Science teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning,ICT efficacy,ICT professional development and ICT practices enacted in their classrooms

This study assessed several precursors that might be connected to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practices enacted in classrooms, namely, science teachers' conception of traditional versus constructivist teaching and learning, their sense of efficacy, ICT efficacy, and ICT professional development. Data were gathered from 303 science teachers. According to the results, constructivist conceptions exerted moderate effects on the teachers' sense of efficacy constructs, which in turn increased their ICT efficacy. Additional results pointed to the positive mediation role of teachers' ICT professional development in linking their ICT efficacy to ICT use for constructivist activities in their science classroom.     

Teachers' conceptions of student learning and own learning

New learning theory, underpinning the idea of teaching for self-directed learning, provides new conceptions of learning: the self-regulation of learning, the construct-character of knowledge, the social nature of learning and a dynamic model of intelligence. What conceptions teachers hold may be related to their tolerance of uncertainty. We constructed a Learning Inventory and administered this to teachers in Dutch senior secondary education, where an innovation is heading for more independent learning. We found empirical confirmation of the five dimensions underlying teachers' conceptions of learning, both for student learning and for their own learning. Tolerance of uncertainty explained the other four dimensions in conceptions of student learning, but not in teachers' conceptions of their own learning. Teachers generally endorse the process-oriented conceptions, although some differences are noted between teachers' conceptions of student learning and their own learning.     

Changing conceptions and practices of management: Professional learning from an MBA experience by distance education

This ethnographic study of a management learning experience by distance education analyses participants' changing conceptions and practices of management using the notions of professional empowerment, integration, odysseys and personal transformation. The study reveals the nature, extent and processes of professional empowerment and personal transformation. It also attempts to illuminate the contribution that the MBA program by distance education and ongoing workplace experience made to the processes of empowerment and perspective transformation. MBA participants are seen to be negotiating different stages of the empowerment/ transformation process. Different stages are seen to demand different empowerment/ transformative strategies, and to contain different forms of barriers to professional empowerment. The sobering possibility of participants experiencing professional disempowerment is highlighted in the study.     

Lifelong learning: concepts and conceptions

This article reviews a number of versions of the concept of Lifelong Learning and sets out the main lines of the conceptions of education articulated in them. It then goes on to suggest an alternative to attempts to produce essentialist definitions and proffers a pragmatic, problem solving approach. The article draws substantially on the book by the same authors The School, The Community and Lifelong Learning (London: Cassell, 1990).     

The educational inadequacy of conceptions of self in educational psychology

Disciplinary and professional psychology have exercised considerable influence over the ways in which Western individuals and societies understand what it is to be a person. During the last half of the 20^th century, educational psychologists advanced scientific and humanistic conceptions of the self that removed personhood from the historical, socio-cultural traditions and related moral and political practices within which the self develops. In consequence, the theoretical and practical models of self-enhancement and self-management offered by educational psychologists are inadequate with respect to the education of persons who, if they are to function as effective citizens, must participate in complex, contested socio-cultural, moral, and political contexts with others.     

Undergraduates’ conceptions of mathematics teaching and learning: an empirical study

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Previous research in mathematics education has explored teachers’ conceptions of mathematics and its teaching and learning, and how their instructional...     

Measuring learning: discrepancies between conceptions of and approaches to learning

This study is framed under the student approaches to learning tradition. The aim was to identify convergence in quantitative and qualitative responses of individuals when measuring their conceptions of and approaches to learning with a mixed methods design. A sample of 1110 Spanish Master’s level teacher education students completed a scale on approaches to learning (R-SPQ-2F), and a randomly selected subsample of 111 answered an open-ended question on how they learned. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative data did not support each other, as inventory responses showed a clear predominance of a deep, non-surface approach to learning, whereas qualitative answers reflected a tendency towards lower-order conceptions of learning. Inconsistencies in the results suggest future research ought to use a combination of techniques when exploring constructs such as learning should they wish to draw valid conclusions.     

