Effects of In‐service Education on Improving Science Teaching in Swaziland

This paper discusses the findings of an evaluative and interpretive study into the potential of in‐service education to improve science education in Swaziland. Short‐term and long‐term effects of an in‐service intervention are evaluated in terms of changes in classroom processes. The teaching approach of participating teachers has been monitored and analysed before, during and 1 year after the in‐service intervention, to assess whether changes occurred. The study revealed the subjective interpretations of teachers about those changes, also in relation to contextual factors. Recommendations are put forward to enhance the potential of in‐service education in comparable contexts.     

Peer and self‐assessment in the first year of university

This paper reviews the literature about peer and self‐assessment in university courses from the point of view of their use, and the suitability of their use, in the first year of university study. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part argues that although first‐year students are involved in many of the studies that report on the use of peer and self‐assessment in higher education, the proportion of these studies that do so is somewhat less than in other year levels. In addition, relatively little of this work directly and explicitly discusses the suitability of peer and self‐assessment for students and courses at this year level. The second part of the paper provides an introductory exploration of the relationship between peer and self‐assessment, and specific features of first‐year assessment, learning and teaching. Three issues relating directly to the suitability of peer and self‐assessment in the first year are explored. In the third part, the paper briefly discusses the desirability of implementing peer and self‐assessment, in general, before seeking to extend this specifically to the first year. The paper concludes by recommending that greater use can and should be made of peer and self‐assessment in the first year of university study.     

Philosophical and Socio‐Cognitive Foundations for Teaching in Higher Education through Collaborative Approaches to Student Learning

This paper considers the implications for higher education of recent work on narrative theory, distributed cognition and artificial intelligence. These perspectives are contrasted with the educational implications of Heidegger's ontological phenomenology [being‐there and being‐aware (Da‐sein)] and with the classic and classical foundations of education which Heidegger and Gadamer once criticised. The aim is to prompt discussion of what teaching might become if psychological insights (about collective minds let loose to learn) are associated with every realm of higher education (not just teacher training).     

Subgroups of Assessor and Assessee: the Relationship Between Students’ Peer Assessment Roles and Perceptions of MSCL in Science Education

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Recent research in collaborative learning has indicated that peer assessment has a positive influence on students’ learning performance and...     

Kuhn's Paradigm and Example‐based Teaching of Newtonian Mechanics

Summaries

English

According to Kuhn, normal scientific work is developed not mainly from basic axioms, but by the development of the fundamental examples and demonstrations of the paradigm. For disciplines still at the research frontier, education can also only be example‐based rather than axiomatic, but for disciplines which have become classical, such as Newtonian mechanics, teaching should be performed using more formal methods. In practice this does not appear to be the case, and a number of simple problems in mechanics are cited where example‐based teaching commonly leads to misunderstanding. A recommendation is made for more direct teaching of the basic principles of mechanics.     

Cross‐cultural Collaboration in Special Teacher Education: An arena for facilitating reflection?

The present study explored how cross‐cultural collaboration involving university lecturers from Norway (the North) and Egypt (the South), and student‐teachers from Egypt, can be an arena for facilitating student‐teachers’ reflection and for challenging student‐teachers’ preconceived beliefs and perspectives about disability and education. The findings, based on interview data, showed that an emphasis on reflection, exploration and evaluation rather than on drills and repetition was both unexpected and unfamiliar for most of the Egyptian student‐teachers. Some of the Egyptian and some of the foreign lecturers were able to encourage student‐teachers to reflect, although some of the foreign lecturers had a tendency to lecture as they had done at home. Lecturers who wanted to pursue teaching methods that enhanced reflection needed to prioritise time for this, even if the majority of the student‐teachers asked for more information, more facts and for presentations of “the right methods” for teaching learners with disabilities. As the findings in this study illustrate, the partner in the North carries a major responsibility for critically considering the request for expertise because the participants in the South may not necessarily question and challenge the authority of well‐educated professionals from the North. It may not be sufficient for lecturers and supervisors to be well‐qualified practitioners within their home culture. They should be context sensitive, have an inquiring and accepting attitude, and experience challenges, encounters and exposures in the project country over time. Competence in approaches in teacher education is also required, although this meta‐competence may not be explicitly requested by those concerned.     

