Parents' Attitudes Towards Science and their Children's Science Achievement

Although countries worldwide are emphasizing the importance of science education for technological development and global economic competition, comparative findings from standardized international student assessments reveal a huge gap in science scores between developed and developing countries. Certain developed economies too have made little progress in raising science achievement over the past decade. Despite school improvement being placed high on the policy agenda, the results of such actions have been poor. Therefore, there is a need to explore additional ways in which science achievement can be enhanced. This study focuses on the family and examines whether parents' attitudes towards science (how much they value science and the importance they place on it) can influence their children's science achievement. Individual- and school-level data are obtained from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 survey for 15 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries. Hierarchical linear modelling is employed to estimate the equations. The findings indicate that parents' attitudes towards science have a positive and statistically significant effect on science achievement, after controlling for other important student- and school-level variables. Moreover, students from poor backgrounds appear to benefit from more positive parental science attitudes as much as students from high socioeconomic status, such that equality of student achievement is not affected. This study recommends that schools and teachers encourage parents to play a more pro-active role in their children's science education, as well as educate parents about the importance of science and strategies that can be adopted to support their children's science learning.     

The IEA Assessment of Science Achievement

This paper reviews the IEA science assessment instruments and their outcomes in relation to what is known from other studies. The underlying assumptions are explored as is the justification for future surveys. The particular ‘decontextualised’ view that the same assessment items can be utilised validly across systems is analysed in detail by studying the item selection process. The paper looks at the interpretations of the results, considers the extent to which any claims are justified and reflects on whether, for many policy purposes, local studies within an educational system would be more useful.     

Attitudes of University Candidates Towards Learning Activities Aimed at Preparation for Science Studies

Our education system aims to equip young people with the knowledge, problem‐solving skills and values to cope with an increasingly technological society. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of biotechnology education on adolescents’ understanding and attitudes about processes associated with biotechnology. Data were drawn from teacher and student interviews and surveys in the context of innovative Year 10 biotechnology courses conducted in three Western Australian high schools. The results indicate that after completing a biotechnology course students’ understanding increased but their attitudes remained constant with the exception of their views about human uses of gene technology. The findings of this study have ramifications for the design and implementation of biotechnology education courses in high schools.     

Promoting Science Outdoor Activities for Elementary School Children: Contributions from a research laboratory

The purposes of the study were to analyse the promotion of scientific literacy through practical research activities and to identify children's conceptions about scientists and how they do science. Elementary school children were engaged in two scientific experiments in a marine biology research laboratory. A total of 136 students answered a questionnaire about their previous habits towards science and carried out the following actions: (1) a guided visit to the laboratory, (2) a brief presentation of the research theme, (3) the development of two experiments, and (4) a questionnaire about the experiments and science conceptions. The research methods included observation, document analysis, and content analysis of the answers to the questionnaires. Additionally, each visit was video recorded in order to design learning materials. The results revealed that most of the pupils were able to follow every stage of experimentation. However, some of them misinterpreted results and conclusions. One implication of the study is that this type of outdoor activity is extremely important to promote meaningful science learning in children, but more care should be taken in practical science activities so that children can overcome some common difficulties when performing scientific inquiry.     

Learning Environment, Attitudes and Achievement among Middle-school Science Students Using Inquiry-based Laboratory Activities

This study compared inquiry and non-inquiry laboratory teaching in terms of students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment, attitudes toward science, and achievement among middle-school physical science students. Learning environment and attitude scales were found to be valid and related to each other for a sample of 1,434 students in 71 classes. For a subsample of 165 students in 8 classes, inquiry instruction promoted more student cohesiveness than non-inquiry instruction (effect size of one-third of a standard deviation), and inquiry-based laboratory activities were found to be differentially effective for male and female students.     

Science Achievement for All: Improving Science Performance and Closing Achievement Gaps

This article addresses the serious and growing need to improve science instruction and science achievement for all students. We will describe the results of a 3-year study that transformed science instruction and student achievement at two high-poverty ethnically diverse public elementary schools in Texas. The school-wide intervention included purposeful planning, inquiry science instruction, and contextually rich academic science vocabulary development. In combination, these instructional practices rapidly improved student-science learning outcomes and narrowed achievement gaps across diverse student populations.     

