A Report from the Higher Education Review Board (HERB): Assessment of Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes in Food Science

For the past 15 years, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has mandated assessment of undergraduate student learning outcomes as the basis for approving food science (FS) programs. No longer is a check‐off course system sufficient to be an IFT‐approved program. The 4 steps to gaining IFT approval include developing learning outcomes for all required FS courses, developing outcomes for the program as a whole, assessing student learning through a comprehensive series of assessment tools, and developing and reporting a plan to use the assessment data collected for continuous program improvement. This article reviews these steps in some detail, providing guidance on possible approaches that may be used. In the end, the aim of the IFT requirements is to improve student learning in FS to advance the field.     

The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Sustainability of Professional Development Outcomes

This study investigated how contextual factors influenced the sustainability of outcomes from a 3-year, state-funded professional development program that provided science assistance for K-2 teachers in small, rural school districts. The research used a case-study approach with a purposive sample of five elementary schools that varied in instructional time in science several years after the funding period. The primary data sources were teacher surveys and interviews conducted 2 and 3 years after the end of the professional development program. The findings highlight variations across schools and the influence of principal support, resources, collegial support, personal commitment, and external factors. The research holds practical implications for enhancing long-term sustainability of professional development outcomes in science education.     

Educating science teachers for sustainability: questions,contradictions and possibilities for rethinking learning and pedagogy

In this review, we explore what educating science teachers for sustainability implies according to the 23 book chapters and many sampled teacher education and science methods courses in the edited book by Susan Stratton, Rita Hagevick, Allan Feldman and Mark Bloom, entitled Educating Science Teachers for Sustainability, published in 2015 by Springer as part of the ASTE Series in Science Education. We situate the review in the current complex landscape of discourses around sustainability education, exploring its grounding in an anthropocentric ideology next to emancipatory practices and a holistic vision of the world. We offer a quick overview of the chapters and themes addressed. We then take up some ideas to think with. We are particularly invested in thinking about the implications of sustainability education as going beyond science teachers and science education, and as implying a serious engagement with and critique of current unsustainable ways of living. We play with the idea of taking sustainability education beyond neoliberal ideals of education and offer some suggestions by bringing in voices of students, youth, land-based learning and the idea of living sustainability. We also explore what indigenous scholars and epistemologies could have contributed to an exploration of sustainability education, a voice that was absent in the book, yet helps desettle the conversation and actions taken, moving the discourse beyond an Eurocentric grounding.     

Creating sustainable societies: developing emerging professionals through transforming current mindsets

Future professionals will bear the brunt of creating sustainable societies. Equipping them for the task is the challenge of current educators. Educational experiences facilitating the development of sustainable habits of mind are needed. This research reports on the experiences of developing scientists and engineers engaged in a sustainable energy research program. Its focus is the learners’ changing conceptions about sustainability and their role in creating sustainable societies. It is an exploratory, multi-strand, case-oriented study, utilizing mixed methods to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The research was grounded in the literature of education for sustainability and situated learning in communities, highlighting the common threads supporting the development of a new generation of scientists and engineers with sustainable mindsets. Findings indicated learners’ concepts of sustainability were broadened from narrow, discipline-specific definitions to an understanding of sustainability as a multidisciplinary field. Learners’ developing identities from budding scientists and engineers to citizens invested in and capable of creating sustainable societies is discussed. The development of learning communities was an integral mechanism for facilitating perspective changes; however, field trips and seminars focused on exploring sustainability were identified as key influences in developing multifaceted and more complex conceptions of sustainability.     

The development of a K-3 science program in the context of the National Science Statement and Profile

This paper highlights the challenges and problems in developing an innovative K-3 science program to support teachers in the implementation of the national Statement and Profile in science. The program has been developed by the authors in association with the Curriculum Corporation. The paper outlines the assumptions made about teachers of young children, the role of research in the construction of the program, and the extent to which the Statement and Profile have influenced the process. The resolution of a number of key problems in this curriculum development is discussed: responding to teachers' needs for a base of science discipline knowledge, developing strategies for working scientifically with very young children, and helping teachers develop an extended understanding of the nature of science. Specializations: early childhood science and technology education. Specializations: primary science education, teacher education in science, adult experiences of science and technology, and curriculum development.     