A comparative study of student attitude,learning and teaching practices in Pakistan and Britain

Good teaching is open to change and it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying that instruction in the light of the evidence. Similarly, the ultimate outcome of instructional practice is effective student learning. Therefore, in this perspective, adequately meeting the varying needs of students is a major challenge for the modern education system in every country. As the title indicates, this paper attempts to explore students’ attitudes to studying and learning in order to help encourage greater engagement with quality learning. The study is based on primary data with regard to postgraduate education and learning in respective British and Pakistani education institutions—i.e. Moray House School of Education (Edinburgh University) and the Institute of Education and Research (University of the Punjab, Lahore). In the context of the collaboration of these two institutions, the paper focuses on the ways and means to enhance the system‐wide capacity for research‐based practice.     

高师心理实验教学的应然分析与操作设想

章针对当前高师心理学教学效果不够理想的现状，分析了在心理学教学中开展实验教学的必要性，提出了开展心理实验教学的几点操作设想，并就一些相关问题发表了自己的见解。     

Students' conceptions of learning in different educational contexts

The aim of this study is to investigate students' conceptions of learning in different educational contexts, and analyze to what extent conceptions are contextually dependent. Student nurses and car mechanic students are chosen as two groups, and qualitative similarities and differences between the students are described and explained in terms of the educational contexts: nursing education and car mechanic education.The study is 'qualitative by its nature, and the phenomenographic approach and grounded theory are taken as the points of departure. Data for the cross-section study were collected through individual interviews with student nurses (n = 60) and car mechanic students (n = 54). Different groups of students were interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the educational programs.As a result of the analysis, qualitative similarities and differences in students' conceptions were found. Differences among students within a program were, however, fewer than differences among students participating in different programs. In comparing groups of students within the programs, similar trends of development could be identified. Students within both programs used more developed conceptions at the end than at the beginning of the programs. The differences found within and between the student groups could be explained in terms of educational contexts. The results thus showed that conceptions were to some extent contextually dependent.     

Students' conceptions of learning in an engineering context

Research on student learning in higher education has highlighted the central role that students' conceptions of learning play in influencing their approaches to learning. This article reports on a study of conceptions of learning among engineering students on a one-year foundation course. Students were interviewed about their conceptions of learning at three intervals during their academic year. The data was analysed using a phenomenographic perspective and from the data five qualitatively different conceptions of learning were identified. The resulting characterisation of these conceptions of learning is presented using excerpts from the interviews and some implications for student learning are discussed.     

Misconceptions about the learning approaches, motivation and study practices of Asian students

There is a common perception that Asian students relyupon rote learning and prefer passive forms oflearning, though, this appears to be incompatible withevidence of their high levels of achievement. Thisapparent dichotomy is explained by showing thatmemorisation can occur in conjunction with theintention to understand. It could also result fromstudents learning material by heart because theyperceive that is what the course and assessmentrequire. Evidence from over 90 action researchprojects is used to disprove the common assertionsthat Asian students prefer passive learning and resistteaching innovations. It is argued that motivationdisplayed by Asian students is not well described byconventional definitions in psychology textbooks.Courses which provide good career preparation are asource of motivation but it is not an extrinsic formof motivation which depresses intrinsic motivation.There are high levels of achieving motive, but itfrequently has a collective nature rather than beingindividual and competitive.     

A phenomenographic study of students' conceptions of quality in learning in higher education in Rwanda

The aim of this study is to understand the different ways that university students conceptualise quality in learning by drawing on a phenomenographic approach. A total of 20 students in higher education in Rwanda were interviewed and analysis of the interviews generated an outcome space of conceptions of quality in learning as transformation, practice, knowledge durability and employability. The findings illustrate the importance of the relationship between education and work as an important aspect of conceptions of quality in learning. This relationship connects to the discourse of employability in which graduates are expected to become flexible and adaptable to changes in context and over the course of time.     