叶德辉的历史文献学成就论略

叶德辉是清末民初的一位版本目录学家，他在历史献学方面取得较大成就，主要体现在：广搜珍本秘籍，尤其留意明清各本；辩证辑佚起源，辑佚众多古籍；辨析校勘方法，参众书以考异同；探究版本类名起源，讲究辨别善本之道；榆扬私家目录，订补前人阙误；重视刻书事业，并亲自刊刻古籍。     

Towards Eco-reflexive Science Education

The modern world can be described as a globalized risk society. It is characterized by increasing complexity, unpredictable consequences of techno-scientific innovations and production, and its environmental consequences. Therefore, chemistry, just like many other knowledge areas, is in an ongoing process of environmentalization. For example, green chemistry has emerged as a new chemical metadiscipline and movement. The philosophy of green chemistry was originally based on a suggestion of twelve principles for environment-friendly chemistry research and production. The present article problematizes limitations in green chemistry when it comes to education. It argues that the philosophy of green chemistry in the context of education needs to be extended with socio-critical perspectives to form educated professionals and citizens who are able to understand the complexity of the world, to make value-based decisions, and to become able to engage more thoroughly in democratic decision-making on sustainability issues. Different versions of sustainability-oriented science/chemistry education are discussed to sharpen a focus on the most complex type, which is Bildung-oriented, focusing emancipation and leading to eco-reflexive education. The term eco-reflexive is used for a problematizing stance towards the modern risk society, an understanding of the complexity of life and society and their interactions, and a responsibility for individual and collective actions towards socio-ecojustice and global sustainability. The philosophical foundation and characteristics of eco-reflexive science education are sketched on in the article.     

The Effects of a Kit-Based Science Curriculum and Intensive Science Professional Development on Elementary Student Science Achievement

The science achievement of 226 5th graders from districts that have a kit-based inquiry science curriculum supported by intensive professional development (PD) is compared with data from a group of 173 5th graders from other districts that use nonkit science materials and do not have systematic science PD for teachers. Within the kit-based project, the sample of project teachers is stratified to select teachers with a high number of science PD hours versus those with few hours. While there were no significant differences in the mean total scores for kit-based students with low PD versus high PD teachers, the kit-based classrooms scored significantly higher than students in nonkit classrooms on both the pretest and posttest, though there were significantly more minutes of science instruction in the nonkit classrooms. Finally, nonkit teachers taught more units of shorter length and reported lower levels of preparedness to use reform pedagogical approaches.     

威廉·汤姆生对物理学的贡献

介绍了威廉·汤姆生的主要科学活动 ,及其对物理科学的形成和发展做出的贡献 .     

柯岩文学活动的成就及其意义

柯岩是共和国颇具代表性的人民作家,她的文学成就告诉人们,社会主义主流文学并不是"寡情文学",并不是非艺术化倾向,坚定不移地贯彻文学创作的人民本位原则大有可为.     

The Trend Towards Materials in Science and Technology Education

The teaching of science and technology in the final year of high school is examined in a new curriculum developed for the education system in Victoria, Australia. The traditional areas of Physics and Chemistry together with a technology related subject, Materials and Technology, are investigated The major curriculum link amongst these studies was the area of materials. In Chemistry this involved the nature of materials, the chemical basis for the production of metals and polymers, and the social consequences of waste disposal. Within Physics, the major involvement was the investigation of the structure and physical properties of materials through theory and practical investigation. The selection of materials, production of components and their testing were the major area involved with Materials and Technology. Although the area of materials related all three subjects enrollments were comparatively high for Physics and Chemistry but Materials and Technology had less than one tenth as much enrollment. Similarly, school providers were significantly lower for materials and technology. Materials and Technology is still considered a vocational subject compared with the science oriented subjects. When gender enrollments were considered, Chemistry had a similar number of females and males, Physics had twice as many males as females, and Materials and Technology had twice as many males as females. This appears to be a consequence of typical gender roles.     

