The Nature of Discourse throughout 5E Lessons in a Large Enrolment College Biology Course

Large enrolment science courses play a significant role in educating undergraduate students. The discourse in these classes usually involves an instructor lecturing with little or no student participation, despite calls from current science education reform documents to elicit and utilize students’ ideas in teaching. In this study, we used the 5E instructional model to develop and implement four lessons in a large enrolment introductory biology course with multiple opportunities for teacher-student and student-student interaction. Data consisted of video and audio recordings of whole-class and small-group discussions that took place throughout the study. We then used a science classroom discourse framework developed by Mortimer and Scott (2003) to characterize the discursive interactions in each 5E lesson phase. Analysis of the data resulted in two assertions. First, the purpose, communicative approach, patterns of discourse, and teaching interventions were unique to each 5E lesson phase. Second, the type of lesson topic influenced the content of the discourse. We discuss how the findings help characterize the discourse of each phase in a 5E college science lesson and propose a model to understand internalization through discursive interaction using this reform-based approach. We conclude with implications for facilitating discourse in college science lessons and future research. This study provides support for using the discourse framework to characterize discursive interaction in college science courses.     

Science education in a secular age

A college science education instructor tells his students he rejects evolution. What should we think? The scene unfolds in one of the largest urban centers in the world. If we are surprised, why? Expanding on Federica Raia’s (2012) first-hand experience with this scenario, I broaden her discussion by considering the complexity of science education in a secular age. Enjoining Raia within the framework of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, I task the science education community to consider the broad strokes of science, religious faith, and the complexity of modernity in its evolving, hybridized forms. Building upon anthropological approaches to science education research, I articulate a framework to more fully account for who, globally, is a Creationist, and what this means for our views of ethically responsive science education.     

Teacher‐college students’ opinions in Israel and on the West Bank of ‘what science‐education is supposed to be’

A three‐way comparison of teacher‐college entrants’ and graduating students’ views in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) and their counterparts on the West Bank was undertaken in order to diagnose subjects’ image of science and of science teaching. The questionnaire used permitted the gathering of subjects’ normative views as well as the application of these views in actual classroom science‐lesson planning. It was found that college entrants’ views of the Jewish subjects differed sharply from those of both Arab samples in all areas tested. While there was no difference between Israeli Arabs and their counterparts on the West Bank on matters concerning in‐school and in‐classroom affairs, the Israeli Arab subjects’ views about science and science‐teaching were midway between those of the Jewish subjects and the West Bank subjects. As to the graduating subjects’ normative opinions, no significant difference was found between Jewish and Arab Israeli subjects, with both these samples differing significantly from their West Bank counterparts. An identical situation for both the entrants and the graduating students pertained to actual lesson‐planning. The findings were interpreted to mean that:

• Arab science education in Israeli schools is at present in a transition period, tending to move away from traditional and towards ‘Western’ approaches.

• Three years of college education had been instrumental in eliminating the previously existing discrepancies between prospective science teachers in the Jewish and Arab sectors of Israel, and to widen the gulf between Israeli Arabs’ and West Bankers’ normative stances as to ‘what science teaching is supposed to be’.

     

Testing the Consensus Model: relationships among physics teachers’ professional knowledge,interconnectedness of content structure and student achievement

ABSTRACT

The structure and definition of professional knowledge is a continuing focus of science education research. In 2012, a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) summit was held and it suggested a model of professional knowledge and skill including PCK, which was later often called the Consensus Model (Gess-Newsome, 2015. A model of teacher professional knowledge and skill including PCK: Results of the thinking from the PCK summit. In A. Berry, P. J. Friedrichsen, & J. Loughran (Eds.), Teaching and learning in science series. Re-examining pedagogical content knowledge in science education (1st ed., pp. 28–42). New York, NY: Routledge). The Consensus Model proposes a potential powerful framework for the relations among teachers’ different professional knowledge bases, but to date it has neither been investigated empirically nor systematically. In this study, we investigated the relationships suggested by the Consensus Model among different aspects of teachers’ knowledge and skill. A sample of 35 physics teachers and their classes participated in the investigation; both teachers and their students in these classes took paper-and-pencil tests. Furthermore, a lesson taught by each of the teachers was videotaped and analysed. The video analysis focused on the interconnectedness of the content structure of the lesson as representation of the in-class actions of the teachers. The interconnectedness is understood as a direct result of the application of professional knowledge of the teachers to their teaching. The teachers’ knowledge showed no significant influence on the interconnectedness of the lesson content structure. However, the results confirmed the influence of interconnectedness and certain aspects of professional knowledge on students’ outcomes. Therefore, interconnectedness of content structure could be verified as one indicator of teachers’ instructional quality.     

