Towards a meta-research agenda in science and enviormental educaion

Abstract

This paper begins by establishing the existence of a debate in the broader educational community about the nature, meaning and significance of educational research, and its recognition that different approaches to educational research do not simply represent different strategies for data collection but rest on and express different ideologies that implicate different political attitudes among teachers, students, subject‐matters,schools, support agencies and researchers themselves. Evidence can be seen that this debate is beginning to appear in the science education literature and it is believed that the arguments can be extended.

It is argued that research in science education and environmental education needs to consider methodology in the political terms of ideology, rather than simply in the technical terms of method and technique. Some of the recent thinking about the politics of method in both science education and environmental education, is then considered briefly and a number of meta‐research questions are proffered that might focus further attention on the political theory of research in these two fields.     

The gift of an interval: Michael Oakeshott's idea of a university education

Abstract

This paper considers the arguments put forward for the closure of small schools in rural areas. The debate, which is firmly rooted in the Plowden Report (1967), has involved both educational and economic arguments. The research on which this paper draws examines these arguments in the light of the implementation of the Local Management of Schools in three local authorities in the UK since 1988 and discusses the impact which this policy has had on resource provision, on the changing role of staff and on the daily functioning of small rural schools.     

Development of argumentative discourse based on learning demand / Evolución del discurso argumentativo en función de la demanda de aprendizaje

Abstract

This study is part of a larger project focused on the development of argumentative competence and its effect on knowledge construction. It aims to analyse and compare the changes in the evolution of the claims and the quality of the written arguments used by university students in two learning scenarios: a first scenario where students participated in a debate with the aim of convincing; and a second scenario where the debate was aimed at achieving an agreement by consensus. The participants were 77 first-year university students in Education and Speech Therapy. A quasi-experimental design was adopted with repeated measures, in which students from the two groups wrote two argumentative texts (initial and final) for each type of debate. The results indicate that the initial claims evolved towards more moderate positions at the end of the process; and the quality of the arguments that students wrote in their texts varied significantly depending on the type of demand and the time of writing (initial or final).     

Scientific arguments as learning artifacts: designing for learning from the web with KIE

We designed Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE) debate projects to take advantage of internet resources and promote student understanding of science. Design decisions were guided by the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration instructional framework. We report on design studies that test and elaborate on our instructional framework. Our learning studies assess the arguments students construct using the Knowledge Integration Environment debate project about light propagation and, explore the relationship between students' views of the nature of science and argument construction. We examine how students use evidence, determine when they add further ideas and claims and measure progress in understanding light propagation. To a modeate degree, students' views of the nature of science align with the quality of the arguments.     

Transition to the School as Workplace: Challenges of second career teachers

This article details the transition of second career teachers to the workplace called ‘school’. Post‐baccalaureate students at a mid‐size comprehensive state university completed surveys pre‐ and post‐student teaching. Participants responded to the personal and professional challenges in changing careers. Issues faced by the non‐traditional students emerged. An increasing number of adults are changing careers and entering teacher certification programs. The study was conducted to discover the special challenges graduate teacher certification students encountered when leaving a career field and becoming novice teachers. Forty graduate students in the study completed an extensive certification program of courses related to the art and science of teaching. Open‐ended surveys were used for the students to reflect on personal and professional expectations prior to and following the student teaching semester. Teacher educators who address the needs of second career teachers, such as increasing field experiences, providing classroom management and time management strategies, may lead second career teachers to use the unique competencies they bring to the teaching–learning setting.     

