Family Science Talk in Museums: Predicting Children's Engagement From Variations in Talk and Activity

Children's developing reasoning skills are better understood within the context of their social and cultural lives. As part of a research–museum partnership, this article reports a study exploring science‐relevant conversations of 82 families, with children between 3 and 11 years, while visiting a children's museum exhibit about mammoth bones, and in a focused one‐on‐one exploration of a “mystery object.” Parents' use of a variety of types of science talk predicted children's conceptual engagement in the exhibit, but interestingly, different types of parent talk predicted children's engagement depending on the order of the two activities. The findings illustrate the importance of studying children's thinking in real‐world contexts and inform creation of effective real‐world science experiences for children and families.     

The Relationship Between Teacher Behaviours and Student Talk in Promoting Quality Learning in Science Classrooms

This paper distils 24 years of classroom research into promoting quality learning in science classrooms to develop an overall framework for better understanding and describing both the learning and the teaching approaches that stimulate and support it. For me, quality learning is characterised by adjectives such as informed, purposeful, reflective, intellectually active, metacognitive and independent. Central to quality learning is the role of talk, and central to promoting talk which promotes quality learning are certain teacher behaviours. I first focus on the ways that teachers behave in the classroom in order to promote, react to and use student talk. These behaviours are summed up in a list of twelve principles for quality teaching. Each of these principles requires, as well as appropriate teacher behaviours, the use of effective teaching procedures. I then focus on four kinds of student talk that exemplify informed, purposeful, reflective and intellectually active thinking. These variously involve students’ existing ideas and explanations; increasing student ownership of practical activities; constructive challenges to the teacher (or text’s) idea, and lateral, reflective ‘thinking’ questions.     

The Challenges of Defining and Measuring Student Engagement in Science

Engagement is one of the hottest research topics in the field of educational psychology. Research shows that multifarious benefits occur when students are engaged in their own learning, including increased motivation and achievement. However, there is little agreement on a concrete definition and effective measurement of engagement. This special issue serves to discuss and work toward addressing conceptual and instrumentation issues related to engagement, with particular interest in engagement in the domain of science learning. We start by describing the dimensional perspective of engagement (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, agentic) and suggest a complementary approach that places engagement instrumentation on a continuum. Specifically, we recommend that instrumentation be considered on a “grain-size” continuum that ranges from a person-centered to a context-centered orientation to clarify measurement issues. We then provide a synopsis of the articles included in this special issue and conclude with suggestions for future research.     

加强科学阅读提升科学素养

科学阅读是小学科学教学的重要组成部分,也是学生学习抽象科学知识,提升科学探究能力、科学核心素养的有效途径。教师可以以科学阅读为载体,培养学生良好的科学阅读习惯,引导学生边阅读边思考,用科学阅读丰泽学生的科学素养,让学生在科学阅读中不断探索科学奥秘。     

Promoting English Classroom by Improving Teachers' Talk

Ⅰ.Introduction Teachers' talk is a very important media.According to Nunan,"Teachers' talk is a key factor to both class- room's organization and students' language acquisition, not only because it is a kind of teaching strategy to achieve a better effect,but also because it is a way for teachers to display target language and for students to ex- perience target language."Contemporary education has de- manded teachers to change their roles from an authority in the traditional classroom to different roles in present     

Promoting Student Engagement Through Evidence-Based Action Research With Teachers

We present findings from a group-randomized teacher action research intervention to promote academic engagement and achievement among elementary school students. Eighteen teachers from 3 elementary schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. Intervention teachers studied evidence-based instructional practices that cultivate academic engagement and conducted an action research project to implement selected practices in their classrooms. Control teachers participated in a self-study group and read about evidence-based practices to promote student engagement. Teachers in the action research group reported using more group-based instruction than self-study teachers. Students with initial low engagement and low reading grades demonstrated greater gains in these outcomes in action research classrooms than self-study classrooms. Implications for teacher development and the promotion of student academic outcomes are discussed.     

基于评价理论的课堂教师话语介入研究

介入资源广泛存在于大学英语课堂教师话语中,但是其分布情况不同。研究发现扩展资源多于缩减资源,而在扩展资源的子系统中包容资源的使用频率在整个介入系统中是最高的。这充分说明英语教师在课堂上更倾向于使用对话扩展资源来打开对话,从而形成与学生之间的积极互动,其中包容资源的广泛使用最终必将有利于更加友好的师生关系的确立和更加和谐的课堂氛围的形成。     

Understanding and Engagement in Places of Science Experience: Science Museums,Science Centers,Zoos, and Aquariums

Science museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums (MCZAs) constitute major settings of science learning with unique characteristics of informal science education. Emphasis will be given to the analysis of four specific characteristics of MCZAs that seem relevant for educational research and practice, namely, conditions of mixed motives and goals, staged popular science, and impact of physical layout, as well as the role of social exchange and participation. By doing so, we focus on the consequences of these characteristics for the learning processes and outcomes of visits of MCZAs. We show that outcomes encompass not only knowledge acquisition in a narrower sense but also changes in interest and beliefs.     

