LONG-TERM OUTCOMES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD SCIENCE EDUCATION: INSIGHTS FROM A CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY ON CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

The purpose of this research was to explore the long-term outcomes of either participating or not participating in early childhood science education on grade 6 students?? conceptual understanding of science. The research is situated in a conceptual framework that evokes Piagetian developmental levels as both potential curriculum constraints and potential models of efficacy. The research design was a multiple case study of grade 6 children from 3 schools in China (n?=?140) who started formal science education in the third grade and grade 6 children from 3 matched schools in Australia (n?=?105) who started learning science in kindergarten. The students?? understanding was assessed by a science quiz and an in-depth interview. The data showed that participating children from the high socioeconomic schools in China and Australia had similar understandings of science. Divergence between the medium and low socioeconomic schools, however, indicated that the grounding in early childhood science education in Australia may have placed these children at an advantage. Alternative explanations for the divergence, including the nature of classroom instruction in the two countries, 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.     

Deploying the post-colonial predicaments of researching on/with ‘Asia’ in education: a standpoint from a rich peripheral country

Against the current infatuation with Asia in Australian education, this article rearticulates the notion of ‘Asia literacy’ to explore new ways of researching on/with/through Asia. Drawing on the post-colonial critique of Western social science knowledge, I first demonstrate the problematic nature of Australian knowledge production on and with Asia in social science and education. And yet, I also highlight the contribution that Australian scholars have made to decolonizing knowledge work, with particular attention to their critique of internationalization of cultural studies in the 1990s. In so doing, I identify the particular epistemic standpoint of Australian scholarship, which has emerged out of its ambivalent location in the global politics of academic knowledge production. Then, I identify three types of engagement by Asian researchers with Western knowledge. Situating Australian education scholarship among them, I explore what ‘Asia literate’ education research might look like from the vantage point of Australia.     

Community leaders' views of the purposes of science in the compulsory years of schooling

Accepting that scientific literacy is the primary purpose of science in the compulsory years of schooling leads to the question ‘What does scientific literacy mean in a particular community?’ This paper reports a study designed to provide some insight into that question. Data were gathered through interviews with a sample of community leaders, in the state of Victoria, Australia, about their views of the purposes of school science.

The data reveal that, although most of those interviewed had no formal post‐school science education, their life experiences provided them with useful insights into the question raised. The wisdom of such people could make an important contribution during the initial stages of curriculum development in science.

As people successful in their own fields, the study participants were lifelong learners. Consequently, their responses suggest that a primary focus of school science must be to provide students with a framework that will enable them to continue learning beyond schooling. This is not just a matter of knowledge or skills, but of feeling comfortable with science.

The methods used provide a useful example of how views about education can be gathered from thoughtful, non‐expert community members. In this instance, they allowed a reconceptualization of the purposes of school science. These community leaders argued for an education for ‘science in life’ rather than an education about science.     

Ernst Mach and George Sarton’s Successors: The Implicit Role Model of Teaching Science in USA and Elsewhere, Part II

George Sarton had a strong influence on modern history of science. The method he pursued throughout his life was the method he had discovered in Ernst Mach’s Mechanics when he was a student in Ghent. Sarton was in fact throughout his life implementing a research program inspired by the epistemology of Mach. Sarton in turn inspired many others in several generations (James Conant, Thomas Kuhn, Gerald Holton, etc.). What were the origins of these ideas in Mach and what can this origin tell us about the history of science and science education nowadays? Which ideas proved to be successful and which ones need to be improved upon? The following article will elaborate the epistemological questions, which Charles Darwin’s “Origin” raised concerning human knowledge and scientific knowledge and which led Mach to adapt the concept of what is “empirical” in contrast to metaphysical a priori assumptions a second time after Galileo. On this basis Sarton proposed “genesis and development” as the major goal of his journal Isis. Mach had elaborated this epistemology in La Connaissance et l’Erreur (Knowledge and Error), which Sarton read in 1911 (Hiebert in Knowledge and error. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1976; de Mey in George Sarton centennial. Communication & Cognition, Ghent, pp. 3–6, 1984). Accordingly for Sarton, history becomes not only a subject of science, but a method of science education. Culture—and science as part of culture—is a result of a genetic process. History of science shapes and is shaped by science and science education in a reciprocal process. Its epistemology needs to be adapted to scientific facts and the philosophy of science. Sarton was well aware of the need to develop the history of science and the philosophy of science along the lines of this reciprocal process. It was a very fruitful basis, but a specific part of it Sarton did not elaborate further, namely the erkenntnis-theory and psychology of science education. This proved to be a crucial missing element for all of science education in Sarton’s succession, especially in the US. Looking again at the origins of the central questions in the thinking of Mach, which provided the basis and gave rise to Sarton’s research program, will help in resolving current epistemic and methodological difficulties, contradictions and impasses in science education influenced by Sarton. The difficulties in science education will prevail as long as the omissions from their Machian origins are not systematically recovered and reintegrated.     

