Teacher–Student Interactions in Korean High School Science Classrooms

This paper provides a preliminary picture of teacher–student interaction in Korean senior high schools. In order to do this, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was translated into Korean and administered to 439 students (99 science-independent stream students, 195 science-oriented stream students and 145 humanities stream students). Based on the results from this survey, interviews with some students and teachers were also carried out and three science classrooms were also observed. It was found that the teacher–student interactions in Korean senior high school science classrooms reflect the general image of the youth-elder relationship in society as well as the senior high school's unique nature – portraying a scene of directing teachers and obeying students. It was also found that students experience unique interactions in their science classrooms with their particular teachers. It was considered that this difference comes from the overlapping of a teacher's personal characteristics with the nature of a stream (e.g., curriculum, expectation towards the students in that stream). This article reports part of a larger study conducted with Korean senior high school students and teachers. The aim of the main study was to investigate three different aspects of the high school science classroom environments in Korea, namely, the degree of implementation of constructivism, the pattern of teacher–student interactions, and the learning environment in laboratory classes. Based on the realisation that teacher–student interactions have not been systematically dealt with especially at the senior high school level in Korea, this article pays particularly attention to this aspect. The intention was also to provide useful insights for improving the current situation in senior high school science classrooms in Korea.     

The Great Divide: policies and practices in multicultural education

Educational researchers interested in race‐related matters tend to be united in their conviction that the non‐institutionalisation of multicultural education derives entirely from the ('unwitting') racist attitudes of teachers. Whilst not ignoring teacher attitudes as an explanatory concept in ‘this context I argue in this article that the disparity between LEA multicultural education policies, on the one hand, and school practices on the other should be relocated in a broader analytical framework. The argument proposed hinges on a conception of multicultural education as a ‘progressive’ educational innovation and suggests that many of the processes which conventionally link policies to practices have been routinely overlooked in the current literature on ‘race’. Although this is a provisional article I hope, at the very least, that I have provided evidence to prompt a conjectural case for the argument that the negative racial attitudes of teachers are not the only factors which have the potential to block the diffusion and legitimation of multicultural education principles in UK schools.     

How Large is a Large Sample?

When teaching students about the Central Limit Theorem, it is difficult to give simple guidelines about when its use is justified. We demonstrate that the sample size needed depends to a great extent on the parent distribution and propose a method, based on the use of microcomputers, for helping students to appreciate the theorem and when it can safely be used.     

NARST: a lived history

In this Forum, we construct a history of the National Association for Research in Science Education (NARST) through the analysis of documents and through the personal perspectives of individuals. The history of NARST is inseparable from the biography of the individuals through whose lives it was produced and reproduced. The history of NARST is a living history that both shapes and was shaped by the biographies of its members.

Learning environments research in English classrooms

Although learning environments research has thrived for decades in many countries and school subjects, English classroom environment research is still in its infancy. This article paves the way for expanding research on English classroom environments by (1) reviewing the limited past research in English classrooms and (2) reporting the first study of English learning environments in Singaporean primary schools. For a sample of 441 grade 6 students, past research in other subjects was replicated in that a modified version of the What Is Happening In this Class? questionnaire was cross-validated, classroom environment was found to vary with the determinants of student sex and ethnicity, and associations emerged between students’ attitudes and the nature of the classroom environment.     

The Effects of Classroom Climate on Student Outcomes: A Replication in Two Developing Countries

A strong tradition of research in developed countries has established consistent relationships between students' outcomes and their perceptions of psychosocial characteristics of the classroom learning environment. The present research provides a replication of the prior work in developed countries by using samples of students from two developing countries, namely, Indonesia and Thailand. Indonesian versions of the individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire and the Classroom Environment Scale were responded to by 373 students in 18 Grade 8 and 9 classes in Padang, whereas a Thai version of the Learning Environment Inventory was responded to by 989 students in 31 Grade 12 classes in Bangkok or nearby provinces. Results supported the predictive validity of student perceptions in that significant relationships emerged between student outcomes and classroom climate among students in both Indonesia and Thailand.     

Research into the environment of science laboratory classes in australian schools

Existing instruments for assessing student or teacher perceptions of characteristics of actual or preferred classroom psychosocial environment are unsuitable for one of the most important settings in science teaching, namely, the science laboratory class. Consequently, the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI), was designed to assess student or teacher perceptions of seven scales:Teacher Supportiveness, Student Cohesiveness, Open-Endedness, Integration, Organization, Rule Clarity andMaterial Environment. An important feature of the design of the study was that the new instrument was field tested simultaneously in six countries: Australia, USA, Canada, England, Nigeria and Israel. This paper is based on a sample of 4643 students in 225 individual laboratory classes, together with the teachers of most of these classes. Preliminary analyses were used to shed light on various important research questions including the differences between Actual and Preferred environments, gender differences in perceptions of Actual and Preferred environment, the relationship between the science laboratory environment and attitude towards science laboratory work, differences between school and university laboratory classes, differences between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the same laboratory classes, and differences between laboratory classes in different science subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology). Specializations: Science education, educational evaluation. Specializations: Curriculum, science education, science laboratory teaching. Specializations: Learning environments, science education, educational evaluation, curriculum.