Primary Teachers’ Reflections on Inquiry- and Context-Based Science Education

Inquiry- and context-based teaching strategies have been proven to stimulate and motivate students’ interests in learning science. In this study, 12 teachers reflected on these strategies after using them in primary schools. The teachers participated in a continuous professional development (CPD) programme. During the programme, they were also introduced to a teaching model from a European project, where inquiry- and context-based education (IC-BaSE) strategies were fused. The research question related to teachers’ reflections on these teaching strategies, and whether they found the model to be useful in primary schools after testing it with their students. Data collection was performed during the CPD programme and consisted of audio-recorded group discussions, individual portfolios and field notes collected by researchers. Results showed that compared with using only one instructional strategy, teachers found the new teaching model to be a useful complement. However, their discussions also showed that they did not reflect on choices of strategies or purposes and aims relating to students’ understanding, or the content to be taught. Before the CPD programme, teachers discussed the use of inquiry mainly from the aspect that students enjoy practical work. After the programme, they identified additional reasons for using inquiry and discussed the importance of knowing why inquiry is performed. However, to develop teachers’ knowledge of instructional strategies as well as purposes for using certain strategies, there is need for further investigations among primary school teachers.     

A Substrata Analysis of Spelling Ability for Elements of Auditory Images

ABSTRACT. Two groups of middle school students were taught U.S. colonial history during a 5-week period using 2 different instructional strategies. In the experimental group, concepts and problem-solving strategies were explicitly taught; in the control group, content was presented using lectures and reading. All students took a pretest and several posttests. Declarative knowledge tasks measured factual content knowledge and domain vocabulary acquisition; procedural knowledge was measured with problem-solving essays. Whereas performance was not statistically different between the 2 groups on the fact tests, significant differences were found on the vocabulary tests and problem-solving essays. These findings support using direct instruction for relational thinking and problem solving with explicit reference to concepts and attributes.     

A Behavioural Evaluation of Dance Instruction with Students Who Have Special Needs

A dance programme for a class of students with special needs was evaluated using a multiple baseline across behaviours design where the behaviours were movements representing aspects of the elements of dance: Space, Body Awareness, Relationships, Levels, Effort, Speed and Shape. Observational data showed that the instructional dance programme was successful in extending the variety of movements performed by the students and that the observational methodology designed for the study was a useful strategy for evaluating teaching in dance.     

Effects of Cooperative Concept Mapping Teaching Approach on Secondary School Students’ Motivation in Biology in Gucha District, Kenya

This study investigated the effects of using the cooperative concept mapping (CCM) teaching approach on secondary school students’ motivation in biology. A non equivalent control group design under the quasi-experimental research was used in which a random sample of four co-educational secondary schools was used. The four schools were randomly assigned to four groups. Each school provided one Form Two class. The study sample comprised of 156 second grade students in the secondary school cycle (Form Two students) in Gucha District, Kenya. Students in all the groups were taught the same biology content but two groups, the experimental groups, were taught using the CCM approach while the other two, the control groups, were taught using regular teaching methods. Two groups, one experimental and one control, were pre-tested prior to the implementation of the CCM intervention. After four weeks, all four groups were post-tested using the students motivation questionnaire (SMQ). Data were analysed using the t-test, ANOVA and ANCOVA. The results show that students exposed to the CCM approach have significantly higher motivation than those taught through regular methods. The results further indicate that there is no statistically significant gender difference in motivation towards the learning of biology among secondary school students exposed to CCM. The researchers conclude that CCM is an effective teaching approach, which biology teachers need to incorporate in their teaching.     

Effects of three instructional approaches in adolescents' physical self-concept

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of three instructional approaches in secondary education students' physical self-concept after the implementation of an ultimate learning unit. A total of 274 (males: 151, females: 133) students (12 to 17 years of age) from an urban, coeducational high school (grades 8th to 12th) agreed to participate. They were distributed into three study groups in each grade: one group was taught using a Traditional approach (TRAD), another group was taught using the Sport Education model (SEM), and a third group was also taught using the Sport Education model and self-made materials (SEM-SM). The AF5-Self-Concept Questionnaire was administered to assess physical self-concept. The results showed that only the students in the SEM-SM group significantly increased their physical self-concept from initial to final tests. Self-made materials seem to have a significant positive effect, possibly due to their constructivist basis.     