Teaching about sustainability through inquiry-based science in Irish primary classrooms: the impact of a professional development programme on teacher self-efficacy,competence and pedagogy

Abstract

Research suggests that innovative and engaging professional development is instrumental in supporting teachers in developing their competence and confidence in teaching sustainability. An international initiative was developed to explore whether a competencies-oriented Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) professional development model was transferable across three different international contexts (Ireland, Germany and Mexico). This paper reports on the adaptation of this model within the Irish context, through the development of an innovative professional development programme for primary teachers. Through a mixed-methods approach which gathered data via pre- and post-programme surveys, teachers’ reflective journals and post-programme group interviews, the paper explores Irish primary school teachers’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, teaching sustainability through science education after participation in a professional development programme. The findings suggest that this programme, structured around the existing evidence for effective professional development in science education and ESD, positively influences teachers’ self-efficacy, supports teachers’ critical engagement with sustainability competencies and promotes the development of transformative pedagogies for sustainability through Inquiry-Based Science Education.     

A Research Preparatory Program for First-Year College Students: Student Selection and Preparation Lead to Persistence in Research

Undergraduate research experiences may increase persistence in STEM majors. We describe a research program that targets first-year students selected for their curiosity and attitudes towards science. We explain the implementation of the program over 3 years and present evaluation data using a group of matched controls. Participants and controls pursued STEM degrees at equivalent rates, but participants were significantly more involved in research. Initial laboratory interest and mentor pairing may have played a role in this finding. Female participants, particularly those with male laboratory mentors, engaged in more research than men.     

Practical reasoning and science education: Implications for theory and practice

Practical reasoning is a fundamental competence required for everyday decision-making as well as for the production of scientific knowledge. However, very little attention is given to developing this competence in school science classrooms or in educational research programs. In this paper we explain the tradition of practical reasoning and its relevance to science and science education. We then suggest ways in which practical reasoning may be developed in students such that they are enabled to better understand how scientific knowledge is produced and how they may be better able to contribute to improving scientific practices.     

Science Teachers’ Use of Mass Media to Address Socio-Scientific and Sustainability Issues

The currency, relevancy and changing nature of science makes it a natural topic of focus for mass media outlets. Science teachers and students can capitalize on this wealth of scientific information to explore socio-scientific and sustainability issues; however, without a lens on how those media are created and how representations of science are constructed through media, the use of mass media in the science classroom may be risky. Limited research has explored how science teachers naturally use mass media to explore scientific issues in the classroom or how mass media is used to address potential overlaps between socio-scientific-issue based instruction and education for sustainability. This naturalistic study investigated the reported and actual classroom uses of mass media by secondary science teachers’ to explore socio-scientific and sustainability issues as well as the extent to which their instructional approaches did or did not overlap with frameworks for SSI-based instruction, education for sustainability, and media literacy education. The results of this study suggest that secondary science teachers use mass media to explore socio-scientific and sustainability issues, but their use of frameworks aligned with SSI-based, education for sustainability, and media literacy education was limited. This paper provides suggestions for how we, as science educators and researchers, can advance a teaching and learning agenda for encouraging instruction that more fully utilizes the potential of mass media to explore socio-scientific issues in line with perspectives from education for sustainability.     

Exploring just sustainability across the disciplines at one university

Abstract

We examined The University of Vermont’s new sustainability requirement for undergraduates through the lens of just sustainability. We found that sustainability courses are proposed in diverse disciplines. Regardless of discipline, most proposed courses address all three pillars of sustainability (social, ecological, and economic). Discussions of environmental justice are less widespread; only 17% of proposed courses in science, technology, and math departments addressed environmental justice. Our results provide examples for others interested in integrating sustainability across diverse disciplines and in emphasizing environmental justice. We also call attention to the fact that institutions of higher education may need explicit reminders or requirements to adequately include considerations of environmental justice in sustainability studies.     

