the Sociology of Physical Education. London: Falmer Press.). This is especially the case for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are deeply reliant on schooling for their educational resources. This article explores the interrelationships between pedagogical practices, the physical education curriculum at the senior secondary level and learning by both students and a teacher in a school located in an area of socio-economic disadvantage. Action research investigating a pedagogical redesign of a unit of ‘Skill Acquisition’ is the specific focus. Of key interest are pedagogical practices that incorporated opportunities to learn ‘about’ Skill Acquisition ‘through’ and ‘in’ movement. These practices attempted to develop and apply scientific literacies specific to the human movement sciences, which are important for academic success in senior secondary physical education. Findings reveal high student engagement, increasing utilisation of scientific literacies and application of new learning to life-world situations. We argue that pedagogical practices that integrate learning ‘about’ ‘through’ and ‘in’ movement disrupt default modes of teaching theoretical concepts in physical education, which diminish opportunities for academic success amongst students from low-socio-economic backgrounds.     

Queensland's Itinerant Teacher Service, 1901–1930

Moving from homestead to homestead, in a horse and cart, to bring schooling to isolated children in Queensland's outback was the role of itinerant teachers at the turn of the century. Later, the horse and cart was replaced by motor cars and motor bikes, but the harsh conditions of the ‘bush’ were never really conquered. The Itinerant Teacher Service was no longer in existence by the Thirties, being replaced by the Primary Correspondence School which offered a service itinerant teachers could not. The travelling teachers, however, were significant in bringing a degree of literacy and numeracy to ‘bush’ children and in preparing the way for the smooth inception of the Primary Correspondence School.     

What Teachers of Science Need to Know about Models: An overview

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the nature of models and their uses in the science classroom based on a theoretical review of literature. The ideas that science philosophers and science education researchers have in common about models and modelling are scrutinised according to five subtopics: meanings of a model, purposes of modelling, multiplicity of scientific models, change in scientific models and uses of models in the science classroom. First, a model can be defined as a representation of a target and serves as a ‘bridge’ connecting a theory and a phenomenon. Second, a model plays the roles of describing, explaining and predicting natural phenomena and communicating scientific ideas to others. Third, multiple models can be developed in science because scientists may have different ideas about what a target looks like and how it works and because there are a variety of semiotic resources available for constructing models. Fourth, scientific models are tested both empirically and conceptually and change along with the process of developing scientific knowledge. Fifth, in the science classroom, not only teachers but also students can take advantage of models as they are engaged in diverse modelling activities. The overview presented in this article can be used to educate science teachers and encourage them to utilise scientific models appropriately in their classrooms.     

Causal structures and counter‐intuitive experiments in electricity

This study focuses on the similarities and differences in structure and meaning between pupils’ conceptions about steady state tasks and evolutionary tasks, in which the system under study undergoes changes over time. A nine‐item written questionnaire was given to 197 Greek secondary school pupils. Results showed that the majority of pupils employ causal structures for their predictions. Two models were identified: a ‘give’ model, applied by pupils in steady‐state tasks; and a ‘take’ model, applied in evolutionary tasks. Structural similarities and semantic differences were identified between these models. In the light of these results, the study also examined the types of experiments in introductory electricity that would or would not obtain a counter‐intuitive reaction in pupils.     

Bakhtinian Dialogic and Vygotskian Dialectic: Compatabilities and contradictions in the classroom?

Abstract

This article explores two central notions of ‘dialectics’ and ‘dialogics’ based on the work of Vygotsky (drawing on philosophers such as Hegel, Spinoza, Engels and Marx) and Bakhtin (drawing on members of the Bakhtin Circle and writers such as Dostoevsky and Rabelais) respectively, as well their varying interanimations within Stalin-Marxist Russian societyIt is proposed that these two positions are incommensurably located alongside one another in contemporary education. I argue that Bakhtin offers diametrically oppositional educational provocations to those of Vygotsky.The implications of these interpretations will be explored with consideration of their underlying philosophical incompatibilities and contradictions, as well as the opportunities such a consideration pose for educational practice today.     

Beliefs and practices of itinerant teachers of deaf and hard of hearing children concerning literacy development

A qualitative case study examined beliefs and practices of itinerant teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students concerning literacy development, the match between these teachers' beliefs and practices, and the impact of itinerant settings. Five itinerant teachers and 15 students participated. Hearing losses were mild to profound. The research addressed 5 areas: sociocultural aspects of literacy development; effects of hearing loss on literacy development; beliefs about teaching and literacy development; practices used to develop literacy; the impact of itinerant settings on literacy development of deaf and hard of hearing learners. Five themes emerged from the data: Itinerant teachers used a variety of practices to develop literacy; itinerant teachers played a supporting role in developing literacy; most of the teachers' beliefs about literacy development were matched in their practices; the itinerant teachers were lifelong learners; the impact of itinerant settings on literacy development took many forms.     

The Democratic Teacher in the Contemporary Social and Ideological Context

Abstract:

Current philosophical trends in North America are again raising the issue as to whether or not there can be ‘ moral experts’. An expert is defined here as one who predicts and explains better than the layman m a particular domain on the basis of his specialized underlying knowledge of it This analysis is then applied to the domain of morality. Special attention is given to the claim that moral philosophers are professionally more capable of critically thinking through the nature of moral problems. It is argued that philosophers tend to neglect the area of actual argumentation about specific moral issues, and that it is here, at the point of contact with living moral experience and empirical research into it that the possibility of ‘ moral expertise’ lies.     

