Evaluating the effects of analogy enriched text on the learning of science: The importance of learning indexes

Research has shown that differences in the prior knowledge of the participants and in the learning indexes adopted can explain why some studies show positive learning effects of analogy enriched text while others do not. In the present studies, these two factors were combined into one through the construction of a learning index that measured incremental positive changes in the participants' prior knowledge after reading an analogy enriched or no analogy text. A second learning index was also used to evaluate whether the participants created well-formed conceptual models after reading the science text. These learning indexes were used in two studies in which the effects of analogy enriched versus no analogy text were compared on the learning of the scientific explanations of the day/night cycle and of the seasons. The participants were 3rd and 5th graders in the first study and 6th graders and college students in the other. Although only few of the participants learned the correct scientific explanation, those who read the analogy enriched text produced more incremental positive changes in their pretest explanations at posttest and delayed test and created more well-formed conceptual models close to the scientific one than those who read the no analogy text. They also recalled more information and created fewer invalid inferences in their recalls. The results indicate that analogies can be used without reservation to facilitate the learning of science and have broader implications about how to evaluate the learning of science in general.     

Students’ Perceptions of Religion and Science,and How They Relate: the Effects of a Classroom Intervention

Abstract

In England, both Religious Education (RE) and science are mandatory parts of the school curriculum throughout the 5-16 age range. Nevertheless, there remain concerns that, as in many countries, students do not have a good understanding about the scope of each subject nor about how the two subjects relate. This article reports on a study that involved an intervention of six lessons in RE and six in science that were intended to help 13-15?year-old students develop a better appreciation for the relationship(s) between science and religion and a less reductionist understanding of biology. Our focus here is on the understandings that students have about the relationship between science and religion. The intervention was successful in improving the understandings of almost half of the students interviewed, but in these interviews we still found many instances where students showed misunderstandings of the nature of both religious and scientific knowledge. We argue that RE needs to attend to questions regarding the nature of knowledge if students are to develop better understandings of the scope of religions and how they arrive at their knowledge claims.     

Where is the “theory” within the field of educational technology research?

Critics often characterise the study of educational technology as under-theorised. To test this assertion and to determine the extent of this criticism, the present paper reports an in-depth analysis of the 503 most recent empirical articles published in three selected education-technology-related journals (Computers & Education; Learning, Media and Technology; and British Journal of Educational Technology). These journals were selected because they publish studies related to all education settings rather than focusing on only a certain segment such as higher education; they have broad geographical catchment; and they were the most highly ranked journals in terms of their 2017 journal citation impact factor. The present paper examines how explicitly existing theory was identified in previous research, how theories were applied and how often these theories were advanced in education technology research. In the majority of cases, explicit engagement with theory was absent. Many studies either were wholly bereft of theories or made vague use of theory. Where theory was explicit, the articles were more likely to use theory to conceptualise the research, to inform the data collection or analysis process and to discuss the results. Very few articles reported findings that help us to learn something new about a particular theory (ie, little evidence of theory advancement).     

启发式教学思想与建构主义教学思想的比较

启发式教学思想与建构主义教学思想从表象到本质紧密联系,呈现出你中有我,我中有你的相似性,又因为中西方历史、文化、制度的差异使得二者各具特色。从哲学视角对两种教学思想进行比较、评述,探寻它们之间的共性与个性,有助于加深对二者的认识,取其所长,应用于教学实践。     

社会理论指导下的家园合作实践探索

生态系统理论、社会资本理论和重叠影响视阈理论三大社会理论,为家园合作奠定了理论基础。其主要启示是:重视家园合作的意义,树立正确的家园合作理念;充分挖掘社会资源,创造、投资社会资本;勇于探索、创新家园合作渠道,建立良好的伙伴关系。主要建议是:幼儿园开展家长教育活动,提高家长的教育理念;家长参与幼儿园与家长之间的信息传递活动;家长参与幼儿园相关课堂活动;家长积极参加幼儿园组织的户外活动;家长代表参与幼儿园管理。     

自由主义女性主义与激进女性主义科学观浅探

自由主义女性主义与激进女性主义作为女性主义阵营中的两大主要流派,在女性主义理论与批判中的地位举足轻重。它们进入科学领域,分别形成自己独特的对于科学的不同看法。本文拟从自由主义女性主义科学观与激进女性主义科学观的渊源、对科学的批判以及所产生的意义这三方面进行简要剖析。     

How Do Instructional‐Design Practitioners Make Instructional‐Strategy Decisions?