Building undergraduate STEM majors’ capacity for delivering inquiry-based mathematics and science lessons: An exploratory evaluation study

Recruiting and preparing STEM majors for teaching has become one of the major efforts at improving mathematics and science teacher quality at secondary level. One question is whether STEM majors who have not had the chance to experience active learning in mathematics and science classes as secondary students themselves know what inquiry pedagogy is. Secondly, it is unclear whether those who experienced inquiry in their college introductory discipline courses will be able to utilize the pedagogy in teaching secondary content. We address these questions through studying an undergraduate research methods course designed to improve STEM majors’ capacity for delivering inquiry-based mathematics and science lesson. Analysis of data from pre-and-post course surveys and students’ written research reports including students’ reflection on their inquiry projects suggests that offering future STEM teachers opportunities to conduct inquiry and reflect explicitly on how inquiry can be used to teach secondary content is important and beneficial.     

The role of motivation between perceived teacher support and student engagement in science class

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among the middle school students’ perceptions of science teacher support, students’ motivation and students’ engagement in learning science. Student motivation was addressed with task value and academic self-concept while student engagement included aspects of agentic, behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. In the study, survey method was used and the data were collected though previously validated self-report questionnaires. Valid data were obtained from 1006 middle school students enrolled in one of the nine public schools in Turkey. The path analysis revealed that perceived science teacher’s support positively predicted students’ task value and academic self-concept in science. Furthermore, students who reported high levels of task value and academic self-concept showed higher levels of engagement in science. Accordingly, it seems important for science teachers to listen to the students, behave fairly and help them to solve their problems in order to motivate them for learning science and increase their engagement in science class.     

Classroom Climate and Class Success A Case Study at the University Level

Abstract

This study sought to assess the actual and ideal social climate of an undergraduate social science class for educators, and to utilize this information to structure a subsequent class on the same topic. It was hypothesized that a classroom climate more closely approaching an "ideal^ one would facilitate better course appreciation, involvement, and attendance. Modifications in course social climate as suggested by "Class A" markedly improved the social climate of "Class B" as reported by class members. Improved congruence between real and ideal climates was linked to significantly greater appreciation of class functioning, class content, overall course appreciation, and greater class attendance. As students reported similar amounts of task orientation in each class, it was argued the classroom social climate may contribute an independent and malleable feature of the classroom setting which an instructor can use to his/her advantage.     

Fostering innovation through collaborative action research on the creation of shared instructional products by university science instructors

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to profile four university science instructors who utilized action research as a means of learning how to develop and integrate a novel curriculum innovation – engineering design – in their science courses. Data included curriculum maps, lesson plans, notes from group meetings, and instructor reflections. Data analysis included document review and content analysis. Findings from this study suggest that action research effectively enabled the instructors to 1) establish shared ownership of the project goal – to improve preservice teachers’ learning of science through engineering design; 2) continuously test, revise, and recalibrate their shared instructional products; and 3) leverage multiple sources of innovation. Knowledge generated and used by the instructors represented different kinds of knowledge and distributed expertise resulting in products that were more useful and of higher quality than products created by individuals working alone. Consequently, this resulted in increased use of the products and increased instructor commitment to improve them over time. By simultaneously engaging in research and consequently taking specific action to inform their practice, science instructors in this study successfully created shared instructional products that both guided and enhanced their classroom teaching.     

Developing an instrument for assessing students’ concepts of the nature of technology

Background: In Bangladesh, a common science curriculum caters for all students at the junior secondary level. Since this curriculum is for all students, its aims are both to build a strong foundation in science while still providing students with the opportunities to use science in everyday life – an aim consistent with the notion of scientific literacy.

Purpose: This paper reports Bangladeshi science teachers’ perspectives and practices in regard to the promotion of scientific literacy.

Sample: Six science teachers representing a range of geographical locations, school types with different class sizes, lengths of teaching experience and educational qualifications.

Design and method: This study employed a case study approach. The six teachers and their associated science classes (including students) were considered as six cases. Data were gathered through observing the teachers’ science lessons, interviewing them twice – once before and once after the lesson observation, and interviewing their students in focus groups.

Results: This study reveals that participating teachers held a range of perspectives on scientific literacy, including some naïve perspectives. In addition, their perspectives were often not seen to be realised in the classroom as for teachers the emphasis of learning science was more traditional in nature. Many of their teaching practices promoted a culture of academic science that resulted in students’ difficulty in finding connections between the science they study in school and their everyday lives. This research also identified the tension which teachers encountered between their religious values and science values while they were teaching science in a culture with a religious tradition.

