Being professional: accountability and authority in teachers’ responses to science curriculum reform

The science curriculum is a focus of repeated reform in many countries. However, the enactment of such reforms within schools rarely reflects the intended outcomes of curriculum designers. This review considers what we know about the experiences and reflections of teachers in the enactment of externally driven school science curriculum reform. ‘Externally driven’ signals a focus on studies of teachers who did not make a proactive choice to adopt a particular curriculum reform initiative. This is a very common experience for teachers in many school systems, and one likely to highlight issues of professionalism and authority that are central to the work of teachers. The review analyses 34 relevant studies. These include studies of teachers’ experiences of national curriculum reform, and also studies focusing on more regional or local curriculum reform activities. The studies examine individual teachers’ beliefs, practices and reflections associated with curriculum reform, the response of teacher communities to reform (e.g. within school departments), and teachers’ (and other stakeholders’) experiences across school systems. A wide range of factors influencing teachers’ responses are identified. These are characterised in terms of personal, internal and external contexts of teachers’ work. The review also highlights issues of authority, professionalism and the process of meaning-making in response to external curriculum reform. The discussion section identifies important areas for future research and gives recommendations for the design of curriculum policies that recognise and support the professionalism of science teachers.     

从高考试卷看中学数学教学

2003年高考理科数学有偏难的一面，但也反映了课改的新理念及发展方向，暴露出中学数学教学中存在的一些问题，为中学数学教学提供了重要参考。因此必须更新教学观念，探求中学数学教学的新思路。     

Multiple Aims in the Development of a Major Reform of the National Curriculum for Science in England

In the context of a major reform of the school science curriculum for 14–16‐year‐olds in England, we examine the aims ascribed to the reform, the stakeholders involved, and the roles of differing values and authority in its development. This reform includes an emphasis on socioscientific issues and the nature of science; curriculum trends of international relevance. Our analysis identifies largely ‘instrumental’ aims, with little emphasis on ‘intrinsic’ aims and associated values. We identify five broad categories of stakeholders focusing on different aims with, for example, a social, individual, political, or economic emphasis. We suggest that curriculum development projects reflecting largely social and individual aims were appropriated by other stakeholders to serve political and economic aims. We argue that a curriculum reform body representing all stakeholder interests is needed to ensure that multiple aims are considered throughout the curriculum reform process. Within such a body, the differentiated character of the science teaching community would need to be represented.     

Large-scale curriculum reform in Finland – exploring the interrelation between implementation strategy,the function of the reform,and curriculum coherence

The study aims to gain a better understanding of the national large-scale curriculum process in terms of the used implementation strategies, the function of the reform, and the curriculum coherence perceived by the stakeholders accountable in constructing the national core curriculum in Finland. A large body of school reform literature has shown that a central determinant for the effectiveness of curriculum reform is the way in which the reform is implemented. Accordingly, implementing curriculum reform always entails translation of the new ideas into new educational practices, which involves complex sense-making processes from those involved. Altogether, 117 stakeholders accountable in constructing the national core curriculum in Finland completed a survey. The results showed that the effect of the implementation strategy for the perceived curriculum coherence was mediated by the perceived educational impact of the reform both for the school and society. The mediated interrelation between the top-down–bottom-up implementation strategy in the curriculum process, and the estimated coherence in the written core curriculum implies that the objects of the activities, namely elaborating and focusing on the educational impact of the decisions, is a crucial determinant for achieving curriculum coherence, and further, facilitating sustainable school development at the local level.     

Core competences and scientific literacy: the recent reform of the school science curriculum in China

ABSTRACT

China initiated a new round of science curriculum reform in 2017. Using the tripartite curriculum framework (including policy, programmatic, and classroom curriculum), we introduce and analyse China’s policy curriculum and programmatic curriculum for science in primary school and senior high school, and describe the potential problems hindering the translation of these curricula into the classroom curriculum. We first identify the multiple aims of different stakeholders in science education, some of which influence the science policy curriculum. Then, we present the major changes in how the programmatic curriculum meets the policy curriculum. However, due to extracurricular factors, the current science curriculum reform may not unfold as expected. We end with a discussion of the three major characteristics of the revision process of science curriculum standards in China, some of which might inform the global community of science education.     

Social control as a factor in science curriculum change

The contemporary school science curriculum may be regarded as the end‐product of a smooth evolutionary process or as the outcome of a series of decisions made by powerful individuals. The latter view is taken here and an attempt is made to interpret those decisions in terms of the vested interests of the decision makers. Attention is drawn to the need to scrutinize all proposals for science curriculum reform for underlying socio‐political motivation.     