Investigating the interrelationships among conceptions of,approaches to,and self-efficacy in learning science

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between primary school students’ conceptions of, approaches to, and self-efficacy in learning science in Mainland China. A total of 1049 primary school students from Mainland China participated in this study. Three instruments were adapted to measure students’ conceptions of learning science, approaches to learning science, and self-efficacy. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were adopted to validate three instruments. The path analysis was employed to understand the relationships between conceptions of learning science, approaches to learning science, and self-efficacy. The findings indicated that students’ lower level conceptions of learning science positively influenced their surface approaches in learning science. Higher level conceptions of learning science had a positive influence on deep approaches and a negative influence on surface approaches to learning science. Furthermore, self-efficacy was also a hierarchical construct and can be divided into the lower level and higher level. Only students’ deep approaches to learning science had a positive influence on their lower and higher level of self-efficacy in learning science. The results were discussed in the context of the implications for teachers and future studies.     

Towards university lectures' conceptions of student learning

A range of studies conducted since the late 1970s have sought to describe students' conceptions of learning, and more recently, teachers' conceptions of teaching. These studies, using what has come to be known as the phenomenographic approach, have identified conceptions of teaching, and conceptions of learning which have had a significant impact on the teaching-learning culture of higher education institutions in many parts of the world. The study reported here contributes to our understanding of student learning, describing it from the viewpoint of lectures from a range of disciplines. From the viewpoint of these lectures student learning was seen variously as: acquiring knowledge through the use of study skills; the absorption of new knowledge and being able to explain and apply it; the development of thinking skills and the ability to reason; developing the competencies of beginning professionals; changing personal attitudes, beliefs or behaviours in responding to different phenomena; and a participative pedagogic experience. The relationship between these conceptions and previously identified conceptions of teaching and learning is discussed.     

Trainee teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning,classroom layout and exam design

The objective of this study centres on identifying and classifying the conceptions of teaching and learning held by future secondary school teachers, and on analysing the relationship between these conceptions and the way classroom space is organized and exams are designed. The test instruments used were applied to a sample of 138 graduates, who were all following the Pedagogical Aptitude Course (CAP) during the academic year 2002/03. Results show that the more traditional teaching/learning models are related to a more vertical classroom layout. Significant correlations between beliefs and exam demands were also found.     

Future time orientation and learning conceptions: effects on metacognitive strategies,self-efficacy beliefs,study effort and academic achievement

During the past decade, research on the constructive learning process has been conducted mainly from two perspectives: student approaches to learning (SAL) and self-regulated learning (SRL). The SAL perspective has highlighted the role of learning conceptions with respect to other topics involved in constructive learning processes, whereas recently the SAL perspective has emphasised the effects of the future time perspective (FTP) and self-efficacy beliefs about these topics. Based on these two lines of research (SRL and SAL), using path analysis, we explored the direct and indirect effects of FTP and learning conceptions on self-efficacy, metacognitive strategies, effort and academic performance. Likewise, we identified some patterns that combine specific factors related to these variables. Participants in the present study were 100 (84% females, 16% males) Spanish fourth year university students enrolled in the Social Sciences Degree Programme. The ages of the students ranged from 18 to 49 (M = 22.02; SD = 3.68) and their participation was voluntary and anonymous. Likert-scale inventories were used to obtain data from students: FTP; learning conceptions; metacognitive strategies scale; and self-efficacy beliefs for SAL. On the one hand, the path analysis showed interesting indirect and direct relationships between topics with regard to key constructs of each of these research perspectives (SRL/SAL). However, these results do not coincide with the body of knowledge about FTP. On the other hand, results obtained using cluster and discriminant analysis revealed three specific patterns: a meaning orientation to learning and the future, a reproductive orientation to learning and the present, and an unusual pattern explained by the influence of historical-cultural characteristics on learning practices in educational contexts. We consider that this last pattern presents relevant implications for educational practice.