Investing in the renewal of urban science teaching

This article provides a conceptual framework for understanding what is involved in improving urban science teaching and what might be implied by conducting research on its improvement. It is argued in this article that three sets of forces and conditions have a direct impact on urban science classrooms: first, the array of interdependent policies at school, district, and state levels about science teaching in particular and about education improvement more broadly construed; next, the investment and use of instructionally relevant resources at each of the three levels and their differing impacts on the renewal of urban science teaching; and finally, the broader context in which urban science teaching occurs mediating how these resources are—or can be—used. Mediating factors include the professional peer community, subject‐specific instructional leadership, the professional development infrastructure, the supply of available science teachers, and the broader community context. The article concludes with suggestions for how this framework informs directions for future research on the promise and limits of efforts to renew science teaching in urban settings. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1089–1100, 2001     

English for Scientific Purposes (EScP): Technology,Trends, and Future Challenges for Science Education

To date, the concept of English for Specific Purposes has brought about a great impact on English language learning across various disciplines, including those in science education. Hence, this review paper aimed to address current English language learning in the science disciplines through the practice of computer-assisted language learning to identify the use of learning technologies in science-based literacy. In the literature review, the researchers found that science-based literacy instruction shares many pedagogical aims with English language teaching in terms of reading, writing, listening and speaking, allowing it to be classified as English for Scientific Purposes (EScP). To answer the research questions, the researchers conducted the survey by extracting related articles and teaching examples from the Web of Science. In the search procedure, the researchers used the keywords science OR scientific AND technolog* OR comput* in ten selected journals of social science citation index. Only articles which are specified as journal articles rather than other document types were included. After compiling the corpora, the researchers compared the trends, methodologies and results of EScP instruction in science education. The implications of this study include the opportunities, advantages and challenges for EScP instruction in science education to further develop better educational approaches, adopt new technologies, as well as offer some directions for researchers to conduct future studies.     

The ruins of neo-liberalism and the construction of a new (scientific) subjectivity

Given my long-time interests in neoliberalism and questions of subjectivity, I am pleased to respond to Jesse Bazzul’s paper, “Neoliberal Ideology, global capitalism, and science education: Engaging the question of subjectivity.” In what follows, I first summarize what I see as Bazzul’s contributions to pushing science education in ‘post’ directions. I next introduce the concept of “post-neoliberalism” as a tool in this endeavor. Finally, I address what all of this might have to do with subjectivity in the context of science education. I speak as a much-involved veteran of a version of the science wars fought out in education research for the last decade (NRC 2002). My interest is to use this “battle” to think politics and science anew toward an engaged social science, without certainty, rethinking subjectivity, the unconscious and bodies where I ask “what kind of science for what kind of politics?”     

“Before teaching this I'd do a lot of reading” preparing primary student teachers to teach science

The subject knowledge primary teachers have as a basis for their teaching of science has become a major concern in preservice and inservice education in many countries, including Australia, the UK and the USA. There are differing views among policy makers, teacher educators and student teachers about precisely what primary teachers need to know and how they are best prepared for teaching science. This article reports an investigation into the science content and pedagogic content knowledge of student teachers a university in the UK. Many students said that when approaching a real teaching situation they would be able to prepare themselves adequately by independent research using published sources. The data from this study revealed that half the group of students were able to do so with guidance although their initial background knowledge of science was weak. Implications for the preparation of primary student teachers are discussed.     

初等教育教师脑科学素养状况与对策

采用问卷调查的方法,对四川省某三个市区范围内的部分初等教育教师脑科学素养水平进行了调查与分析。结果表明,被调查教师对脑基本结构与功能知识掌握程度不够;对目前脑科学研究所采用的主要技术手段和主要成果了解甚少;对基于脑的教育原理的认识主要受大众传媒的影响;缺乏对基于脑的教学原理运用于教育实践的行为意识和能力水平。最后,针对初等教育教师脑科学素养水平总体比较低下的状况,从以下三方面提出了相应的对策与建议：①重视初等教育教师脑科学素养的职前和在职培训;②采取必要的激励措施,充分调动初等教育教师学习脑科学的积极性;③通过教育理论工作者与初等教育教师的有效沟通,共同探索基于脑的教育研究工作。     

NAPLAN and the role of edu-business: New governance,new privatisations and new partnerships in Australian education policy