农业水资源可持续利用评价指标体系构建研究

构建农业水资源可持续利用(Sustainable Utilization of Agricultural Water Re-sources,SUAWR)评价指标体系(Indicaters Systern,IS)既要考虑IS构建的一般性问题,也要顾及SUAWR内涵的多维性.根据SUAWR内涵,分别从用水流程和用水影响因素两种角度提出了SUAWR评价目的和评价要求,指出SUAWR评价维度包括质量维、数量维和时空维.在阐明评价理论基础上,提出IS构建原则,并采用频度统计法、理论分析法等方法,进行了IS构建、结构优化,并进行构成分析,建立了以农业可持续发展为目标的一般性SUAWR综合评价IS,探讨了AWR复合系统多维度可持续性评价如何在多层次IS中实现.     

On the road to science education for sustainability?

In this paper I discuss three issues relevant to the ideas introduced by Colucci-Gray, Perazzone, Dodman and Camino (2012) in their three-part paper on epistemological reflections and educational practice for science education for sustainability: (1) social studies of science for science education, (2) education for sustainability or sustainable development, and (3) curriculum studies and action-research. For the first issue, I address the need for science education efforts dedicated to an epistemological renewal to take seriously into consideration the contributions of the social studies of science. This perspective may be fruitful for an education for sustainability that also requires one to consider the political dimension of environmental issues and their intrinsic power relationships. It also encourages the abandonment of dichotomies that hamper democratic participation: experts/lay people, science/society, scientific knowledge/values, etc. For the second issue, my commentary focuses on the challenges that education for sustainability or sustainable development pose to science education with a shift from subject matter contents to socio-educative aims and socio-political actions. These challenges lead to the third issue with an invitation to apprehend science education for sustainability within the frameworks of curriculum theory and design-based research.     

Futurising science education: students’ experiences from a course on futures thinking and quantum computing

To promote students’ value-based agency, responsible science and sustainability, science education must address how students think about their personal and collective futures. However, research has shown that young people find it difficult to fully relate to the future and its possibilities, and few studies have focused on the potential of science education to foster futures thinking and agency. We report on a project that further explored this potential by developing future-oriented science courses drawing on the field of futures studies. Phenomenographic analysis was used on interview data to see what changes upper-secondary school students saw in their futures perceptions and agentic orientations after attending a course which adapted futures thinking skills in the context of quantum computing and technological approaches to global problems. The results show students perceiving the future and technological development as more positive but also more unpredictable, seeing their possibilities for agency as clearer and more promising (especially by identifying with their peers or aspired career paths), and feeling a deeper connection to the otherwise vague idea of futures. Students also felt they had learned to question deterministic thinking and to think more creatively about their own lives as well as technological and non-technological solutions to global problems. Both quantum physics and futures thinking opened new perspectives on uncertainty and probabilistic thinking. Our results provide further validation for a future-oriented approach to science education, and highlight essential synergies between futures thinking skills, agency, and authentic socio-scientific issues in developing science education for the current age.

     

Learning from Rookie Mistakes: Critical Incidents in Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Science to Teachers

While there is a growing literature focused on doctoral preparation for teaching about science teaching, rarely have recommendations extended to preparation for teaching science content to teachers. We three doctoral students employ self-study as a research methodology to investigate our developing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to teachers during a mentored internship in an elementary teacher professional development program. With our mentor, we examine critical incidents in the experience that supported new insights about teaching teachers and about ways in which beginning teacher educators need to develop their existing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to students in order to teach science effectively to teachers. We emphasize ways in which doctoral internships can support this learning and how our respective cultures shaped our interactions with and perceptions of teachers as learners.     

