Culturing conceptions: From first principles

Over the past three decades, science educators have accumulated a vast amount of information on conceptions––variously defined as beliefs, ontologies, cognitive structures, mental models, or frameworks––that generally (at least initially) have been derived from interviews about certain topics. During the same time period, cultural studies has emerged as a field in which everyday social practices are interrogated with the objective to understand culture in all its complexity. Science educators have however yet to ask themselves what it would mean to consider the possession of conceptions as well as conceptual change from the perspective of cultural studies. The purpose of this article is thus to articulate in and through the analysis of an interview about natural phenomenon the first principles of such a cultural approach to scientific conceptions. Our bottom-up approach in fact leads us to develop the kind of analyses and theories that have become widespread in cultural studies. This promises to generate less presupposing and more parsimonious explanations of this core issue within science education than if conceptions are supposed to be structures inhabiting the human mind.

Learning science in an era of globalization: a phenomenology of the foreign/strange

In this study, we propose a set of concepts for conceptualizing issues of learning science related to globalization, the encounter with the (radically) foreign/strange—as this occurs as part of migration and even as part of the encounter of a learner with the unknown content that science lessons are to impart—from the perspective of the experiencing person and the experience. We take an approach to the question of the foreign/strange that is grounded in philosophies of difference, which have emerged in continental Europe, and which make use of advances in phenomenology, dialectics, and materialism. We draw on ethnographic work in one undergraduate physics course at a Canadian university, where we followed in particular one female Japanese student, who had come to this country for the purpose of getting a degree. As an entry point and as source of empirical materials, we draw on our own auto/ethnographic experience that brings particular advantages to ally pathos to the experience of the foreign/strange, something is happening to (affecting) us that is beyond all experience, understanding, and anticipation. We articulate three phenomenological aspects that pathos (empathy) allows us to understand concerning the experience of the foreign/strange and then provide an exemplary and exemplifying analysis.

A question of competing paradigms?

There are some fundamental—i.e., essential—differences between conceptual change theory and a rigorously applied discourse approach to the question of what and how people know. In this rejoinder, I suggest that the differences are paradigmatic because, among others, the units of analysis used and the data constructed are irreconcilably different. I now have abandoned my hopes for a collaborative extension of the two approaches, which I articulated not so long ago. I conclude that as alternative paradigms, conceptual change and discursive approaches will co-exist until one of them dies with its proponents.

Bricolage, métissage, hybridity, heterogeneity, diaspora: concepts for thinking science education in the 21st century

The ongoing globalization leads to an increasing scattering of cultural groups into other cultural groups where they the latter continue to be affiliated with one another thereby forming diasporic identities. Diasporic identities emerge from a process of cultural bricolage that leads to cultural métissage and therefore hybridity and heterogeneity. To escape the hegemonies that arise from the ontology of the same—which, as I show, undergirds much of educational thought—I ground the notion of diaspora in the ontology of difference. Difference and heterogeneity are the norm, not something less than sameness and purity. This ontology allows framing bricolage, métissage, hybridity, and heterogeneity as positive concepts for theorizing the experiences of learning science and identity not only as a consequence of cross-national migrations—Mexicans in the US, Asians and Europeans in Canada, Africans in Europe—but also the experience of native speakers who, in science classrooms, find themselves (temporarily) at home away from home. My exemplary analyses show how the very fact of cultural and linguistic differences within themselves gives rise to the possibility of symbolic violence in science classrooms even to those whose ethos is or is closest to the one at the heart of science.

An investigation of Taiwanese high school students’ science learning self-efficacy in relation to their conceptions of learning science

Background: Past studies have shown significant associations between students’ conceptions of learning science and their science learning self-efficacy. However, in most of the studies, students’ science learning self-efficacy has often been measured by a singular scale.

Purpose: Extending the findings of these studies, the present study adopted a multi-dimensional instrument to assess Taiwanese high school students’ science learning self-efficacy and investigate the relationships with their conceptions of learning science.

Sample: A total of 488 Taiwanese high school students (265 male and 223 female) were invited to participate in this survey.