This paper provides a critical analysis of the edu-businesses currently working in partnership with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to deliver the Commonwealth government policy initiative of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). These emerging public–private partnerships (PPPs) exemplify new heterarchical governance structures in Australia, where a network of public and private agents now contribute to education policy processes. In analysing the NAPLAN policy network, this account seeks to proffer a critical analysis on the evolving PPPs in Australia and ascertains in whose interests and with what outcomes these PPPs operate. The NAPLAN policy network is analysed in relation to the contemporary state and its changing modus operandi, in which I draw on the notions of heterarchies, networks and new governance structures in education to understand these developments. Network ethnography is employed to document the network of PPPs that are associated with NAPLAN and other government initiatives in Australia, and in particular, I reflect on the activities of Pearson and the Australian Council for Educational Research to problematise what these policy networks mean.     

Features of an Emerging Practice and Professional Development in a Science Teacher Team Collaboration with a Researcher Team

This study concerns teaching and learning development in science through collaboration between science teachers and researchers. At the core was the ambition to integrate research outcomes of science education—here ‘didactic models’—with teaching practice, aligned with professional development. The phase where the collaboration moves from initial establishment towards a stable practice is investigated. The study aims to identifying features of formation and exploring consequences for the character of contact between research and teaching. Specific questions are “What may be identified as actions and arrangements impacting the quality and continuation of the emerging practice?” and “What and in what ways may support teacher growth?” The analysis draws on practice architectures as a theoretical framework and specifically investigates the initial meetings as a practice-node for a new practice, empirically drawing on documented reflections on science teaching, primarily from meetings and communication. The results take the form of an analytical-narrative account of meetings that focused planning, enactment and reflection on teaching regarding the human body. We identify enabling actions such as collaborative work with concrete material from the classroom and arrangements such as the regular meetings and that the collaborative group had a core of shared competence—in science teaching and learning. Constraining were actions such as introducing research results with weak connection to practical action in the school practice and arrangements such as differences between school and university practice architectures and the general ‘oppression’ of teachers’ classroom practice. The discussion includes reflections on researchers’ roles and on a research and practice base for school development.     

A state-wide change initiative: The primary science teacher-leader project

The Primary Science Teacher-Leader Project was conducted during 1995 and 1996 as part of the Education Department of Western Australia's Science Project. This paper focuses on the implications of this project for primary science education reform. It is shown that the project inducted a cadre of skilled and enthusiastic teacher-leaders who impacted on science teaching in classrooms throughout the state. Quality professional development, networking, time and the provision of modest resources for teacher-leaders were the major structural factors contributing to the success of the model. Contextual factors included the readiness for change in primary science among schools and teachers, the collaborative approach to the project by the science education community in Western Australia and the concurrent publication and implementation of quality teaching materials in the form ofPrimary Investigations.     

Complexity and contradiction: Disciplinary expert teachers in primary science and mathematics education

This article presents a systematic literature review about disciplinary expert teachers in primary science and mathematics education. This is a timely synthesis of the literature, as current reforms in teacher education in Australia and internationally require primary teachers to have specialised knowledge in a learning area. Systematic review protocols were used to identify and evaluate the relevance of numerous articles of which thirty-seven were included in the final analysis. Findings show insufficient evidence about whether expert teachers have a positive impact on instructional quality and student learning. Implications are discussed with reference to the current policy moment in Australia and teacher education more broadly.     

Mind the Gap: Looking for Evidence-Based Practice of Science Literacy for All in Science Teaching Journals

Science literacy for all is the central goal of science education reforms, and there is a growing importance of the language arts in science. Furthermore, there are strong calls for teacher professionalism and self-directed professional learning that involve evidence-based best practices. This raises questions about whether science teaching journals?? recommendations are anchored to high-quality evidence. We found that (a) most National Science Teacher Association journals?? science literacy recommendations have weak or no evidence base and (b) those with evidence reference teaching journals, teacher resource books, and literacy education more often than science education research. We concluded that all participants in the knowledge production cycle and transfer process??authors, editors, and reviewers??need to encourage evidence-based practices anchored to ongoing reforms and to literacy and science education research.     

Dreaming and immanence: rejecting the dogmatic image of thought in science education

In this article, we, a multivocal-thinking-assemblage, trouble what we feel is the dogmatic image of thought in science education. Beginning with Lars Bang’s (Cult Stud Sci Educ, 2017) dramatic and disruptive imagery of the Ouroboros as a means to challenge scientific literacy we explore the importance of dreams, thinking with both virtual and actual entities, and immanent thinking to science education scholarship. Dreaming as movement away from a dogmatic image of thought takes the authors in multiple directions as they attempt to open Deleuzian horizons of difference, immanence, and self-exploration.