美国基础科学教育改革及其主要特点--兼谈加强我国科学教育研究

美国20世纪80年代中期以来开展的新一轮基础科学教育改革，是60年代科学教育改革的继续和深化。其基本特点蕴含着值得我国科学教育改革借鉴的丰富经验，如科学教育改革得到全社会的支持，尤其是科学界和企业界的大力支持；科学课程改革具有系统性和配套措施；科学教育改革高度重视科学探究和科学教育的普及；尤其值得我们重视的是，美国科学教育改革有大量的科学教育理论研究的支持。     

Whole-School Collaborative Sustained Professional Development and Science Teacher Change: Signs of Progress

The experiences of middle school science teachers at two schools in the southeastern US who participated in collaborative, sustained, whole-school professional development and their implementation of standards-based instructional practices are the focus of this study. Participants were involved in their second year of the professional development experience. The research question that was explored was “How are science teachers implementing standards-based instruction while participating in effective professional development experiences?” Data collected in the form of teacher interviews and classroom observations using an observation protocol. Findings indicate that even with effective professional development, teachers implement standards-based instructional practices at varying levels. The reasons for these differences are discussed and the role of teacher beliefs and the impact of beliefs, experience and support from administrators on professional development efforts are discussed. Implications for future science education reform stakeholders and professional development efforts are revealed.     

Teachers designing curriculum as professional development: A model for transformational science teaching

We have designed a model for transformational science teaching focused on linking theory and practice through curriculum decision making that has been the framework for professional development sessions for middle-grade science teachers during the past 5 years. Interviews with teachers revealed that their experiences with curriculum development were of significant value in making decisions concerning the design of classroom environments. As teachers reflected on current research about teaching and learning, in collaboration with university scientists and science educators, they were informed by theoretical perspectives which held implications for their practice. Curriculum development became a vehicle for professional development and school reform; however, it was vital that the teachers were in clear communication with their administrators and communities concerning reform issues. Students and teachers from schools implementing the model and from control sites were interviewed to determine the model's influence on instructional practices and student attitude and achievement in science. The five-phase model for transformational science teaching is discussed here, accompanied by teacher comments about tensions experienced at each phase. This discussion is followed by an analysis of teacher and student interview data that reveals teachers' use of instructional strategies and students' attitudes toward science. Results and analysis of student performance on a mandated end-of-grade science test are also included. From this evidence, we recommend a new design for professional development opportunities for teachers that engages them in decision making as they reflect about the connections between theory and practice and the value of continually testing, revising, and reevaluating curriculum and instructional issues. J Res Sci Teach 34: 773–789, 1997.     

STEM Integration in Middle School Life Science: Student Learning and Attitudes

In many countries around the world, there has been an increasing emphasis on improving science education. Recent reform efforts in the USA call for teachers to integrate scientific and engineering practices into science teaching; for example, science teachers are asked to provide learning experiences for students that apply crosscutting concepts (e.g., patterns, scale) and increase understanding of disciplinary core ideas (e.g., physical science, earth science). Engineering practices and engineering design are essential elements of this new vision of science teaching and learning. This paper presents a research study that evaluates the effects of an engineering design-based science curriculum on student learning and attitudes. Three middle school life science teachers and 275 seventh grade students participated in the study. Content assessments and attitude surveys were administered before and after the implementation of the curriculum unit. Statewide mathematics test proficiency scores were included in the data analysis as well. Results provide evidence of the positive effects of implementing the engineering design-based science unit on student attitudes and learning.     

试论高职课程改革的方式、动力及本质

高职课程改革要求人们在放弃原有课程观、重新建构课程观的基础上,对课程系统进行全方位的改造。高职课程有自己的改革方式,"一刀切"式的改革不适合高职课程。高职课程改革的外在动力是社会经济需求,内在动力是脱离普通高等教育,自成体系,满足不同需要。高职课程改革的本质是价值观念的改变,是不同利益主体间的博弈过程。在高职课程改革中应当关注教师的地位。     

The science curriculum; the decline of expertise and the rise of bureaucratise

The content for the school science curriculum has always been an interplay or contest between the interests of a number of stakeholders, who have an interest in establishing it at a new level of schooling or in changing its current form. For most of its history, the interplay was dominated by the interests of academic scientists, but in the 1980s the needs of both future scientists and future citizens began to be more evenly balanced as science educators promoted a wider sense of science. The contest changed again in the 1990s with a super-ordinate control being exerted by government bureaucrats at the expense of the subject experts. This change coincides with the rise in a number of countries of a market view of education, and of science education in particular, accompanied by demands for public accountability via simplistic auditing measures. This shift from expertise to bureaucratise and its consequences for the quality of science education is illustrated with five case studies of science curriculum reform in Australia.     

