The Concept of Electrical Resistance: How Cassirer's Philosophy,and the Early Developments of Electric Circuit Theory,Allow a Better Understanding of Students' Learning Difficulties

While students' difficulties concerning the concepts of voltage and intensity have been investigated by many science education researchers, difficulties related to the concept of electrical resistance and circuit are less known. Some researchers in science education even state that students have no preconception about this concept before being taught. Our observations are in disagreement with this assumption. In the first section of this paper the main basic features of the difficulties of students confronted with the concept of electrical resistance are investigated. In the second section we discuss the nature of the electrical resistance concept in the light of Cassirer philosophy while in the third section we give an analysis of this concept going back to its origins in the nineteenth century. Finally, an analysis of the way this concept is taught in French high schools is presented and the first results of a experimentation using an alternative teaching strategy are briefly reported.c     

The impact of scienceware and foundations on students' attitudes towards science and science classes

In this paper, we describe changes in students' ideas about science classes, attitudes about science, and motivations for studying science, in a classroom designed to support projectbased science learing. Using a survey designed to provide a measure of students' attitudes towards science classes and science, we have compared students enrolled in a traditional high school biology course, with students enrolled in an integrated, project-based science course called Foundations I. Survey responses were analyzed to look at differences between and within two groups of students over the course of one school year. In general, the results of this study suggest that providing students with opportunities to collect and analyze their own data in science classes results in a change in students' ideas about science classrooms. Foundations I students' increased tendency to agree with statements about using information, drawing conclusions, and thinking about problems, implies a change in their understanding of what it means to do science in school. These students, in contrast to students in the traditional Biology course, no longer describe their science experience as one of memorization, textbook reading, and test taking. Instead they see science class as a place in which they can collect data, draw conclusions, and formulate and solve problems.     

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.     

Modelling energy transfers between systems to support energy knowledge in use

ABSTRACT

School instruction is critical for helping students use energy as a lens for making sense of phenomena, however, students often struggle to see the usefulness of energy analysis for interpreting the world around them. One reason for this may be an over-reliance on the idea of energy forms in introductory energy instruction, which may unintentionally suppress, rather than prompt, insights into how and why phenomena occur. We argue that an approach to energy instruction that emphasizes energy transfers between systems, and does not require the idea of energy forms, provides students with a more consistent and useful set of tools for interpreting phenomena. Such a perspective requires connecting the energy concept to the notion that fields, which mediate interaction-at-a-distance, are a real physical system that can transfer energy – an idea that is rarely presented in middle school science. We outline an instructional approach in which middle school students learn to interpret phenomena by modelling energy transfers between systems of interacting objects and fields. We argue that this approach presents a more physically accurate picture of energy, helps align energy instruction across disciplines, and supports students in seeing the value of energy as a lens for making sense of phenomena.     

破解大学生“五困”现象的实践探索

当前,部分大学生在学习生活中存在着思想困惑、经济困窘、心理困扰、学习困难和就业困境等问题。大学生"五困"现象是高校人才培养需面对的新情况。解决大学生"五困"问题应通过完善思想教育体系,加强制度和队伍建设,加强组织保障,更新观念,完善机制,在学校与社会的互动中帮助学生解决实际困难,促进学生全面成才。     

师专体育生和体院学科生自我意识的比较研究

采用个人评价问卷(PEI)对144名不同专业、学历和院校的大学生进行个人自我意识的调查和分析比较,其中有师专体育生(N1=55名),体院学科生(N2=69名),所得结论是:体院学科生自我意识整体水平不如师专体育生,其参加体育活动,同人们交谈的活动应予以高度重视.建议师专在教学中应强化体育生学习科学文化知识的动机,以利其自我意识的完善.     

Systems,transfer, and fields: Evaluating a new approach to energy instruction

Energy is a central concept in science in every discipline and also an essential player in many of the issues facing people everywhere on the globe. However, studies have shown that by the end of K-12 schooling, most students do not reach the level of understanding required to be able to use energy to make sense of a wide range of phenomena. Many researchers have questioned whether the conceptual foundations of traditional approaches to energy instruction may be responsible for students' difficulties. In response to these concerns, we developed and tested a novel approach to middle school physical science energy instruction that was informed by the recommendations of the Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012a) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013). This new approach differs substantially from more traditional approaches to energy instruction in that it does not require energy forms and it emphasizes connections between energy, systems, and fields that mediate interaction-at-a-distance. We investigated student learning during this novel approach and contrasted it with student learning within a comparable unit based on a more traditional approach to energy instruction. Our findings indicate that students who learned in the new approach outperformed students who learned in the traditional approach in every quantitative and qualitative aspect considered in this study, irrespective of their prior knowledge of energy. They developed more parsimonious knowledge networks in relation to energy that focused primarily around the concept of energy transfer. This study warrants further investigation into the value of this new approach to energy instruction in both middle and high school.     

