Promoting the development of a conceptual change model of science instruction in prospective secondary biology teachers

This paper reports a study of the impact of an initial teacher education programme on the development of a conceptual change model of instruction in prospective biology teachers. Analysis of the performance in teaching practice indicates that the subjects achieved significant improvement in the various skills related to this instruction model. However, mastery of these skills was not evident, especially in the response to pupils' alternative conceptions, the presentation of chalkboard layout, the use of high order questions to probe understanding and facilitate concept development, and the conduct of interactive learning activities. This can be related to the subjects' lack of teaching experience and inadequate subject knowledge, the passive learning attitude of pupils, constraints in time and resources, and the non-supportive conditions in schools.     

Research interests of secondary science teachers

In the past few years, science educators and the nation at large have become increasingly concerned about the “Crisis in Science Education.” An underlying cause of this crisis is the nonuniform quality of instruction delivered by secondary science teachers. One way to improve the quality of teaching in the schools is the application of science education research findings to teaching. Most teachers are unaware of the research findings and/or do not apply them in their classrooms. This study helps determine the areas of research which are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers. Results will be used by NSTA to determine the contents of future volumes of the monograph What Research Says to the Science Teacher. A random sample of 600 secondary science teachers was obtained from the National Registry of NSTA. Teachers were sent a 23 item questionnaire that asked them to rate their interest in each research topic on a five point scale. The questionnaire contained the 12 items prepared by a NARST-NSTA committee in 1979 and an additional 11 items using the same format. Demographic data collected from the survey included sex, teaching assignment, role in school, type of school, type of community, years of teaching experience, and familiarity with What Research Says. … Data were analyzed using this demographic data as well as according to whether teachers returned the original or a follow-up questionnaire. Teachers who returned the first questionnaire had basically the same preferences as those who returned the follow-up questionnaire. Sixty percent of the teachers completed the questionnaire in usable form. Overall results of the study based on both frequency of response and on mean rating indicate that the following five topics are of greatest interest to secondary science teachers: laboratory experiences, motivational techniques, effect on college courses, problem solving, and meaningful learning. Analysis of data according to the subject taught indicated that chemistry and physics teachers are more interested in problem solving than biology teachers, and that chemistry, physics, and earth science teachers are also interested in the sequence of the content. Males and females had the same top five interests but in a different order. The same is true for teachers of grades 7–9 versus grades 10–12. Rural teachers preferences varied substantially from those in other settings and differences were also found for teachers familiar with What Research Says … compared to the rest of the sample. For every classification of teacher, the area of least interest was sex difference research.     

Challenging gender-blindness in preservice secondary science teachers

This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. HRD 945-0022). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Relationship between science knowledge levels and beliefs toward science instruction held by preservice elementary teachers

Aspects of science background knowledge and attitudes toward teaching science were examined among preservice elementary teachers. The results indicated a low level of science knowledge, a negative relationship between science knowledge and attitude toward teaching science, and a marked lack of confidence toward teaching science among the prospective teachers. Some interesting paradoxes were also found. Recommendations concerning preservice preparation, inclusion of academic science coursework, and collaborative efforts between college departments are offered.     

Preservice secondary science teachers making sense of constructivism

This paper describes a naturalistic study of secondary pre-service science teachers and explores the process of implementing a constructivist approach to science teaching. Specializations: Gender and science, preservice education.     

漳州市中小学教师信息素养现状调查及分析

教育信息化的成功与否,教师的信息素养是一个关键的影响因素。信息素养是传统文化素养的延伸和拓展,主要由信息意识与信息伦理道德、信息知识以及信息能力组成。通过对漳州市中小学教师的信息意识、信息态度、信息能力进行问卷调查,探讨影响漳州市中小学教师信息素养的因素,并对影响因素提出一些针对性意见建议。     

河北省中小学班主任现状调查与对策思考

近年来,中小学班主任队伍建设取得了很大成效,如班主任的工作积极性、整体学历水平比较高,年龄结构比较合理等.但同时也存在很多问题,如性别比例失调、工作强度和难度都比较大、整体培训状况不理想问题.因此,必须采取切实有效的措施加强班主任队伍建设.     

Personal metaphors of prospective secondary economics and science teachers

Using the responses to open questions, this qualitative study examines the personal metaphors expressed by prospective secondary education teachers, 46 science graduates and 41 economics graduates. The metaphors are classified into the four categories of Leavy, McSorley, and Boté: the behaviourist/transmissive, the cognitivist/constructivist, the situative, and the self-referential. The results showed most metaphors to fall into the behaviourist/transmissive category, followed by the cognitivist/constructivist, self-referential, and situative categories, although some teachers expressed metaphors framed in more than one category. Of the 129 metaphors detected in the study, only one, of a chemistry graduate concerning the equilibrium between reactants, was associated with the prospective teachers' specific undergraduate education. The rest were expressions of their overall vision of teaching and learning, regardless of the speciality.     

Participatory instructional redesign by students and teachers in secondary education: effects on perceptions of instruction

Students’ perceptions of instruction are important because they direct the learning of students. The fact that teachers have only limited knowledge of these perceptions is likely to threaten the effectiveness of learning, because congruence between interpretations of an instructional intervention is necessary for its optimal use. This study examines participatory design as a strategy for taking student perceptions into account in instructional re/design. Participatory design meetings of groups of teachers and seven co-designing students in a secondary education setting identified changes to improve the regular education process. The results on changes in student perceptions, perceived-desired discrepancy, and teacher–student disagreement showed some improvement for the co-designers but, unexpectedly, limited or even negative effects for the non-co-designing students. Possible causes are discussed. Participatory design seems to have potential for improving education, but further research is needed.     

