Epistemology,practical work and Academic skills in science education

This article discusses the inherent flaws in considering and using the epistemology of the natural sciences as equivalent to a pedagogic basis for teaching and learning in the natural sciences. It begins with a discussion of the difference between practising science and learning to practice science. It follows with a discussion and refutation of three commonly held motives for using practicals in science education. It concludes with the presentation of three new, better motives for their use.     

中菲中学科学教育的比较

中国正在进行新一轮课程改革,理科的课程标准采用两种模式,其一是分科的课程标准,其二是科学课程标准。通过对菲律宾的科学教育进行考察,从教育体系、师资素养及管理、教学环节、课外教学等四个方面,对比中菲两国科学教育中存在的差异,提出我们应改进的一些建议。     

科学教育与人文教育内在关联性探究

科学与人文发生严重分离,科学知识的灌输一直是我国教育的主导。科学教育与人文教育的分割与分离的弊端过强,严重影响了人才培养质量,客观上要求科学教育与人文教育必须达到新的融合。本文深入地考察了科学教育与人文教育融合的内在关联意义,提出既要培养具有人文关怀的科学精神,又要培养具有科学意识的人文精神的人才观念。     

英美日与中国研究生教育科类结构比较研究

通过对英国、美国、日本和中国的研究生教育科类结构的比较研究,提出今后我国研究生教育科类结构优化的途径在于实施非均衡扩招政策,进一步加大管理学和教育学在研究生教育体系中的比重,根据社会发展的需要大力扶植新兴学科、边缘学科和交叉学科,继续从体制上对基础学科和冷门学科进行政策倾斜。     

Practical work in schools: An examination of teachers' stated aims and the influence of practical work according to students

In a state-wide questionnaire survey dealing with practical work in school science, science teachers (N = 257) in Tasmanian schools and matriculation colleges were required to respond to a validated list of 10 aims for practical work in order to establish a relative order of importance of aims according to practicing teachers. The aims were then rewritten as possible influences (as perceived by students) and the relative order of importance of influences established for the students (N = 724). The orientation of teachers and students towards the set of aims/influences of practical work were first examined separately and then compared. Teacher's aims are associated with a clear rank ordering of importance which shows little change over the whole grade range. The implications of this educational emphasis is discussed. It is argued that teachers aims are in some respects misguided or misjudged and when viewed against student perceptions there are some major mismatches. The instrument would appear to be a simple and useful way of evaluating the orientation of teachers and students towards the role of practical work in schools and raises many issues about the quality of the enterprise.     

Transition from high school to higher education and work in Korea, from the competency-based education perspective

We examined how much Korean high school education helps students to build up the competencies needed for their college education and the world of work. We surveyed 227 high school graduates. They particularly emphasized communication skills, a cooperative attitude, computer skills, making friends and maintaining friendships, adaptability, self-directed learning and creative problem solving skills for their future life. However, they think high school education generally does not help students to build up the needed skills. In fact, they want more extracurricular activities, laboratory classes, practical training, career guidance, and diverse pedagogies than are currently given.     

A comparative study of children's attitudes towards deaf children,children in wheelchairs and blind children in Greece and in the UK

This comparative study explores the attitudes of children towards deaf children, children in wheelchairs and blind children in Greece and in the UK. A total of 463 children participated in this study, with 229 children from Greece and 234 children from the UK, in the fifth and sixth grades in primary schools. The views of the children were elicited with the use of an attitude scale. The roles of prior contact and current contact were examined. Results indicated that all children were positive towards the three categories of children and that girls were more positive than boys. Comparative findings showed that children's attitudes in the two countries differed in several ways. Children in Greece were more positive than children in the UK. However, children attending schools with special education units in Greece held more negative attitudes than children attending schools with special education units in the UK. Also, children in Greece who had prior contact with deaf children were less favourable towards deaf children compared with children in the UK. Furthermore, the results indicated that children held positive attitudes at a superficial level, expressing mostly social and emotional concern, and not a willingness to interact with these children. The findings stimulate a discussion regarding the impact of sociocultural characteristics upon children's attitudes towards children with special educational needs.     

