How are the Concepts and Theories of Acid–Base Reactions Presented? Chemistry in Textbooks and as Presented by Teachers

This paper investigates the views of science and scientific activity that can be found in chemistry textbooks and heard from teachers when acid–base reactions are introduced to grade 12 and university chemistry students. First, the main macroscopic and microscopic conceptual models are developed. Second, we attempt to show how the existence of views of science in textbooks and of chemistry teachers contributes to an impoverished image of chemistry. A varied design has been elaborated to analyse some epistemological deficiencies in teaching acid–base reactions. Textbooks have been analysed and teachers have been interviewed. The results obtained show that the teaching process does not emphasize the macroscopic presentation of acids and bases. Macroscopic and microscopic conceptual models involved in the explanation of acid–base processes are mixed in textbooks and by teachers. Furthermore, the non‐problematic introduction of concepts, such as the hydrolysis concept, and the linear, cumulative view of acid–base theories (Arrhenius and Brönsted) were detected.     

Effect of 5E Teaching Model on Student Teachers’ Understanding of Weightlessness

Weight is one of the basic concepts of physics. Its gravitational definition accommodates difficulties for students to understand the state of weightlessness. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of materials based on 5E teaching model and related to weightlessness on science student teachers’ learning. The sample of the study was 9 volunteer student teachers who were in their first grade in Science Teaching Program in Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered to find answers to the research questions. Findings revealed that all physics textbooks reviewed gave gravitational definition of weight. Also the concept of weightlessness hasn’t been covered in high school and some university textbooks. It was determined that before the implementation student teachers had non-scientific explanations about weightlessness. The implementation of the 5E teaching model and materials developed are effective on learning the weightlessness. It is suggested that similar applications can also be used in other physics subjects or in other fields of science.     

History of Science in Science Education: Development and Validation of a Checklist for Analysing the Historical Content of Science Textbooks

One of the aspects science education should focus on is learning about science.Achieving a good understanding of this aspect requires, among others, the useof the history of science. There is some evidence that teachers rely heavily ontextbooks to select the historical content they include in their physical sciencelessons. On the other hand, Portuguese physical science syllabuses are not veryexplicit about the teaching of the science. Therefore, textbook writers may notfeel compelled to give enough importance to the history of science in their textbooksand consequently little history of science will pervade the science lessons. This paperaims to present a theoretically grounded checklist developed for analysing the historical content of science textbooks. Five physics textbooks that are different with regard to historical content were analysed. Inter-ratter agreement was used in order to validate the checklist. The results of the analysis show that the checklist is able to reveal differences among textbooks and that the historical content included in the textbooks is hardly able to give students an adequate image of science and scientists' work.     

浅谈新课程改革中提高学生生物科学素养的措施

新一轮高中课程改革在我省已全面展开,课程标准的理念和教材编写的指导思想是"提高学生生物科学素养",由于使用大纲教材已多年,所以多数教师根据老教材体系所采用的教学方法已经不太适应新课程改革的这一理念,一线教师可以从转变教学理念、提高教师科研能力和培养学生学习兴趣等方面在新课程改革中提高学生生物科学素养。     

Communicating Science to Impact Learning? A Phenomenological Inquiry into 4th and 5th Graders’ Perceptions of Science Information Sources

Rooted in science education and science communication studies, this study examines 4th and 5th grade students’ perceptions of science information sources (SIS) and their use in communicating science to students. It combines situated learning theory with uses and gratifications theory in a qualitative phenomenological analysis. Data were gathered through classroom observations and interviews in four Turkish elementary schools. Focus group interviews with 47 students and individual interviews with 17 teachers and 10 parents were conducted. Participants identified a wide range of SIS, including TV, magazines, newspapers, internet, peers, teachers, families, science centers/museums, science exhibitions, textbooks, science books, and science camps. Students reported using various SIS in school-based and non-school contexts to satisfy their cognitive, affective, personal, and social integrative needs. SIS were used for science courses, homework/project assignments, examination/test preparations, and individual science-related research. Students assessed SIS in terms of the perceived accessibility of the sources, the quality of the content, and the content presentation. In particular, some sources such as teachers, families, TV, science magazines, textbooks, and science centers/museums (“directive sources”) predictably led students to other sources such as teachers, families, internet, and science books (“directed sources”). A small number of sources crossed context boundaries, being useful in both school and out. Results shed light on the connection between science education and science communication in terms of promoting science learning.     