马克思学说研究会关于“社会主义是否适宜于中国”的辩论

五四运动后,如何改造中国社会是当时知识分子十分关切的问题。围绕这一问题,早期马克思主义者同基尔特社会主义者、无政府主义者展开了一场社会主义论战。马克思学说研究会作为最早研究和宣传马克思主义的研究会,其成员参与了这场论战,并且发起了一场"社会主义是否适宜于中国"的辩论会。通过辩驳和争论,他们坚定了对马克思主义和社会主义的信仰,断定开发实业必须依靠社会主义,坚信只有科学社会主义才能发展中国,强调要坚持无产阶级专政。马克思学说研究会成员在论战中所呈现的观点为日后中国的发展奠定了良好的理论基础。     

Curriculum debate and policy change

This article investigates the underlying themes and principles that inform curriculum debate and how they are articulated in current school policy discussions. This topic is approached with the help of a case study covering the debate on which subjects should be mandatory for students at the upper secondary school curriculum in Sweden. The focus is on the arguments for and against the inclusion of History among these core subjects. The aim is to order and structure this debate and to link the arguments found to basic underlying principles. Why was History considered important or unimportant? What arguments are found about the best way to teach History? This study employs a 4-fold distinction which distinguishes between perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and reconstructivism as four schools of thought, each outlining its own particular view on what kind of knowledge is important and how such knowledge should be taught. One major finding is that two of the schools—progressivism and essentialism—completely dominate the debates under study. There existed a major fault line between those who emphasized the instrumental value of History as a tool for fostering good citizens, and those who considered History part of essential general knowledge about society.     

White Noise: The Attack on Political Correctness and the Struggle for the Western Canon

This paper provides a critical overview of the debate about political correctness and the status of the Western Canon in education. The paper analyses a number of critical themes in the debate: Who is it under attack? What is the Canon which is to be defended? Why does it need to be defended? And what notions of knowing and learning underlie the arguments of the proponents of the Canon? After outlining the ways in which the arguments of those attacking political correctness and defending the Canon are profoundly flawed, the paper suggests that the case for multiculturalism and diversified curriculum needs to be substantially strengthened if it is to present a viable alternative.     

Should Intelligent Design be Taught in Public School Science Classrooms?

A variety of different arguments have been offered for teaching “both sides” of the evolution/ID debate in public schools. This article reviews five of the most common types of arguments advanced by proponents of Intelligent Design and demonstrates how and why they are founded on confusion and misunderstanding. It argues on behalf of teaching evolution, and relegating discussion of ID to philosophy or history courses.     

The nature and development of hypothetico‐predictive argumentation with implications for science teaching

This paper explicates a pattern of scientific argumentation in which scientists respond to causal questions with the generation and test of alternative hypotheses through cycles of hypothetico‐predictive argumentation. Hypothetico‐predictive arguments are employed to test causal claims that exist on at least two levels (designated stage 4 in which the causal claims are perceptible, and stage 5 in which the causal claims are imperceptible). Origins of the ability to construct and comprehend hypothetico‐predictive arguments at the highest level can be traced to pre‐verbal reasoning of the sensory‐motor child and the gradual internalization of verbally mediated arguments involving nominal, categorical, causal and, finally, theoretical propositions. Presumably, the ability to construct and comprehend hypothetico‐predictive arguments (an aspect of procedural knowledge) is necessary for the construction of conceptual knowledge (an aspect of declarative knowledge) because such arguments are used during concept construction and conceptual change. Science instruction that focuses on the generation and debate of hypothetico‐predictive arguments should improve students' conceptual understanding and their argumentative/reasoning skills.     

构建与教师进修、职称晋升相联系的教师资格制度

为了克服现行教师资格制度的弊病,必须以教师专业化发展理论为指导,打破教师资格终身制,实行教师资格分级递进制度,使每一级教师资格的获得,既是该阶段教师继续教育累积的自然结果,同时又是获得高一级教师职称的必要条件。要使教师资格制度成为连接和推动教师进修、职称晋升的中间环节,真正成为教师专业化发展的动力因素和制度保障。     

从诉讼活动中的客观真实与法律真实的关系看法律概念冲突的哲学整合

法律概念的冲突是一个普遍存在的问题。在诉讼法领域内，关于诉讼证明究竟是满足客观真实还是法律真实的要求，争议很大。两种观点分别用认识论加以证明，但矛盾依旧。作以系统哲学的观点把两个水火不相容的矛盾概念，整合于一个体系之中，解决了其冲突。     

Religion,Sexual Orientation,and School Policy: How the Christian Right Frames Its Arguments

