A Learning Experience in Inquiry-Based Physics with Immersive Virtual Reality: Student Perceptions and an Interaction Effect Between Conceptual Gains and Attitudinal Profiles

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The integration of immersive virtual reality (VR) in authentic science classrooms can result in a totally new learning experience for the students....     

Designing Reflections on Practice: Helping Teachers Apply Cognitive Learning Principles in an SFT — Inquiry-Based Learning Program

The objective of this research into teacher education was to provide teachers with a deeper understanding of the cognitive goals of an inquiry-based learning program — Schools for Thought (SFT), and how these might be fostered using specific classroom activities. The classroom activities the workshops analyzed are derived from cognitive research aimed at fostering constructivist learning environments and include various strategies for facilitating collaborative learning and discussion among students (Bruer, 1993; Brown & Campione, 1994). The study documents 13 workshop sessions with teachers from grade 6,7, and 8. Teachers were asked to videotape segments of classroom activities in each of four phases of the SFT research cycle. The videotapes were edited by the authors and then discussed with teachers focusing on their effectiveness at implementing the cognitive goals for each unit phase. Analysis of these sessions reveal a shift in the focus of teachers' discussion from identifying procedures or the planning sequence of inquiry-based activities, to the usefulness these activities have for fostering specific cognitive and pedagogical goals. However, important differences remain in what researchers and teachers consider important when reflecting on teaching.     

Science and Language Integration in Elementary Classrooms: Instructional Enactments and Student Learning Outcomes

Research in Science Education - While some students will pursue careers in science, all will engage with multimodal science-based texts. The effective use of language skills is essential to support...     

Development and Evaluation of an Inquiry-Based Elementary Science Teacher Education Program Reflecting Current Reform Movements

The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council 1996, National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press) and various other national and state documents call for teachers who possess science content knowledge, employ an inquiry approach in teaching, and engage in reflective practices. This paper describes a rationale for choosing particular recommendations to implement and how we incorporated those as we revised our elementary science education program. An analysis of the impact of the reformed inquiry-based content courses revealed that students who take more than one reformed content course improve their science content knowledge and efficacy towards teaching science significantly more than students who take fewer courses.     

Wiki Laboratory Notebooks: Supporting Student Learning in Collaborative Inquiry-Based Laboratory Experiments

Recent examples of high-impact teaching practices in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory that include course-based undergraduate research experiences and inquiry-based experiments require new approaches to assessing individual student learning outcomes. Instructors require tools and strategies that can provide them with insight into individual student contributions to collaborative group/teamwork throughout the processes of experimental design, data analysis, display and communication of their outcomes in relation to their research question(s). Traditional assessments in the form of laboratory notebooks or experimental reports provide limited insight into the processes of collaborative inquiry-based activities. A wiki environment offers a collaborative domain that can potentially support collaborative laboratory processes and scientific record keeping. In this study, the effectiveness of the wiki in supporting laboratory learning and assessment has been evaluated through analysis of the content and histories for three consenting, participating groups of students. The conversational framework has been applied to map the relationships between the instructor, tutor, students and laboratory activities. Analytics that have been applied to the wiki platform include: character counts, page views, edits, timelines and the extent and nature of the contribution by each student to the wiki. Student perceptions of both the role and the impact of the wiki on their experiences and processes have also been collected. Evidence has emerged from this study that the wiki environment has enhanced co-construction of understanding of both the experimental process and subsequent communication of outcomes and data. A number of features are identified to support success in the use of the wiki platform for laboratory notebooks.     

当今美国中小学研究性学习的模式研究

本文主要探究在当今美国中小学校园开展的研究性学习的模式及其内涵与特征，旨在为国内中小学的实践提供参考与借鉴。     

Erratum to: Effect of Current Electricity Simulation Supported Learning on the Conceptual Understanding of Elementary and Secondary Teachers

