Developing epistemologically empowered teachers: examining the role of philosophy of chemistry in teacher education

History and philosophy of science have been widely promoted in science teacher education for several decades. However the application of themes from philosophy of science in science teacher education has been rather broad and not particular relative to the domain-specific features of the science in question. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the new field of philosophy of chemistry can contribute to science teacher education. Since the beginning of the 1990s, philosophy of chemistry has emerged as a relatively new branch of philosophy of science examining the distinctive nature of chemical knowledge. Some implications of this domain in chemical education have been investigated although the research territory in this area remains underdeveloped. The paper is intended to contribute to this area of research by focusing on a particular theme, the microscopic/macroscopic relationship (or the so-called ‘supervenience’ problem) in the context of models and modelling. Literature review of students’ and teachers’ understanding of models and modelling in chemistry highlights the importance of incorporating the epistemological aspects of related chemical concepts. The implications for teacher education are discussed.     

The science-technology-society movement in science education: A critique of the reform process

Changes in society and in science and technology have forced a rethinking of what is “basic” in science education. A perceived disjuncture between school science and the realities of a scientifically and technologically oriented society has resulted in proposals for new directions in science teaching. It appears that science education is about to undergo another paradigm shift. One particularly visible movement, the “Science-Technology-Society” (STS) movement, exemplifies how such directional shifts tend to occur within the field of science education. This article critically examines the program and professional development process that has characterized past and current science curriculum reform effort in an attempt to illustrate fundamental educational reform problems. The need for new directions in science education is uncontested here. The issue is the problematic nature of the reform process itself. The article contends that new methods of reform must be researched— methods that directly involve practitioners in critical reflection, participatory research, and science curriculum development.     

科学史融入科学教育的几个现实问题

科学史融入科学教育,在西方有较长的历史和较深入的实践,但在我国还是一个新课题。科学史的教育价值是由于科学教育目标的转变而凸显出来的,在全面实现科学教育目标方面,科学史具有特殊作用;作为一种历史研究,科学史本身会因为不同的研究取向而呈现出不同面貌特征,科学教育对此应有自觉意识并加以辨别、运用;恰当的内容组织方式和教学方法,也会有助于实现科学史融入科学教育的目标。     

The effects of new science curricula on student performance

This study summarizes the results of a quantitative synthesis of the retrievable primary research dealing with the effects of new science curricula on student performance. This study synthesizes the results of 105 experimental studies involving more than 45,000 students and utilizes the quantitative synthesis perspective to research integration known as meta-analysis (Glass, 1976). A total of 27 different new science curricula involving one or more measures of student performance are included in this meta-analysis. Data were collected for 18 a priori selected student performance measures. The results of this meta-analysis reveal definite positive patterns of student performance in new science curricula. Across all new science curricula analyzed, students exposed to new science curricula performed better than students in traditional courses in general achievement, analytic skills, process skills, and related skills (reading, mathematics, social studies and communication), as well as developing a more positive attitude toward science. On a composite basis, the average student in new science curricula exceeded the performance of 63% of the students in traditional science courses.     

Science in the Māori‐medium Curriculum: Assessment of policy outcomes in Pūtaiao education

This second research paper on science education in Māori‐medium school contexts complements an earlier article published in this journal (Stewart, 2005). Science and science education are related domains in society and in state schooling in which there have always been particularly large discrepancies in participation and achievement by Māori. In 1995 a Kaupapa Māori analysis of this situation challenged New Zealand science education academics to deal with ‘the Māori crisis’ within science education. Recent NCEA results suggest Pūtaiao (Māori‐medium Science) education, for which a national curriculum statement was published in 1996, has so far increased, rather than decreased, the level of inequity for Māori students in science education. What specific issues impact on this lack of success, which contrasts with the overall success of Kura Kaupapa Māori, and how might policy frameworks and operational systems of Pūtaiao need to change, if better achievement in science education for Māori‐medium students is the goal? A pathway towards further research and development in this area is suggested.     

日本"脑科学与教育"研究的进展

脑科学从基础研究向应用研究展开,与教育跨学科融合形成了"脑科学与教育"新的研究领域。日本率先在世界上倡导"脑科学与教育"的跨学科研究,并且将脑科学研究作为国家教育发展的一项战略任务,将脑科学的原理运用到教育中去,进行面向教育理论和实践的应用研究。本论文介绍的日本近年来"脑科学与教育"研究的最新进展,对推动我国尚处于起步阶段的脑科学与教育领域研究的发展有一定的启示。     

The "tipping point" for educational research: The role of pre-service science teachers’ epistemic beliefs in evaluating the professional utility of educational research

Teachers’ engagement with and in educational research has become an aspiration in many countries. However, this has been counterbalanced with decades of research on the perennial theory-practice divide. This study provides new perspectives by considering the role of epistemic beliefs in pre-service science teachers’ (PSSTs’) acceptance or rejection of “Education Studies” from their Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Individual case profiles demonstrate how PSSTs compare knowledge in science with knowledge in education. Certain belief profiles can be seen to present barriers to evaluating education research as valuable. Thus, we argue for epistemic development and support with boundary crossing in ITE.     

