How the Curriculum Guideline “The Cell Is to Be Studied Longitudinally” Is Expressed in Six Israeli Junior-High-School Textbooks

The most recent science and technology curriculum for junior high school in Israel contains a new guideline stating that the cell topic is to be taught “longitudinally in conjunction with other study contents.” This guideline confers a change in teaching the cell topic and provides an opportunity to form meaningful relationships between biological phenomena at the macro level and their cellular explanations. Here, we examined the extent to which six textbooks, available for junior high schools in Israel, support this teaching approach. We found that the textbooks differ in how they express the guideline and that most of them do not support the new teaching approach to any significant extent. Moreover, the textbooks generally emphasize cells’ structure and pay less attention to the processes occurring in them. Our findings could shed light on students’ difficulties in comprehending the living cell and in correlating macroscopic phenomena with their cellular explanations.     

Reconsidering Personal Epistemology as Metacognition: A Multifaceted Approach to the Analysis of Epistemic Thinking

One of the central unresolved conceptual issues that concerns researchers of personal epistemology is the characterization of the intersection between personal epistemology and metacognition. The contested and diverse nature of both constructs makes untangling their connections a complex yet vital task. The purpose of this article is to advance the discussion regarding this intersection by offering a theoretical approach that may serve as a basis for analyzing epistemic thinking and aligning it with current views of metacognition. Based on a synthesis of theoretical and empirical studies, we argue that epistemic thinking is a multifaceted construct with both cognitive and metacognitive aspects. Furthermore, we propose that epistemic metacognition includes several aspects such as metacognitive skills; metacognitive knowledge about persons, strategies and tasks; and metacognitive experiences. The theoretical, methodological, and instructional implications of this approach are explored.     

Lexical inference in L2: predictive roles of vocabulary knowledge and reading skill beyond reading comprehension

The current study examined the predictive roles of L2 vocabulary knowledge and L2 word reading skills in explaining individual differences in lexical inferencing in the L2. Participants were 53 Israeli high school students who emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and spoke Russian as an L1 and Hebrew as an L2. L2 vocabulary knowledge and decoding accuracy predicted L2 reading comprehension, which in turn was strongly related to lexical inferencing abilities in the L2. In addition, decoding accuracy predicted additional variance in lexical inferencing, beyond the role of reading comprehension. These findings support the idea that beginning L2 readers with more precise and efficient lexical representations demonstrate better lexical inferencing abilities, most likely due to the increased automatization of word reading, which frees up resources for higher level processing. These results suggest that lexical inferencing from text in the L2 might be limited not only by vocabulary knowledge and higher order comprehension processes, but also by basic decoding skills.     

Reading Science Texts—Epistemology, Inquiry, Authenticity—A Rejoinder to Jonathan Osborne

We shall structure this rejoinder around two main sections. In the first, we address three underlying assumptions of our work that Osborne has identified. We indicate points of agreement, disagreement, and clarification. In the second section, we discuss briefly and add our clarifications to three understandings of his that Osborne introduces into the discussion. It should be noted that Osborne’s response is grounded in the same basic assumption as our set of papers, namely, the central role played by reading and writing, and communicative activities in general, both in science and in learning science.     

Perception of Science Standards’ Effectiveness and Their Implementation by Science Teachers

The introduction of standards into the education system poses numerous challenges and difficulties. As with any change, plans should be made for teachers to understand and implement the standards. This study examined science teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the standards for teaching and learning, and the extent and ease/difficulty of implementing science standards in different grades. The research used a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research tools were questionnaires that were administered to elementary school science teachers. The majority of the teachers perceived the standards in science as effective for teaching and learning and only a small minority viewed them as restricting their pedagogical autonomy. Differences were found in the extent of implementation of the different standards and between different grades. The teachers perceived a different degree of difficulty in the implementation of the different standards. The standards experienced as easiest to implement were in the field of biology and materials, whereas the standards in earth sciences and the universe and technology were most difficult to implement, and are also those evaluated by the teachers as being implemented to the least extent. Exposure of teachers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of standards and the implementation of the standards may aid policymakers in future planning of teachers’ professional development for the implementation of standards.     

Explicit teaching of meta-strategic knowledge in authentic classroom situations

Meta-strategic Knowledge (MSK) is a sub-component of metacognition that is defined in the present study as general, explicit knowledge about thinking strategies. In the present study we shall focus on the control of variables thinking strategy. Following an earlier study (Zohar & Peled 2007) that showed considerable effects of explicit instruction of MSK in laboratory setting, this study explores whether these effects are preserved in authentic classroom situations. Participants were 119 8th grade students from 6 classes of a heterogeneous school. Equal numbers of low-achieving and high-achieving students were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The findings showed dramatic developments in students’ strategic and meta-strategic thinking following instruction. The effect of the treatment was preserved in delayed transfer tests. Our findings show that explicit teaching of MSK had a strong effect on low achieving students. The implications of the findings for learning and instruction are discussed.     

Between tradition and modernity: Social work-related change processes in the Jewish ultra-orthodox society in Israel

The present research attempts to present the experience of the encounter between Jewish ultra-orthodox society – a closed and isolated group – and social work – with its cultural, western, secular and professional characteristics. The study explores this topic by describing the work and experience of the social workers who treat this population, and the encounter's meaning for them. This experiential and challenging encounter is exemplified through different social work contents such as: child sex abuse, miscarriage, adolescent girls in distress, mental health, divorce, etc. A qualitative-phenomenological approach was adopted in this study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 social workers with different religious identities in daily contact with ultra-orthodox Jewish clients across the country. Participants included 6 men and 27 women. A total of 9 participants defined themselves as ultra-orthodox, 13 were national religious, and 11 were secular, with 1–20 years’ experience. Three major themes emerged: 1. Community and social change processes in the ultra-orthodox society. 2. Treatment content-related change processes in the ultra-orthodox society. 3. Change processes in the ultra-orthodox society and the role of social work in the ultra-orthodox-public environment. Multicultural sensitivity is the starting point when relating to the encounter between an ultra-orthodox client and a social worker. An awareness of the social worker's personal values, acquaintance with the client's personal and community values, and the encounter between them are crucial factors for treatment success.     

Characterizing children’s spontaneous interests in science and technology

This article reports the results of an analysis of 1676 science and technology questions submitted by Israeli children to a series of television programmes. It categorizes the children’s questions with reference to five different coding schemes: field of interest, motivation for asking the question, type of information requested, country‐specific aspects, and source of information. The results point to the popularity of biology, technology, and astrophysics over other sciences, indicate a shift in interests and motivation with age, and reflect a variety of gender‐related differences within the sample. The implications of the findings for some current trends in curriculum development and for informal science education are discussed with reference to the wider context of the pupils’ voice in education.