Many theories have been proposed to help instructional designers make instructional‐strategy decisions, yet it is not clear if these theories are actually used by ID practitioners. This study used a web‐survey to examine the design strategies of 113 ID practitioners. The survey asked respondents to rate how frequently they used learning or ID theories as well as 10 other design strategies, to help make instructional‐strategy decisions. Respondents were also asked how often they used different information sources to learn about new theories, trends, and strategies, and to respond to a set of contrasting statements depicting objectivist vs. construc‐tivist assumptions. The results indicate that ID practitioners most often rely on interaction with others both as a means of making instructional‐strategy decisions and of learning about new theories, trends, and strategies. Only fifty percent of the respondents said they regularly use theories when making instructional‐strategy decisions, using other design strategies more frequently instead; and most practitioners are eclectic in their underlying philosophical assumptions. Based on these results, we discuss implications for training and ongoing support of instructional designers.     

Using analogies to improve the teaching performance of preservice teachers

Prior research in both education and cognitive science has identified analogy making as a powerful tool for explanation as well as a fundamental mechanism for facilitating an individual's construction of knowledge. While a considerable body of research exists focusing on the role analogy plays in learning science concepts, relatively little is known about how instruction in the use of analogies might influence the teaching performance of preservice teachers. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pedagogical analogy use and pedagogical reasoning ability in a sample of preservice elementary teachers (PTs), a group that has been identified for their particular difficulties in teaching science. The study utilized a treatment/contrast group design in which the treatment group was provided instruction that guided them in the generation of analogies to aid in the explanation phase of learning cycle lessons. A relationship between analogy use and positive indicants of teaching performance was observed and a case study of a low performing preservice teacher who drastically improved teaching performance using analogy‐based pedagogy is presented. A notable effect on conceptual understanding of Newton's Third Law as a result of two brief analogy‐based demonstration lessons was also observed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 565–585, 2007.     

Mutual alignment comparison facilitates abstraction and transfer of a complex scientific concept

Learning about a scientific concept often occurs in the context of unfamiliar examples. Mutual alignment analogy – a type of analogical comparison in which the analogues are only partially understood – has been shown to facilitate learning from unfamiliar examples . In the present study, we examined the role of mutual alignment analogy in the abstraction and transfer of a complex scientific concept from examples presented in expository texts. Our results provide evidence that (a) promoting comparison between two examples and (b) orienting the learner toward relational commonalities result in greater abstraction and transfer. These findings suggest that mutual alignment analogy is an effective means of promoting abstraction and transfer of complex scientific concepts, and may thus be used in the classroom to promote learning from unfamiliar examples.     

韦伯与福柯现代性理论的比较

韦伯与福柯都是研究现代性的集大成者,韦伯将现代性的负面效应比作"理性的铁笼",而福柯将现代性对人们的监控看做是"全景监狱"。他们的思想的差异性建立在其亲和性和继承性的基础上。他们各自的理论有其显著的特点。从韦伯与福柯的著作中发掘二者在现代性思想方面的差别,其主要集中在方法论、分析视角、对待现代性的态度和关注焦点这四个方面。然而殊途同归,二者都关注现代性社会的权力与身体议题,同时又都对现代性进行了有逻辑、有价值、有深度的批判。然而二者虽都剑指现代性的症结却都没有提出超越的方案和设想。     

如何面对未来

对我们而言,未来总是个未知数。但有一点,某种极可能发生的事情是可以预见的。我们可以争取最好的结局。     

Writing and Reading Subjects: Fixing and Unfixing Identity through Close Literary Practices

For a number of years, Rebecca Luce‐Kapler and Dennis Sumara have been investigating the ways in which literary practices of close reading can help change how we think and how we remember. They have also considered how such practices might help make us more critical of normative representations of remembered experience. More recently, they have been joined by Claire Robson, who works with and investigates memoir writing. In 2009, Robson and Sumara were joined by their six older lesbian research participants at a conference held at the University of British Columbia entitled ‘Queerly Canadian: Changing Narratives’. The six women performed extracts from memoirs they had written as part of the research data and joined the researchers in offering theories and insights about the writing processes in which the group had engaged. That presentation and this paper represent the evolution of a two‐year collaboration between these researchers and the six women, who are listed as co‐authors on both the presentation and this paper.     

Staff Members’ Ideas about Visitors’ Learning at Science and Technology Centres

This study investigates staff members’ ideas and assumptions about visitors’ learning at science and technology centres. It also aims to explore in what ways their reasoning intersect with existing theories about learning within the field of science and technology centre research. The results of the study reveal that the staff members allude to learning processes differently by distinguishing organized from non‐organized learning, theoretical learning from practical hands‐on learning, and serious from non‐serious learning. According to most of the staff members, these also conclude with different learning outcomes. Further, a majority of the staff members state that they do not have any scientific knowledge about learning despite the fact that they work with the construction of new exhibitions. When discussing visitors’ learning, the staff members instead refer to personal experiences, professional experiences, professional education, and external references. When it comes to how they reason about the natural scientific content, nearly all express that they use references from the natural science community and researchers’ knowledge. The article moreover discusses in what ways a socio‐cultural approach may be used in order to understand how learning arises when visitors interact with exhibits.     

