Closing the Gap: Inquiry in Research and the Secondary Science Classroom

Teaching students how to conduct authentic scientific inquiry is an essential aspect of recent science education reform efforts. Our National Science Foundation-funded GK-12 program paired science graduate students—fellows—with secondary science teachers in order to enhance inquiry-based instruction. This research examined the roles of the fellows, teachers, and school culture in the implementation of inquiry and the fellows’ conceptions of classroom inquiry versus that in their own research. Qualitative data were collected for two academic years. Overall, the classrooms shifted toward a more inquiry-oriented approach over the academic year. Several aspects of school culture influenced inquiry implementation. Fellows described their research as similar in overall structure but less constrained by known concepts, less guided by mentors, and more in-depth than that of secondary school students. The teacher-fellow scientist partnership is a potentially effective professional development model to create positive and lasting change within the science classroom.     

论小学语文教学中的探究性学习

21世纪是知识经济时代,我们必须树立崭新的教育理念。当前,改变学生的学习方式,培养学生发现问题、研究问题、解决问题的能力,已成为世界各国教育改革共同关注的焦点。在小学语文教学中,开展探究性学习有着十分重要的现实意义。     

A Multi-Year Study of the Impact of the Rice Model Teacher Professional Development on Elementary Science Teachers

A teacher professional development program for in-service elementary school science teachers, the Rice Elementary Model Science Lab (REMSL), was developed for urban school districts serving predominately high-poverty, high-minority students. Teachers with diverse skills and science capacities came together in Professional Learning Communities, one full day each week throughout an academic year, to create a classroom culture for science instruction. Approximately 80 teachers each year received professional development in science content and pedagogy using the same inquiry-based constructivist methods that the teachers were expected to use in their classrooms. During this four-year study, scientists and educators worked with elementary teachers in a year-long model science lab environment to provide science content and science pedagogy. The effectiveness of the program was measured using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods that allowed the researchers to triangulate the findings from quantitative measures, such as content test and surveys, with the emerging themes from the qualitative instruments, such as class observations and participant interviews. Results showed that, in all four years, teachers from the REMSL Treatment group have significantly increased their science content knowledge (p?<?0.05). During the last two years, their gains in science content knowledge, use of inquiry-based instruction and leadership skills were significantly higher than those of the Control group teachers' (p?<?0.01, p?<?0.001 and p?<?0.05, respectively). Three themes resonated in the interviews with participants: science content knowledge growth, constructivist pedagogy and leadership skills.     

Teachers' Beliefs and Self-Reported Use of Inquiry in Science Education in Public Primary Schools

This paper describes Ecuadorian in-service teachers and their science teaching practices in public primary schools. We wanted to find out to what extent teachers implement inquiry activities in science teaching, the level of support they provide, and what type of inquiry they implement. Four questionnaires applied to 173 teachers resulted in the identification of high context beliefs and moderately high self-efficacy beliefs. Teachers declared to implement activities mostly to develop understanding of the material, as contrast to actual manipulation of data and/or coming to conclusions. They adopt rather a strictly guided approach in contrast to giving autonomy to learners to work on their own. Finally, teachers keep control with regard to question formulation and choice in solution procedures, which constrains the development of real inquiry. When comparing teacher beliefs, we found that teachers' context beliefs make a difference in the level of support that teachers provide to their students. Teachers with lower context beliefs ask students to perform inquiry activities on their own to a lesser extent when compared with teachers with higher context beliefs. This implies that further research on the implementation of inquiry in science teaching should take into account teachers' differences in their context beliefs. We also found out that the use of high or low support in inquiry activities remained the same for teachers with either higher or lower self-efficacy beliefs.     

An Examination of the Changes in Science Teaching Orientations and Technology-Enhanced Tools for Student Learning in the Context of Professional Development

This research examines how science teaching orientations and beliefs about technology-enhanced tools change over time in professional development (PD). The primary data sources for this study came from learning journals of 8 eighth grade science teachers at the beginning and conclusion of a year of PD. Based on the analysis completed, Information Transmission (IT) and Struggling with Standards-Based Reform (SSBR) profiles were found at the beginning of the PD, while SSBR and Standards-Based Reform (SBR) profiles were identified at the conclusion of PD. All profiles exhibited Vision I beliefs about the goals and purposes for science education, while only the SBR profile exhibited Vision II goals and purposes for science teaching. The IT profile demonstrated naïve or unrevealed beliefs about the nature of science, while the SSBR and SBR profiles had more sophisticated beliefs in this area. The IT profile was grounded in more teacher-centered beliefs about science teaching and learning as the other two profiles revealed more student-centered beliefs. While no beliefs about technology-enhanced tools were found for the IT profile, these were found for the other two profiles. Our findings suggest promising implications for (a) Roberts' Vision II as a central support for reform efforts, (b) situating technology-enhanced tools within the beliefs about science teaching and learning dimension of science teaching orientations, and (c) revealing how teacher orientations develop as a result of PD.     

