Developing a thirst for knowledge: How uncertainty in the classroom influences curiosity,affect, learning,and transfer

Uncertainty is a key variable in fostering curiosity, which, in turn, is associated with learning. Yet, research in educational contexts rarely takes uncertainty into account, and rarely explores uncertainty and curiosity in the context of complex instructional activities. One concern with uncertainty is that it can provoke negative affect. Providing learners with expectations of future uncertainty may attenuate their feelings of negative affect. In a study with 138 middle school students learning physics concepts, we examined the relationship between uncertainty, curiosity, learning, transfer, and affect. Some students were given an inherently uncertain form of instruction, called Invention, in which information on how to solve the problem was initially withheld, while others were given direct instruction with all the necessary information to solve similar problems beforehand (No Uncertainty condition). Some of the students receiving uncertain instruction were given expectations about feeling uncertain (Expected Uncertainty condition), and some were not (Unexpected Uncertainty condition). Students in the unexpected uncertainty condition were the most curious, while students in the no uncertainty condition were the least curious. However, giving expectations of uncertainty reduced students’ negative affect. All groups learned the content equally well, but the expected and unexpected uncertainty groups exhibited greater transfer. Further, positive affect predicted learning, above and beyond condition, and curiosity predicted transfer, but not above and beyond condition. This study extends existing research on uncertainty and curiosity by studying these constructs in real classrooms, in the context of an exploratory learning paradigm, and by considering curiosity’s effect on transfer, rather than just learning. This work also demonstrates a practical approach for educators to foster students’ curiosity and transfer.     

School IS work: Work task learning in the classroom

Harold L. Munson, Ed.D., is Professor of Education Emeritus, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Bonnie J. Rubenstein, Ed.D., is Director of Guidance, Rochester City School District, Rochester, NY. Address correspondence to Harold L. Munson, 745 Thayer Road, Fairport, NY 14450.     

Motivational goal orientation, perceptions of biology and physics classroom learning environments, and gender

Researchers have reported persuasive evidence that students?? perceptions of their classroom learning environment account for significant variance in cognitive and affective outcomes (e.g. intrinsic motivation, self-concept, liking for particular subjects and students?? intention to drop out). The study reported in this paper investigated the relationship between students?? perceptions of classroom learning environment and motivational achievement goal orientations towards biology and physics, as well as the influence of gender. Participants (N?=?1538) were high school science students from the north-eastern region of Thailand. Our results suggest that motivational goals are linked to differences in students?? perceptions of learning environment and levels of biology and physics classroom anxiety. We found that females adopted significantly higher levels of mastery and performance approach goals towards biology, while males adopted significantly higher levels of mastery and performance approach goals towards physics. Males adopted significantly higher levels of performance avoidance goals towards both biology and physics. Positive associations emerged between gender and the adoption of specific performance goals, perceived degree of competition in biology and physics classrooms, and levels of biology and physics classroom anxiety. These results suggest that motivational goal orientations and perceptions of learning environment are gender-dependent and domain-specific for the two science content areas.     

浅谈如何提高大学英语课堂中的教与学

文章论述了当前我国大学英语课堂中存在的教与学的问题,如课堂上以教师为中心的教学模式,学生口语实际应用能力不理想,学后考查学生英语能力的方式单一等。然后探讨了解决这些存在问题的办法与措施:实施以学生为中心,师生互动的教学模式,改变教师单纯传授语言知识的传统教学模式;教学过程中突出学生听说训练,提高学生英语实际应用能力;提高学生英语学习兴趣与自主学习能力;最后还应建立多元的学后测评方式。     

Situated learning in an abstract algebra classroom

Advisory committees of mathematics consider abstract algebra as an essential component of the mathematical preparation of secondary teachers, yet preservice teachers find it challenging to connect the topics addressed in this advanced course with the high school algebra they must someday teach. This study analyzed the mathematical content knowledge that developed in preservice teachers during a semester course in abstract algebra utilizing Lerman's “person-in-practice-in-person” lens. This unit of analysis provided insights into the situated nature of the algebra learned by illuminating how the goals of the instructor and preservice teachers impacted the community of practice created in the university classroom and how participating in that community impacted the preservice teachers' mathematical identities.     