This study examined the impact of computer simulation and supported science learning on a teacher’s understanding and conceptual knowledge of current electricity. Pre/Post tests were used to measure the teachers’ concept attainment. Overall, there was a significant and large knowledge difference effect from Pre to Post test. Two interesting interactions were observed during the data analysis. The first was the difference between Elementary and Secondary teachers. Both groups had significant gains, with large effect sizes, but the Elementary teachers (Pre-Mean = 3.70, Post-Mean = 7.51) started lower and ended higher exhibiting a significantly larger gain than the Secondary teachers (Pre-Mean = 4.96, Post-Mean = 6.71). The second interaction was the impact of gender. Both groups showed significant gains, with large effect sizes, but females (Pre-Mean = 3.90, Post-Mean = 7.21) gained significantly more than males (Pre-Mean = 5.13, Post-Mean = 7.01). These results confirm that computer simulation supported science learning can have a positive effect on concept attainment in teachers.     

Exploring Conceptual Integration in Student Thinking: Evidence from a case study

Two reasons are suggested for studying the degree of conceptual integration in student thinking. The linking of new material to existing knowledge is an important aspect of meaningful learning. It is also argued that conceptual coherence is a characteristic of scientific knowledge and a criterion used in evaluating new theories. Appreciating this ‘scientific value’ should be one objective when students learn about the nature of science. These considerations imply that students should not only learn individual scientific models and principles, but should be taught to see how they are linked together. The present paper describes the use of an interview protocol designed to explore conceptual integration across two college‐level subjects (chemistry and physics). The novelty here is that a single interview is used to elicit explanations of a wide range of phenomena. The potential of this approach is demonstrated through an account of one student's scientific thinking, showing both how she applied fundamental ideas widely, and also where conceptual integration was lacking. The value and limitations of using this type of interview as one means for researching conceptual integration in students' thinking are discussed.     

论人本主义学习观与创造观对研究性学习的启示

在继弗洛伊德的精神分析学(第一思潮)和华生的行为主义(第二思潮)之后,人本主义心理学形成了心理学的“第三思潮”。“第三思潮”关注人的潜能与价值问题,其主要理论是“自我实现论”。按照人本主义心理学的主要代表人物马斯洛和罗杰斯的观点,“自我实现(self-actualizing)”是     

Computer Technology Integration and Student Learning: Barriers and Promise

Political and institutional support has enabled many institutions of learning to spend millions of dollars to acquire educational computing tools (Ficklen and Muscara, Am Educ 25(3):22–29, 2001) that have not been effectively integrated into the curriculum. While access to educational technology tools has remarkably improved in most schools, there is still concern about instructional integration of computer technology to support student learning. Appropriate integration of computer tools constitutes a major change in people’s lives; technology integration is a complex phenomenon that involves understanding teachers’ motivations, perceptions, and beliefs about learning and technology (Woodbridge, ). Although computer technology has a great potential to reform or even transform education, barriers come in the way of achieving success especially with student learning. This paper presents an overview of technology use in education with a focus on barriers to computer technology integration. Further, this paper provides suggestions to maximize the benefits of learning with computer technology.     

The Role of Computer Simulation in an Inquiry-Based Learning Environment: Reconstructing Geological Events as Geologists

Several researchers have investigated the effects of computer simulations on students’ learning. However, few have focused on how simulations with authentic contexts influences students’ inquiry skills. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, we developed a computer simulation (FossilSim) embedded in an authentic inquiry lesson. FossilSim integrated data from real field investigations with geological laws for identifying the sequence of geological events. Data were collected from two experiments to examine ninth graders’ abilities for reconstructing a sequence of geological events with the aid of FossilSim. The sample groups in Experiments 1 and 2 were 58 and 11 ninth graders, respectively. The results indicated that the authentic inquiry lesson promoted the development of students’ inquiry skills. In addition, FossilSim played a key role in engaging students to apply geological laws, make multi-scale observations, and clarify their ideas about geological time.     

