Challenge in learning and teaching science

Taking as a basis a conceptualisation of personal challenge having both cognitive/metacognitive (thinking) and affective (feeling) components, the nature and extent of perceived challenge in learning and teaching science were explored for seven teachers and thirty-seven students in five secondary schools over a period of five months. Findings suggest that many secondary students are not challenged by the science they learn in school. Similary, many secondary science teachers are insufficiently challenged by the task of teaching. There are indications, however, that science teaching and learning attitudes and practices can be improved if teachers work to diagnose and change key classroom factors that influence level of perceived challenge in learning.     

Peer teaching and higher level cognitive learning outcomes in problem-based learning

Law education at the University of Limburg (Maastricht, The Netherlands) features small-group tutorials alternating with periods of independent study. Every group of 10 students was tutored by a staff member or an undergraduate student from the third or fourth year. Students guided by a staff member scored significantly higher on a test designed to measure higher order cognitive skills than students guided by a student tutor. Student tutors were rated no differently from staff tutors with respect to the way they stimulated learning processes, directed the discussion content and monitored the discussion process. It seems that in a quantitative way, staff tutors and student tutors behave more or less the same. Qualitatively, however, there may be differences in their behavior which the tutor functioning questionnaire is unable to tap. Interventions of staff tutors may be more to the point than those of student tutors due to the fact that they are experts in their fields.     

Model-based teaching and learning about inheritance in third-grade science

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that it is challenging for elementary students to develop conceptual understanding of trait variation, inheritance of traits, and life cycles. In this study, we report on an effort to promote elementary students’ learning of hereditary-related concepts through scientific modelling, which affords opportunities for elementary students to generate visual representations of structure and function associated with heredity. This study is part of a four-year design-based research project aimed at supporting students’ learning about life science concepts using corn as a model organism. Study data were collected during the implementation of a project-developed, multi-week, model-based curriculum module in eight third-grade classrooms located in the Midwestern United States. Through mixed methods research, we analysed video recorded observations of curriculum implementation, student artefacts, and student interviews. Results illustrate epistemic dimensions of model-based explanations (MBEs) for heredity that students prioritised, as well as significant variation in students’ MBEs in 2 of the 8 classrooms. While findings show neither students’ content knowledge nor model-based instruction associated with their MBEs, qualitative differences in teachers’ curriculum enactment, and more general approaches to science instruction, may help explain observed differences. Implications are discussed for curriculum and instruction in support of students’ MBE for heredity-related concepts.     

The importance of reflection in improving science teaching and learning

The purpose of this three-year naturalistic case study was to see whether collaborative reflection could enhance teaching and learning of science by generating desirable cognitive, metacognitive, and affective outcomes. Reflection was both individual and in groups, and involved reflection on practice in the classroom and phenomenological reflection on the nature of science teaching and learning. The study had two components. The preservice component involved 13 student teachers and teacher educators. The in-service component involved 14 novice and experienced science teachers and 350 of their students. The authors worked with both groups to devise ways of changing classroom attitudes and behaviors of teachers and students. The voluminous data collected include records of many interviews, questionnaires, and written evaluations. Findings from the study illuminate aspects of the nature of science teaching and learning, processes by which individuals improve the quality of their practice, and methods for exploring teaching and learning mechanisms and facilitating change. Central to these findings is the importance of each of the two types of reflection for fostering personal and professional development. For both teachers and students, both types of reflection acted to improve their knowledge, awareness, and control of themselves and their classroom practice.     