The Storyline approach: promoting learning through cooperation in the second language classroom

In the Storyline approach, a fictive world is created in the classroom, with learners working in small groups, taking on the role of characters in a story. The story develops as they work on a range of tasks which integrate the practical and theoretical content of the curriculum. This article reports on a study based on the syllabus for English, in which a class of Swedish 11–13-year-olds took on the roles of families who had moved into a new street in England, and highlights the role played by cooperative group work in the second learning process.     

How teaching science using project-based learning strategies affects the classroom learning environment

This study involved 458 ninth-grade students from two different Arab middle schools in Israel. Half of the students learned science using project-based learning strategies and the other half learned using traditional methods (non-project-based). The classes were heterogeneous regarding their achievements in the sciences. The adapted questionnaire contained 38 statements concerning students’ perceptions of the science classroom climate. The results of the study revealed that students who learned sciences by project-based teaching strategies perceived their classroom learning climate as significantly more Satisfying and Enjoyable, with greater Teacher Supportiveness, and the Teacher–Student Relationships as significantly more positive. The differences between the experimental (project-based learning strategies) and control (non-project) groups regarding their perceptions of the science classroom learning climate could be explained by differences between the two science teaching and learning strategies.     

语文教案创新与课堂教学价值转型

该文反思指令性课程范式下教案的诸种弊端 ,具体阐释教案创新的真义所在 ,即就教学内容而言 ,教案要着力于凸显教师思维个性、闪耀其独特的思维亮色 ;就教学过程而言 ,教案要充分体现开放性和动态生成性 ,从而赋予课堂教学以灵活性和多元性品格 ;就教学对象而言 ,教案要给学生留足自主自由思维的空间 ,特别是悦纳以质疑批判为特点的异质思维。由此而促成语文课堂教学的三大价值转型 :变统一和雷同为个性化和特色化 ;变预定性和封闭性为创生性和开放性 ;变知识和义理本位为学生发展本位。     

How an inquiry-based classroom lesson intervenes in science efficacy,career-orientation and self-determination

ABSTRACT

Three subscales of the ‘Science Motivation Questionnaire II’ (SMQII; motivational components: career motivation, self-efficacy and self-determination), with 4 items each, were applied to a sample of 209 secondary school students to monitor the impact of a 3-hour structured inquiry lesson. Four testing points (before, immediately after, 6 and 12 weeks after) were applied. The modified SMQII was factor-analyzed at each testing cycle and the structure confirmed. Only self-determination was shown to be influenced by an inquiry course, while self-efficacy and career motivation did not. Only self-efficacy and career motivation were intercorrelated and also correlated with science subject grades and subsequent achievement. Implications for using the modified SMQII subscales for research and teaching in secondary school are discussed.     

如何创设有成效的初中学生英语课堂

英语课堂教学是一个多层次、多功能、综合运用各种感官的活动,是教学双向作用复杂而又细致的过程,这就要求教育者改变传统的教学模式,更新教学理念,优化英语课堂,为学生营造轻松活跃的学习氛围,让学生在真实的语境中主动地学、快乐的学,从而提高英语的教学实效。     

培养良好学习习惯,打造有效声乐课堂

良好的学习习惯是打造有效课堂的基石,所以,教师要把培养学生良好的学习习惯放在教学的首位,并充分调动学生学习的积极性与主动性,从根本上提高课堂学习效率,从而实现真正的有效课堂。     

Perceptual learning transfer in an appetitive Pavlovian task

In two experiments, rats were given intermixed or blocked preexposure to two similar compound stimuli, AX and BX. Following preexposure, conditioning trials took place in which AX (Experiment 1) or a novel compound stimulus NX (Experiment 2) was paired with a food-unconditioned stimulus in an appetitive Pavlovian preparation. Animals that were given alternated preexposure showed lower generalization from AX to BX (Experiment 1) and from NX to a new compound, ZX (Experiment 2), than animals that were given blocked preexposure, a perceptual learning and a perceptual learning transfer effect, respectively.     

