The European Journal of Science Education: Its Aims and Structure

Summaries

English

There are doubts as to whether minor, but nevertheless creative, curriculum projects and programmes in developing countries get a fair chance of being studied for their intrinsic value. Existing directories of science education curricula supply valuable information, but not always in sufficient detail. This is true especially for analysis of the curricula's content areas, the education approaches and the degree of integration. This article describes a co‐operative effort made to create a representative, international network of centres for integrated science education and an instrument to describe integrated science education programmes so that they can become availableto more potential users and adaptators. Some of the problems encountered in the development of the instrument are discussed. In the appendix the Integrated Science CurriculumInformation Form (ISCIF) is given in full. The authors suggest that ISCIF should be tested under varying conditions and that feedback shouldbe used to improvethe instrument further.

     

The Adaptation of Science Curricula‐‐an Exploratory Analysis of Some Relevant Decisions

Summaries

English

The paper attempts a systematic analysis of some of the issues involved in the adaptation of science curricula. The meaning of adaptation is defined and adaptation as a process is distinguished from adaptation (or ‘adaptedness') as a quality of a curriculum.

The ‘situation variables’ affecting the ‘adaptedness’ of a curriculum in a given setting are analysed; modifications which differences in such variables may necessitate are discussed and a simple classification proposed. The feasibility of adapting a given curriculum for use in a different setting depends both on differences in the situation variables and on characteristics of the curriculum itself. Some relevant characteristics are identified and their effects assessed.

Finally the paper directs attention to the wider issues of a socio‐economic character which, in practice, affect the desirability, or the wisdom, of opting for adaptation as a curriculum development strategy in a given context.     

Evaluation of Affective and Cognitive‐Affective Domains in Socially‐Oriented Innovative Science and Technology Curricula

Summaries

English

The present work is an attempt to contribute to the field of evaluation of the affective domain in socially‐oriented innovative science and technology curricula. The main concern of such curricula is the long‐term development of the student's personality in terms of decision‐making capability, attitudes, intellectual power, and social involvement.

Since it appears that the realistic choice in the evaluation of such curricula is between ‘no measures’ (subjective judgements) and ‘imperfect proxies’, it is proposed to concentrate on finding adequate (and agreeable) measures to evaluate the long‐range intended (but also the unintended) effects of the programmes in hand, and only then to switch to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in achieving these effects (i.e. the educational objectives) in the affective domain. Selected ideas with respect to the above are ‘translated’ here into manageable and applicable procedures within the science class, taking into consideration the ‘local realism of constraints’ within which every science teacher performs.

The development of feasible methods for measurement of curricular outcomes in the affective and affective‐cognitive domains is a precondition for future summative evaluation of socio‐technologically oriented science and technology curricula. Contending with the moral and value‐judgement components of any future science curriculum is therefore the inescapable task ahead.     

Evaluating the Impact of a National Curriculum on Content‐Free Cognitive Outcomes

Summaries

English

This paper elucidates some of the conceptual, measurement and methodological problems associated with evaluating science curricula in terms of their impact upon students’ content‐free cognitive outcomes. In particular, a report is given of an investigation of the effects of incorporating ASEP (Australian Science Education Project) materials into the science programmes of a large sample of seventh‐grade students in Tasmania. In this investigation, the content‐free outcomes were assessed at the beginning and end of a school year by means of three measures of understanding of the nature of science and four measures of enquiry skills.

It was found that a significant relationship emerged between the curriculum variables and one learning outcome, between sex and six learning outcomes, between socio‐economic status and one learning outcome, and between school type and all seven learning outcomes. All together, the curriculum shows a continuous influence on the general cognitive‐learning results in the scientific field, as far as they are not related to specific subject matter.     

From the contribution to the action approach: White teachers' experiences influencing the development of multicultural science curricula

In this exploratory case study, we sought to understand teacher's integration of multicultural curricula in science curriculum units, and how personal experiences influenced the level of integration in light of Bank's typology of ethnic content integration into school curricula. Five research participants volunteered and were selected so as to be representative of the demographic of pre‐service and in‐service teachers in the southern United States. The aim was to explore teachers' personal experiences with cultural others that either facilitated or impeded their adoption of multicultural curricula strategies in science curricula units. Case narratives present and discuss interview data and assigned curricula projects. Findings suggest that participants who had transformative cultural experiences and who identified as the marginalized cultural other, transformed science curricula at higher levels of Bank's typology for curricula' multicultural approaches. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1271–1295, 2012     

Distinctions Without a Difference? Preschool Curricula and Children’s Development

Abstract

Public preschool programs require the use of a research-based, whole-child curriculum, yet limited research examines whether curricula influence classroom experiences and children’s development. We use five samples of preschool children to examine differences in classroom processes and children’s school readiness by classroom curricular status (curriculum/no curriculum), and across classrooms using different curricular packages. When a teacher reports using a curriculum, their classroom processes are indistinguishable from classrooms where teachers report using no curriculum. Some differences in classroom activities emerged across classrooms using different curricula; however, substantial variability exists across classrooms using the same curriculum. Head Start program fixed effects models and meta-analytic regressions reveal few associations between curricula and children's skills. Findings question whether preschool curricular policy benefit child development.     