Researching balance between cognition and affect in science teaching and learning

This paper is based on findings from a three year collaborative action research project on classroom teaching and learning. The research, which involved 33 teachers, over two thousand students from six schools, and the authors, centred on exploring how various features of the classroom context influence teaching and learning processes. We interpret project findings as indicating the importance of balance between cognition and affect for effective teaching and learning. We advance the notion of challenge as a way of conceptualising this balance. Challenge comprises a cognitive/metacognitivedemand component and an affectiveinterest component. Nine major features of a teaching/learning event were found to interact to influence these cognitive and affective components of challenge. Specializations: Collaborative research on science teaching and learning; staff development and school improvement; quality of science education. Specializations: Learning and teaching science; pre-service teacher education. Specializations: teacher development in science education; technology education. Specializations: Science and teachnology curriculum, environmental education, educational disadvantage. Specializations: learning theory, probing of understanding, conceptual change.     

Student intrinsic motivation,science teaching practices and student learning

Conclusion This paper has been concerned with the application of basic understandings about intrinsic motivation and curiosity behaviour to the teaching of science, and in particular senior high school biology. The important role of student knowledge in the generation, maintenance and resolution of cognitive conflict is congruent with the renewed interest in studying students' everyday knowledge of curriculum content. However the study of classroom teaching processes in terms of their facilitation of intrinsic motivation is not common. Yet the data collected in this study demonstrates the importance of closely examining the implementation of courses such as the Web of Life, if the arousal of intrinsic motivation is an intended student outcome. Both interview and observational data indicated that the teaching styles adopted by teachers in this study were not likely to engender curiosity amongst students. Perhaps this should be expected. The use of a wide range of reference materials to investigate problems that arise in the classroom, the encouragement of students to do additional work on a topic if they are particularly interested, and a willingness on the part of the teacher to allow students sufficient time to formulate their own solutions to problems are classroom processes which necessitate a greater flexibility in curriculum presentation than can be often tolerated by teacher and school management. Such processes may be incompatible with organisational properties of the school and the pressures often placed upon students to perform to a high standard on rigidly defined examinations.     

State-mandated accountability as a constraint on teaching and learning science

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of state-mandated policy, emphasizing control through performance-based instruction and student test scores as the basis for determining school accreditation, on the teaching and learning of science. The intended consequence of instigating the rational theory of management by one state is to improve their current level of student literacy. However, some contend that the implementation of the policy has results that are not intended. The identification of the tension between the intended and unintended results of centralized policy making is the basis for examining a specific case in which the rational model is implemented. One hundred and sixty-five seventh-grade science students and four teachers are participants in the study. Qualitative analysis is the research methodology used as a means to provide detailed information about the contextual nature of the classroom processes. The intention is to identify and describe features of the behavior setting that influence the behavior of the teachers and their students. Three assertions generated during the field work were: Teachers redefine the goals of science instruction as the acquisition of facts and isolated skills, teachers alter their usual instructional behavior to implement uniform instructional procedures, and the teacher/student classroom interaction constrains students' opportunities to learn science. The implications of the study indicate that the state-mandated policy has results that are in opposition to the intended results. Instead of improving the practices of teachers, the implementation of the policy constrains and routinizes the teachers' behavior, causing them to violate their own standards of good teaching. They feel pressured to “get through” the materials so students will score well on tests. The classroom interaction is structured in such a way as to inhibit students from asking questions of their own. As a result, students' opportunity to express curiosity and inquiry—central processes in scientific thinking—are constrained. These unintended consequences of the implemented state policy, instead of improving science teaching and learning, continue to reduce science instruction to the literal comprehension of isolated facts and skills.     

How teaching science using project-based learning strategies affects the classroom learning environment

This study involved 458 ninth-grade students from two different Arab middle schools in Israel. Half of the students learned science using project-based learning strategies and the other half learned using traditional methods (non-project-based). The classes were heterogeneous regarding their achievements in the sciences. The adapted questionnaire contained 38 statements concerning students’ perceptions of the science classroom climate. The results of the study revealed that students who learned sciences by project-based teaching strategies perceived their classroom learning climate as significantly more Satisfying and Enjoyable, with greater Teacher Supportiveness, and the Teacher–Student Relationships as significantly more positive. The differences between the experimental (project-based learning strategies) and control (non-project) groups regarding their perceptions of the science classroom learning climate could be explained by differences between the two science teaching and learning strategies.     