浅谈如何将普通教室改建成“经济实用型”多媒体教室

随着现代教育技术在教学中的普遍应用,越来越多的学校投入大量资金,建起了能体现现代教育特点的多媒体教室。然而作为资金较为紧缺的中小学校,如果能从方案设计、设备选购、改建施工三个环节精打细算,也可以将现有的普通教室改建成"经济实用型"多媒体教室。     

Curriculum Change in Norway: Thematic approaches,active learning and pupil cooperation - from curriculum design to classroom implementation

Laerplan 97 (L97) is a substantial programme of educational reform in Norway. It includes a subject-based, centrally determined curriculum more detailed than its predecessor, M87 (Monsterplan). L97 combines the compulsory delivery of a core of centrally determined knowledge with the flexibility for teachers to plan and teach with the local environment and resources in mind and in relation to topical issues and learners' interests. Teacher decision making in the selection of content and mode of delivery will be crucial aspects in the successful implementation of L97. This paper takes three key constructs within L97 and examines them more closely: thematic approaches to curriculum delivery, the active and independent learner and the cooperating learner, constructs traditionally associated with pupil autonomy and meaningful learning. Drawing on interviews with those responsible for designing the subject-related curricula and on teacher questionnaires, the study reveals how the journey from educational policy making to effective classroom practice would benefit from a continuing interface with all parties striving to understand links between the origins of ideological underpinnings and the reality of practice. Insights are drawn from curriculum development trends in England where a centrally determined curriculum has now been in place for over a decade and where debates about a learner-centred curriculum seem to have diminished.     

如何打造趣味高效的生物课堂

本文从生物课堂的趣味性和高效性分析了课堂氛围的重要性,之后从将引用故事、角色扮演、身体语言、语言艺术四个方面分析了如何打造趣味高效的生物课堂。     

Self-efficacy and classroom learning

This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for learning. During task engagement, students may assess self-efficacy by utilizing cues made cognitively salient by educational practices and which convey information about their capability to acquire knowledge and skills, such as performance outcomes, attributions, situational circumstances, outcome patterns, perceived model similarity, and persuader credibility. In turn, heightened learning self-efficacy enhances motivated learning, or motivation to acquire knowledge and skills. Research findings are presented showing how different educational practices affect self-efficacy. Future research needs to determine how students derive efficacy information from multiple cues, and to specify in finer detail how the cognitive processes involved in understanding instruction and appraising self-efficacy influence one another.     

Do teachers’ own learning behaviors influence their classroom goal orientation and control ideology?

This study explored the relationship between teachers’ own learning behaviors and their teaching practices. Experienced teachers taking graduate courses responded to an instrument measuring their self-regulated learning as students and their teaching practices as indicated by how they conveyed the purpose of engaging in academic work (i.e., goal orientation) and their approach toward discipline (i.e., control ideology). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that teachers own self-regulated learning behaviors influence the extent to which teachers convey a mastery goal orientation, which in turn leads to a more humanistic control ideology. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.     

How the usage of learning management systems influences student achievement

In this paper, our aim is to explore the predictors of adoption by students of a Learning Management System (LMS) based on a Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment as well as the influence of active student participation and the interactive usage of an LMS on the achievements of students in a blended learning environment. Our study was conducted on 169 students, who are using an LMS for the first time in their studies, from the largest university from Serbia. Our findings indicate that students' active participation in class has a stronger positive effect on students' achievement than does students' interactive usage of the LMS. A stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that a student's interactive usage of the LMS and his/her active participation in class accounted for 47% of the variation in a student's achievement. A student's interactive usage of the LMS is only affected by his/her perceived easy usage of the LMS.