History,Philosophy and Sociology of Science in Science Education: Results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study

Throughout the history of enhancing the publicscientific literacy, researchers have postulated thatsince every citizen is expected to have informalopinions on the relationships among government,education, and issues of scientific research anddevelopment, it is imperative that appreciation of thepast complexities of science and society and thenature of scientific knowledge be a part of theeducation of both scientists and non-scientists. HPSSinclusion has been found to be an effective way toreach the goal of enhancing science literacy for allcitizens. Although reports stated that HPSS inclusionis not a new educational practice in other part of theworld, nevertheless, no large scale study has everbeen attempted to report the HPSS educationalconditions around the world. This study utilizes therich data collected by TIMSS to unveil the currentconditions of HPSS in the science education of aboutforty TIMSS countries. Based on the analysis results,recommendations to science educators of the world areprovided.     

Connecting Science and Mathematics: The Nature of Proof and Disproof in Science and Mathematics

Disagreements exist among textbook authors, curriculum developers, and even among science and mathematics educators/researchers regarding the meanings and roles of several key nature-of-science (NOS) and nature-of-mathematics (NOM) terms such as proof, disproof, hypotheses, predictions, theories, laws, conjectures, axioms, theorems, and postulates. To assess the extent to which these disagreements may exist among high school science and mathematics teachers, a 14-item survey of the meanings and roles of the above terms was constructed and administered to a sample of science and mathematics teachers. As expected, the science teachers performed better than the mathematics teachers on the NOS items (44.1 versus 24.7%, respectively) and the mathematics teachers performed better than the science teachers on the NOM items (59.0 versus 26.1%, respectively). Nevertheless, responses indicated considerable disagreement and/or lack of understanding among both groups of teachers concerning the meanings/roles of proof and disproof and several other key terms. Therefore it appears that these teachers are poorly equipped to help students gain understanding of these key terms. Classroom use of the If/and/then/Therefore pattern of argumentation, which is employed in this paper to explicate the hypothesis/conjecture testing process, might be a first step toward rectifying this situation.     

Accounting for Variation in Science and Mathematics Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis of Australian Data Third International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss)

One of the most consistent themes evident in the literature dealing with rural education is that of rural disadvantage. Much research and literature indicates that students from rural schools receive an education that is inferior to that of students from larger urban or suburban schools. Of the matrix of factors reported to lead to that disadvantage, geographical isolation and the extent to which it restricts access is reported to result in rural schools not having the same standard of resource allocation as urban schools where access is not a problem. This study addresses the issue of resource availability in rural and urban Australian schools and includes the variables: students' attitudes towards science and mathematics and career aspirations of these students. The analysis includes socioeconomic status and gender of these students and investigates how these variables relate to student achievement. Do students in rural schools have the same educational opportunity as students in urban schools? In this study a multilevel model is used which takes into account the classroom level variance in student achievement as well as individual variance and school level variance.     

从分析的角度看意向性——塞尔《意向性》评介

塞尔(John R.Searle)是当今世界最著名、最具影响力的哲学家之一,日常语言分析学派和言语行动(speech act)理论的主要代表,其主要研究旨趣在语言哲学、心灵哲学和社会哲学.塞尔著述等身,且对许多研究领域产生了深广影响,有些著述已被译为20余种语言文字.<意向性>(Intentionality,1983)是塞尔最著名的著作之一,该书中译本已于2007年由上海人民出版社出版.     

International Comparative Studies of Science Achievement from the Time Perspective: The Third International Mathematics and Science Study versus the International Assessment of Educational Progress

The key question in international comparative studies of educational achievement is whether results can be trusted. The answer is unknown unless what is measured at one point in time can be compared with measurement at some other point in time. Results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in Slovenia can fortunately be compared with results from the International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) collected in 1991. Although TIMSS sampling was grade-based and IAEP sampling was age-based, allowing for differences in sampling shows that Slovene children, as well as those from all other compared countries performed approximately at the same level at both points in time. Age-based comparison placed Slovenia's 13-year-olds much lower on the international rankings list than the TIMSS grade-based comparison. But taking samples based on age and comparing only 13-year-olds in both samples shows very little difference in the results of these two studies. Furthermore, achievement varies very similarly in both studies with variables such as time used for school at home, time spent watching television and the disposal of study aids. Despite the different approach used in each study, comparison of achievement between TIMSS and IAEP reveals exceptional similarity.     

U.S. Comparative and International Graduate Programs: An Overview of Programmatic Size,Relevance, Philosophy,and Methodology

Previous work has concentrated on the epistemological foundation of comparative and international education (CIE) graduate programs. This study focuses on programmatic size, philosophy, methodology, and pedagogy. It begins by reviewing previous studies. It then provides a theoretical framework and describes the size, relevance, content, and methodological approaches of U.S.-based graduate programs. This study finds that (a) CIE graduate programs find relevance in today's knowledge economy by addressing the themes of globalization and development; (b) while education policy is a key component of CIE programmatic content, there does not appear to be a general consensus as to what a CIE program should teach; and (c) CIE pedagogy includes four broad categories: the humanities and social science disciplines, regional emphases, cross-cutting fields and theoretical lenses, and professional specializations. Although there appears to be no single formula or unified path, each program must sift through the various methodologies and theoretical tendencies of the field to charter a course that is attractive to students, profitable to its institution, and beneficial to society.     