Emotionally Intense Science Activities

Science activities that evoke positive emotional responses make a difference to students’ emotional experience of science. In this study, we explored 8th Grade students’ discrete emotions expressed during science activities in a unit on Energy. Multiple data sources including classroom videos, interviews and emotion diaries completed at the end of each lesson were analysed to identify individual student's emotions. Results from two representative students are presented as case studies. Using a theoretical perspective drawn from theories of emotions founded in sociology, two assertions emerged. First, during the demonstration activity, students experienced the emotions of wonder and surprise; second, during a laboratory activity, students experienced the intense positive emotions of happiness/joy. Characteristics of these activities that contributed to students’ positive experiences are highlighted. The study found that choosing activities that evoked strong positive emotional experiences, focused students’ attention on the phenomenon they were learning, and the activities were recalled positively. Furthermore, such positive experiences may contribute to students’ interest and engagement in science and longer term memorability. Finally, implications for science teachers and pre-service teacher education are suggested.     

作为测评学生科学学业成就替代性手段的科学表现性评价

科学表现性评价是传统纸笔测验的一种重要替代性手段,能够评价传统测验难以测评的学生科学学业成就的重要方面。一个完备的科学表现性评价包括评价任务、应答格式和评分系统三大组成部分。任务类型和推理维度可以描述评价任务。根据各部分是否具有相互依赖性,应答格式可以分为一次性和分批次性两种。评分系统分为分项的和整体的两种类型,采用分项评分系统的不同任务类型的评价主要关注点各不相同,整体评分系统则采用量规来为表现评分。     

The Effects of Different Kinds of Hands-on Modeling Activities on the Academic Achievement,Problem-Solving Skills,and Scientific Creativity of Prospective Science Teachers

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effectiveness of unstructured, semi-structured, structured hands-on modeling activities and traditional teaching methods in developing academic achievement, problem-solving skills, and scientific creativity in prospective science teachers in the subject of the human circulatory and respiratory systems. A pre-test–post-test quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the treatment effect. There were three experimental groups and a control group in a total of 88 prospective science teachers who were enrolled in the Department of Science Education. The Academic Achievement Test (AAT), Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI), and Scientific Creativity Scale (SCS) were applied as data collection tools. The researchers employed two-way ANOVA and ANCOVA to analyze the data. Results revealed that all modeling activities were effective in enhancing participants’ AAT scores when compared with those of the control group. In addition, unstructured modeling and semi-structured modeling activities were more effective than structured modeling activities in improving AAT scores. For the AAT retention test, unstructured and semi-structured modeling groups showed better performance than the structured modeling group and control group. Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference in PSI scores of the participants in favor of unstructured and semi-structured modeling activities. Lastly, there was no statistically significant difference in SCS scores with the experimental groups and control group.

     

The Development of Science Education Research in Brazil and Contributions from the History and Philosophy of Science

Over the last 50 years a new research area, science education research, has arisen and undergone singular development worldwide. In the specific case of Brazil, research in science education first appeared systematically 40 years ago, as a consequence of an overall renovation in the field of science education. This evolution was also related to the political events taking place in the country. We will use the theoretical work of Rene Kaës on the development of groups and institutions as a basis for our discussion of the most important aspects that have helped the area of science education research develop into an institution and kept it operating as such. The growth of this area of research can be divided into three phases: The first was related to its beginning and early configurations; the second consisted of a process of consolidation of this institution; and the third consists of more recent developments, characterised by a multiplicity of research lines and corresponding challenges to be faced. In particular, we will analyse the special contributions to this study gleaned from the field known as the history and philosophy of science.     

Contributions from the Philosophy of Science to the Education of Science Teachers

One of the most important topics on the international agenda in educational research is to gain an understanding of the processes of educational change in teachers and of the factors that favour or hinder it. Such understanding is, for instance, an essential element in planning and putting into practice initial and ongoing teacher education programs. This article reviews the research on science teachers’ educational change. To organize the information, an analogy is made with the process of scientific change, analyzing and evaluating the contributions of the different models taken from the philosophy of science – positivism, Popper’s principle of falsifiability, Lakatos’ scientific research programs, Laudan’s research traditions, Toulmin’s evolutionism, and Kuhn’s relativism. We conclude the article with the implications for science teacher education.