A comparison of four methods of teaching psychomotor activities to elementary school children from varying socioeconomic levels

Conclusions The results of this investigation showed that significant differences did exist at the 01 level among instructional treatments. A comparison of mean performance scores across groups (rows) and tasks (columns) showed that instructional treatments ranked as follows: 1) self-instruction, 2) lecturedemonstration (classroom), 3) lecture-demonstration (television), and 4) minimal-instruction. The socioeconomic background of subjects did not influence instructional treatment. Subjects from all three socioeconomic levels learned best from self-instruction. Under the conditions of this study, time was not a significant factor or causal effect in differences that resulted among instructional treatments. Self-instruction was found to be the most effective method of teaching subjects from different socioeconomic levels to perform manipulatory tasks. This study substantiates the findings of an early experiment conducted by Calder (1966) with college students.     

Writing instruction in first grade: an observational study

As schools work to meet the ambitious Common Core State Standards in writing in the US, instructional approaches are likely to be examined (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). However, there is little research on the current state of instruction. This study was designed to provide a comprehensive analysis of first-grade writing instruction across 13 schools in one state in the US. Daylong observations were conducted four times during the year in 50 first-grade classrooms. Using a time-sampled, observational protocol, observers coded multiple dimensions of instruction, including grouping, instructional focus, teacher instructional activity, and student writing activity. Results revealed that writing was taught for less than 30 min a day on average, and instruction in skills or process writing was common. Most instruction was organized in whole-class settings with teachers either presenting information or asking students questions. Variability in the amount and focus of writing instruction and in student writing activity was examined at the classroom and school levels. A small number of classrooms and schools were identified with distinctive patterns in their approach to instruction and writing activity. Several moderate relationships were found between the writing instructional focus and the nature of student writing. These findings suggest that first-grade writing instruction is inconsistent across classrooms and schools and point to instructional implications for teachers and schools in the US.     

Effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology

The effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology was investigated. The sample consisted of 240 Form IV biology students randomly drawn from six selected secondary schools in the Oyo state of Nigeria. They were assigned into two groups—experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to the discovery method, and the control group was taught using the expository method. The science class of Form IV in each of the six schools was selected intact for the study. A nonrandomized pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The major instrument was the 40–item Scientific Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ). It is a Likert-type questionnaire using five scales. Two hypotheses were tested. Analyses of the results showed that the experimental group evinced a significantly more favorable attitude to biology than the control group (t = 8.87, p < 0.01). It was also found that the high, average-, and low-ability groups in the experimental class evinced a more favorable attitude to biology than their counterparts in the control class. However, there was no significant difference in the attitude of male and female students exposed to the discovery and expository methods (F1,227 = 0.07, p > 0.999). The article concludes with a recommendation that science learning using the discovery method may enable the learner to evince more a favorable attitude toward problem recognition and problem solving than when learning is done by the expository method.     

Sex differences in the sources of academic and social guidance sought by secondary school students

Four hundred and five students made up of 220 boys and 185 girls from eight secondary schools in Lagos State of Nigeria were chosen for this study. A survey was undertaken to find out the frequency (or the amount) of guidance services sought by both male and female respondents to each of the following sources: teachers, relations, friends, and trained counsellors on academic and social problems.The results showed that even though the students consulted the four sources of guidance under investigation in this study, there were sex differences in the frequency at which the four sources were consulted. Girls in this study were found to have made greater use of their friends on social and academic problems. Boys were found to have made greater use of their teachers on their academic problems and their relations on social problems.On the basis of the findings in this study, recommendations were made that students be encouraged to consult their teachers and guidance counsellors on academic problems in particular more than they were presently doing: that as much as possible students be discouraged from consulting their friends and relations on social and academic problems; that both the State and the Federal governments should make some effort to increase the provision of guidance and counselling services in Nigerian schools and where counselling services are available, students should be encouraged to make use of them.     

Co‐Teaching in Middle School Classrooms Under Routine Conditions: Does the Instructional Experience Differ for Students with Disabilities in Co‐Taught and Solo‐Taught Classes?

Co‐teaching is a popular strategy for implementing the inclusion of students with disabilities within secondary general education classrooms. However, we have little data regarding its effectiveness under routine conditions of educational practice. This study examined whether there was an “additive effect” of the special education teacher on the instructional experiences of students with disabilities as compared with the experiences of the same students taught by only the general education teacher under routine conditions. Observers used time sampling methods to document how students with disabilities spent their time in 11 middle school co‐taught classes. Statistically significant differences were found for targeted students in terms of general education teacher interaction and individual instruction. General education teachers spent significantly less time with students with disabilities when the special education teacher was present. In addition, students with disabilities received significantly more individual instruction when the special education teacher was present. However, these differences were of limited practical significance.     