探究性教学法应用于小学科学教学的比较研究

探究性教学法是小学科学课堂中所采取的主要教学方式之一,但如何真正把探究性教学法应用到小学科学的教学实际尚需在理论与实践层面进行研究.为了完善探究式教学法,通过对新加坡、美国及中国的小学科学探究性教学法的应用现状的比较研究,试图找出探究性教学法在我国应用中存在的不足,并给出相关的建议.     

试论职业学校数学课堂中的研究性学习

职业学校学生的数学基础普遍较差,积极开展研究性学习,合理安排研究任务,把课堂还给学生,能唤起学生学习敦学的兴趣,使学生由被动接受知识变为主动探究知识。     

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Singaporean and Taiwanese Eighth Graders' Science Learning Self-Efficacy from a Multi-Dimensional Perspective

Due to the scarcity of cross-cultural comparative studies in exploring students' self-efficacy in science learning, this study attempted to develop a multi-dimensional science learning self-efficacy (SLSE) instrument to measure 316 Singaporean and 303 Taiwanese eighth graders' SLSE and further to examine the differences between the two student groups. Moreover, within-culture comparisons were made in terms of gender. The results showed that, first, the SLSE instrument was valid and reliable for measuring the Singaporean and Taiwanese students' SLSE. Second, through a two-way multivariate analysis of variance analysis (nationality by gender), the main result indicated that the SLSE held by the Singaporean eighth graders was significantly higher than that of their Taiwanese counterparts in all dimensions, including ‘conceptual understanding and higher-order cognitive skills’, ‘practical work (PW)’, ‘everyday application’, and ‘science communication’. In addition, the within-culture gender comparisons indicated that the male Singaporean students tended to possess higher SLSE than the female students did in all SLSE dimensions except for the ‘PW’ dimension. However, no gender differences were found in the Taiwanese sample. The findings unraveled in this study were interpreted from a socio-cultural perspective in terms of the curriculum differences, societal expectations of science education, and educational policies in Singapore and Taiwan.     

Fostering Self-Reflection and Meaningful Learning: Earth Science Professional Development for Middle School Science Teachers

This paper describes the analysis of teachers’ journal reflections during an inquiry-based professional development program. As a part of their learning experience, participants reflected on what they learned and how they learned. Progress of subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge was assessed though surveys and pre- and posttests. We found that teachers have difficulties reflecting on their learning and posing meaningful questions. The teachers who could describe how they reasoned from evidence to understand a concept had the highest learning gains. In contrast those teachers who seldom or never described learning a concept by reasoning from evidence showed the smallest learning gains. This analysis suggests that learning to reflect on one’s learning should be an integral part of teachers’ professional development experiences.     

研究性学习策略在《体育与健康》课程中的应用研究

运用实验法把研究性学习策略运用于<体育与健康>课程中,对耐久跑项目的教学进行了实验性的研究.结果发现:通过研究性学习策略,使学生的体能、技能、智力及心理方面都有所提高,极大地激发了学生的学习兴趣.     

学习性评价在小学科学探究式教学中的运用

探究既是科学学习的目标,又是科学学习的方式。它不仅关注学生的动手能力,更关注学生的思维发展。教师应在课堂上通过各种方式促进学生思维的发展,如在观察的基础上了解学生,从而对他们提出质疑,为他们设置挑战,对他们的科学记录内容予以反馈等,所有这些都具有学习性评价的特征。在小学科学课上,如何运用学习性评价来促进学生的探究活动及他们的思维发展是一个非常值得探讨的问题。     

浅谈物理教学中创新能力的培养

在物理教学中要充分发挥学生思维的主体性，开放教学，鼓励学生思考，激活思维，改革实验教学，开展研究性学习，促进学生创造性思维培养，提高学生的创新能力。     

Science through Drama: A multiple case exploration of the characteristics of drama activities used in secondary science lessons

