Using metaphor to probe students' conceptions of chemistry learning

Changing students' views of themselves as learners and the learning strategies they use requires methods to make their views regarding teaching, learning and their roles as learners explicit to themselves and to teachers. This was an interpretive study that investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners within a Year 11 chemistry classroom. Students' metaphors were found to be congruent with their views of learning and their learning processes as evidenced from multiple data sources. In making students' views explicit, metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who aim to investigate and enhance students' learning processes and encourage metacognition.     

The effect of the direction of motion on students' conceptions of forces

The ability to generalise principles to a range of situations is generally considered to be important in science education. However, several studies have found that students do not consistently apply their conceptions in the study of mechanics, and that they respond to irrelevant contextual features of the question, such as the type of object in motion. The present study was designed to investigate whether the direction of the motion (i.e. vertical or horizontal) was a contextual feature which influenced students' ideas about the forces involved in motion. The results indicated that 14% of the university science teaching students studied and 25% of the Year 10 students were influenced by the direction of the motion. Some of these students described a ‘motion force’ in one direction (usually vertical) but not the other, while others described forces opposing the motion in one direction (which was always vertical) but not the other. Specialization: science education     

Exploring the parallelism between change in students' conceptions and historical change in the concept of inertia

This study investigates students' conceptions of inertia and compares these conceptions with historical change in the concept. A total of 736 students from four different age groups (i.e., age 11, 13, 15 and 17) participated in the survey. Questions in the questionnaire represent problems related to the concept of inertia which have been argued by past scientists such as Aristotle, Buridan, Galileo, and Newton. The questionnaire contained three questions, each concerned with one of the following applications of inertia: natural motion, the motion of a flying spear, and the falling motion of a stone on a moving ship. The results of the survey showed that there were considerable similarities as well as dissimilarities between students' conceptions and the views of past scientists. It is suggested that this kind of comparison studies would give useful background information on change in students' conceptions. To this day every student of elementary physics has to struggle with the same errors and misconceptions which then had to be overcome, and on a reduced scale, in the teaching of this branch of knowledge in schools, history repeats itself every year. (Dijksterhuis, 1961, p. 30)     

Plausibility reappraisals and shifts in middle school students' climate change conceptions

Plausibility is a central but under-examined topic in conceptual change research. Climate change is an important socio-scientific topic; however, many view human-induced climate change as implausible. When learning about climate change, students need to make plausibility judgments but they may not be sufficiently critical or reflective. The purpose of this study was to examine how students' plausibility judgments and knowledge about human-induced climate change transform during instruction promoting critical evaluation. The results revealed that treatment group participants who engaged in critical evaluation experienced a significant shift in their plausibility judgments toward the scientifically accepted model of human-induced climate change. This shift was accompanied by significant conceptual change postinstruction that was maintained after a six-month delay. A comparison group who experienced a climate change activity that is part of their normal curriculum did not experience statistically significant changes.     

From verbal descriptions to graphic representations: Stability and change in students' alternative conceptions

The present study investigated students' conceptions and misconceptions relating to the construction of graphs. Participants were 92 eighth-grade students randomly selected from two schools. Students were tested before and after being exposed to formal instruction on graphing. Qualitative analysis of students' responses identified three main kinds of alternative conceptions: (a) constructing an entire graph as one single point; (b) constructing a series of graphs, each representing one factor from the relevant data; and (c) conserving the form of an increasing function under all conditions. In addition, the following kinds of errors were displayed by less than 10% of the subjects: conceiving a generalized, stereotypic idea of a graph, using arrows or stairs to represent the direction of the covariation, and connecting the ticks on the axes by lines or curves. Quantitative analyses of the data indicated that overall students did not enter the learning situation as a tabula rasa. On the pretest, about a quarter of the students constructed correctly graphs representing increasing, constant, curvilinear, and decreasing functions, and many more students represented correctly at least one kind of function. Further analyses showed the stability and change in students' alternative conceptions after students were exposed to formal instruction about graphing. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on students' misconceptions and achievement regarding force and motion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on students' achievement and misconceptions about force and motion. The study was conducted with 6 physics teachers and their 18 classes, consisting of 396 high school physics students. The teachers administered the Force Misconception and Force Achievement Tests to their physics classes as a pretest. The results obtained were used to match the 18 classes statistically. Students assigned to the conceptual assignment protocol completed five conceptual assignments about force and motion. Students assigned to the discussion method participated in conceptual change discussions. At the end of the 8‐week treatment period, the same tests were administered to all students as a posttest. The data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance, followed by protected univariate F test and step‐down analysis. The statistical results showed that the conceptual change discussion was an effective means of reducing the number of misconceptions students held about force and motion. The conceptual change discussion was also found significantly effective in improving students' achievement in force and motion. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 1001–1015, 2002     

Comparing the epistemological underpinnings of students' and scientists' reasoning about conclusions