Mental effort and video-based learning: The relationship of preconceptions and the effects of interactive and covert practice

Recommendations for the design of interactive video materials are often based on the premise that interactive video may overcome learners' preconceptions of television as “easy.” This study investigated learner preconceptions of the difficulty of interactive video, instructional television, and television, and examined the effects of actively or covertly responding to practice questions on perceived mental effort, recall, and inferences. Seventy-one undergraduate students completed a questionnaire assessing their preconceptions of the difficulty of the three media, received their treatment, completed a questionnaire assessing perceived mental effort, then completed a recall and inference posttest. Before the lesson, the learners perceived it to be significantly easier to learn from interactive video than from instructional television and television, and significantly easier to learn from instructional television than from television. There were no significant differences in the mental effort ratings or inference scores among the three groups. The interactive video group recalled significantly more information than the television group. Possible reasons for findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Does Instructional TV Make the Grade?

Managers at Michigan State University's extensive ITV operation employ a wide range of evaluative procedures with special emphasis on term‐by‐term telephone interviews to assess student attitudes in television courses. The interview system is explained in some detail for readers interested in initiating relatively inexpensive research techniques. Recent data comparing students in television sections with students in face‐to‐face classroom sections show no significant differences in grades or attitudes toward mediated instruction. These data are applied in varied ways by producers, faculty and administrators to improve instructional television     

Integrating Technology and a Standards-Based Pedagogy in a Geometry Classroom

Abstract

A mature mathematics teacher (one in the latter stages of a successful career in teaching secondary mathematics) sought support in making a paradigm shift to a technology-integrated pedagogy in the context of a state's emerging standards-based curriculum. The teacher had concerns regarding his ability to make the paradigm shift, but he was willing to make the effort because he believed that integrating technology as an instruction/production tool would increase student achievement in mathematics. This article describes the teacher's experience. Students in two of his three high school geometry classes were introduced to altered teaching methods involving technology. The first class created instructional modules using presentation and Web page software, and a second class used student-created instructional modules. A third geometry class received traditional instruction based on text and lecture. Two topics, angles and circles, were taught using this format. Another topic, lines, was taught traditionally to all three classes. Interestingly, students across the three groups had numerically higher end-of-unit test scores for both lines and circles, much more acceptable to the teacher, than for angles. Recommendations are in order in regard to teacher support for technology integration.     

Full time adult credential students’ instructional preferences at California State University,Long Beach: pedagogy or andragogy?

This study investigated the instructional preferences of full time adult credential students after they took a live course called Principles of Adult Education at California State University, Long Beach, (CSULB) in the fall semester of 2002. These full time adult credential students had been working on their adult teaching credentials to meet the competencies specified by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The course introduced students to Andragogy developed by Malcolm Knowles out of the andragogical model, developed by Lindeman (1926). The study used Principles of Adult Learning Scales (PALS), advanced by Gary Conti in 1983 to measure instructional preferences. Data were collected from 30 (100% of 30) full time adult credential students enrolled in a live course to, determine their instructional preferences of helping adults learn. The results of the study showed in most cases these adult learning professionals taught adult students andragogically: in some cases they taught adult students pedagogically.     

English Composition by Workshop

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of intensive in-class guidance of daily writing practice in freshman English composition courses as opposed to the presently practiced procedures in the course. The study involved 568 themes written by 142 students enrolled in six classes at UWM. Four groups were taught according to a workshop method developed by two instructors in English and an educational psychologist. Two groups were taught according to the procedures outlined in the freshman composition syllabus. An evaluation chart was developed by the three instructors and four complete sets of themes were graded once each by three raters. The hypothesis–there will be a significant difference in the grade achievement on selected freshmen English essays based on differences in instructional procedures between two control and four experimental groups–was supported. Since major variables of initial superiority of any writing group, variation in grading practices, and effect on students of theme assignments per se were not shown to be significant, it was concluded that the instructional procedures affected the grade achievement of the groups involved.     

The CASE Programme Implemented Across the Primary and Secondary School Transition in Ireland

In the Irish education system, there is little continuity between the primary and secondary education systems. The transfer between these systems is particularly problematic in the area of science. In order to alleviate some of these problems, as well as to enhance the cognitive development of students, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education programme was adapted for use and implemented across the primary–secondary school transition in Ireland. The programme was delivered in a variety of ways across the two levels, including the teacher and researcher teaching the programmes individually and team-teaching arrangements. The results on cognitive development measures showed that the students who were taught the programme in primary and secondary school made significant gains, when compared to the non-intervention group. There were also gains evident for students who only received one part of the programme (i.e. in either primary or secondary school). The greater gains, in terms of effect size, were evident at secondary school. The rationale, methodology and results are detailed in this paper.     

