Ideal knowing: logics of knowledge in primary school curricula

This paper is written to draw attention to the ideal knower and the logic of knowledge embedded in curricula. New logics and new knowers, I argue, are conjured with the hope they will be capable of succeeding in curriculum designers’ imagined future. I frame this discussion in terms of debates about the place of knowledge in the sociology of education. Knowledge and knowers are produced together in curriculum, and it is useful to keep them together in studying classrooms. The bulk of the paper is a detailed comparison of two curricula written for the Australian state of Victoria. I will show that one – the 2000 Curriculum Standards Framework, second edition – follows a logic of truth. The second – the 2007 Victorian Essential Learning Standards – follows a logic of realisation. These contrasting logics require and instantiate quite different types of knower.     

The development of clinical reasoning skills: A major objective of the anatomy course

Traditional medical school curricula have made a clear demarcation between the basic biomedical sciences and the clinical years. It is our view that a comprehensive medical education necessarily involves an increased correlation between basic science knowledge and its clinical applications. A basic anatomy course should have two main objectives: for the student to successfully gain a solid knowledge base of human anatomy and to develop and hone clinical reasoning skills. In a basic anatomy course, clinical case discussions based on underlying anatomic anomalies or abnormalities are the major means to teach students clinical reasoning skills. By identifying, classifying, and analyzing the clinical data given, a student learns to methodically approach a clinical case and formulate plausible diagnoses. Practicing and perfecting clinical problem‐solving skills should be a major objective of the anatomy curriculum. Such clinical reasoning skills are indeed crucial for the successful and expert practice of medicine. Anat Sci Ed 1:267–268, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Problems with problem-centred knowledge

The author completes theInterchange symposium on Referent-Centred and Problem-Centred Knowledge: Elements of an Educational Epistemology by responding to the commentaries of Paul Thagard, Stellan Ohlsson, and Francis Schrag.     

Junior high school physics: Using a qualitative strategy for successful problem solving

Students at the junior high school (JHS) level often cannot use their knowledge of physics for explaining and predicting phenomena. We claim that this difficulty stems from the fact that explanations are multi‐step reasoning tasks, and students often lack the qualitative problem‐solving strategies needed to guide them. This article describes a new instructional approach for teaching mechanics at the JHS level that explicitly teaches such a strategy. The strategy involves easy to use visual representations and leads from characterizing the system in terms of interactions to the design of free‐body force diagrams. These diagrams are used for explaining and predicting phenomena based on Newton's laws. The findings show that 9th grade students who studied by the approach advanced significantly from pretests to post‐tests on items of the Force Concept Inventory—FCI and on other items examining specific basic and complex understanding performances. These items focused on the major learning goals of the program. In the post‐tests the JHS students performed on the FCI items better than advanced high‐school and college students. In addition, interviews conducted before, during, and after instruction indicated that the students had an improved ability to explain and predict phenomena using physics ideas and that they showed retention after 6 months. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1094–1115, 2010     

Imaging,imagining knowledge in higher education curricula: new visions and troubled thresholds

It is urgent that we re-examine models of knowledge and knowledge-making within the university, at this time of open learning and deregulated multi-million dollar and euro open science hubs and portals. For otherwise, we are bound into ‘crude’ instrumentalism, ‘delivering’ ‘knowledge packets’ rather than seeing our curricula as potentially transformative (Head in the Clouds and Feet on the Ground. http://www.srhe.ac.uk/events/details.asp?EID=54). This article reflects on two issue-raising colloquia which challenged and reimagined our models of disciplinary knowledge and curricula design: the Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) Theory Network ‘New Visions’ symposium and the 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference. Both were linked by a pre-occupation with the visualisation and modelling of knowledge and university knowledge-making: the first looking to Barnett's ‘Structuring Knowledge in an Age of Non-Structure’ and Peters ‘Open Science Economy’ and the second concerned with academic and, now, professional, ‘threshold concepts’; both challenged the way we imagine, and image, knowledge and its incorporation and creation in university curricula.     

