Transformation through Language Use: Children’s Spontaneous Metaphors in Elementary School Science

This article examines the role elementary school children’s spontaneous metaphors play in learning science. The data consists of tape recordings of about 25 h from five different schools. The material is analysed using a practical epistemology analysis and by using Dewey’s ideas on the continuity and transformation of experience. The results show the rich and varied meanings that children put into their spontaneous metaphors. Their metaphors deal with facts as well as norms and aesthetics in relation to the science content taught and they influence learning both through what is made salient, as well as through their relations to the children’s possibilities of proceeding with their undertakings. Often one and the same metaphor encompassed all these cognitive, aesthetic and normative aspects at the same time. It is discussed how this rich meaning can be cultured in a productive way, and how the children’s spontaneous metaphors, with all their relations, can be used to enhance conceptual learning and also learning about the nature of metaphor use in science. Through their connection with various experiences of the children, it is also shown how children’s spontaneous metaphors have the potential to enliven and humanise the subject.     

国外小学教师科学教学效能感研究的现状与展望

国外研究者分别探讨了小学教师科学教学效能感的测量、影响因素、来源及其转变,但这些研究多基于西方文化背景,由于测量工具单一而导致一些研究结论不一致。我国小学教师科学教学效能感的研究还是空白,因此,应基于我国的实情和文化环境进行一些开创性研究。本领域的一些研究难题也昭示了将来的研究方向。     

Promoting and Scaffolding Elementary School Students' Attitudes Toward Science and Argumentation Through a Science and Society Intervention

This study investigated the effects of a science and society intervention on elementary school students’ argumentation skills and their attitudes toward science. One hundred and eleven fifth grade students volunteered as an experimental group to join a 12-week intervention; another 107 sixth grade students volunteered to be the comparison group. All participants completed the Student Questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study. Observation and interview results were used to triangulate and consolidate the quantitative findings. The data showed that after the intervention, the quality of the experimental group students’ arguments and their attitudes toward science were significantly higher than their comparison group counterparts. In addition, the experimental group boys made significantly greater progress in the quality of their argumentation from the pretest to posttest than the girls; and low achievers made the most significant progress in their attitudes toward science and quality of argumentation. Interviews and observations indicated that their understandings of explanation and argumentation changed over the intervention. This indicated that a science and society intervention can enhance both the ability of students to develop strong arguments and their attitudes toward science.     

STEM教育理念下小学科学教学分析

随着社会经济的发展,人们对教育的重视度越来越高,新的教学方式和教学理念也随之出现。STEM属于一种开放、融合的新型教育理念,要求对科学、技术、工程、数学进行融合,力求从不同方面出发,促进学生思维创造能力与综合素养的发展。     

教科版小学语文教材的古诗教学与审美教育

我国的古代诗歌随着历史的发展日臻完美,它是一种语言的艺术,更是包容了绘画美、音乐美、意境美、对称美等在内的一座丰富的艺术宝库,具有非常高的美学价值。通过诵读古诗,挖掘古诗的精华,重构并感悟古诗的意象是教科版小学语文教材古诗教学的重要目标。认真搞好古诗的教学,探究古诗的意义,感受古诗的情景,感悟古诗的意象和真情,进入古诗的意境,准确把握古诗理与趣的融合,情与景的统一,虚与实的结合,引领小学生吟诗入境,明理悟情,努力使他们能认识美、感染美、创造美,诗化他们的心灵,提高他们审美素质是教科版小学语文教材的至美境界。     

小学科学课堂教学模式的有效性研究与实践——以小学科学《七色光》教学片断设计为例

文章针对小学科学课堂教学的现状与小学科学课堂教学的特殊性,结合新课程条件下小学科学教学的目标、理念和课堂教学设计有效性的要求,以小学科学《七色光》这一具体的教学内容片断为对象,探索小学科学课堂教学设计的有效性策略和实施途径。提出了＂五步-四层＂的课堂教学模式。     