Conclusions: The professional development practice for science teachers in Bangladesh with its emphasis on developing science content knowledge may limit the scope for promoting the concepts of scientific literacy. Opportunities for developing pedagogic knowledge is also limited and consequently impacts on teachers’ ability to develop the concepts of scientific literacy and learn how to teach for its promotion.     

Problem-Attack Behavior and Sex,Prior Teaching Experience,and College Preparation of Elementary School Principals

A modified form of Judgment Analysis (JAN) was used as a vehicle for capturing a group or collective teacher effectiveness policy of selected students at the University of Northern Colorado. Regardless of the grouping of students (grade level of students, reasons for taking the course, school or college in which the students were enrolled) one policy emerged. This policy can be described as a student concern for the personal characteristics of the instructor (instructor’s interest and enthusiasm, interpersonal relationships, ability to communicate the subject, ability to interest and motivate students). The instructor’s classroom management characteristics and his professional qualities (attitude, knowledge, and preparation) did not make a significant unique contribution to this policy.     

Teacher facilitating of group learning in science with digital technology and insights into students’ agency in learning to learn

ABSTRACT

The study provides an insight into how teachers may facilitate students’ group learning in science with digital technology, which was examined when Norwegian lower secondary school students engaged in learning concepts of mitosis and meiosis. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the teacher’s assistance draw on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning.

Findings reveal patterns in the teacher’s guidance: the teacher fulfilled the orienting, executive and controlling functions while assisting students in identifying the key features of mitosis and meiosis and solving the compare and contrast task. The teacher relied on and interplayed with the available mediational resources: compare and contrast task, digital animations, and collaborating peers. However, it was the compare and contrast task that demonstrated an approach to study scientific concepts which may have contributed to the development of learners’ understanding about to engage in learning in science. By adopting such an approach, learning activity has the potential to not only help students to achieve learning outcomes but it acquires a functional significance, becoming a tool in the learning process aimed at the development of students’ as learners. The digital animations, in turn, demonstrated scientific processes that were otherwise invisible for students and triggered group discussions. The study, therefore, raises questions about the need for practitioners’ awareness of the type of support the technology and other resources provide to assist both conceptual learning and enhancing students’ agency in learning to learn.     

The symbiotic roles of action research,lesson study and learning study seen in a social–emotional intervention for males with behavioural needs

ABSTRACT

To help a group of nine adolescent boys with behavioural needs improve their social-emotional skills, the researcher designed and conducted a longitudinal intervention at a public secondary school in British Columbia. In order to complete this task, the researcher drew on the various strengths of action research, lesson study and learning study. Together their distinct attributes acted as an organizational framework and were seen to provide an effective and robust approach to school-based research. The action research component of the study ensured that the intervention had a deep understanding of the problems facing male students with behavioural needs, that stakeholders’ voices were considered in the research and that the personal role of the researcher was acknowledged. Learning study established positive masculinity as the intervention’s primary object of learning; and it helped influence the content and approach of individual sessions. Finally, lesson study’s fluid and collaborative approach to assessment allowed for ongoing guidance and a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the study’s results. Although there are similarities between action research, learning and lesson studies, the research discussed in this article demonstrates the efficacy and benefit in allowing their distinctive strengths to be used in conjunction for a longitudinal intervention.     

Computer science and engineering: utilizing action research and lesson study

ABSTRACT

This article explores one group’s use of action research (AR) and lesson study in three US university-level computer science courses affecting 85 undergraduate computer science and engineering students. It offers an overview of three areas including AR, lesson study, and engineering soft skills. The research group identified a problem: undergraduate engineering student soft skill understanding. The group collaborated to enhance participant engagement with this problem by utilizing one lesson focused on soft skills over three research lesson iterations in three distinct university semesters (2017-2018). Field notes were the main data collection method. Observational field notes were recorded in the three research lesson iterations, and themes from the notes were identified. The group valued peer interactions, and the research lesson adaptations as well as pedagogical changes were based on evidence. Four themes were identified, and participant comments were considered as the lessons became more focused . The research group argues that AR and lesson study are separate and distinct ventures based on this yearlong experience, which is counter to some other literature presented. Implications are large for all stakeholders interested in AR, lesson study, soft skill utilization, conflict management, and participant learning impact. Possibilities for enhanced participant engagement exists with honed lesson pedagogy.     