Referent-centred and problem-centred knowledge: Elements of an educational epistemology

Two distinguishable kinds of knowledge are (1) knowledge organized around referents and (2) knowledge organized around problems. This is a different distinction from that between declarative and procedural knowledge and, it is argued, a more important one for educational design. Schooling, whether traditional or progressivist, has tended to emphasize knowledge organized around referents. Problems of motivation, verbalism, and inertness are thus exacerbated. Active learning generates knowledge organized around problems. Problem-centred knowledge, it is argued, should be the principal objective of instruction.     

Development of an instrument for exploring preservice technology teachers’ maker-based technological pedagogical content knowledge

With the development of the maker movement, more and more teachers are applying a broad range of technological tools in their pedagogy, instead of only information technology. This study details the development and validation of the Teachers Maker-based TPACK Survey Instrument (TMTSI), a revised model designed to measure technology teachers’ maker-based technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in utilizing maker-based tools to support their teaching. We recruited 165 preservice secondary technology teachers in Taiwan for this study and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to validate the instrument. Our findings suggest that TMTSI provided a valid and highly reliable research-based instrument that also serves as a professional development model to help scaffold the development of K-12 technology teachers. This paper details the theoretical foundations of TMTSI, reports on its reliability and validity, and discusses the application and implications of TMTSI for teacher education and professional development.     

Changing knowledge,changing technology: implications for teacher education futures

Recent research in teacher education futures has identified two themes that require further study: the changing nature of knowledge and the changing capabilities of technologies. This article examines the intersection of these two themes and their implications for teacher education. The research employed futures methodologies based on scenario creation. With a focus on the above themes or dimensions, a panel of experts was interviewed to draw on its collective wisdom to explore alternative teacher education futures. Data from these interviews were analysed to stimulate the construction of four future teacher education scenarios. Feedback on the scenarios was obtained from teacher educators in Europe and Australia. The scenarios were then revised based on this feedback. The final scenarios are presented here as a way of provoking discussion among teacher educators about teacher education futures.     

Technological pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education: in search of a new curriculum

The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which teacher education institutions (TEI) prepare pre-service teachers for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in their classroom practise. Specifically, a multiple case study was conducted to examine the ways in which the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was promoted in the existing curriculum of three TEI in Flanders. In the three cases, data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the heads of the department and the ICT coordinators. Focus group discussions collected the perspectives of pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The results indicate that (1) the three institutions are moving from ICT as a ‘stand-alone’ course towards embedding ICT across the curriculum and (2) three approaches were adopted for developing pre-service teachers’ TPACK, each representing different ways of understanding the place of ICT in the curriculum. The discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities inherent in understanding how to develop pre-service teachers’ TPACK in the curriculum of TEI.     

Examining the effectiveness of guided inquiry with problem-solving process and cognitive function training in a high school chemistry course

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of traditional versus guided inquiry (with problem-solving process and cognitive function training) on high school chemistry knowledge, science process skills, scientific attitudes, and problem-solving competency. Two classes of students were recruited from three classes of Grade 11 students at one school in North-eastern Thailand. Using a split-plot design, students were assigned to an experimental (N = 34) and a control group (N = 31), and were administered (a) learning achievement tests (chemistry knowledge, science process skills, and scientific attitude), (b) a problem-solving competency test, and c) tests of cognitive functioning. The findings showed that students’ learning achievement and problem-solving competency in the guided inquiry group were significantly higher than in the traditional group. The effect of the new teaching method does not seem to stem solely from improvement in cognitive functioning. We attributed the improvement to greater flexibility in the amount of information provided by the teachers, more effortful processing by the students, and greater collaboration amongst the students.     

Complex problem solving in L1 education: Senior high school students' knowledge of the language problem-solving process

The solving of reasoning problems in first language (L1) education can produce an understanding of language, and student autonomy in language problem solving, both of which are contemporary goals in senior high school education. The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of senior high school students' knowledge of the language problem-solving process. Fifty-three 11th-grade high school students solved standard, comprehension, and linguistic reasoning problems. Before solving the problems, the participants had filled in open-ended questions inquiring about their knowledge regarding the effectiveness of a chosen problem-solving strategy. Content analysis of the responses indicated four categories and nine subcategories. The implications of the relatively few responses in the category of explicit knowledge of the language problem-solving process are discussed in the light of the changing needs of L1 students.     