基于动态研究的新课改后各类教材特点的比较

随着基础教育课程改革的逐步深入,教材多样化的趋势越来越明显,中小学教材的品种也越来越多,促进了中小学教材质量的提高,但也出现了重复编写同一水平、同一层次教材的现象。对国内各学科有代表性的教材从学生的学习和发展、对教师教学组织的影响、教师或学生对教材的评价三个维度进行动态比较研究发现,各版本新课标教材都能不同程度地体现新课标要求,追求以学生为本,重视探究活动,强调过程与方法等;各版本新课标教材各有优劣,都有修订和改进的空间,主要问题集中在内容容量不当,难度过大,对学生个体差异性、学校差异性以及地区差异性考虑得不够,各个学段之间缺乏有效衔接等方面,教材编制者应当互相借鉴。     

SCIENCE TEACHING METHODS PREFERRED BY GRADE 9 STUDENTS IN FINLAND

Students find science relevant to society, but they do not find school science interesting. This survey study analyzes Finnish grade 9 students’ actual experiences with science teaching methods and their preferences for how they would like to study science. The survey data were collected from 3,626 grade 9 students (1,772 girls and 1,832 boys) across randomly sampled secondary schools. Students were asked to evaluate how often a particular teaching method is used in science (chemistry and physics) teaching and how often they would like to see the teaching method used. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests. Boys seemed to be more satisfied with current and traditional science teaching methods like direct teaching, solving basic problems, reading textbooks, and conducting practical work, while girls desired more discussion. Students who are interested in school science or think that school science is relevant in everyday life would like more creative activities such as brainstorming and project work. Results indicated that understanding the connection between student interest and teaching method preferences, especially interpreting interested students’ desire for creative activities, are important aspects for future research.     

Secondary science teachers' attitudes toward and beliefs about science reading and science textbooks

Science textbooks are dominant influences behind most secondary science instruction but little is known about teachers' approach to science reading. The purpose of this naturalistic study was to develop and validate a Science and Reading Questionnaire to assess secondary science teachers' attitudes toward science reading and their beliefs or informed opinions about science reading. A survey of 428 British Columbia secondary science teachers was conducted and 215 science teachers responded. Results on a 12-item Likert attitude scale indicated that teachers place high value on reading as an important strategy to promote learning in science and that they generally accept responsibility for teaching content reading skills to science students. Results on a 13-item Likert belief scale indicated that science teachers generally reject the text-driven model of reading, but they usually do not have well-formulated alternative models to guide their teaching practices. Teachers have intuitive beliefs about science reading that partially agree with many research findings, but their beliefs are fragmented and particularly sketchy in regard to the cognitive and metacognitive skills required by readers to learn from science texts. The findings for attitude, belief, and total scales were substantiated by further questions in the Science and Reading Questionnaire regarding classroom practice and by individual interviews and classroom observations of a 15-teacher subsample of the questionnaire respondents.     

Investigating the Potential of Irish Primary School Textbooks in Supporting Inquiry-based Science Education (IBSE)

This study analyses several Irish primary school science textbook sets to evaluate their potential to support Inquiry-based Science Education (IBSE). The study was prompted by the results of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) 2008 survey of Irish primary science which indicated that a 72% of surveyed teachers are using science textbooks within their teaching. The reliance on deductive methodologies, such as the using textbooks, has been attributed to a lack of pedagogical content knowledge. As the Irish primary science curriculum was changed to be more experiential in 2003, it is unlikely that deductive teaching from textbooks aligns with the new aims and objectives of the curriculum. This research analyses three textbook groups through the lens of the 5E model of teaching, a well-known framework for teaching through inquiry. A four-layer framework was developed around the 5E model that would highlight the strengths and weaknesses of textbooks in supporting IBSE. The results indicate that the various textbooks contain different structures, pedagogies and content, which can potentially be used to support the development of IBSE schema however, professional development must be provided as to how best to integrate textbooks into practice.     

How do Teachers and Textbook Writers Model Scientific Ideas for Students?