Scientists’ Habits of Mind as Evidenced by the Interaction Between their Science Training and Religious Beliefs

In Australia, education is the responsibility of each of the six states and two territories. Consequently there are significant differences between the science curricula offered by these eight educational authorities. This research analyses the educational significance of these curricular variations. A five‐level categorization of curriculum was used as the framework for the analysis. These five levels extend from the statement of the vision for the learning of science to the assessment of learning. The goal of the analysis was to determine the individual visions and whether they were consistently expressed in the syllabus documents published by the authorities. The study was restricted to physics, biology and chemistry in the senior school. The conclusion is that there is a richness of curriculum design within Australia and much can be learnt from the implicit curriculum experiment that is being undertaken with Australian school students.     

Science Teachers and Science‐Related Attitudes

Summaries

English

Science teachers’ perceptions of affective‐domainobjectives were gathered through interview procedures. A sample of teachers in Western Australian high schools were the subjects of the study.

For the purpose of analysis, a distinction is drawn between attitudes to science (such as ‘enjoyment of science lessons’ and ‘interest in science') and scientific attitudes (such as ‘honesty in reporting data’and ‘tolerance of the views of others').

Analysis of teachers’ views revealed confusion and lack of clarity regarding these science‐related attitudes. However, it is argued that curriculum writers are no clearer in their views.

It is suggested that a much clearer, more explicit justification for attitude objectives (of both kinds) needs to be made by curriculum writers. Science teachers need to be provided with greater assistance in clarifying the role of these attitude objectives, as well as assistance with techniques for their assessment.     

Lifelong Education‐‐a New Challenge

Summaries

English

Researchers from Japan, Romania and Sweden, together with the UNESCO Institute for Education (Hamburg), carried out a study of the functions of lifelong learning within education. Dozent Gestrelius reconstructs and comments on the Swedish part of this study. He delineates a comprehensive list of criteria which may be of paramount importance for curriculum renewal in science education. The author describes, in addition, the relations between some parts of Swedish curricula and the principles of lifelong learning (for example, self‐realization, self‐directed learning, creativity, flexibility). These are the results of empirical studies.     

Extract from new understandings of teachers' pedagogic knowledge 1

Abstract

The focus of this article is a comparative review of the science curriculum for England and Wales from the perspective of recent developments in the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the comparison of science curriculum documents and the language deployed, questions are raised about differences as well as commonalities among and between documents from various jurisdictions. Issues discussed include: the varying emphases upon science topics and/or intended learning outcomes; integration with other curriculum areas; the content and organization of the science curriculum; and ways of assessing students’ performances and understandings. The article draws attention to the importance of comparative analysis which informs our understanding of the effects of curriculum change, its relation to students’ achievements in science, and the need to support the development of teachers.     

Pupils' views of the role and value of the science curriculum: A focus-group study

Pupils' perceptions of their experience of school science have rarely been investigated. The aim of the research reported in this paper, therefore, was to document the range of views that pupils held about the school science curriculum, the aspects they found either interesting and/or valuable, and their views about its future content. As such, the research aimed to articulate their views as a contribution to the debate about the future form and function of the school science curriculum. The method adopted to elicit their views was to use focus groups-a methodology that has not been extensively used in the science education research. Reported here are the findings from 20 focus groups conducted with 144 16-year-old pupils in London, Leeds and Birmingham, split both by gender and whether the pupils intended to continue, or not, with the study of science post-16. The findings of this research offer a window into pupils' perspective of school science revealing both their discontents and satisfaction with the existing curriculum. On the negative side, many pupils perceived school science to be a subject dominated by content with too much repetition and too little challenge. From a more positive perspective, pupils saw the study of science as important and were engaged by topics where they could perceive an immediate relevance, practical work, material that was challenging and high-quality teaching. The implications of these findings and the insights they provide for curriculum policy and school science curricula are discussed.     