“地下水动力学”课程教学中类比法的运用

类比法是萌发科学猜想的一种重要思维方法,也是一种重要的教学方法。达西定律是地下水运动的基本规律,是开展地下水定量计算和定性分析一系列水文地质现象的关键。为了提高教学效果,可以充分利用达西定律与传热学中的傅立叶定律、电学中的欧姆定律三者之间的相似性,开展类比法教学。这不仅能够加深学生对达西定律的理解,还有助于培养学生利用其他学科的知识来开展本学科研究的思想方法,是帮助初学者学习新知识的有效方法。     

Resource Implications of Mergers: Are There Any Economies?

Academic observers have for some time been questioning whether industrial mergers produce identifiable economies of scale. They have found little evidence that efficiencies result from mergers. Is this also true in higher education? What does the evidence tell us about the practical implications of recent mergers? This paper examines this topic from a strictly empirical perspective. We begin by studying as an analogy, the recent mergers of professional accounting and consulting firms and me then turn to higher education and look in detail at the savings and the extra costs claimed from recent mergers.     

Enhancing Students’ Conceptual Understanding by Engaging Science Text with Reflective Writing as a Hermeneutical Circle

Students can have great difficulty reading scientific texts and trying to cope with the professor in the classroom. Part of the reason for students’ difficulties is that for a student taking a science gateway course the language, ontology and epistemology of science are akin to a foreign culture. There is thus an analogy between such a student and an anthropologist spending time among a native group in some remote part of the globe. This brings us naturally to the subject of hermeneutics. It is through language that we attempt to understand an alien culture. The hermeneutical circle involves the interplay between our construct of the unfamiliar with our own outlook that deepens with each pass. It can be argued that for novice students to acquire a full understanding of scientific texts, they also need to pursue a recurrent construction of their comprehension of scientific concepts. In this paper it is shown how an activity, reflective-writing, can enhance students’ understanding of concepts in their textbook by getting students to approach text in the manner of a hermeneutical circle. This is illustrated using studies made at three post-secondary institutions.     

毛泽东诗词哲理意识论

优秀的诗词都是以博大的意境和深邃的道理著称于世,让人“浮想联翩”,从沉思中获得哲理,从感染中受到启迪。毛泽东诗词是作者对生活本质的认识与评价,在形象思维过程中,离不开逻辑思维,抒发情感的诗词也脱离不了哲理思考。     

民族文化的品格与价值——对马克思主义民族文化论的认识

马克思主义的民族化理论是从政治经济学的角度考察化而建构起来的理论，具有鲜明的阶级性和审美性，在新的历史时期和世界格局中，建构民族化的开发态势，使民族化不断更新发展，引导民族化走向真，善，美，既是马克思主义民族化理论给我们的永示，也是马克思主义民族化理论的价值之所在。     

‘Am I Like a Scientist?’: Primary children's images of doing science in school

A considerable body of evidence highlights how inquiry-based science can enhance students' epistemic and conceptual understanding of scientific concepts, principles, and theories. However, little is known about how students view themselves as learners of science. In this paper, we explore primary children's images of doing science in school and how they compare themselves with ‘real’ scientists. Data were collected through the use of a questionnaire, drawing activity, and interviews from 161 Grade 4 (ages 9–10) students in Singapore. Results indicate that ‘doing science as conducting hands-on investigations’, ‘doing science as learning from the teacher’, ‘doing science as completing the workbook’, and ‘doing science as a social process’ are the images of learning science in school that most of the students held. In addition, students reported that they need to be well behaved first and foremost, while scientists are more likely to work alone and do things that are dangerous. Moreover, students often viewed themselves as ‘acting like a scientist’ in class, especially when they were doing experiments. Nevertheless, some students reported that they were unlike a scientist because they believed that scientists work alone with dangerous experiments and do not need to listen to the teacher and complete the workbook. These research findings further confirm the earlier argument that young children can make distinctions between school science and ‘real’ science. This study suggests that the teaching of science as inquiry and by inquiry will shape how students view their classroom experiences and their attitudes towards science.     

《菊馨》中的光色变奏

创作小说犹如绘制图画,伟大的作家都是色彩学家。他们不仅考虑每一种颜色的主观感受,还要把握颜色之间、光色之间作用后的效果,甚至光色对整个构图的影响。绘画流派中的印象派在这方面的研究尤为突出。劳伦斯在他的短篇小说《菊馨》中运用了大量的光色,它们各具深意又彼此作用,故单纯的将它们看做不同的意象是不够的。通过印象派的相关理论分析二者的相互作用以及它们对小说结构的影响,有助于更深的了解小说中的光色意义与作用。