The Christian Right opposes the inclusion of sexual orientation in school policies, charging that the schools are legitimating and promoting homosexuality. The arguments have moved past the trite, “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” to claims of violations of parental rights and the First Amendment, often positioning Christians as the ones who are now being discriminated against. The purpose of this study is to examine if opponents frame their arguments using language that's agreeable to the larger and more liberal public to garner more broad based support; if so, what are some examples; and to see if opponents' arguments are aligned with a Christian Right worldview. The findings of this ethnographic case study focus on the Christian Right's perceived threat to its hegemony over American social life and highlight the debate over the purposes of schooling.     

The expansion of compulsory education in Turkey: local and world culture dynamics

Drawing on world culture and local culture explanations of educational change, this article aims to understand the dynamics of educational reform in Turkey in 1997 that expanded compulsory primary education from five to eight years. To do so, speeches given by opponents and proponents of the reform in the Turkish parliament were analysed. Imam-Hatip schools, vocational secondary schools for educating religious functionaries, were central to the debate. In support of world culture explanations, both sides of the debate made references to Western educational models and universal values such as democracy and human rights to frame and legitimise their arguments. However, all these arguments were embedded in local cultural and political issues. This article therefore proposes that both world culture and local culture should be considered when analysing national policy changes since local actors can easily appropriate global developments to support their local cultural and political interests.     

Teacher effects upon the outcomes of science instruction

The effect of an individual teacher upon his student, whether positive or negative, is always open to debate and discussion. This research lends additional support to the arguments.     

‘Policy embodiment’: Alternative certification and Teach For America teachers in traditional public schools

A vociferous policy debate concerning Teach For America (TFA) and alternative certification programs can be heard in many countries where ‘Teach For … ’ initiatives are found. Yet limited scholarship has examined how TFA teachers must negotiate negative reactions from non-TFA teachers. Drawing on interview data with 27 TFA teachers in public schools in the Midwestern United States, this article uses a sociocultural policy analysis framework to explore how these teachers are positioned as embodiments of alternative certification policy and the larger organization, TFA. It further articulates the broad conceptual application of educational ‘policy embodiment’ beyond the TFA case study.     

论我国中小学教师职务的评与聘

当前,中小学教师职务的评聘关系处理有多种方式.评聘合一的模式导致教师的三大任用制度在结构上不尽合理.完善中小学教师职务制度,须将教师职务任职资格的评审与现行教师资格的认定合并,将教师职务的聘任与现行教师聘任制度合并,形成新的中小学教师资格和教师聘任制度.     

Approaching and avoiding arguments: The role of epistemological beliefs, need for cognition, and extraverted personality traits

Because argumentation may promote deeper processing of content, this study examined factors affecting students’ dispositions to engage in argument, specifically epistemological beliefs, need for cognition, and extraversion (assertiveness and warmth). An instrument developed by [Infante and Rancer, 1982] was used to measure dispositions to approach or avoid arguments. Subjects were 238 undergraduates who completed surveys of the relevant constructs. Contrary to expectation that epistemological beliefs would predict the approach component by affecting the perceived usefulness of argumentation, regression analysis indicated that epistemological beliefs instead predicted the avoidance component (as did a desire to maintain warm relationships). Need for cognition predicted the approach component, whereas assertiveness predicted both. The need to better understand why some students avoid arguments is discussed.     

Students’ communication, argumentation and knowledge in a citizens’ conference on global warming

An empirical study on 12th-grade students?? engagement on a global warming debate as a citizens?? conference is reported. Within the design-based research methodology, an interdisciplinary teaching sequence integrating an initiation to non-violent communication was developed. Students?? debates were analyzed according to three dimensions: communication, argumentation, and knowledge. Students regulated their oral contributions to the debate by identifying judgments in their discussions. Rhetorical processes developed by students were mainly related to the identity of debate protagonists with interest attributions, authority, and positions. Students?? arguments also relied on empirical data. The students?? knowledge focused on energy choices, economic, political, and science development issues. Implications for socioscientific issues integration in class are discussed.