Predictors and outcomes of situational interest during a science learning task

In this study we examined change in students’ situational interest as a function of student and task characteristics. Fifth- and sixth-graders (n = 52) were assigned to one of two task conditions that used a different version of a science simulation. The versions differed in how concrete vs. abstract the simulation elements were. Students’ prior knowledge, achievement goal orientations, and subject-specific interest were assessed before the task and situational interest was measured repeatedly in different phases of the task. Post-task performance was assessed 1 day after the task. The results showed different mean-level changes in situational interest in the two task conditions; students working with the more concrete version of the simulation reported increase in their interest while the opposite was true for students working with the more abstract version. The ratings of situational interest were nevertheless rather stable over time, regardless of the task condition. Students’ situational interest at the beginning of the task was predicted by mastery-intrinsic goal orientation and subject-specific interest. Post-task performance was predicted by prior knowledge and the task condition; students working in the more concrete task condition performed better. The importance of acknowledging both individual characteristics and task elements in the emergence of students’ situational interest is discussed.     

理科大学生在专业学习中的认知规律及相应教学策略

系统分析了理科大学生神经层级、心理层级、语言层级和思维层级的认知规律.提出了运用学生注意规律和思维规律的教学改革策略以及对错误认知习惯的纠正方法.认为高尚的认知动机有助于理科大学生改善认知模式.在认知能力培养中应该注重综合化、因材施教和以用促能三个原则.     

Looking in a science classroom: exploring possibilities of creative cultural divergence in science teaching and learning

Worldwide proliferation of pedagogical innovations creates expanding potential in the field of science education. While some teachers effectively improve students’ scientific learning, others struggle to achieve desirable student outcomes. This study explores a Taiwanese science teacher’s ability to effectively enhance her students’ science learning. The authors visited a Taipei city primary school class taught by an experienced science teacher during a 4-week unit on astronomy, with a total of eight, 90-minute periods. Research methods employed in this study included video capture of each class as well as reflective interviews with the instructor, eliciting the teacher’s reflection upon both her pedagogical choices and the perceived results of these choices. We report that the teacher successfully teaches science by creatively diverging from culturally generated educational expectations. Although the pedagogical techniques and ideas enumerated in the study are relevant specifically to Taiwan, creative cultural divergence might be replicated to improve science teaching worldwide.     

The effects of computer-supported self-regulation in science inquiry on learning outcomes,learning processes,and self-efficacy

Recently, researchers have demonstrated the benefits of technology-enhanced science inquiry activities. To improve students’ self-regulation and assist them in controlling their own learning pace through inquiry activities, in this study, a self-regulated science inquiry approach was developed to assist them in organizing information from their real-world exploration. A quasi-experimental design was conducted in an elementary school natural science course to evaluate the students’ performance using the proposed learning approach. One class assigned as the treatment group learned with the self-regulated science inquiry approach, while the other class assigned as the control group learned with the conventional science inquiry approach. The students’ learning achievement, tendency of information help seeking, tendency of self-regulation, and self-efficacy were evaluated. The results of the study revealed that the self-regulated science inquiry approach improved the students’ learning achievement, especially for those students with higher self-regulation. In addition, the students who conducted inquiry with the self-regulated learning strategy increased their tendency of information help seeking, self-efficacy, and several aspects of self-regulation, including time management, help seeking, and self-evaluation. Accordingly, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of the self-regulated learning strategy, an approach with high learner control, in terms of improving students’ learning achievement and their self-regulation.     

探究性学习--聚焦《生命科学》的教学生命性

本文阐述了《生命科学》教学生命性的内涵;展示了探究性学习在提升《生命科学》教学生命性中的积极作用;探讨了教师引导学生进行探究性学习的策略.旨在引起广大生物教师对探究性学习和《生命科学》教学生命性的更多关注.