高中学生主体参与模式的构建与实验研究

实施素质教育 ,必须要有一个以科学的理论为指导、操作性强、有明显效果的教育教学模式。这个模式的获得 ,一是理论上要立足于以往的研究成果 ,树立以学生为主体的教育理念 ;二是实践上要努力做到创设学生能真正主动参与的环境。在高中阶段实现这个任务 ,关键在于将理论认识转化为有效的可操作的模式 ,“学生主体参与模式的构建与实验研究”在这方面进行了探索和尝试     

Questions as a tool for bridging science and everyday language games

Research has shown how students can shift between different ways of communicating about natural phenomena. The point of departure in this text is that school science comprises science ways to communicate as well as everyday ways to communicate. In school science activities transitions, from for example everyday ways to explain to science ways to explain, occur and the purpose of this paper is to show what role questions play in these transitions. Data consists of video observations of a group of 24 students, 15 years of age, doing their ordinary school science work without my interference in their planning. Relevant conversations including questions were transcribed. The analysis was made by examining the establishment of relations between utterances in the transcribed conversations. Relations that bridge science and everyday language games are described in the results. Questions that were formulated in an everyday language game illustrate the difficulties of making transitions to a science language game. Without teacher guidance, students’ questions are potential promoters for making the topic drift and to develop into something totally different from the topic as planned by the teacher. However, questions promote transitions to an everyday language game. These can be used by teachers for example to adjust an everyday explanation and guide students in making science knowledge useful in daily life.

大学生创新能力认识误区分析及其培养

大学生创新能力的培养是大学生综合素质培养的核心。然而,大学生对创新能力的认识存在误区,影响了大学生创新能力的培养。为此,我们必须更新教育观念,激发创新精神,鼓励“存疑”、“求异”,活跃创新思维,重视实践教学,营造创新氛围,努力造就符合社会发展需要的具有创新能力的大学生。     

Investigating Greek Students' Ideas about Forces and Motion

Educational research has shown that high school and university students also follow the Aristotelian idea about motion; for example, a continuous action of a force is necessary to keep an object in motion. The survey presented in this article aims at a deeper investigation of secondary education students' ideas about the forces involved in objects moving under the sole influence of gravity. The main objectives are: (1) to investigate other ideas or difficulties, which intervene and determine students' mental models about motion and force, and (2) to reveal how the students in the sample are grouped according to their alternative conceptions. Our study has been mainly determined by the revision in Science Curriculum established in Greece three years ago. A survey has been administered to a total of 146 students (15–16 years old) attending six typical public high schools in Greece. The results presented show that the traditional instruction is pertinent while the approaches of the New Physics Curriculum have not been effectively expanded to the schools. The majority of the students exhibited the idea that the original force is continuously exerted to the ball during its motion. On the other hand, multivariate analysis has identified three discernible groups of students which have exhibited a persistent and rather consistent approach: (1) An extended group of students having the above misconception, (2) a second group of students which, generally, responded correctly to the tasks, and (3) a third group of students, which ignored the presence of the gravitational force and/or believe that the action-reaction forces are both exerted to the ball during its motion.     

Comparisons of beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning among postsecondary students

The purpose of this study is to assess postsecondary students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, or epistemological beliefs. Comparisons were made between junior college students and university students and between technological science majors and social science majors on their degree of belief in simple knowledge, certain knowledge, innate ability, and quick learning. Junior college students were more likely to believe in simple, certain knowledge, and quick learning. University students were more likely to believe in innate ability. Technological science majors were more likely to believe in quick learning. Background variables, such as age, gender, and parental education, also contributed to differences between groups. Two-year institutions, as well as four-year institutions, might want to consider students' epistemological beliefs as possible factors affecting academic performance, attrition rate, and transfer difficulties.     