Design and method: All the participants responded to the Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire regarding ‘Memorizing’, ‘Testing’, ‘Calculating and practicing’, ‘Increase of knowledge’, ‘Applying’ and ‘Understanding and seeing in a new way’ and the Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE) instrument, including ‘Conceptual understanding’, ‘Higher-Order cognitive skills’, ‘Practical work’, ‘Everyday application’ and ‘Science communication’.

Results: The path analysis results derived from the structural equation modeling method indicated that, of all five SLSE dimensions, the ‘Understanding and seeing in a new way’ COLS displayed as a positive predictor, while the ‘Testing’ COLS was a significant negative predictor. The ‘Applying’ COLS item can only positively contribute to the SLSE dimensions of ‘Higher-Order thinking skills’, ‘Everyday application’ and ‘Science Communication’.

Conclusions: In general, students in strong agreement with learning science as understanding and seeing in a new way or the application of learned scientific knowledge are prone to possess higher confidence in learning science. However, students who consider learning science in terms of preparing for tests and examinations tend to hold lower science learning self-efficacy.     

FORUM: Giving oneself over to science – Exploring the roles of subjectivities and identities in learning science

In this piece, Elizabeth Moje discusses with the authors of FORUM: Giving oneself over to science: Exploring the roles of subjectivities and identities in learning science (Tucker-Raymond, Varelas, & Pappas) the challenges and potentials of theorizing about the role of identities in learning science. The authors debate how identities and subjectivities should be conceptualized, and whether learning science requires people to change identities and/or subjectivities. In particular, the authors discuss the potential for thinking about how identities are enacted in practices, and how teachers might construct practices that evoke the identities associated with science as a way of developing opportunities for deep science learning. Elizabeth Birr Moje is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in Educational Studies, a Faculty Associate in the Institute for Social Research and a faculty affiliate with Latina/o Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, cultural theory, and qualitative research methods. Her research interests revolve around the intersection between the literacies and texts youth are asked to learn in the disciplines and the literacies and texts they engage outsIDe of school. Moje also studies how youth construct cultures and enact IDentities via their literacy practices outsIDe of school. Eli Tucker-Raymond is a doctoral student in the Literacy, Language, and Culture program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He sees his evolving status as a social scientist fraught with similarities and differences between himself and social scientists “out in the world.' He is working toward a designated researcher and teacher IDentity that includes a focus on critical media literacy, collaborative action research, and developing praxis-oriented, critically-conscious learning communities in urban K-8 school settings. One evolutionary, co-constructed step toward that IDentity are these publications, his first. Maria Varelas is Professor of Science Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research, teaching, and service are highly interrelated, focusing on classroom-based teaching and learning of science in urban settings with linguistically and socio-culturally diverse populations, collaborative teacher action research, discourse in science classrooms, integration of science and literacy, and science education reform in elementary school and college science classrooms. She currently co-leads with colleagues in Education, Natural Sciences, and Computer Science, three US NSF multi-year grants. Her research has appeared in a variety of journals and edited books. Christine C. Pappas is Professor of Language and Literacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her teaching and research focus on classroom discourse, genre (especially informational and science ones), teacher inquiry, collaborative school-university action research (CSUAR), and the development of culturally responsive pedagogy. She is a co-author of the 4th edition of An Integrated Language Perspective in the Elementary School: An Action Approach, which emphasizes the use of language and literacy and other modes of meaning as tools for inquiry and learning across the curriculum. She has co-edited two volumes on a Spencer-sponsored CSUAR project, Working with Teacher Researchers in Urban Classrooms: Transforming Literacy Curriculum Genres and Teacher Inquiries in Literacy Teaching-Learning: Learning to Collaborate in Elementary Urban Classrooms, and her research has been published in book chapters and various journals.     