Engineering problem-solving knowledge: the impact of context

Employer complaints of engineering graduate inability to ‘apply knowledge’ suggests a need to interrogate the complex theory-practice relationship in twenty-first century real world contexts. Focussing specifically on the application of mathematics, physics and logic-based disciplinary knowledge, the research examines engineering problem-solving processes as enacted by recent graduates in a range of industrial settings. Theoretically situated in the sociology of education, the Bernsteinian concept of knowledge structures and Legitimation Code Theory epistemic relations are utilised to surface the disciplinary basis of problem solving in different sociotechnical contexts. It is argued that the relationship between the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of the problem gives rise to significantly different practice ‘codes’ between which successful engineering problem-solvers are required to shift. This paper presents two contrasting case studies which demonstrate the impact of the environment on code-shifting practices. Findings suggest that engineering curricula need to facilitate a more conceptual grasp of contextual complexities.     

Comparing balance and inverse methods on learning conceptual and procedural knowledge in equation solving: a cognitive load perspective

We examined the use of balance and inverse methods in equation solving. The main difference between the balance and inverse methods lies in the operational line (e.g. +2 on both sides vs ?2 becomes +2). Differential element interactivity favours the inverse method because the interaction between elements occurs on both sides of the equation for the balance method but only on one side of the equation for the inverse method. In an experimental study, 63 students (mean age = 13) were randomly allocated to either balance or inverse group to undertake a pre-test, study an instruction sheet, complete acquisition equations, sit for a post-test and a concept test. Procedural knowledge was assessed on performance on practice equations and post-test, whereas conceptual knowledge was assessed on performance on the concept test. The inverse group outperformed the balance group on practice equations but not the post-test. Both the balance and inverse groups scored higher on the inverse concept test than the balance concept test. Positive association between performance on procedural knowledge and performance on conceptual knowledge was found for the inverse group but not the balance group. Overall, the evidence obtained indicates a number of educational implications for implementation.     

谈青少年的科技教育

加强对青少年的科技教育，加速培养科技人才，是时代的要求，也是国家发展的需要。但当前中小学对青少年的科技教育未引起足够的重视。因此，应提高学校的积极性，加强科技教师队伍建设，多方筹措资金。     

Strategic transfer: A tool for academic problem solving

Within the context of classroom learning, strategic transfer can be viewed as a tool for academic problem solving. Strategic transfer is defined as the spontaneous access and retrieval (remembering) of previously learned formal procedures for the successful solution of a problem. The transfer-appropriate processing encoding model (Morris, Bransford, and Franks, 1977), and the transfer-appropriate procedures retrieval model (Roediger, Weldon, and Challis, 1989) are reviewed. An integration of the two models is proposed through the development of a training-for-transfer paradigm (Phye, 1990). By integrating encoding and retrieval processing in a single transfer paradigm the issue of accessing prior knowledge (Bransford, 1990) that is also referred to as the inert knowledge problem (Whitehead, 1929) can directly be addressed.     

新闻专业通识教育应以培养能力为主

高校通识教育不完全是专业教育的基础。通识教育应注重思维方式这些深层次素质的培养：要注重对能力的培养而不是知识的灌输;要注重与专业教育的联系而不是与之脱节;要注重采取多种形式全面实施。新闻传播类专业尤其应当如此。知识面的拓宽不以量为旨,重要的是要求质,要注意优化知识结构,注重能力的培养：首先是思维能力的培养;其次是以写作能力为主的动手能力的培养。     

Resolving the amalgam: connecting pedagogical content knowledge,content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

ABSTRACT

This paper concludes the Special Issue (SI) ‘Probing the Amalgam: the relationship between science teachers’ content, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge’. We review the five papers (Sorge et al; Gess-Newsome et al; Kind; Pitjeng-Mosabala and Rollnick; and Liepertz and Bronowski) by discussing evidence these present regarding the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of CK, PK and PCK in novice and experienced secondary science teachers and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students’ learning. In conclusion, we draw these findings together in offering proposals for future research via reconsideration of Shulman’s amalgam. This includes post-hoc examination of a PCK model known as ‘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.), Re-examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Science Education (pp. 28–42). New York, NY: Routledge; Neumann, Kind, & Harms [2018]. Probing the amalgam: The relationship between science teachers’ content, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 1–15) and presentation of a novel PCK structure based on evidence from the SI studies.     