Ten experienced science teachers were interviewed about their understandings of the analogical models they use to explain science to their students. The aim was to investigate the notion that teaching pedagogy is influenced by the textbooks commonly used in class. A previously developed typology of analogical models was used to classify each teacher's repertoire of models and the models found in the prescribed science textbooks. The classifications of teacher and textbook models were then compared to identify patterns, similarities and differences. In their interviews, eight of the 10 teachers volunteered that they regularly used models in their lessons. The claimed model use was least for chemistry teachers and highest for physics teachers. Textbook analysis showed that chemistry textbooks used the most models and physics textbooks the least with biology in between. Five teachers saw a need to negotiate with their students the shared and unshared attributes of teaching models and two consistently discussed the limitations of their models. Vignettes and extracts are used throughout the paper to explain how teachers and textbooks use and discuss models.     

Science Education in Primary Schools: Is an Animation Worth a Thousand Pictures?

Science teaching deals with abstract concepts and processes that very often cannot be seen or touched. The development of Java, Flash, and other web-based applications allow teachers and educators to present complex animations that attractively illustrate scientific phenomena. Our study evaluated the integration of web-based animated movies into primary schools science curriculum. Our goal was to examine teachers’ methods for integrating animated movies and their views about the role of animations in enhancing young students’ thinking skills. We also aimed at investigating the effect of animated movies on students’ learning outcomes. Applying qualitative and quantitative tools, we conducted informal discussions with science teachers (N = 15) and administered pre- and post-questionnaires to 4th (N = 641) and 5th (N = 694) grade students who were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group students studied science while using animated movies and supplementary activities at least once a week. The control group students used only textbooks and still-pictures for learning science. Findings indicated that animated movies support the use of diverse teaching strategies and learning methods, and can promote various thinking skills among students. Findings also indicated that animations can enhance scientific curiosity, the acquisition of scientific language, and fostering scientific thinking. These encouraging results can be explained by the fact that the students made use of both visual-pictorial and auditory-verbal capabilities while exploring animated movies in diverse learning styles and teaching strategies.     

The Effects of Incorporating Web‐assisted Learning with Team Teaching in Seventh‐grade Science Classes

Due to the implementation of a 9‐year integrated curriculum scheme in Taiwan, research on team teaching and web‐based technology appears to be urgent. The purpose of this study was incorporated web‐assisted learning with team teaching in seventh‐grade science classes. The specific research question concerned student performance and attitudes about the teaching method. Two certified science teachers and four classes of the seventh graders participated in this study. It used a mixed methods design, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The main data included students’ scores, questionnaires, teachers’ self‐reflections, and the researcher’s interviews with teachers. The results showed that the average final examination scores of students experiencing the experimental teaching method were higher than that of those receiving traditional teaching. The two teaching methods showed significant difference in respect of students’ achievement. The research had limitations because of students’ abilities of data collection, computer use, and discussion, but more than one‐half of the students preferred the experimental method to traditional teaching. However, team teachers would encounter the problems of technology ability, time constraints, and entrance examination pressure.     

Project design factors that affect student perceptions of the success of a science research project

Throughout the United States, various summer science programs for precollege students are conducted with an aim toward increasing the involvement of young people in science. Most of these programs are perceived as successful by teachers and scientists because they involve students in hands-on science activities, improve their scientific skills and confidence, and allow them the opportunity to use science to answer questions and solve problems. The work described here involves a detailed assessment of a summer National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Scholars Program, which was carried out over 2 summers. Student participants were entering 9th and 10th grade. The data used for this assessment included journals kept by teaching assistants, questionnaires administered to the participants and parents, and interviews with the participants. Analysis revealed that students perceived program success differently from teachers and program organizers. Their perception of the success of a program is directly related to whether or not their individual research project met its goals, regardless of other project activities. Designing projects that have a high likelihood of success from this perspective can be complex, but this work identified six variables that must be incorporated appropriately into the design of a project to ensure its success: (1) extent of project structure and who structures the project, faculty or student; (2) project relevance; (3) project flexibility; (4) project background research; (5) tangible results; and (6) project introduction.     

Minority Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching Science: Sources of Science Teaching Strategies

This study explores five minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science and identifies the sources of their strategies for helping students learn science. Perspectives from the literature on conceptions of teaching science and on the role constructs used to describe and distinguish minority preservice teachers from their mainstream White peers served as the framework to identify minority preservice teachers’ instructional ideas, meanings, and actions for teaching science. Data included drawings, narratives, observations and self-review reports of microteaching, and interviews. A thematic analysis of data revealed that the minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science were a specific set of beliefs-driven instructional ideas about how science content is linked to home experiences, students’ ideas, hands-on activities, about how science teaching must include group work and not be based solely on textbooks, and about how learning science involves the concept of all students can learn science, and acknowledging and respecting students’ ideas about science. Implications for teacher educators include the need to establish supportive environments within methods courses for minority preservice teachers to express their K-12 experiences and acknowledge and examine how these experiences shape their conceptions of teaching science, and to recognize that minority preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching science reveal the multiple ways through which they see and envision science instruction.     