Team-Based Learning: Moderating Effects of Metacognitive Elaborative Rehearsal and Middle School History Content Recall

Promoting Acceleration of Comprehension and Content through Text (PACT) and similar team-based models directly engage and support students in learning situations that require cognitive elaboration as part of the processing of new information. Elaboration is subject to metacognitive control, as well (Karpicke, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 138(4):469–485, 2009)—successful learners use metacognitive elaborative rehearsal to process and make sense of incoming information even in the absence of structured opportunities or instructional prompts for elaborating. Levels of processing and cognitive load theories suggest that students in PACT classrooms may outperform students in comparison classes because PACT engages and supports deep cognitive processing (via elaboration and discussion) at the time of learning, allowing participants to better conserve and more consistently reallocate cognitive and metacognitive resources (compared to students in the non-treated group) for encoding content. In other words, PACT may moderate the relationship of metacognitive elaborative rehearsal and content retrieval. Extant data from years 1 (n?=?419) and 2 (n?=?704) of the PACT/RFU project suggests such an effect. As hypothesized, there were no mean differences in reported metacognitive rehearsal use across the groups because metacognitive elaborative rehearsal was not taught. However, regression coefficients for content recall on metacognitive elaboration were greater in the treatment group in both samples suggesting that an instructional emphasis on deep processing leads to better content recall. The findings are discussed in the context of the Common Core State Standards and the large-scale testing programs in place currently across the USA.     

The Effect of a Package of Some Curricular Strategies on the Study Habits of Rural Primary School Students: a year long study

An investigation was undertaken to study the composite effect of a package of certain curricular strategies on some cognitive and non‐cognitive characteristics of rural primary school students. The present article lists the results pertaining to one variable, i.e. study habits. The sample consisted of three groups of class V students. One group was taught using the package programme while the other two were given instruction through their regular teachers found to teach without the effective use of selected curricular strategies. The results indicated that the experimental group exhibited a significantly increased level of study habits in comparison to control group I and control group II while the two control groups exhibited an equal level of study habits. Further, the experimental and control group I exhibited a significantly increased level of study habits at the end of the academic session as compared to the beginning of the session whereas there was no significant change in the level of study habits of control group II.     

Effects of computer-aided and blended teaching strategies on students’ achievement in civic education concepts in mountain learning ecologies

The need to enhance students’ learning outcomes has become integral in secondary schools in developing countries due to increased students enrollment. Research has shown that the strategies utilized in teaching secondary school students have significant influence on their learning outcomes. At present in Nigeria, public secondary schools have not been deploying learning technologies to teach students despite the surge in enrollment. This study, therefore, determined the effects of computer-aided and blended teaching strategies on students’ achievement in civic education concepts in mountain learning ecologies. The study adopted the pretest-posttest, control group, quasi-experimental design using 3 × 2 × 3 factorial matrix. Seventy-eight students from six intact classes in secondary schools in Ondo State were selected for the study and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Five instruments used were: Students’ Knowledge of Civic Education Test (r = 0.78), Academic Ability Test (r = 0.72), Online and Blended Teaching Instructional Guides for experimental groups, Conventional Lecture Method Guide for the control group and Teaching Strategies Evaluation Sheet. One hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data was subjected to Analysis of Covariance, Estimated Marginal Means, and Scheffe’s Pairwise Comparison. There was a significant effect of treatment on students’ achievement in Civic Education concepts (F _{(2; 61)} = 4.93, p < 0.05; η ²  = .14). The students exposed to Computer-aided teaching programme had higher adjusted achievement mean score (\( \overline{x} \)= 27.86), than the blended instructional strategy group (\( \overline{x} \)= 23.06), and the control group (\( \overline{x} \)= 18.69). It was, therefore, recommended that teachers in secondary schools in mountainous locations should explore the benefits of teaching with Information and Communication Technology based strategies in civic education classrooms.     

Effect of instructional procedure and pupil locus of control on achievement and attitudes

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of instructional procedures differing in degree of student control on achievement and attitudes of pupils identified as having an internal or external locus of control. Two sixth-grade classes (N=47) were divided into internal and external locus of control groups. Half of the internals and externals in each class were randomly assigned a structured instructional procedure and half assigned a contract procedure. A two-week unit on nutrition was taught to all students, using a structured or contract method. There were no significant differences in achievement among any of the groups. However, the internal-contract group seemed to show a more positive attitude toward the unit than did the other three groups. These results suggest that instructional procedure may not differentially affect achievement of internal and external sixth graders over a short period, but that attitudes toward instruction may be affected.