Educational services for mentally handicapped children in Northern Ireland: A survey of provision

Abstract

Until April 1987 mentally handicapped children were legally excluded from education in Northern Ireland. Provision was made instead in special care schools administered by social services authorities. This contrasts with the position in the rest of the UK where all children have been educated in schools administered by education authorities since the early 1970s. A survey was conducted to investigate aspects of provision in special care schools. Comparative samples of special schools for children with mental handicap in England, and special schools for other categories of children with special needs in Northern Ireland were also surveyed.

Results show that the special care school pupils were disadvantaged often seriously, compared with the other samples. Staffing ratios were inferior in most respects of provision. Other resources were often criticized by head teachers as inadequate. The special care school transport system was also shown to be seriously deficient, causing the length of the school day to be reduced for a very large proportion of pupils. The inadequacies identified impinged particularly on severely and profoundly handicapped pupils, despite earlier Government arguments that the interests of this group could be damaged in a transfer to education.

Nearly one fifth of the special care school population were aged 19 and over, and nearly one third of the profoundly handicapped pupils were 19 or over. In many cases adults and children shared the same facilities.

These results are compared and contrasted with Government documents which claimed parity of provision in special care schools and special schools in England, and which adopted a stated policy of normalization in the development of services for the mentally handicapped.     

Inquiry-based science teaching in community secondary schools in Tanzania: role played by the language of instruction

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Developing learners’ critical thinking skills through inquiry-based teaching has been an important aspect of science education. This is an exploratory...     

Images of science teaching: An exploration of the beliefs of preservice secondary science teachers

Science graduates who enrol in a preservice Graduate Diploma of Education bring with them many years of experience as learners of science. These will have enabled them to develop implicit theories about what a science teacher is and does. Such implicit theories almost certainly affect the process of becoming a teacher, and may prove persistent despite the input from University and school during the Dip. Ed. year and beyond. This paper presents the research method and results obtained from a group of graduates on entry to their Diploma course. Concept maps and Repertory Grid interviews were obtained from eleven graduates, with varying life experiences. The paper presents analyses of these and explores emerging themes. Specializations: reflective teaching, general science and biology, curriculum and assessment.     

Management of bullying in Northern Ireland schools: a pre-legislative survey

Background:?Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland has only recently (2003) implemented legislation regarding the requirement for anti-bullying policies in the province's school system.

Purpose:?The purpose of the study was to ascertain the nature of the management of bully/victim problems across Northern Ireland schools prior to the enactment of legislation.

Sample:?From an exhaustive sampling frame of all 1329 schools in Northern Ireland (96 nursery, 910 primary, 167 secondary, 73 grammar, 54 special, 29 further education), a total of 285 schools replied to a questionnaire (20 nursery, 181 primary, 41 secondary, 26 grammar, 13 special, 3 further education, 1 non-specified), a return rate of 23.11%.

Design and methods:?A review of the literature and consultation with educational experts in Northern Ireland resulted in the development of an ‘Audit’ questionnaire designed to examine dissemination and implementation (or not) of Department of Education, or bespoke, discipline and anti-bullying policies; components of anti-bullying programmes; the communication of anti-bullying policies to the school community; staff training; reporting and management of claims of staff victimisation; sanctions against bullies; and homophobic bullying.

Results:?It was found that, in a legislative vacuum, the schools in Northern Ireland had been acting in a proactive manner regarding the management of such bully/victim problems (e.g., development and implementation of policies, effective communication strategies).

Conclusions:?These results provide a baseline from which the efficacy of subsequent legislation in Northern Ireland can be evaluated. Utilisation of the methodology adopted in this study would be beneficial in other jurisdictions in evaluations of knowledge, attitudes and management of bully/victim problems, either pre- or post-implementation of legislation.     

高校校报传播效果初探

大学校园内存在着报纸、网络、电视、广播等多种媒体.作为传递信息的主要媒体之一,高校校报要成为大学校园的强势主流媒体,要在多种媒体的夹缝中求发展,就必须关注传播效果,实现有效传播.随着传播学的发展,传者、受众和媒介三者的互动关系已成为传播效果问题的核心,要实现校报有效传播的内涵,校报编辑与读者都必须发挥主观能动性,报纸作为纽带和桥梁,也要促进双方的互动交流.     

Teacher use of evidence to customize inquiry science instruction

This study investigated how professional development featuring evidence‐based customization of technology‐enhanced curriculum projects can improve inquiry science teaching and student knowledge integration in earth science. Participants included three middle school sixth‐grade teachers and their classes of students (N = 787) for three consecutive years. Teachers used evidence from their student work to revise the curriculum projects and rethink their teaching strategies. Data were collected through teacher interviews, written reflections, classroom observations, curriculum artifacts, and student assessments. Results suggest that the detailed information about the learning activities of students provided by the assessments embedded in the online curriculum motivated curricular and pedagogical customizations that resulted in both teacher and student learning. Customizations initiated by teachers included revisions of embedded questions, additions of hands‐on investigations, and modifications of teaching strategies. Student performance improved across the three cohorts of students with each year of instructional customization. Coupling evidence from student work with revisions of curriculum and instruction has promise for strengthening professional development and improving science learning. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1037–1063, 2010