中西方语言中悖论现象解决方式之比较

悖论作为一种语言现象,在中西方文化中普遍存在,但中西方思想家对此采取的态度和解决方法迥然不同。中国思想家对悖论采取的是一种逍遥的、诗性的解决方式,而西方思想家对悖论的解决则具有一种＂执迷不悟＂、一究到底的执着精神。文章认为这种差异的内在原因在于,中国思想家注重人生实践甚于客观的宇宙自然、客观规律,在方法上采取直观体悟的方式对本体进行整体性把握,而非经由逻辑化、抽象化的语言探寻。这种逍遥的思维方式和语言观,一方面导致中国文化的＂诗性智慧＂特别发达;另一方面,一旦这种思维和语言进入现代的立法、科学、道德、制度建设等领域,便不可避免地表现出某种程度上的歧义、混乱和无能。     

Practise What you Preach: an Undergraduate Course in Curriculum Studies

Although articulated in different terms at different times, some understanding of ‘the nature of science’ and, more particularly, of ‘scientific method’ has been a central and enduring feature of the rhetoric of school science education. However, it is now clear that many of the assumptions about the nature of scientific activity which have traditionally underpinned school science teaching are no longer tenable. This paper outlines the rhetorical and political importance of method as a unifying element of the sciences, reviews some of the themes evident in recent scholarly debates about the nature of scientific activity, and considers some of the difficulties which arise from the incorporation of the ‘nature of science’ within school science curricula. It is suggested that among these difficulties are fundamental issues relating to objectivity and rationality and to the claims made about the status of science and its role in everyday discourse and action.     

‘You Have to Give Them Some Science Facts’: Primary Student Teachers’ Early Negotiations of Teacher Identities in the Intersections of Discourses About Science Teaching and About Primary Teaching

In the broadest sense, the goal for primary science teacher education could be described as preparing these teachers to teach for scientific literacy. Our starting point is that making such science teaching accessible and desirable for future primary science teachers is dependent not only on their science knowledge and self-confidence, but also on a whole range of interrelated sociocultural factors. This paper aims to explore how intersections between different Discourses about primary teaching and about science teaching are evidenced in primary school student teachers’ talk about becoming teachers. The study is founded in a conceptualisation of learning as a process of social participation. The conceptual framework is crafted around two key concepts: Discourse (Gee 2005) and identity (Paechter, Women’s Studies International Forum, 26(1):69–77, 2007). Empirically, the paper utilises semi-structured interviews with 11 primary student teachers enrolled in a 1-year Postgraduate Certificate of Education course. The analysis draws on five previously identified teacher Discourses: ‘Teaching science through inquiry’, ‘Traditional science teacher’, ‘Traditional primary teacher’, ‘Teacher as classroom authority’, and ‘Primary teacher as a role model’ (Danielsson and Warwick, International Journal of Science Education, 2013). It explores how the student teachers, at an early stage in their course, are starting to intersect these Discourses to negotiate their emerging identities as primary science teachers.     

Imagining the World: The Significance of Religious Worldviews for Science Education

This article begins by examining whether ‘science’ and ‘religion’ can better be seen as distinct or related worldviews, focusing particularly on scientific and religious understandings of biodiversity. I then explore how people can see the natural world, depending on their worldview, by looking at two contrasting treatments of penguin behaviour, namely that provided in the film March of the Penguins and in the children’s book And Tango Makes Three. I end by drawing some initial conclusions as to what might and what might not be included about religion in school science lessons. Science educators and teachers need to take account of religious worldviews if some students are better to understand the compass of scientific thinking and some of science’s key conclusions. It is perfectly possible for a science teacher to be respectful of the worldviews that students occupy, even if these are scientifically limited, while clearly and non-apologetically helping them to understand the scientific worldview on a particular issue.     

Questions asked by primary student teachers about observations of a science demonstration

Teacher questioning has a central role in guiding pupils to learn to make scientific observations and inferences. We asked 110 primary student teachers to write down what kind of questions they would ask their pupils about a demonstration. Almost half of the student teachers posed questions that were either inappropriate or presupposed that the pupils would know the answer. For example, they directly asked for an explanation of the phenomenon instead of asking what inferences the pupils could make on the basis of their observations. There was a lack of questions that would draw the pupils’ attention to the variables that may cause the phenomenon to happen. Only about 15% of the student teachers formed questions such as ‘What is happening?’ or ‘How is it happening?’. All in all, primary student teachers seem to need extra practice in forming questions based on scientific observation.     

Individual to collaborative: guided group work and the role of teachers in junior secondary science classrooms

This paper, through discussion of a teaching intervention at two secondary schools in Hong Kong, demonstrates the learning advancement brought about by group work and dissects the facilitating role of teachers in collaborative discussions. One-hundred and fifty-two Secondary Two (Grade 8) students were divided into three pedagogical groups, namely ‘whole-class teaching’, ‘self-directed group work’ and ‘teacher-supported group work’ groups, and engaged in peer-review, team debate, group presentation and reflection tasks related to a junior secondary science topic (i.e. current electricity). Pre- and post-tests were performed to evaluate students’ scientific conceptions, alongside collected written responses and audio-recorded discussions. The results indicate that students achieved greater cognitive growth when they engaged in cooperative learning activities, the interactive and multi-sided argumentative nature of which is considered to apply particularly well to science education and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development framework. Group work learning is also found to be most effective when teachers play a role in navigating students during the joint construction of conceptual knowledge.