Comparing Classroom Enactments of an Inquiry Curriculum: Lessons Learned From Two Teachers

Abstract

Examining how teachers structure the activities in a unit and how they facilitate classroom discussion is important to understand how innovative technology-rich curricula work in the context of classroom instruction. This study compared 2 enactments of an inquiry curriculum, then examined students' learning outcomes in classes taught by 2 teachers. The quantitative data show that there were significant differences in the learning outcomes of students in classes of the 2 teachers. This study then examined classroom enactments by the 2 teachers to understand the differences in the learning outcomes. This research specifically focused on how teacher-led discussions (a) helped connect the activities within a curriculum unit and (b) enabled deeper conceptual understanding by helping students make connections between science concepts and principles. This study examined the role that teacher facilitation played in helping students focus on the relations between the various activities in the unit and the concepts that they were learning. The results point to important differences in the 2 enactments, helping to understand better what strategies might enable a deeper conceptual understanding of the science content.     

The training of teachers in special education

ABSTRACT

The aims and content of training in special education have been extended in recent years as a result of the practice of integrated education and also the recognition of a larger group of children with special educational needs. Provision in ordinary schools is being seen as the development of whole‐school policies for curricula and organization, including the development of systems of support within and sometimes, across schools. These developments have implications for the training of special education teachers and also for the pre‐service and in‐service education and training of all teachers and for the variety of strategies to be employed.     

Understanding integrated curriculum

Abstract

Integrated curriculum is currently being advocated in the United States to ‘solve’ many of the curriculum problems confronting education. Models of curriculum integration permeate the professional literature, yet there is little consensus as to exactly what is meant by integrated curriculum and how to establish such curricula in the publicly funded schools. The language of curriculum integration is confusing and leads to uncertainty and concern about the potential of integrated curriculum to impact positively on schools. Placing the models on a curriculum continuum will reveal that they range from traditional discipline‐based, objective‐driven, teacher‐controlled models to interest‐based, student exploration. Although historically research supports integrative curriculum, there is a paucity of current research which would support arguments for restructuring the American curriculum in this fashion. Additionally, there is a great deal of resistance to change both from within and outside the educational community to massive curriculum restructuring.     

Ettore Gelpi: an appreciation

Abstracts

English

The aim of the paper is to argue for a curriculum model approach to problems of development in adult and lifelong (or continuing) education contexts.

The advantages of such an approach are outlined : relating theory to practice and social policies to educational processes; exploring professional role‐structures and their effect upon received curriculum assumptions in the adult sector, particularly the traditional needs‐meeting, remedial and compensatory elements of such assumptions.

The significance of recent theoretical and policy developments in adult and continuing education is reviewed in these terms and some distinctions made between alternative implicit models of the lifelong curriculum. It is suggested that adult education, as presently constituted, might, itself, be an obstacle to the development of an integrated lifelong education curriculum.

In order to elucidate this a number of curriculum concepts, familiar enough in the general theory of education, are considered in the less familiar context of adult and lifelong education: typologies of curriculum models are used to explore some issues of development in this context (e.g. objectives, provision, process, action, research models etc.)

Ideas of a ‘core’ curriculum, and of the ‘hidden’ or ‘latent’ curriculum, together with curriculum development and evaluation are also considered.

The existing state of the adult and continuing education curriculum is then analyzed within such a conceptual framework. The disposition of professional roles is described, together with the curricular implications of the structure of provision (the University Extra‐Mural Departments, the WEA and the LEA sector).

The ideas of ‘flexibility’ and ‘access’ are critically reviewed as a function of professional (rather than political) ideologies, and the adult‐lifelong curriculum is analyzed in terms of administrative criteria on the one hand and educational process and social action on the other.

A prevailing orthodoxy of continuing education is elucidated in curriculum terms, and contrasted with the curriculum implications of lifelong models. For example, such models stress the functional interdependence of learning stages in an ‘intrinsic’ rather than a ‘remedial’ way, whereas much thinking about adult and continuing education in Britain is concerned with compensatory responses to failures of early educational experience.

In conclusion, it is argued that, in curriculum terms, the development of a continuing or a lifelong education system is by no means as straightforward as is sometimes supposed, and that the obstacles lie primarily within the nature of present curriculum assumptions as much as the more obvious material obstacles to development. Adult education, as it is presently organized, articulates the same kind of curriculum assumptions as initial education. The curriculum assumptions of lifelong education, however, are much more concerned with education in terms of social control and knowledge‐content than with access to professional provision which reproduces curriculum models of initial education sectors.     