Gendered education in a gendered world: looking beyond cosmetic solutions to the gender gap in science

Young people in countries considered to be at the forefront of gender equity still tend to choose very traditional science subjects and careers. This is particularly the case in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (STEM), which are largely male dominated. This article uses feminist critiques of science and science education to explore the underlying gendered assumptions of a research project aiming to contribute to improving recruitment, retention and gender equity patterns in STEM educations and careers. Much research has been carried out to understand this gender gap phenomenon as well as to suggest measures to reduce its occurrence. A significant portion of this research has focused on detecting the typical “female” and “male” interest in science and has consequently suggested that adjustments be made to science education to cater for these interests. This article argues that adjusting science subjects to match perceived typical girls’ and boys’ interests risks being ineffective, as it contributes to the imposition of stereotyped gender identity formation thereby also imposing the gender differences that these adjustments were intended to overcome. This article also argues that different ways of addressing gender issues in science education themselves reflects different notions of gender and science. Thus in order to reduce gender inequities in science these implicit notions of gender and science have to be made explicit. The article begins with an overview of the current situation regarding gender equity in some so- called gender equal countries. We then present three perspectives from feminist critiques of science on how gender can be seen to impact on science and science education. Thereafter we analyze recommendations from a contemporary research project to explore which of these perspectives is most prevalent.     

Reconceptualised family resemblance approach to nature of science in pre-service science teacher education

A recent framework on nature of science (NOS) is the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA). FRA presents NOS as a cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional system with a set of categories: aims and values, scientific methods, scientific practices, scientific knowledge and social-institutional aspects of science. Although FRA has been problematised philosophically and its implications for science education have been considered by science educators, its empirical adaptations in science education are limited. In order to illustrate the educational adaptations of FRA, we refer to Reconceptualised Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science or RFN. We present a study based on a funded pre-service science teacher education project whose aim was to design, implement and evaluate the impact of RFN strategies. Fifteen pre-service teachers participated in a 14-week teacher education intervention that infused RFN. A 70-item questionnaire was designed to investigate the outcomes of the teacher education intervention. Individual interviews with pre-service teachers were also conducted. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis suggest that the teacher education intervention had an overall significant impact on pre-service teachers’ views of NOS. The paper contributes to the understanding of how NOS can be incorporated in science teacher education using a new orientation to NOS based on FRA.     

Synthesising case-study research – ready for the next step?

Within the emerging field of research on education for sustainability (EfS), case studies are an important if not the predominant research approach, although often criticised for its lack of internal and external validity and a tendency to draw conclusions with insufficient rigour. While, basic concerns have been expressed and discussed in an early issue of this journal, main assumption still hold true after more than 10 years of research in the field. Only a few approaches so far have tackled the challenge to provide cross-case comparison and the synthesis of case-study results still remains a research desideratum. In this paper, we argue that developments in the field of qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis in educational science offer a framework, which can be used to overcome that shortcoming. After describing the idea of research synthesis, different types of such a meta-analysis are identified and their potential is discussed for existing case studies in higher EfS. This paper concludes with recommendations for further case-study research in the field.     

Social constructivism: Infusion into the multicultural science education research agenda

This article focuses on (a) theoretical underpinnings of social constructivism and multicultural education and (b) aspects of social constructivism that can provide frameworks for research in multicultural science education. According to the author, multicultural science education is “a field of inquiry with constructs, methodologies, and processes aimed at providing equitable opportunities for all students to learn quality science.” Multicultural science education research continues to be influenced by class, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, and different lifestyles; however, another appropriate epistemology for this area of research is social constructivism. The essence of social constructivism and its implications for multicultural science education research includes an understanding of whatever realities might be constructed by individuals from various cultural groups and how these realities can be reconstituted, if necessary, to include a scientific reality. Hence, multicultural science education should be a field of study in which many science education researchers are generating new knowledge. The author strives to persuade other researchers to expand their research and teaching efforts into multicultural science education, a blending of social constructivism with multicultural science education. This blending is illustrated in the final section of this article. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Science education: A meta-analysis of major questions

A multi-institutional endeavor was initiated to integrate the findings of extant research studies directed toward the major science education research questions. The research questions were selected by a largely empirical process of identifiying the most frequently researched questions in the literature. These questions were assigned to various researchers who developed coding sheets and procedures with many features in common. This article describes the overall operation of the project, the research questions identified, and some rudiments of meta-analysis. The results of the several meta-analysis are reported in the other articles of this issue of the Journal. The final article in this issue deals with research topics for which data are drawn from one or more of the separate meta-analyses.     