The assessment of practical work in school science

In this paper we provide an overview of the literature on understandings of drop out/opt out from science, technology and mathematics (STM) higher education programmes. After outlining the literature on students leaving higher education programmes in general, we then explore the research on drop out/opt out from STM programmes in particular, with an emphasis on research since 2000. We show that most of the research focuses on overcoming deficits in students' prior knowledge, but that a more specific focus on identities as an analytical framework for understanding young people leaving STM higher education programmes is also emerging. We show that it is important to shift from considering drop out as an individual problem for the student to regard it as a feature of the relationship between students and their study programmes. In the same way, measures to increase retention rates must shift from focusing on individual student adaptation to studies addressing institutional change. However, this change is difficult since it is entwined with fundamental conceptions of science and teaching.     

Secondary school students’ attitudes to practical work in biology,chemistry and physics in England

ABSTRACT

Background: In England, practical work is a major part of secondary school science and yet little research has examined students’ attitudes specifically to practical work.

Purpose: To examine students’ attitudes to practical work in biology chemistry and physics in secondary schools in England.

Sample: The study involved 607 students from Year 7 to Year 10 (aged 11–15) drawn from three state-maintained secondary schools in England. The schools were, broadly speaking, representative of schools in England in terms of academic measures such as GCSE outcomes, value-added performance and socio-economic area.

Design and methods: The research considered students’ attitudes in terms of an established analytical framework incorporating the affective, behavioural and cognitive (ABC) domains and used a mixed methods approach involving questionnaires, lesson observations, and focus group discussions.

Results: Whilst secondary students’ attitudes to practical work were, generally speaking, positive they were not constant and homogenous but change over time. The affective value of practical work was found to vary by subject although in all three sciences this value decreased, albeit at different rates, as students approached their General Certificate in Secondary Education examinations (GCSE) taken at age 16.

Conclusion: The affective value of practical work needs to be considered on a subject by subject basis, rather than, as is often the case currently in school, in terms of a generic attitude to science practical work. Furthermore, the affective value of practical work can be maximised by using more at the start of secondary education (Key Stage 3 – ages 11–14) with a gradual, subject-specific, reduction as students approach their summative public examinations (age 16) when their preference for non-practical, exam orientated, teaching increases.     

Portuguese science teachers' education,attitudes, and practice relative to the issue of alternative conceptions

Many studies have shown that students of all school levels hold alternative conceptions that differ from the scientific conceptions transmitted by the school. These results raise some questions about the efficacy of traditional teaching and stress the need for using teaching strategies that explicitly take into account the alternative conceptions that students bring to the science classes. This issue has recently been raised and widely discussed throughout Portugal and the proposals for the new science syllabuses advise teachers to take it into account. However, the number of studies investigating both the teachers' attitudes towards this issue and the use of teaching strategies based on students' alternative conceptions is very limited. This article aims to present the results obtained from science teachers about their attitudes towards students' alternative conceptions and the use of teaching strategies based on these conceptions. The results may contribute to the planning of in-service courses.     

A framework for practical work in science and scientific literacy through argumentation

This paper draws on earlier work on ideas that underpin the collection and use of evidence in science in schools. It establishes that different types of practical work share the same procedural underpinnings. It then takes the work of Toulmin on argumentation to suggest that the idea of the ‘public claim’ can be used to forge a link between scientific experimentation in schools and emerging ideas of scientific literacy. It concludes with a discussion of possible implications.     

A comparative study of attitudes toward child sexual abuse among social work and judicial system professionals

To meet the needs of mutual clients, perpetrators and victims, social service and judicial system professionals share an obligation to collaborate in cases of child sexual abuse. Unknown is the extent to which individuals in counter professions share common beliefs about perpetrators and victims of child sexual abuse. This paper reports an inquiry into the attitudes of five professional groups within an urban criminal justice system specific to victim credibility, victim culpability, offender culpability, and the crime and punishment of child sexual abuse. As predicted, statistically significant differences in attitudes were found among child welfare social workers, police officers, district attorneys, public defenders, and judges. In particular, groups differed in their beliefs about victim credibility and punishment of offenders, suggesting conflict in addressing two fundamental questions in these cases: (1) Can a child be believed when he or she reports sexual abuse? and (2) How should the system deal with offenders? Both questions beg the continuing attention of all professionals invested in these cases, ultimately benefiting victims and offenders. Both quantitative and qualitative findings are provided in this report.     