课程改革三问

课程改革是一个反顾传统,多因素相互影响,多种利益主体并存,具有伦理诉求的复杂过程,具有承继性、长期性、博弈性和伦理性的特点。在课程改革过程中,极易出现激进主义、保守主义和实用主义的偏差。面对不可避免的课程改革,我们应该立足现实,学会从改变自己做起,真诚地适应和面对改革。     

Using symbolic interactionism to analyze a specialized STEM high school teacher’s experience in curriculum reform

In this paper, we present a microanalysis of a specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high school teacher??s experience of self-initiated science inquiry curriculum reform. We examine the meanings of these two constructs: inquiry curriculum and curriculum change through the process lens of interactions, actions, and interpretations. Symbolic interactionism is the theoretical framework we used to frame our analysis of how this teacher, Darren Daley (a pseudonym) and various stakeholders purposefully and strategically engaged in ??face-work?? and act out lines of actions to advocate or oppose curriculum change. Symbols are used in this world of face-to-face encounters to communicate, imply, and assert, meanings through socially flexible and adjustable processes. We scrutinize how Daley (un)consciously engaged all of these to defend his decisions, actions, and outcomes and ??look?? to others as doing inquiry reform. The meanings of such work are not intrinsically driven or reactions to psychological and extraneous factors and forces, but emergent through interactions. The data collection methods include interviews with Daley, school administrators, students, and parents, lesson observations in Daley??s class, and gathering of school website pages, brochures, and curriculum materials. We represent data in narratives describing storied history, voices, interactions, anecdotal accounts from individuals?? experiences, and interpretations. The analysis and findings illuminate the nature of teacher agency??how it is reclaimed, sustained, reinforced, contested, exercised, and modified in more nuanced ways, hence offering an alternative lens to theorizing and empirically analyzing this construct.     

Science education: a (pending) chapter in the curriculum transformation in Argentina

The article documents the complex process of changing Argentina’s science curriculum and implementing those changes over the last 15 years. It recounts how reformers tackled the challenges of balancing national (federal) unity in education with local (provincial) autonomy from the political, social and pedagogical points of view. It also analyzes various attempts to improve science education in Argentina from the viewpoint of their relevance to current developments in various areas of scientific knowledge and human action. In Argentina the effort to ensure equal opportunities for learners at the federal level led to a strong emphasis on developing Common Basic Contents (CBC) for both primary and secondary education. These contents were seen as fundamental components of the competencies that students need in a world increasingly driven by science and technology. Meanwhile, however, Argentina lacked adequate and sustainable policies and strategies for teacher education and training, which led to an unexpected complication: while the curriculum development process led to diverse and sometimes quite sophisticated curriculum documents, the actual quality of science teaching in the classroom did not improve significantly, and teachers still felt the need for more support before they could effectively implement the new science curriculum. The article ends by suggesting ways in which various stakeholders can work together intensively to improve science education in Argentina, in a new process that will respond to the current situation.

谁决定香港新高中通识教育科的校本课程

本文旨在探讨香港新高中通识教育科的校本课程由谁来决定。本研究在2010年的暑假进行,透过半结构性的访谈以探索不同中学发展通识课程所采取的策略。研究者发现校长在通识科的课程决策上占主导地位,通识科主任才是正真的课程领导,而科任教师多扮演追随者的角色。     

幼儿园科学探究活动现状探析

在新的科学教育理念的要求下，教师的科学教育行为发生了很大的改变，在为幼儿设计和组织科学探究活动时能够做到根据幼儿的兴趣、需要选择探究内容，使之贴近幼儿生活，能够依据探宄目标为幼儿提供具有适宜结构的材料，并努力创设宽松的探究氛围，但同时也存在着目标理解和把握、活动组织和指导等方面的不足。这需要教师进一步加强学习。加强实践研究和反思。     

高校英语课程建设和改革的新思考

全国中小学正在思考、讨论英语课程改革的问题,中学也正在全面实施新英语课程标准。高校英语教师也正在紧跟形势,修改英语课程目标,调整课程结构和课程内容,以培养符合新世纪新时代所需要的高素质英语人才。英语课程改革关键在教师。教师必须更新教育观念,转换角色,改变教育模式,更新语言知识。改善能力结构,以适应英语课程改革的需要,为培养应用型高素质英语人才作出不懈的努力。     

Classroom-based science research at the introductory level: changes in career choices and attitude

Our study, focused on classroom-based research at the introductory level and using the Phage Genomics course as the model, shows evidence that first-year students doing research learn the process of science as well as how scientists practice science. A preliminary but notable outcome of our work, which is based on a small sample, is the change in student interest in considering different career choices such as graduate education and science in general. This is particularly notable, as previous research has described research internships as clarifying or confirming rather than changing undergraduates' decisions to pursue graduate education. We hypothesize that our results differ from previous studies of the impact of engaging in research because the students in our study are still in the early stages of their undergraduate careers. Our work builds upon the classroom-based research movement and should be viewed as encouraging to the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education movement advocated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and other undergraduate education stakeholders.