媒介素养教育与大学生人文素质的提升

当前,我国大学生媒介素养状况令人担忧,难以应对日益丰富的媒介环境,存在着认识上的误区。为此,媒介素养教育应成为高校开展大学生人文素质教育的重头戏。在具体实施中要建立"媒介素养"教育课程体系,突出媒介本质属性、传播结构与传播秩序的解析,帮助学生端正意识形态领域内的认识,树立正确的世界观,建立媒介批判意识、审美能力和宏观视野,以此培养符合国家发展与建设需要的高素质人才。     

The conceptual evolution of actual mathematical infinity

The different stages in the conceptual evolution of actual infinity are analyzed. We show how this concept occurs in high-school students at a prior, or at best, at the same level, as in Bernard Bolzano's conceptualization (as defined in his work The Paradoxes of Infinity). Furthermore, in terms of the historical development of the concept, the students' conceptualization has intra-objectal stage characteristics. Within the same framework, we show how Cantor's work fits into the inter-objectal stage, as well as presenting the difficulties encountered by students in order to reach this stage, given the current curricular structure. We conclude that such evidence should bring about a reconsideration of Piagetian ideas in education.     

Student Engagement with Artefacts and Scientific Ideas in a Laboratory and a Concept-Mapping Activity

The purpose of this study is to use a comparative approach to scrutinize the common assumption that certain school science activities are theoretical and therefore particularly suited for engaging students with scientific ideas, whereas others are practical and, thus, not equally conducive to engagement with scientific ideas. We compared two school science activities, one (laboratory work) that is commonly regarded as focusing attention on artefacts that may distract students from central science concepts and the other (concept mapping) that is thought to make students focus directly on these concepts. We observed students in either a laboratory activity about real galvanic cells or a concept-mapping activity about idealized galvanic cells. We used a practical epistemology analysis to compare the two activities regarding students' actions towards scientific ideas and artefacts. The comparison revealed that the two activities, despite their alleged differences along the theory–practice scale, primarily resulted in similar student actions. For instance, in both activities, students interacted extensively with artefacts and, to a lesser extent, with scientific ideas. However, only occasionally did students establish any explicit continuity between artefacts and scientific ideas. The findings indicate that some of the problems commonly considered to be unique for school science practical work may indeed be a feature of school science activities more generally.     

University Students’ Understanding of Electromagnetic Induction

This study examined engineering and physical science students' understanding of the electromagnetic induction (EMI) phenomena. It is assumed that significant knowledge of the EMI theory is a basic prerequisite when students have to think about electromagnetic phenomena. To analyse students' conceptions, we have taken into account the fact that individuals build mental representations to help them understand how a physical system works. Individuals use these representations to explain reality, depending on the context and the contents involved. Therefore, we have designed a questionnaire with an emphasis on explanations and an interview, so as to analyse students' reasoning. We found that most of the students failed to distinguish between macroscopic levels described in terms of fields and microscopic levels described in terms of the actions of fields. It is concluded that although the questionnaire and interviews involved a limited range of phenomena, the identified explanations fall into three main categories that can provide information for curriculum development by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of students' conceptions.     

Positioning participation in the NGSS era: What counts as success?

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) strives to shift science learning from the teacher as a single cognitive agent, to a classroom community in which participants are working together in directing the classroom's communal knowledge to figure out questions about how phenomena occur, and building, testing, and refining their ideas to address those questions. To achieve this type of classroom environment, teachers should attend to students' knowledge and ideas and pay attention to how students are located within teacher-led interactions, such as being positioned as active discussants or designated listeners. In this study, we explore if and how this is occurring in the NGSS era. We used a naturalistic inquiry to explore how an experienced first-grade teacher used a new NGSS-aligned unit that called for students to use the science and engineering practices (SEP) to build content knowledge. We used a macro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are class discussions shaped to address the SEP”? We used a micro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are students positioned during these science discussions in this classroom?” Evidence suggests that the teachers' whole class discussions incorporated and involved the SEP which were specified in the unit lessons for content learning. However, on a micro-analytic level, we found that few students were positioned as active discussants. The teacher heavily relied on those students who could provide succinct and clearly relevant answers while positioning the remainder of the students as silent spectators. Implications from this research suggest that not only new NGSS curriculum materials need to focus on what students should know and do but they also need to address heuristics for teachers that show them how to position all of their students as active doers of science so all students have opportunities to build deeper, core science knowledge.     

Slovakian Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Biotechnology

This study examined university students’ knowledge of and attitudes (n = 378) toward biotechnology in Slovakia, a conservative country where the distribution of genetically engineered products are banned by law. We found a significant positive correlation between attitudes and the level of knowledge; however, although students enrolled in biology courses have better knowledge of biotechnology, their attitudes toward genetic engineering were similar than those of students who do not study biology. Females showed poorer knowledge and lower acceptance of genetically engineered products than did males. Overall, Slovakian students have poor knowledge and numerous misunderstandings about what genetic engineering means, which suggests that science curriculum with respect to this topic should be greatly re‐evaluated and teaching strategies should be improved accordingly.