Religious studies,religious education and the aims of education

This article interacts with a recent article by Denise Cush and Catherine Robinson in which they call for a new dialogue between religious studies in universities and religious education, and identify a number of developments in religious studies that have implications for the practice of religious education in schools. Cush and Robinson are representative of an influential body of opinion among religious educators that looks to religious studies for inspiration. It is argued that they, along with others, fail to appreciate the difference between the aims of religious studies and those of religious education and that this unrecognised difference leads them both to engage uncritically and superficially with the history of post-confessional religious education and to fail to recognise that the roots of some of the weaknesses in contemporary religious education can be traced to the influence of religious studies over it. Showing that religious education has (and is required to have) a different set of aims from religious studies (though some aims may be held in common) alerts us to its distinctive nature, and this in turn facilitates a clearer understanding of its role in schools, which can serve both to direct and to evaluate educational outcomes.     

Teaching practices linked to the implementation of inquiry-based practical work in certain science classrooms

Around the world, there have been curricula reforms involving the incorporation of the inquiry-based teaching and learning strategy in secondary school science education in general and in practical work in particular. Research in inquiry-based practical work (IBPW) has focused, for example, on aspects of the strategy itself, on teacher professional development, and on classroom teaching and learning based on the strategy. However, the question of the extent to which teaching practices linked to the implementation of practical work are actually inquiry-based, was still to be answered. To draw on the answer to this question to inform professional development practice and research, we focused on the case of physical sciences classrooms in two resource-constrained South African schools. In this regard, we used a conceptual framework based on the Interconnected Model of Teachers' Professional Growth and including a framework of teaching practices. In the data collection, we used a multimethod case study approach and to analyze the data, we combined the inductive and deductive approaches in thematic analysis. The results show that in the initiation, planning, and classroom implementation phases of practical work, many of the teaching practices of participants were inconsistent with inquiry-based teaching and learning, although some other practices were consistent with this type of teaching and learning. At the same time, some of the consistent practices were at a rather low level of implementation. We have discussed the theory-, practice-, and research-based implications of these results, in relation to the implementation of IBPW in resource-constrained physical sciences classrooms in South Africa and internationally.     

Medical student attitudes to the autopsy and its utility in medical education: A brief qualitative study at one UK medical school

Attending postmortems enables students to learn anatomy and pathology within a clinical context, provides insights into effects of treatment and introduces the reality that patients die. Rates of clinical autopsies have declined and medical schools have cut obligatory autopsy sessions from their curricula making it difficult to assess medical student perceptions of, and attitudes towards, the educational value of autopsy. Our aim was to investigate these perceptions by designing a brief qualitative study comprising nominal technique and focus group discussions with Cambridge Graduate Course students, all of whom had attended autopsies. Three general themes emerged from the focus group discussions: the value of autopsy as a teaching tool and ways the experience could be improved, the initial impact of the mortuary and the autopsy itself, and the “emerging patient”—an emotional continuum running from cadaver to autopsy subject and living patient. Educational benefits of autopsy‐based teaching included greater understanding of anatomy and physiology, greater appreciation of the role of other health care professionals and an enhanced appreciation of psycho‐social aspects of medical practice. Students suggested improvements for ameliorating the difficult emotional consequences of attendance. We conclude that autopsy‐based teaching represents a low‐cost teaching technique which is highly valued by students and has application to many diverse medical specialties and skills. However, careful preparation and organization of sessions is required to maximize potential educational benefits and reduce any negative emotional impact. Anat Sci Educ 7: 87–96. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

中国、韩国与日本高等教育重点建设政策比较

In the era of globalization, China, Korea and Japan have put forward favorable policies to develop higher education. The essay is aimed to make a comparison of their various policies. The conclusion is that, when facing similar forces and problems against the background of globalization, the guidelines and goals of the key construction projects in higher education demonstrate convergence, meanwhile, due to different development status and governing patterns in higher education, the policy contents and implementation procedures tend to be divergent. __________ Translated from Qinghua Daxue Jiaoyu Yanjiu 清华大学教育研究(Tsinghua Journal of Education), 2007, (3): 106–110