Integrated Science Students’ Assessment of their Teachers for Characteristics of Effective Science Teaching

This study explored views held by pre-service and in-service science teachers regarding the nature of science and technology particularly: (a) the characteristics of science and technology; (b) the aim of science and scientific research; (c) the characteristics of scientific knowledge and scientific theories; and (d) the relationship between science and technology. The views held by science teachers at pre-service and in-service levels were assessed using a questionnaire. The findings revealed that generally science teachers at both pre-service and in-service levels showed similar views in relation to the nature of science and technology. While the participants displayed mix views regarding science as content oriented or process oriented, technology was viewed as an application of science. Implications of these views for classroom teaching and learning are presented.     

Risks and Risk‐Based Regulation in Higher Education Institutions

Risk‐based regulation is a relatively new mode of governance. Not only does it offer a way of controlling institutions from the outside but it also provides the possibility of making an organisation’s achievements visible/visualisable. This paper comments on a list of possible risks that higher education institutions have to face. In a second step, it is discussed that a higher education institution changes when a framework of risk‐based regulation is adopted. The paper then illustrates how governance changes when the risk‐based regulation approach is transferred from a UK context to an overall European one with differing traditions of higher education.     

The Self‐evaluation of Teachers: a Strategy for the Improvement of Teaching at Higher Education Level

Teaching assessment at higher education level is required in order to improve the quality of teaching in universities. As both teaching staff and students are equally involved in the teaching/learning process, the views of both must be taken into account when determining the quality of teaching. Basically, a self‐evaluation process has two aspects. On the one hand, there is the source of information, the teacher in this particular case. He or she has the opportunity to reflect upon the actual teaching situation by evoking his or her own point of view in regard to his or her vision of reality even if it might be judged as a complementary view as opposed to other views. On the other hand, the objective of the process might be one either of providing a means of checking (process evaluation) or of improving (result evaluation). A detailed analysis of the two characteristics will enable us to appreciate properly their inter‐connectedness. This analysis, as well as the prior experience of the authors in the domain of teaching assessment within their university, enables them to present a model of self‐evaluation applicable to the context in which they are working.     

Cross‐cultural Similarities in Attitudes toward Computers and the Implications for Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

Results of a three year longitudinal study of elementary school children's attitudes toward computers in Japan, Mexico, and the United States of America are presented, along with implications of the findings for teacher education. Two types of attitudes toward computers (importance and enjoyment) were found to be positively influenced by the introduction of computer activities in primary school. No novelty effect was found regarding enjoyment of computers, and perceived computer importance declined less from Grades 1–3 than several other dispositions measured. No consistent gender differences were found for attitudes toward computers among the three nations. These findings imply that students begin school eager to learn about computers and lacking the gender biases often found in older age groups, and that teachers should be educated to help preserve interest in and access to information technology for all students. Reflections for teacher education conclude the article.     

The 5I’s of Virtual Technologies in Laboratory Teaching for Faculties of Higher Education in Kerala

Journal of Science Education and Technology - In this paper, the effectiveness of training faculty in laboratory teaching (the teaching of science in a laboratory setting using experiments and...     

Assessment of Morale in Further Education Students Studying for A‐level Examinations

This paper reports the results of an empirical study of psychological morale in further education students. Success in A‐level examinations is dependant on a number of factors, not only intellectual ability but also morale and other personality factors. This investigation aimed to assess the influence of these factors in the 16–18 years age range. The sample consisted of 357 A‐level students (156 male and 201 female). Students were asked to complete a number of inventories measuring various dimensions of personality, including morale, self‐esteem, extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism and state and trait anxiety. Significant and positive correlations of morale with self‐esteem and extraversion were reported. Significant but negative correlations of morale with neuroticism and state and trait anxiety were reported. A factor analysis of the Well‐being Inventory revealed that the most significant factor was student optimism and belief in their future, but this was often moderated by the influence of anxiety. These findings have implications not only for the students who were participants in this investigation but also managers and teachers in further education colleges.     