Teaching Scientific Measurement and Uncertainty in Elementary School

The concept of measurement is fundamental in science. In order to be meaningful, the value of a measurement must be given with a certain level of uncertainty. In this paper we try to identify and develop the reasoning of young French pupils about measurement variability. In France, official instructions for elementary school thus argue for having students do activities of measurement, followed by treatments and analysis of the data. The notion of measurement ‘uncertainty’ appears in fourth and fifth grades. A similar approach is proposed in the USA. We present a teaching sequence divided into two parts: the first part in grade 4, the second one in grade 5, the following year, with the same students. The main sources of data were field notes, videotapes, as well as the intermediate written traces produced, individual written tests given each year and clinical interview. We showed that the pupils were capable of entertaining all three possible causes of uncertainty (the quantity being measured, the measuring instrument, and the measurer). Concerning data organization and handling, we found that after teaching, most of them were able to construct a frequency table and a bar chart from a list of N measures of the same quantity. When interpreting this type of chart, some of them were able to argue in terms of a confidence interval. We have also shown that the proposed instructional units allowed pupils to become aware of the need to repeat measurements.     

论小学教师职前培养中"体验"的价值

我国小学教师培养过程中存在目标学历化、课程结构理想化和课程内容理性化的问题，其根源在于追求理性的价值倾向分离了理论与实践的关系，忽略了主体在问题中的价值和遗忘了对教育现实的生动体验。针对于此，文章提出体验性课程的设想，从体验实现了教育类课程的融合，实现了师范生知识与技能的整合，实现了教师职业情感的养成等方面论述了体验的价值。     

山岳文化的美学内涵和审美体验

文章比较深刻地阐释了山岳文化的美学内涵以及给审美主体带来的独特的审美体验。作者从三个方面进行了阐述 :( 1)对形象、形式美的感受与体验 ;( 2 )对声响、色彩、动态美的欣赏 ;( 3)对人文景观特殊美学价值的认知。     

Multilevel Effects of Student and Classroom Factors on Elementary Science Achievement in Five Countries

This study examined the effects of individual student factors and classroom factors on elementary science achievement within and across five countries. The student‐level factors included gender, self‐confidence in science and home resources. The classroom‐level factors included teacher characteristics, instructional variables and classroom composition. Results for the USA and four other countries, Singapore, Japan, Australia and Scotland, were reported. Multilevel effects were examined through Hierarchical Linear Modelling, using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2003 fourth grade dataset. Overall, the results showed that selected student background characteristics were consistently related to elementary science achievement in countries investigated. At the student level, higher levels of home resources and self‐confidence and at the classroom level, higher levels of class mean home resources yielded higher science scores on the TIMSS 2003. In general, teacher and instructional variables were minimally related to science achievement. There was evidence of positive effects of teacher support in the USA and Singapore. The emphasis on science inquiry was positively related to science achievement in Singapore and negatively related in the USA and Australia. Recommendations for practice and policy were discussed.     

项目式教学法下的小学科学课程教学研究

每个学生都有自己的学习方法,教师可以引入"项目式"的教学内容,从本质上提高学生学习能力,发挥科学课堂的优势和作用。"项目式"的模型教育理念,能让教学课堂变得更加个性化、智能化,为学生学习小学科学提供各种有效保障。本文就从当前小学科学的教学理念出发,对"项目式"教学研究进行几点分析,以推动小学科学的教学进程。     

Living drawing: Aesthetic teaching for moral artists

With its inherent attributes such as qualitative immediacy, imaginativeness, and embodiment, John Dewey’s concept of aesthetic experience makes a difference in moral education, in the ways of empathetic moral perception, moral reasoning, and moral action. If it matters then how can we help students gain aesthetic experience? By analyzing teacher Ho-Chul Lee’s approach to teaching drawing, called living drawing, this question is examined in terms of aesthetic style of teacher and teaching, and the aesthetic educational environment. This article will provide insights into how living drawing as an approach promotes aesthetic experiences and how it influences students’ moral experiences.     