This study examined the criteria that middle school students, nonscientist adults, technicians, and scientists used to rate the validity of conclusions drawn by hypothetical students from a set of evidence. The groups' criteria for evaluating conclusions were considered to be dimensions of their epistemological frameworks regarding how knowledge claims are justified, and as such are integral to their scientific reasoning. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that the responses of students and nonscientists differed from the responses of technicians and scientists, with the major difference being the groups' relative emphasis on criteria of empirical consistency or plausibility of the conclusions. We argue that the sources of the groups' differing epistemic criteria rest in their different spheres of cultural practice, and explore implications of this perspective for science teaching and learning. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 663–687, 2001     

小学教师学生学习观问卷的编制

在文献分析的基础上,结合开放性问卷调查和访谈,构建小学教师学生学习观的理论结构,编制初测问卷,对回收的264份有效初测问卷进行项目分析、探索性因素分析和信度分析,修改后形成正式问卷.正式测试后,对问卷进行验证性因素分析和信效度检验.结果显示小学教师学生学习观问卷包括学习过程、知识本质、学习条件和学习实质四个因子;该问卷结构效度良好;问卷的构想效度和信度指标均达到了测量学的要求.     

Characteristics of the methodology used to describe students' conceptions

In a paper published elsewhere (Jiménez Gómez et al. 1997), we compared research carried out on students' conceptions of force in the decade 1975-85 with later research in the period 1985-95. Only a slight progression was found in the results offered by different authors. In this contribution we analyse the research objectives of selected investigations into students' conceptions of force, their methodological characteristics and their most widely used theoretical foundations, in an attempt to explain the lack of progress made in this research line. Some suggestions are made which may help the science teaching profession to understand students' conceptions better.     

How to Care about the students' emotions and attitudes and promote their full development

<正>According to the new course standards,The final goal of the language education is to promote all the students’full development.While giving English lessons,teachers should not just train their integrating skills but also care much for their feelings.In that case,students can be helped to build healthy and full peisonalities and good qualities.Both.teachers and students must try to create an active atmosphere in which they respect     

Using embedded assessments to promote pedagogical reasoning among secondary teaching candidates

The purpose of this documentary account is twofold. First, we describe two strategic instructional assignments embedded in university courses at a large research institution in the United States that were designed to help teaching candidates move toward mastery. Second, we explicate candidates' performances on the assessments as well as evidence of the reliability of the assessments and scoring procedures. This case study provides evidence that advanced secondary teaching candidates are able to address instructional issues and engage in the kind of pedagogical reasoning more characteristic of experienced teachers. Further, this account indicates that despite some challenges, it is feasible for multiple course instructors in a research institution to implement and score reliable, valid embedded assessments.     

Teacher awareness of student alternate conceptions about rotational motion and gravity

Twenty high school physics teachers were interviewed to determine their awareness of student alternate conceptions in the areas of force and gravity. The teachers were also asked to indicate preferred teaching strategies dealing with alternate conceptions. Teacher predictions of student responses were compared to alternate conceptions held by 315 grade-nine students and published findings from other research studies. Edmonton students were found to possess nearly every alternate conception identified in previous research, in similar proportions. A few previously undocumented alternate conceptions were also identified. At times, students were observed to arrive at the currently acceptable conclusion by using alternate conceptions. The high school physics teachers, as a group, identified nearly all the alternate conceptions used by the students. However, individual teachers were generally aware of only a few alternate conceptions, with fully one third of them possessing alternate conceptions themselves in one or more of the tasks. The teachers were also unable to predict with any accuracy the different types of student responses or the proportion of students choosing each alternative. The teaching strategies outlined by the teachers would be considered only partially effective according to current research findings.     

认知过程对生物学前概念转变的启示

生物学教学的过程是促使学生前概念转变的过程,而不只是将信息添加到学生记忆中的过程。教师应该了解学生的前概念,认识概念转变理论。利用自然科学学习的认知过程促进学生生物学前概念的转变。     

Relating Gestures and Speech: An analysis of students' conceptions about geological sedimentary processes

Advances in cognitive science and educational research indicate that a significant part of spatial cognition is facilitated by gesture (e.g. giving directions, or describing objects or landscape features). We aligned the analysis of gestures with conceptual metaphor theory to probe the use of mental image schemas as a source of concept representations for students' learning of sedimentary processes. A hermeneutical approach enabled us to access student meaning-making from students' verbal reports and gestures about four core geological ideas that involve sea-level change and sediment deposition. The study included 25 students from three US universities. Participants were enrolled in upper-level undergraduate courses on sedimentology and stratigraphy. We used semi-structured interviews for data collection. Our gesture coding focused on three types of gestures: deictic, iconic, and metaphoric. From analysis of video recorded interviews, we interpreted image schemas in gestures and verbal reports. Results suggested that students attempted to make more iconic and metaphoric gestures when dealing with abstract concepts, such as relative sea level, base level, and unconformities. Based on the analysis of gestures that recreated certain patterns including time, strata, and sea-level fluctuations, we reasoned that proper representational gestures may indicate completeness in conceptual understanding. We concluded that students rely on image schemas to develop ideas about complex sedimentary systems. Our research also supports the hypothesis that gestures provide an independent and non-linguistic indicator of image schemas that shape conceptual development, and also play a role in the construction and communication of complex spatial and temporal concepts in the geosciences.