Sustainability education in a botanical garden promotes environmental knowledge,attitudes and willingness to act

Abstract

Creating behavior change to mobilize transitions toward sustainability is a significant challenge of our time. Inspired by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Farmer Field School, we developed a novel community-based education program to engage people in local sustainability topics. In the Sustainable Communities Field School (Field School) program, advertised as team building tours, participants from local organizations are guided by instructors through University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, while receiving verbal and experiential education on topics of food systems and choices, biodiversity conservation, water conservation, and waste reduction. We found that after the Field School program, participants were significantly more knowledgeable about environmental issues, more connected to nature, showed greater intentions and willingness to engage in sustainability actions compared to garden visitors from the general public who did not go through the program. The results suggest that interactive sustainability education in a botanical garden setting can be a useful education model to mobilize public engagement on sustainability.     

Development and Reform of Science and Technology Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in China

China is currently making great efforts in developing socialist construction and fulfilling its magnificent modernization program. The realization of the modernization program hinges upon the development of science and technology. Accordingly, much effort must be made in primary and secondary schools to popularize the knowledge of science and technology among young students in order to lay a solid foundation for improving the citizens' quality of science and technology and training a large number of qualified personnel in science, technology, and management.     

An Intergenerational Summer Program Involving Persons with Dementia and Preschool Children

ABSTRACT

We implemented an intergenerational (IG) summer program at a colocated site for 2 consecutive summers to maximize continuity and enhance sustainability. We incorporated multiple methods to represent the views of key program stakeholders, including staff and administrators, parents who attended the program, and facilitators’ reports of the experiences of child and adult participants. We generated a list of themes and subthemes from each source and triangulated the data points. Despite the resources invested and the challenges faced, the program was well received and viewed as beneficial. These findings offer insight into the likelihood of sustainability for IG summer programming.     

新形势下大学物理实验教学改革的思索

大学物理实验作为工科高校教育的基础学科，在我国加入WTO的大环境下，一方面应充分认识到自身的不足之处，同时应积极采取应对措施。本首先阐明了大学物理实验在我国高校教育中的基础性作用；然后分析了大学物理实验教学存在的问题；最后从更新观念、培养学生创新能力、教学内容、教学手段、校企关系等方面对大学牧师实验提出了改革思路。     

Social Science Boot Camp: Development and Assessment of a Foundational Course on Academic Literacy in the Social Sciences

We developed a course, as part of our institution's core program, which provides students with a foundation in academic literacy in the social sciences: how to find, read, critically assess, and communicate about social science research. It is not a research methods course; rather, it is intended to introduce students to the social sciences and be better consumers of social science research. In this article, we describe the key learning objectives of this course, the basic content areas, and some of the innovative teaching and learning strategies used in the course. We also provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the course in meeting its learning objectives and of student responses to the course. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges in developing interdisciplinary core courses and offer suggestions for best practices for teaching social science literacy as part of the core curriculum.     

Intervention program to keep girls in the science pipeline: Outcome differences by ethnic status

This study evaluated a 2‐week residential program aimed at enhancing the science interest and persistence of high‐achieving 8th‐grade girls. Questionnaires were administered to 38 program participants (14 of whom were of minority ethnicity) and 173 applicants who did not attend the program, at 3 time points: preprogram, 1 year postprogram, and 4 years postprogram. Outcomes, measured postprogram, included science self‐concept and interest, persistence and aspirations in science, science activities, science course‐taking in high school, and plans for a science college major. There was no main effect of program participation on any of the outcome measures, but a significant Participation × Ethnicity interaction effect occurred for all but one of the outcome variables. At Time 2, and especially Time 3, nonminority participants tended to have the most positive outcomes, whereas minority participants tended to have the most negative outcomes, compared with applicants. Post hoc analyses showed that although nonminority girls overall were more advantaged, this difference did not explain results. Several interpretations for these findings are discussed, the most likely that some global feature of the program, not any intervention component, interacted over time with the girls' postprogram experience. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 393–414, 2003