A sociocultural perspective on mediated activity in third grade science

This ethnographic study of a third grade classroom examined elementary school science learning as a sociocultural accomplishment. The research focused on how a teacher helped his students acquire psychological tools for learning to think and engage in scientific practices as locally defined. Analyses of classroom discourse examined both how the teacher used mediational strategies to frame disciplinary knowledge in science as well as how students internalized and appropriated ways of knowing in science. The study documented and analyzed how students came to appropriate scientific knowledge as their own in an ongoing manner tied to their identities as student scientists. Implications for sociocultural theory in science education research are discussed. John Reveles is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education Department at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 3 years. His research focuses on the development of scientific literacy in elementary school settings; sociocultural influences on students' academic identity; equity of access issues in science education; qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, he teaches elementary science curriculum methods courses, graduate science education seminars, and graduate research courses. Gregory Kelly is a professor of science education at Penn State University. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1994. His research focuses on classroom discourse, epistemology, and science learning. This work has been supported by grants from Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Education. He teaches courses concerning the uses of history, philosophy, sociology of science in science teaching and teaching and learning science in secondary schools. He is editor of the journal Science Education. Richard Durán is a Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and publications have been in the areas of literacy and assessment of English Language Learners and Latino students. He has also conducted research on after school computer clubs, technology and learning as part of the international UC Links Network. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, he is implementing and investigating community and family-centered intervention programs serving the educational progress of Latino students in the middle and high school grades.     

Beyond Lip-service: An Operational Definition of “Learning-centered College”

Faculty, staff, and student perceptions of high-quality learning experiences were explored using focus groups attempting to define a “learning-centered” college. Common themes emerged suggesting that a successful learning community requires faculty-student collaboration, effective communication, critical thinking skills, reciprocal respect, faculty passion for learning, high expectations of both students and faculty, a variety of teaching and assessment strategies, and student engagement in and responsibility for learning. All groups stressed the need for learning opportunities outside the classroom in both intellectual and social situations. These themes provide a conceptual framework for future campus initiatives, which has broad relevance for other institutions. William C. Bosch is Retired Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching. He received his M.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University, and his interests include teaching and learning in higher education and educational technology. Jessica L. Hester is an Assistant Professor in Theatre and received her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests are American theatre history and dramaturgy. Virginia M. MacEntee is Assistant Professor in Curriculum & Instruction. She received her Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education from Nova Southeastern Florida University; and her interests include special education, authentic learning, and classroom technology. James A. MacKenzie is Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from Wake Forest University School of Medicine; and his interests include molecular and cellular biology, physiology, and human health and disease. T. Mark Morey is Professor of Psychology and received his Ph.D. at Depaul University. Research interests include stress, trauma, and coping. James T. Nichols is Instruction/Reference Librarian and Distance Learning Librarian. He received his M.A. in Library and Information Management from the University of Denver; his interests include information literacy. Patricia A. Pacitti is Coordinator of Math and Science Services for the Office of Learning Services. She received M.A.s in Mathematics and Statistics from Pennsylvania State University; and her interests include developmental education, curriculum design, and classroom technology. Barbara A. Shaffer is Coordinator of Reference Services and an Instruction Librarian at Penfield Library. She received her M.L.S. from Syracuse University, and her interests include information literacy and online learning. Paul B. Tomascak is an Assistant Professor of Geology and Geochemistry. He received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Maryland; his research interests include applications of elemental and isotopic systematics to understanding solid Earth and Earth surface processes. Suzanne P. Weber is Associate Dean of the School of Education and Professor of Science Education. She received her Ph.D. in Population Ecology from Syracuse University; her current interests include assessment of student performance and program effectiveness in higher education. Rosalie R. Young is Associate Professor in Public Justice. She received her Ph.D.in political science from Syracuse University, and her interests include family mediation and the ability of the poor to access the legal system. All authors are currently members of the Committee on Learning and Teaching at State University of New York at Oswego.     

Key contributors: Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism

This article reviews the significance of the contributions of Ernst von Glasersfeld to research in science education, especially through his theoretical contributions on radical constructivism. As a field shaper, Glasersfeld’s subversive ideas catalyzed debate in the science education community and fuelled transformation of many facets including research methods, ways of thinking about teaching and learning, curriculum, and science teacher education. Perturbations emanating from the debates on constructivism forged new pathways that led to the development and use of many of the sociocultural frameworks employed by authors in Cultural Studies of Science Education.

The effectiveness of problem-based learning on teaching the first law of thermodynamics

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach working in cooperation with self-learning and involving research to solve real problems. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but that energy is conserved. Students had difficulty learning or misconceptions about this law. This study is related to the teaching of the first law of thermodynamics within a PBL environment.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of PBL on candidate science teachers’ understanding of the first law of thermodynamics and their science process skills. This study also examined their opinions about PBL.

Sample: The sample consists of 48 third-grade university students from the Department of Science Education in one of the public universities in Turkey.