Over 20 years of research into the use of cross‐curricular drama in secondary science has indicated that this medium enables learning of affective, cognitive and procedural knowledge. To date, academic research has tended to frame successful drama pedagogy as resulting from a Drama‐in‐Education approach, incorporating extended role plays and simulations of social events. By contrast, research has rarely focused on the scope and context of drama which is devised and used by real people in real situations. Indications from non‐academic literature and informal education practice suggest that there is a gap in our knowledge between research and classroom practice. This study focused on teachers’ own drama activities in five science lessons taught across schools in Cambridge, Kent, and Hertfordshire. Their classes spanned the ages of 12–16 in the subjects of chemistry, biology, and physics. This study explored the drama forms, teaching objectives, and characteristics by which drama was perceived to enable learning in Science. The findings revealed that drama activities were used to convey a variety of topics that have not yet been recorded in academic literature, and revealed a greater scope for the teaching abstract scientific concepts through mime and role play. These activities were perceived to develop students’ visualisation through a range of modalities, which included embodied sensation and anthropomorphic metaphors. Some features reflected the development of thought experiment skills. A pedagogic model was produced based on different levels of interactive talk and multimodal communication.     

高师学生教育学学习动机与学习效果调查研究——以钦州学院学生为研究个案

高师学生教育学学习动机特点与学习效果有一定的关联。研究结果表明：高师学生教育学学习动机总体看较强，学习效果一般。其原因主要表现为学习兴趣不高、学习信心不足，学习主动性差，学习责任感不强。这些问题在不同班别、不同年级、不同专业中没有显著差异。     

Learning of Chemical Equilibrium through Modelling‐based Teaching

This paper presents and discusses students’ learning process of chemical equilibrium from a modelling‐based approach developed from the use of the ‘Model of Modelling’ diagram. The investigation was conducted in a regular classroom (students 14–15 years old) and aimed at discussing how modelling‐based teaching can contribute to students learning about the main qualitative aspects concerning chemical equilibrium. The data (collected from the written material produced by the students and the video‐recording of the classes) were organised in case studies for each group of students. The discussion supports the conclusion that elements from the ‘Model of Modelling’ diagram, as well as methodological aspects related to the teacher’s action, influenced the students’ learning process.     

创设职场情境 促进学习迁移

中职商务英语注重培养学生的英语实际运用能力,强调英语的实用性和应用性,而实用性和应用性离不开语言情境。通过创设职场情境,发布并引导学生完成教学任务,探索学生在职场中语言灵活运用的能力,达到用语言解决实际问题的能力。     

The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings

Modern cooperative learning began in the mid- 1960s (D. W. Johnson & R. Johnson, 1999a). Its use, however, was resisted by advocates of social Darwinism (who believed that students must be taught to survive in a “dog-eat-dog” world) and individualism (who believed in the myth of the “rugged individualist”). Despite the resistance, cooperative learning is now an accepted, and often the preferred, instructional procedures at all levels of education. Cooperative learning is being used in postsecondary education in every part of the world. It is difficult to find a text on instructional methods, a journal on teaching, or instructional guidelines that do not discuss cooperative learning. Materials on cooperative learning have been translated into dozens of languages. Cooperative learning is one of the success stories of both psychology and education. One of the most distinctive characteristics of cooperative learning, and perhaps the reason for its success, is the close relationship between theory, research, and practice. In this article, social interdependence theory will be reviewed, the research validating the theory will be summarized, and the five basic elements needed to understand the dynamics of cooperation and operationalize the validated theory will be discussed. Finally the controversies in the research and the remaining questions that need to be answered by future research will be noted.     

小学科学教学中德育导师育人途径的探究

义务教育阶段是开展德育的关键阶段,小学科学课程作为实施德育的重要课程,要贯彻落实"立德树人"的指导思想,引导学生树立科学精神,端正学生正确价值观,使学生具备良好的道德品行和心理素质.本文以政治素养教育、思想素质教育、道德素质教育、心理素质教育为切入点,分析探讨了小学科学教育中德育导师育人的教学路径,期望对提高小学科学德...     

任务驱动下的小组合作学习模式在计算机教学中的应用与研究

中职学生生源素质普遍偏低,认知和个体差异明显,传统的以教师为主的授课模式存在弊端。为了探索新的能满足学生共同发展需要的教学模式,采用了"任务驱动下小组合作学习"的教学模式,促使学生互相学习、互相帮助,使每个学生都得到充分地发展,达到共同进步的目的。