The importance of supporting technological knowledge in post-primary education: a cohort study

Background: Substantial research highlights the differences between scientific and technological knowledge. Considering that learning is heavily focused on the acquisition of knowledge, it is important to examine the individual and systematic implications of these types of knowledge.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on overall educational performance as a result of engaging with technology subjects at post-primary level.

Sample: A five year cohort study was designed to gather longitudinal data from a total sample of 1761 pupils’ grades from the Irish Leaving Certificate examination. The sample was distributed across four schools.

Design and methods: Grades from the Irish Leaving Certificate were selected because the examination is considered high stakes as it serves as the country’s primary mechanism for matriculation into third-level education. Individual examinations are designed externally to schools by a government body ensuring the validity of each examination in capturing the holistic interpretation subject syllabi. Finally, a points system is used to score each examination facilitating comparisons between subjects.

Results: The results show that pupils who study the technology subjects are statistically significantly less likely to perform well overall in comparison to pupils who study science and mathematics subjects. They also show that for pupils who study the technology subjects, those subjects are statistically significantly likely to be their best performing subjects.

Conclusions: Due to the array of variables impacting subject selection, a definitive causal explanation cannot be deduced from the data for these results. However, it is possible to infer that the variance in knowledge types between the science and technology subjects has an impact on the results. A case is made that a compulsory technological component should be incorporated into educational curricula to provide a comprehensive and general education and to facilitate the holistic development of pupils.     

Implicit knowledge of general upper secondary school in a bridge-building project

Bridge-building activities are practiced widely in the education systems of Europe. They are meant to bridge transitions between lower and upper secondary school and form a mandatory part of the youth guidance system in Denmark. By giving pupils the opportunity to experience the different educational context of upper secondary school, bridge-building activities are meant to facilitate their decision-making on educational paths, but also to attract more and new groups of pupils. However, the premises of the inherent differences of educational contexts and of pupils’ lacking knowledge of upper secondary education can be questioned. In this ethnographic case study of a bridge-building project in a rural area in Denmark, we analyse the implicit knowledge of the general upper secondary school, as it is practiced in a bridge-building project, and how it is experienced by the pupils on the background of their prior knowledge. The analysis is theoretically informed by especially the code concepts of Basil Bernstein.     

From chalk to keyboard in higher education classrooms: changes and coherence when integrating technological knowledge into pedagogical content knowledge

Abstract

The European Higher Education Area has promoted reconsidering the role played by teachers at universities. Faculties are expected to design learning activities that promote the acquisition of competencies among students. In this context, technologies have garnered prominence as they contribute to creating student-centred learning environments. This study answers these research questions: (1) To what extent has university teaching changed with the implementation of digital technologies in university classrooms? What technology-based learning activities are incorporated in instructional designs by the teachers? (2) How does the faculty describe the integration of technological knowledge into pedagogical content knowledge when designing and developing technology-based learning activities? (3) According to university teachers, which other factors (intrinsic or extrinsic) determine the use of digital technologies in their learning designs? To answer these questions, we have collected data from two differentiated samples of university teachers using the Inventory of Learning Activities with Technology at the University and semi-structured interviews. First, the results reveal that teachers use technologies to carry out learning activities focusing on the content and the teacher. Student-centred learning activities are only timidly being incorporated. Second, the extent to which such activities are implemented is linked to the teachers’ techno-pedagogical content knowledge. Third, the factors that facilitate or inhibit teachers from using technologies in the teaching–learning process respond to intrinsic aspects, such as teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, but also to extrinsic and contextual issues, such as the discipline taught or institutional policy at the university regarding the use of educational technologies.