Supporting Latino high school students’ science motivational beliefs and engagement: examining the unique and collective contributions of family,teachers, and friends

Abstract

High school underrepresented minority students in the US are at an increased risk of dropping out of the STEM pipeline. Based on expectancy-value theory, we examined if Latino students’ perception of support from parents, siblings/cousins, teachers, and friends in 10th grade predicted their science ability self-concepts and values, which in turn predicted their classroom engagement. Survey data were collected from 104 Latino high school students and their science teachers. The findings suggest that adolescents’ perceptions of overall support and home-based support predicted adolescents’ science ability self-concepts at 10th grade while controlling for their 9th grade self-concepts. Although adolescents reported high support from teachers, teacher or school-based support alone was not a strong correlate of their motivational beliefs. Perceived support was indirectly related to classroom engagement through adolescents’ ability self-concepts. Feeling supported across home and school may be necessary to sustain adolescents’ science motivational beliefs and, in turn, their science classroom engagement.     

Teacher or Examiner? The Tensions between Formative and Summative Assessment in the Case of Science Coursework

The aim of the reported study was to explore how science teachers made sense of their roles and responsibilities in teaching and assessing science coursework. The focus was on the teacher assessment, the feedback that teachers gave to students and, how they perceived their role when they taught and assessed students’ science coursework reports. The research methodology included observation of science lessons, collection of marked students’ reports and two interviews with each of the nine participant teachers. Two cases of teachers are considered as representative of the participant teachers and their perceptions and practices are compared and contrasted. Teachers either adopted the role of the examiner or combined the role of the teacher with that of examiner. They distinguished marking of science theory exercises from marking of coursework and, teaching theory from teaching investigations, on the basis that the grade they assigned to coursework contributed to the total grade for external exams. A key conclusion is that teaching and assessment of science coursework need to re-focus on learning. The study calls for changes in public policy for summative assessment to place more reliance on teachers’ assessments and secondly, for changes in school practices in formative assessment for teachers to support students to learn in the case of science coursework.     

The Contribution of Ethnobiology to the Construction of a Dialogue Between Ways of Knowing: A Case Study in a Brazilian Public High School

This paper reports results obtained in pedagogical interventions in a Brazilian public high school which aimed at promoting a dialogue between scientific and traditional knowledge in the context of biology teaching. The interventions were based on the use of a didactic material and teaching sequence elaborated on the grounds of school knowledge about botany, as presented in biology textbooks, and interviews with students who were also farmers, so as to gather data about their ethnobiological knowledge. Our goal was to develop and test resources that can offer support for teachers who wish to build a dialogue between different ways of knowing in multicultural settings. Our results indicate that the use of the didactic material and teaching sequence indeed created possibilities for a dialogue between the students’ ethnobiological knowledge and biology school knowledge. We observed some shortcomings in classroom practice, partly reflecting our very choice of subject matter to develop the teaching sequence. But the interventions also revealed important limitations that we regard as representative of problems that may generally make multicultural science teaching a hard goal to achieve. It was clear that important shortcomings were related to teachers’ difficulties to conduct a dialogue between ways of knowing in a science classroom, and, thus, called attention to the importance of introducing a multicultural dimension into teacher education. We also observed that the fact that students did not show much sensitivity towards dealing with cultural diversity was a factor constraining the success of the interventions. These results highlight the importance of proposing and testing teacher education initiatives aiming at preparing them to teach science in a culturally sensitive manner, and also managing classroom tensions and conflicts so as to make it possible an effective dialogue between different ways of knowing in a multicultural setting.     

基于不同英语语言环境探索双语教学的几个问题

本文通过分析比较新西兰,中国香港,及中国内地高校的师资、学生和教材等问题,探讨中英文双语环境下,双语教学的可行性。基于河南科技大学复合材料概论课程双语教学的实践,对进一步提高我校复合材料概论课程双语教学水平提出了一些看法。