Design and methods: A one-group pretest–posttest experimental design was used. Data collection tools included the Achievement Test, Science Process Skill Test, Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and an interview with open-ended questions. Paired samples t-test was conducted to examine differences in pre/post tests.

Results: The PBL approach has a positive effect on the students’ learning abilities and science process skills. The students thought that the PBL environment supports effective and permanent learning, and self-learning planning skills. On the other hand, some students think that the limited time and unfamiliarity of the approach impede learning.

Conclusions: The PBL is an active learning approach supporting students in the process of learning. But there are still many practical disadvantages that could reduce the effectiveness of the PBL. To prevent the alienation of the students, simple PBL activities should be applied from the primary school level. In order to overcome time limitations, education researchers should examine short-term and effective PBL activities.     

Comprehensiveness and the Challenges of Harmonization of Study and Research Programs in the CSET within ODL Context: Chemists’ Perspective

Abstract

This article examines the comprehensiveness of the University of South Africa (UNISA) as an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution and the challenges faced by experimental disciplines within ODL. Those challenges are brought about by the attempt to harmonize study and research programs in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) following the merger and harmonization of programs from the former distance learning UNISA and Technikon South Africa (TSA). The paper discusses the current realities with the aim to promote further debate on the place of ODL in science and technology programs in tertiary education such as UNISA in general and CSET in particular.     

Effect of the Science Learning Environment on Science Achievement: A Comparison of 12 Countries from the IEA Second International Science Study

ABSTRACT

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Second International Science Study (SISS) was conducted in 1984, resulting in a vast amount of educational data collected from 23 countries and educational systems. This research study reports on the analyses of 12 of those countries using multilevel modeling, investigating the relationships between the students’ reported perceptions of the science learning environment and their science achievement when controlling for student background variables. The three science learning environment scales which were collected in the SISS and analysed here were Student Participation, Teacher Directed Learning and Practical Work. Additionally, this research reports on the effect of these science learning environment scales on gender and socioeconomic differences in science achievement.     

Developing instruments concerning scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science: a validation study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate two survey instruments to evaluate high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science. The initial relationships between the sampled students' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science were also investigated. A final valid sample of 600 volunteer Taiwanese high school students participated in this survey by responding to the Scientific Epistemic Beliefs Instrument (SEBI) and the Goal Orientations in Learning Science Instrument (GOLSI). Through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the SEBI and GOLSI were proven to be valid and reliable for assessing the participants' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science. The path analysis results indicated that, by and large, the students with more sophisticated epistemic beliefs in various dimensions such as Development of Knowledge, Justification for Knowing, and Purpose of Knowing tended to adopt both Mastery-approach and Mastery-avoidance goals. Some interesting results were also found. For example, the students tended to set a learning goal to outperform others or merely demonstrate competence (Performance-approach) if they had more informed epistemic beliefs in the dimensions of Multiplicity of Knowledge, Uncertainty of Knowledge, and Purpose of Knowing.     

Learning in science project (teacher development): The framework

The Centre for Science and Mathematics Education Research at the University of Waikato is now undertaking the fourth Learning in Science Project, LISP(Teacher Development). The project builds on the findings of the previous three projects on the nature of learning and how to improve learning of science in classrooms. This two-year project is investigating the process of teacher development (as change in behaviour and beliefs) in the context of two kinds of teacher courses that acknowledge and take into account teachers’ existing ideas. This paper summarises the planning done for the first phase of the project as detailed in Bell, Kirkwood and Pearson (1990). Specializations: learning theories, curriculum development, equity issues. Specializations: science education, teacher professional development.     

Teaching Physics to In-Service Primary School Teachers in the Context of the History of Science: The Case of Falling Bodies

Our paper presents an in-service primary school teachers’ training program which is based on the idea that the history of science can play a vital role in promoting the learning of physics. This training program has been developed in the context of Comenius 2.1 which is a European Union program. This program that we have developed in the University of Athens is based on socioconstructivist and sociocultural learning principles with the intention of helping teachers to appropriate the basic knowledge on the issue of falling bodies. Moreover, it has the aim to make explicit through the exploitation of authentic historical science events, on the above topic (Aristotle’s, Galileo’s and Newton’s theories on falling bodies) the Nature of Science (NoS), the Nature of Learning (NoL) and the Nature of Teaching (NoT). During the implementation of the program we have used a variety of teaching strategies (e.g. group work, making of posters, making of concept maps, simulations) that utilize historical scientific materials on the issue of falling bodies.