What Teachers See as Creative Incidents in Elementary Science Lessons

Teachers are often urged to nurture creativity but their conceptions of creativity in specific school subjects may have limitations which weaken their attempts to do so. Primary school teachers in England were asked to rate lesson activities according to the opportunity they offered children for creative thought in science. The teachers could, overall, distinguish between creative and reproductive activities but, as predicted, there was evidence of narrow conceptions of school science creativity, biased towards fact finding, practical activity, and technological design. Some teachers saw creativity in essentially reproductive activities and in what simply stimulated interest and on‐task talk. Some implications and recommendations for teacher training and professional development are discussed.     

审美经验的递嬗

“五四”以来出现了审美经验的递嬗，从写实到现实主义、浪漫主义再到现代主义的生成，以及对应现代主义创作所发生的审美心理的变化与适应，包括新感觉派和“身体写作”之中的文学经验，都是与审美现代性相关的体验。     

中学生的审美体验对文学文本意义的建构作用

中学生对学作品的阅读实际上也是一种审美活动。作为审美活动的学读解过程，学生的认知活动固然是重要的，但是以个体性，亲历性，情感性，创造性国特征的审判体验对学本意义的建构作用是不容忽视的。学作品价值的获得，人生体验不断丰富的过程，正是学生个体审美体验在阅读中积极主动参与下实现的。     

Probeware and Handhelds in Elementary and Middle School Science

This paper reports a test on the feasibility and educational value of probeware and associated instructional materials in middle school science education. We addressed feasibility through consideration of costs, teacher professional development, and instructional design. In order to test our approach, we developed 2 middle school science curriculum units, 6 low-cost probes that interface between handheld Palm computers, and CCLabBook software for the Palms that presents the curriculum, interfaces with the probes for data collection and visualization, and supports guided exploration. The materials were tested by 30 teachers in the first year, and in a follow-up study by 8 of those teachers the second year. We found that teachers were able to conduct the investigations successfully in their classrooms, and that student learning was enhanced through the use of the probes and handhelds. Specifically, students experienced the physical correlation between phenomenon and modeling, which helped them to develop understanding and to confront misconceptions.     

Information Technology Classrooms and Elementary School Principals' Roles: Turkish Experience

The aim of this research is to explore what elementary school principals' roles related to IT classrooms were, and how school principals perceived their roles as well as what expected from them. This research was conducted in a small city situated in the west Black Sea region of Turkey. Seventeen schools with information technology classrooms were selected for this research. The participants in this study included seventeen school principals and fifteen computer coordinators. One central office computer coordinator and a regional representative participated in the study as key informants. The primary sources of data included semi-structured interviews and official documents. The self-reported IT related roles of Turkish elementary school principals included facilitation, staff development, and communication. The expected roles, on the other hand, included leadership (instructional and technological leadership), supervision, communication, staff development, planning, coordination, public relation, empowerment, ethics, and security.     

小学科学低年级室外教学活动探微

小学科学课程是一门基础性课程,课程的学习方式多种多样,对学生的发展起关键性的影响作用。2017年小学新课程改革,低年级学生开始系统地学习科学课教学,低年级学生好奇心强,对周边的环境有强烈的求知欲,他们更乐于在广阔的自然环境中探索和发现。选择恰当的室外教学教学内容,高效的组织课堂,能让学生在愉快的教学环境中更好学习。     

The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science Literacy: In and Out of School

Lifelong science literacy begins with attitudes and interests established early in childhood. The use of trade books (i.e., a literary work intended for sale to the general public) in North American school classrooms to support the development of science literacy invites an examination of the quality of science content disseminated to students. A total of 116 trade books were examined to: (a) determine the degree to which science trade books complement expected science knowledge outcomes outlined in school curricula, and (b) compare trade book content to the goals of scientific literacy. Analysis across four science topics, Dinosaurs, Space, Inheritance, and Growth and Life Properties, revealed that this body of children’s literature is inconsistent in its coverage of curricular goals and elements of scientific literacy. Because trade books represent children’s first exposure to science, these shortcomings should be addressed if these books are to be maximally effective in promoting science literacy. Implications for using trade books in the classroom are discussed.