Classroom-based science research at the introductory level: changes in career choices and attitude

Our study, focused on classroom-based research at the introductory level and using the Phage Genomics course as the model, shows evidence that first-year students doing research learn the process of science as well as how scientists practice science. A preliminary but notable outcome of our work, which is based on a small sample, is the change in student interest in considering different career choices such as graduate education and science in general. This is particularly notable, as previous research has described research internships as clarifying or confirming rather than changing undergraduates' decisions to pursue graduate education. We hypothesize that our results differ from previous studies of the impact of engaging in research because the students in our study are still in the early stages of their undergraduate careers. Our work builds upon the classroom-based research movement and should be viewed as encouraging to the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education movement advocated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and other undergraduate education stakeholders.     

Popularising science through television

Conclusion Currently the 26 films in the Science Territory series have been shown to audiences who watch Channel 8 commercial television in the vicinity of Darwin. They are still being shown to audienc who watch Imparja Television. There are no plans at the moment to shown Science Territory for any extra time on either Channel 8 or Imparja, once the Imparja programmes are completes. There are plans however to develop materials to complement the programmes, which could be used in schools and there are also plans to repeat the success of Science Territory and to expand it on a national basis to a series of programmes to be called “Science Oz”. This research note has described of the Scienc Territory project which has attempted to improve students' and parents' attitudes to science. It has alo attempted to explain how the issue of determining the effectiveness of the project has been addressed. Overall, Science Territory proved to be an interesting, exciting, successful and whorthwhile venture, particularly for the small scientific community of the Northern Territory. It also appears to be unique both in Australia and worldwide. There are therefore lessons that science educators can learn from this about new ways of improving students' attitudes to science. Specializations: Science education policy, curriculum development and science education development projects with industry. Specializations: Science teacher education, chemical education, science education in developing countries, educational Issues.     

Science education as an exercise in foreign affairs

In Kuhnian terms, science education has been a process of inducting students into the reigning paradigms of science. In 1985, Duschl noted that science education had not kept pace with developments in the history and philosophy of science. The claim of certainty for scientific knowledge which science educators grounded in positivist philosophy was rendered untenable years ago and it turns out that social and cultural factors surrounding discovery may be at least as important as the justification of knowledge.Capitalizing on these new developments, Duschl, Hamilton, and Grandy (1990) wrote a compelling argument for the need to have a joint research effort in science education involving the philosophy and history of science along with cognitive psychology. However, the issue of discovery compels the research community go one step further. If the science education community has been guilty of neglecting historical and philosophical issues in science, let it not now be guilty of ignoring sociological issues in science. A collaborative view ought also to include the sociological study of cultural milieu in which scientific ideas arise. In other words, an external sociological perspective on science. The logic of discovery from a sociological point of view implies that conceptual change can also be viewed from a sociological perspective.     

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.     

Towards a pragmatic science in schools

This paper contrasts naive beliefs about the nature of science, with science as it appears from sociological and philosophical study, feminist critique and insights from multicultural education. I draw implications from these informed views to suggest how school science might be modified to project a pragmatic view of science to its students that allows students to know science and its relationships to themselves and society in multi-faceted ways. From these perspectives, pragmatic school science is situated within a values framework that questions how we know. Pragmatic school science also requires that the naive inductivist views that permeate school science inquiry methods at present be modified to recognise that observations and inquiry are guided by prior knowledge and values; that new knowledge is tentative; that some knowledge has high status, as it has been constructed consensually over a long period; but that even high status knowledge can be challenged. For implementation of these reforms, yet still to embrace the need for some students to appropriate understanding of discipline knowledge required for advanced science education, a broad set of aims is required.     

Human and machine diagnosis of scientific problem-solving abilities

Diagnosis of the problem-solving state of a novice student in science, by an accomplished teacher, is studied in order to build a computer system that will simulate the process. Although such “expert” systems have been successfully developed in medicine (MYCIN, INTERNIST/CADUCEUS), very little has been accomplished in science education, even though there is a reasonably close parallel between expert medical diagnosis of patients with physiological problems and expert instructional diagnosis of students with learning problems. The system described in this paper, DIPS: Diagnosis for Instruction in Problem Solving, involves a new line of research for science educators interested in interdisciplinary efforts and ways in which computer technology might be used to better understand how to improve science learning. The basic architecture of the DIPS system is outlined and explained in terms of instruction and research implications, and the role of such “intelligent” computer systems in science education of the future is considered.