The Conceptual and Disciplinary Segregation of Disability: a Phenomenography of Science Education Graduate Student Learning

Science teacher education has long sought to educate new science teachers to more fully understand “Science-for-all” and prepare them to effectively navigate diverse contexts. To adopt this “Science-for-all” mantra, we need to address what the labeling (i.e., categorical labeling and/or mislabeling) of students with disabilities means for science teacher education. This paper provides a critical inquiry to ground the claim that disability operates subversively and unrecognized as a marker of difference similar to labels that produce exclusion in science education (e.g., race, class, and gender). Using a phenomenographic design, this research studied graduate students’ conceptualizations of disability as they progressed through the only required diversity course at a large, urban university in the American northeast. Primary data sources included in-depth, pre-/post-course interviews with supplemental data collected from biweekly course reflections. Phenomenographic data analyses addressed to what extent these graduate students embraced a disability studies perspective relative to disability—i.e., viewing disability beyond merely individual deficit. Findings suggest that the course sustained the relatively static conceptualizations about disability held by the participants related to individual deficiency rather than pushing for more critical views of disability beyond deficiency. Implications are discussed in relation to multicultural science teacher education course goals.

     

小学生数学学习情感评价的研究

在教学过程中注重学生情感、态度和价值观的培养,是新课程改革的核心目标之一,而学生情感评价则是提升情感教育效果的重要手段。对小学生数学学习情感的评价显示,目前小学生的学习情感状态不容乐观,存在着诸多亟待解决的问题。要真正促进学生情感的发展,教师应大力加强情感教育;深刻认识情感评价的功能;恰当选择评价的方法;充分利用评价获得的信息。     

Evaluation of an Innovative Mathematics Program in Terms of Classroom Environment,Student Attitudes,and Conceptual Development

Dull classroom environments, poor students’ attitudes and inhibited conceptual development led to the creation of an innovative mathematics program, the Class Banking System (CBS), which enables teachers to use constructivist ideas and approaches. To assess the effectiveness of the CBS, the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ), Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), Test of Mathematics-Related Attitudes (TOMRA), and concept map tests were administered to two groups of fifth-grade students as pretests and posttests over an academic year. To enrich the data collected from those questionnaires, three case studies (one for the experimental group and two for the control group) were undertaken based on observations and interviews of selected students. Relative to non-CBS students, CBS students experienced more favorable changes in terms of mathematics concept development, attitudes to mathematics, and perceived classroom environments on several dimensions of the CLES (e.g., Personal Relevance, Shared Control) and the ICEQ (e.g., Participation and Differentiation). Qualitative information based on classroom observations and student interviews reinforced and enriched the patterns of results obtained from the concept test and questionnaires.     

小学教育本科专业课程设置的整合研究

高等院校小学教育本科专业的课程设置普遍存在着缺乏整合的问题,具体表现在教育类课程与学科类课程缺乏整合,理论类课程与实践类课程缺乏整合。文章从分析小学教育专业课程整合的逻辑起点入手,对课程整合的具体内容以度策略提出思考,提出三种具体的课程整合模式,希望能够对小学教育专业课程的优化设置提供帮助和借鉴。     

The Effect of the Sunship Earth Program on Knowledge and Attitude Development

ABSTRACT:

The influence of the earth education program, Sunship Earth, on ecological knowledge and environmental attitudes was examined. It was found that students who attended the Sunship Earth program increased their ecological knowledge significantly. Participation in the Sunship Earth program did not result in more positive environmental attitudes. Part of the success of the Sunship Earth program is attributed to the setting in which it occurs and the techniques used to develop ecological concepts. The need for more opportunities for teachers to develop skills in environmental education and to participate in environmental education curriculum development that would link extension education more firmly to the school curriculum is discussed.     

STEM Integration in Middle School Life Science: Student Learning and Attitudes

In many countries around the world, there has been an increasing emphasis on improving science education. Recent reform efforts in the USA call for teachers to integrate scientific and engineering practices into science teaching; for example, science teachers are asked to provide learning experiences for students that apply crosscutting concepts (e.g., patterns, scale) and increase understanding of disciplinary core ideas (e.g., physical science, earth science). Engineering practices and engineering design are essential elements of this new vision of science teaching and learning. This paper presents a research study that evaluates the effects of an engineering design-based science curriculum on student learning and attitudes. Three middle school life science teachers and 275 seventh grade students participated in the study. Content assessments and attitude surveys were administered before and after the implementation of the curriculum unit. Statewide mathematics test proficiency scores were included in the data analysis as well. Results provide evidence of the positive effects of implementing the engineering design-based science unit on student attitudes and learning.