Promoting Discourse and Argumentation in Science Teacher Education

Given a sociocultural framework of teaching and learning, argumentation and discourse become central elements of education, particularly in science education because of argumentation’s key role in scientific communities. This study documents preservice teachers’ perceptions of and aptitudes related to argumentation as they participated in a science methods course designed to promote discourse and argumentation. Data sources consisted of instructor reflections, course documents, and student work. Participants tended to view argumentation as a central element of science and as a means for promoting conceptual development in science classrooms. They were generally adept in the construction of arguments, particularly with respect to the evidentiary support of claims and demonstrated improved practice as the course progressed. Implications for using this course as a model and suggestions for its improvement are discussed.     

把充满生机活力的海南现代远程开放教育不断推向前进

2006年9月,教育部、中央电大评估专家组莅临我校,对我校实施“中央广播电视大学人才培养模式改革和开放教育试点”项目进行总结性评估,这既是对我校工作的检查和促进,也给我们提供了一个很好的学习机会。试点6年来,我校全体员工辛勤耕耘,勇于探索、深入实践,取得了显著成绩。     

促进大学生就业之我见

大学毕业生就业问题是关系到整个社会稳定、发展的系统工程，搞好大学毕业生就业具有重要的现实意义，同时对推动我国的高等教育大众化进程也具有重大作用。促进大学毕业生就业要从转换观念、转变机制和拓宽渠道等三方面进行。     

推动科技创新 科技伦理教育不能缺位

高等学校必须重视科技伦理教育。进行科技德育,对培育科技创新后备军的道德良知,把握高校参与科技创新正确的道德方向,推动科技创新健康、可持续发展等具有重要意义。科技德育的重点在于使大学生树立起科学的、人民的、全球的科技伦理新观念,构建良好的创新文化,为我国走自主创新道路提供有道德感的人才支持。     

Colleague Support and Role Clarity in Promoting the Work Engagement of Frontliners in Malaysian Hotels

This study investigates the role of two specific forms of job‐based resource, colleague support and role clarity, in enhancing work engagement. Survey data collected from 166 frontline staff across 19 hotels located in Malaysia's Klang Valley were analyzed using the partial least squares approach. The results revealed surprising findings. In contrast with previous results, colleague support was shown to have a nonsignificant relationship with work engagement. In addition, the analysis demonstrated that role clarity enhances work engagement.     

Three Kinds of Political Engagement for Philosophy of Science

In responding to critics and reviewers of my book, How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science, I attempt to identify some misleading conventional wisdom about the place of values in philosophy of science and then offer three distinct ways in which philosophers of science can engage their work with ongoing social and political currents.

Fostering Peer Dialogic Engagement in Science Classrooms with an Educational Videogame

This study examines the design and enactment of a secondary physics unit on electromagnetism. The unit used an educational videogame to support peer dialogic engagement in a Singapore secondary school by engaging learners with qualitative physics phenomena. As an example of game-based learning, the unit includes activities and resources that organize a recurring progression of playing and interacting around science that we term play-centered cycles. We incorporate two complementary, qualitative analyses to consider how a recurring progression of playing with and talking about science-mediated peer dialogic engagement across two separate classes. Findings demonstrate that peer dialogic engagement occurred within each play-centered cycle for both classes but that the nature of such engagement varied across cycles and student teams. Additionally, comparative case analyses of focal teams’ peer dialogic engagement illuminate how the design of play-centered cycles productively supported play and learning while also highlighting emerging tensions for sustaining dialogic engagement. Findings underscore the plausibility of this approach to fostering science learning by articulating two principles for designing science learning environments that can guide ongoing efforts to enlist videogames and play in the service of talking about and learning science.

     

试论“促进概念性理解”的科学课教学

"促进概念性理解"的科学课教学是以帮助学生获得对科学概念的真正理解、发展学生的思维和科学理解力为目标的课程设计理念与实施模式,它有助于激发学生积极的思维,真正实现学生对科学概念的建构。