Perspectives in Science — Exploring Science,Technology and Society

Abstract

The National Film Board of Canada is breaking new ground in educational technology with a pilot series of ‘interactive’ videos entitled Perspectives in Science. The series, aimed at the junior high school level, addresses issues of environmental and sociological concern not traditionally dealt with in formal science curricula. This paper examines the rationale behind the development of the Perspectives in Science video series. Science curriculum guidelines across Canada are being re‐written to reflect a change in education strategies that will encompass not only the teaching of scientific concepts, but also the applications of those concepts, as well as the implications of utilizing those concepts. Referred to as the ‘S‐T‐S’ connection, or, Science‐Technology‐Society, the new focus has been extensively documented by the Science Council of Canada and is currently causing a stir in the science teaching community as teachers scramble to find audio‐visual productions that address these new concerns and, at the same time, engage their students.

This paper also explains the design concept for presenting materials on S‐T‐S in an interactive model. Each video includes a short, open‐ended drama, followed by a number of ‘interactive components’. The tapes are ‘interactive’ in that teachers and students can choose to follow the material linearly or search for specific segments using the running time code as an electronic page reference. The interactive components consist of documentary style discussions with Canadians involved in some aspect of the scientific, technological, and societal issues presented, animated sequences, experiments, and filmography. The videos investigate issues of water, biotechnology, and toxic waste—with additional topics on soil, forestry, and air in production.

Finally, this paper documents the formative evaluation of the series noting the favourable response of teachers and students to the design concept and material content. The findings of this research indicated that the interactive video was both timely and appropriate for science teaching in view of major changes now being made to science curricula.     

‘Dry laboratories’ in science education; computer‐based practical work

Practical (laboratory) work in science education has traditionally been used to allow students to rediscover already known concepts and ideas, to demonstrate concepts taught in the classroom or, in the case of inquiry‐based science curricula, to teach concepts. Often, these laboratory practicals do not achieve their goals and may even confuse or demotivate students. It is not that using ‘wet’ practicals is intrinsically wrong; rather, it is that they are often used for the wrong reasons. They do have a place in science curricula ‐ for the conveyance of tacit knowledge that can only be achieved in the laboratory setting. In our view, their use should be restricted to that.

Non‐laboratory practicals ('dry labs'), and especially multimedia practicals, tend to be used for completely different reasons. They are best used to help students achieve specific cognitive skills (such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation) needed to practise science and to carry out scientific inquiry. This article sketches the problems associated with the use of dry laboratories in science education, presents design considerations for the use of such practicals in science education and presents examples of innovative non‐traditional practicals.     

The Implementation of Curriculum Change in School Science in England and Wales

Summaries

English

Science curriculum development in England and Wales started some 20 years ago and has led to the development of science curricula covering all major subjects, age levels and ability ranges. Dr Waring reviews, in this article, the successes and failures of the curriculum reform activities, and examines the underlying causes. In this review she draws extensively on the findings from researches into curriculum implementation, conducted in Britain and elsewhere.     

The impact of Science provision on the career prospects of pupils in Northern Ireland Schools

Abstract

The 1992 Education Project Report of the Standing Advisory Committee on Human Rights draws attention to the imbalance in science and technology provision between Catholic and Protestant schools in Northern Ireland and to differences in the science curriculum experienced by boys and girls. The concern of the Commission is that differences in science provision may adversely impact upon the employment prospects of Catholics and girls in careers which require scientific skills and knowledge. This article argues that poor science provision adversely impacts upon a much wider range of careers, namely, all careers where entry is regulated through cognitive tests. The widely‐employed AH5 test is used to represent the selection test component of the selection procedure. For a representative 1‐in‐4 sample of all Northern Ireland lower sixth form pupils, and all sub‐samples thereof, it is demonstrated that, in a selection procedure involving the AH5 test, Catholic girls are most likely to be deselected.     

Whose curriculum? Critical notes on integration and entitlement

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the way in which current notions of integration and curriculum entitlement may disadvantage pupils with exceptional needs. An illustrative case of a pupil with profound and multiple learning difficulties is discussed along with general issues of entitlement arising, and the implications for that individual. Through an examination of the effects of the criteria for ‘being educated’ that result from the implementation of the National Curriculum in the UK, we question current perceptions of issues such as normalization, age appropriateness and 'integration’. We use a case study of a child with autism to question whether his educational interests are best served by current notions of integrated education. We suggest a broader notion of education that encompasses rather than contrasts with care, and suggest that curriculum entitlement should involve common curricular principles rather than common curricular content and should not deny within‐child factors. We further suggest that ‘integration’ should be reconceptualized as 'inclusion’ and we query the features that make educational needs ‘special’