Classroom Communication: The Influence of Instructor Self-disclosure on Student Evaluations

This study examines the influence of aspects of naturally occurring instructor self-disclosure (intent, amount, positiveness, depth, and honesty) on students’ evaluations of their current instructor. Female college students (N?=?333) completed measures of their evaluation of their instructor and perceptions of the instructor's self-disclosure in the classroom. The findings partially replicate those from a study of hypothetical instructor self-disclosure (Sorensen, Communication Education, 38, 259–276, 1989) in that instructor self-disclosure that was perceived to be more honest, positive, and intentional was associated with more positive evaluations of the instructor. The disclosure-liking hypothesis which predicts that greater amounts of instructor self-disclosure would be positively associated with evaluations was not supported. These results may serve as a guideline for instructors’ classroom communication about themselves.     

The Science of a Sundae: Using the Principle of Colligative Properties in Food Science Outreach Activities for Middle and High School Students

The opportunities for outreach activities for professionals and academics in food science are extensive, as too are the range of participants’ experience levels and platforms for delivery. Here, we present a set of activities that are readily adaptable for a range of students (ages 10 to 18) in multiple platforms (demonstration table and hands‐on workshop). Our activity, collectively called “The Science of a Sundae,” has three units, one for each of the three parts of a sundae: the caramel sauce, the cherry, and the ice cream. In each unit we use these familiar food items to illustrate how colligative properties (or, simply, “solutions” for younger students) impact the chemical, microbiological, and sensorial properties of food. We have used these activities to present to over 1000 students and their parents/chaperones. Grade levels of student participants have ranged from 5th grade through high school, and these activities have been presented in the form of a demonstration table at science events as well as a set of three 45‐minute workshops in a classroom setting. Educational impact of these activities was evaluated with 7th grade students (n = 77) who participated in the 3‐phase workshop. On average, students who took the posttest (after participation in the workshop) scored 36% higher than students who took the pretest (prior to participation in the workshop). These results and instructor observations suggest the merit of this lesson and its adaptability among ages and platforms.     

Incidental Learning in Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

Students in a college course were given written criteria, divided into teams, and asked to score their own essay examination. Their pooled ratings correlated .922 with the instructor's ratings. Agreement between the ratings of students and instructor was not related to grade point or total test score. However, grade point and test scores were related negatively to the ambiguity of the students’ answers on the examination. The results support the generalization that subjective scoring standards are readily communicable. Theoretical and practical implications are examined.     

Relationship with instructor and other variables influencing student evaluations of instruction

This study examined some of the factors which influence college students’ evaluations of their instructors. Data were collected from 557 students enrolled in a basic speech communication course. Overall, a student's relationship with the instructor was the best predictor of the student's evaluation of the instructor. This study lends partial support to the idea that students evaluate male and female instructors differently. The variables examined in this study were better predictors of student evaluation of female than male instructors.     

Looking Far And Looking Near: Student Insights On History,Language, And Power

ABSTRACT

Three community college students participated in a collaborative student/professor research project to experiment with new ideas in teaching. Under the direction of the instructor, the students studied the South African riots in Soweto, 1976, and how issues of language and power were connected to this event. This investigative process began with video information to introduce students to the key issues, and was then followed by student research and discussion. The students, who were particularly motivated to understand the conflict by relating it to their own linguistic circumstances, worked individually and together to find articles and video sources to support their personal interests and ideas. By reflecting on their experiences and perceptions about language and communication, students were able to become engaged in an unfamiliar historical topic, discover relevant academic information, evaluate sources, and formulate insightful responses.     

Examination of Factors that Predict Academic Adjustment and Success of Community College Transfer Students in STEM at 4-Year Institutions

ABSTRACT

There are a limited number of individuals who possess the skills to fulfill the workforce demand in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in the United States. Therefore, community colleges and 4-year institutions must be able to identify academic and social factors that impact students’ participation in the areas of STEM. These institutions must also explore the possibility that these factors contribute to the high rate of students switching out of STEM fields. This study’s purpose was to develop a better understanding of the perceptions of community college transfer students who continue at a 4-year institution to determine academic and social factors that influenced their academic success in STEM. To collect the quantitative data, the Laanan-Transfer Students’ Questionnaire was utilized. The results of this study reveal that Academic Adjustment was predicted by father’s highest level of education, interaction with faculty at the community college and university, and perception as a transfer student at the university. The cumulative grade point average (GPA), was predicted by the highest level of education of the father, associate degree obtained at the community college, community college transfer GPA, general courses from the community college, transfer credit hours, and university course learning. Overall, the findings indicate that community colleges and 4-year institutions should encourage students to be connecting more in class and after class—not only with their peers, but also with faculty. Findings also suggest that students should become more involved academically and socially to enhance their academic and social adjustment at a 4-year institution.