An Investigation into Sex Differences in Certain Aspects of Science Practical Work with First‐year Secondary School Pupils in Single Sex and Mixed Teaching Groups

In this study we attempt to evaluate two models of instruction, one based on the assumptions of the constructivist or conceptual change model, and one based on an expositive‐deductive model. We applied the two approaches to the teaching of geometric optics at different levels of instruction: elementary school and university. In each case the same teacher taught the same scientific topic to both the control and experimental groups, and all students carried out the same classroom activities. The study was carried out in such a way as to replicate as closely as possible the actual conditions of each classroom environment. The results of instruction failed to show significant differences in learning attributable to the method of instruction used, although different trends were evident in the two samples. Our commentary on the findings concludes with suggestions for further research in this field.     

Concept Development and Transfer in Context‐Based Science Education

‘Context‐based courses’ are increasingly used in an address to the major challenges that science education currently faces: lack of clear purpose, content overload, incoherent learning by students, lack of relevance to students, and lack of transfer of learning to new contexts. In this paper, four criteria for the design of context‐based courses that would be successful in meeting these challenges are rehearsed. It is concluded that only a model based on ‘context as social circumstances’ would meet the four criteria for success. From this, the notion of concept development is presented based on the idea of the production of coherent mental maps. The notion of transfer is discussed in terms of how such mental maps may be useful for understanding other contexts. The definitions of concept development and transfer give a clearer view of how exemplars of existing context‐based approaches may be analysed to show their degree of facilitation of worthwhile science education. Research questions to be addressed in such analyses are presented.     

Students’ Ontological Security and Agency in Science Education—An Example from Reasoning about the Use of Gene Technology

This paper reports on a study of how students' reasoning about socioscientific issues is framed by three dynamics: societal structures, agency and how trust and security issues are handled. Examples from gene technology were used as the forum for interviews with 13 Swedish high-school students (year 11, age 17–18). A grid based on modalities from the societal structures described by Giddens was used to structure the analysis. The results illustrate how the participating students used both modalities for ‘Legitimation’ and ‘Domination’ to justify positions that accept or reject new technology. The analysis also showed how norms and knowledge can be used to justify opposing positions in relation to building trust in science and technology, or in democratic decisions expected to favour personal norms. Here, students accepted or rejected the authority of experts based on perceptions of the knowledge base that the authority was seen to be anchored in. Difficulty in discerning between material risks (reduced safety) and immaterial risks (loss of norms) was also found. These outcomes are used to draw attention to the educational challenges associated with students' using knowledge claims (Domination) to support norms (Legitimation) and how this is related to the development of a sense of agency in terms of sharing norms with experts or with laymen.     

New Realities for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education?

This paper considers some of the new realities that are likely toaffect higher education, particularly those arising from developmentsin communication and information technologies. Four scenarios arepresented as illustrations of how higher education might change;some of the elements that make up these scenarios are alreadyemerging. The paper then explores the role that leadershipand governance play in helping institutions to address the newrealities, particularly as change impacts on institutional culture and functioning.     

The Local Benefits and Burdens of Large‐scale Portfolio Assessment

This paper examines research on the use of portfolios in large‐scale assessments in the US. Overall, the research indicates that portfolio assessments produce many of the desired instructional benefits. However, the assessments also place considerable burdens on teachers, and these burdens do not appear to lessen during the first two or three years of implementation.

The author raises concerns about the long‐term sustainability of portfolio assessments without improvement in student performance, the use of portfolios in high stakes accountability contexts, and the difficulty of aligning specific scoring procedures with broader curricular goals.     

The Construction and Challenges of Australia's Post‐binary System of Higher Education

Abstract

In 1988 Australia commenced the transition to a post‐binary system of higher education as the UK is currently doing. In both countries the generally acknowledged obsolescence of the dual system had provoked the structural change. In Australia, the new direction was also motivated by official concerns that the universities be made more accessible to government priorities, particularly economic priorities, at a time of national economic decline. Unlike the UK, the Australian post‐binary era has been founded on a government programme of widespread amalgamations based upon the universities.

This article explores the process of constructing the unitary system, the difficulties experienced in conceptualising the new order and its impact upon the other provider of tertiary education. The Australian approach has ignored a canon in higher education, that varied structures and types of institutions preserve diversity. Further, in contrast to Britain's gradualist path into a unitary system, Australia moved quickly to form large undifferentiated universities to serve the needs of a mass system of higher education.