第三届国际数学及科学研究结果对华人地区数学课程改革的启示

第三届国际数学及科学研究是一项由国际教育成就评价协会主办,有四十多个国家和地区参加的长期追踪研究,这项研究由纸笔测试和录像研究两部分组成.这项研究对华人地区课程改革的启示有:虽然华人地区数学教育遭受各种批评,但从研究结果看,华人地区的数学教育并不差;我们应该仔细讨论TIMSS测试本身,分析它是否符合我们的数学教育目标;虽然华人学生相对负面的数学学习态度似乎没有影响学生的数学成绩,但是负面态度本身应该引起我们的关注.     

Using Large-scale Assessment Datasets for Research in Science and Mathematics Education: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Large-scale assessments of student achievement provide a window into the broadly defined concepts of literacy and generate information about levels and types of student achievement in relation to some of the correlates of learning, such as student background, attitudes, and perceptions, and perhaps school and home characteristics. This paper provides an overview and outlines potential research opportunities of one such assessment—the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In order to provide examples of the work that can be accomplished with these data, we describe and discuss the results generated from PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 in terms of international comparisons of achievement and the models of relational patterns of student, home, and school characteristics. We provide insight from the recent pilot testing conducted in Taiwan for PISA 2006, which has a focus on scientific literacy. This is followed by a discussion of the implications and potentials of the 2000 and 2003 datasets to facilitate research on scientific and mathematical literacy. The paper concludes with a look ahead to PISA 2006 and what researchers should be attending to in the research reports generated from the OECD and the research interests that they could follow given access to the datasets generated.

College Science, Mathematics, and Methods Teaching Faculty Talk About Science and Mathematics: An Examination of Faculty Discourse in a Reform-Based Teacher Preparation Program

In this study discourse and conversation analyses were performed on talk by science and mathematics teaching faculty participating in reforming content courses for teacher candidates participating in a mathematics and science teacher preparation project (upper elementary and middle level). The context of the study was the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a National Science Foundation funded project in the USA. The study's goal was to explore the use of discourse and conversation analyses as ways to understand faculty beliefs concerning mathematics and science, two disciplines the MCTP project aimed to connect. Discussion focused on two areas: (1) the comparison of the discourse on science and mathematics by the science, mathematics, and pedagogy content specialists, and (2) the impact of collaboration on the science and mathematics teaching faculty's conversation on science and mathematics. An implication of this study is to promote the analysis of talk as way to inform and direct faculty transformation in science and mathematics teacher education programs. Future research is recommended.     

TIMSS（2007）科学测试认知维度分析及其启示

国际数学和科学趋势研究（The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study,简称TIMSS）是当前国际上比较著名的学生学业评价项目之一。TIMSS测评由背景问卷和测试题目两部分组成,其在科学认知维度方面呈现三个认知水平。本文以TIMSS2007中的一些试题为例,分析TIMSS测试题目的特点,并认为TIMSS对我国科学课程的学生学业评价具备如下启示：科学课程的学生学业评价应当发挥评价的监测与导向功能,应关注学生多方面能力的发展,应当以心理测量学为指导。     

美国“科学、技术、工程和数学”(STEM)高中述评

美国"科学、技术、工程和数学"(STEM)高中形成于20世纪初,它的兴起缘于工业社会对有技能劳动力的巨大需求和二战后美国教育的新构想,它的发展响应了20世纪后期美国教育的改革,强化了美国科技创新人才培养战略。STEM高中在学校招生、课程设置、学生社团活动等方面具有突出的特点,对我国拔尖创新型人才的培养以及高中阶段教育多样化发展有一定的启示。     

Science Education in Nigeria: An Examination of People’s Perceptions about Female Participation in Science, Mathematics and Technology

The paper brings to focus people’s perception about female involvement in science, mathematics and technology (SMT). Data for the study were obtained from a survey conducted in March, 2005 in two Local Government Areas of Osun state, Southwest Nigeria. The paper reveals that: (i) about 57% of household heads, 45.6% of mothers and 57.6% of the children are of the opinion that both boys and girls are given equal right to SMT education (ii) social forces play an important role in determining people’s attitude to SMT (iii) though, parents and stakeholders perceptions about girls’ participation in some professions is changing, however, socio-cultural and economic factors still determine which sex to encourage to read SMT.     

《西南科技大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》载文与影响力研究

运用信息计量方法,基于中国学术期刊网络出版总库对《西南科技大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》2003-2015年的载文、作者单位和地域、引文以及合作等进行多维定量分析;同时,利用中国引文数据库对《西南科技大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》2003-2015年间发表论文被引情况进行详细分析,从而全面客观地揭示《西南科技大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》的办刊水平、发展态势以及在学术界的影响力。     

澳大利亚创新、科学、技术、数学教育政策探析

为提高全民整体素质,尤其是在科学、技术、数学领域的创新能力,澳大利亚联邦政府出台了澳大利亚创新、科学、技术、数学教育推广方案并已取得阶段性成效。通过对该方案形成背景、主要构成及其运行模式等方面的研究,我们可以进一步借鉴别国改革的成功经验,反思自身在创新教育能力培养方面存在的问题,从而找到新的出路与方向。     

论国外科技创新思维方法论的新进展及其意义

最近20年来,当代西方哲学开始在新的思想平台上研究科技创新思维的方法论问题.其基本特征是:超越传统范式,深入到语言和认知的层面对科技创新思维的具体实现过程进行研究,力图揭示科技创新的认知结构、思维机制和一般模式,建立科技创新思维的方法论模型.目前已初步形成了三种理论模型:语境创新论、意向创新论和隐喻创新论.深入研究和应用这些新的科技创新思维理论,以之转变人们的创新理念、培养人们的创新素养,对我国正在进行的创新型国家和创新型社会建设至关重要.