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Sociocultural frameworks of conceptual change: implications for teaching and learning in museums

This article presents a metalogue discussion about the two focus articles and the six associated review essays on the topic of conceptual change as it applies to research, and science teaching and learning in museum settings. Through the lenses of a sociocultural perspectives of learning we examine the applicability of the ideas presented in the forum for museums and museum educators. First we reflect on the role that emotions can play in concept development; second, we reflect on the role of language, talk, and gestures to concept development and conceptual change in the short-lived nature of experiences and conversations in museums; and third, we consider the nature of objects as representations of science content in museum settings.

Learning Styles of Chinese and Dutch Students Compared within the Context of Dutch Higher Education in Life Sciences

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which the learning styles of Chinese students differ from those of Dutch students. The study was conducted within the context of Englishlanguage Bachelor of Science programmes thatWageningen University offers together with China Agricultural University to Dutch and Chinese students. Sixteen Dutch students and 25 Chinese students completed the Inventory of Learning Styles. The Chinese students have several of the characteristics that reflect a reproduction-directed and an undirected learning style, while the Dutch students as a group do not demonstrate any one particular learning style. It would be useful and desirable to show the Chinese students, by means of specific instructions and exercises, how to use strategies directed towards deep processing and how to regulate their own learning processes more in the direction of deep processing.     

International teachers negotiating 21st century science classrooms: a question of hybridized identities and pedagogical imaginaries

International high school science teachers are crossing international and cultural borders to teach, raising important issues in education. In this article, we describe the cross-cultural assessment challenges that four international science teachers encountered when they migrated to teach in the United States. These included differences in grade expectations for a given quality of work, the weight given to final examinations, the assessment process, and cutoff scores for letter grades. To become proficient in their new teaching contexts, the participating teachers had to modify (or hybridize) their assessment philosophies and practices in order to conform to the expectations of their new schools. This hybridization process ushered them into what is proposed as the Pedagogical imaginary; a transitional space between the ``purity' of their native educational conventions and that of their American schools. The implications of these findings are discussed in hopes of improving high school science teaching experiences for international science teachers. Deborah J. Tippins is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at the University of Georgia. She served as a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines where she continues to explore notions of community-based science education. Her research interests include culturally relevant pedagogy, case-based science teaching and learning and post-structuralist feminist pedagogy and research. She is intensively involved in professional development of PreK-8 science teachers. In her spare time she likes to play tennis, travel and take her dog for long walks. Lorie Hammond is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at California State University at Sacramento. Her work centers on community-based multicultural science education. For the past 10 years she has been leading action research projects centered in school-community gardens in diverse urban schools which serve as food security, oral history, science education, and service learning sites involving children, parents, teachers, and pre-service teachers. Lorie just co-edited a book, Innovations in educational ethnography: Theory, methods and results (2006), with George Spindler, and is finishing a book on how teachers can teach and learn with immigrant communities. She has recently been engaged in ethnographic and international research with immigrant women, developing relational and equalizing models of teaching and learning in immigrant communities. Charles B. Hutchison is an Assistant Professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of the book, Teaching in America: A cross-cultural guide for international teachers and their employers, and the upcoming book, Teaching diverse and urban learners: Research, best practices, and lesson planning. He is the recipient of Recognition and Key to the City of Boston, and has appeared on, or been featured by local and international news media. He was recently invited to participate in the Oxford Round Table at Oxford University, England. He teaches and provides professional development in science education, cross-cultural and urban education, and instructional strategies for diverse learners.     

On the Hypothetico-Deductive Nature of Science—Darwin’s Finches

Allchin (2006) has misinterpreted a classic case of hypothetico-deductive (HD) science in terms of his preferred ‘let’s-gather-some-data-and-see-what-emerges’ view. The misrepresentation concerns the research program of Peter and Rosemary Grant on Darwin’s finches. The present essay argues that the Grants’ research is HD in nature and includes a statement by Peter Grant to that effect.

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