Development and Implementation of Science and Technology Ethics Education Program for Prospective Science Teachers

The purposes of this study were (1) to develop a science and technology (ST) ethics education program for prospective science teachers, (2) to examine the effect of the program on the perceptions of the participants, in terms of their ethics and education concerns, and (3) to evaluate the impact of the program design. The program utilized problem-based learning (PBL) which was performed as an iterative process during two cycles. A total of 23 and 29 prospective teachers in each cycle performed team activities. A PBL-based ST ethics education program for the science classroom setting was effective in enhancing participants’ perceptions of ethics and education in ST. These perceptions motivated prospective science teachers to develop and implement ST ethics education in their future classrooms. The change in the prospective teachers’ perceptions of ethical issues and the need for ethics education was greater when the topic was controversial.     

Developing Character and Values for Global Citizens: Analysis of pre-service science teachers’ moral reasoning on socioscientific issues

Character and values are the essential driving forces that serve as general guides or points of reference for individuals to support decision-making and to act responsibly about global socioscientific issues (SSIs). Based on this assumption, we investigated to what extent pre-service science teachers (PSTs) of South Korea possess character and values as global citizens; these values include ecological worldview, socioscientific accountability, and social and moral compassion. Eighteen PSTs participated in the SSI programs focusing on developing character and values through dialogical and reflective processes. SSIs were centered on the use of nuclear power generation, climate change, and embryonic stem cell research. The results indicated that PSTs showed three key elements of character and values, but failed to apply consistent moral principles on the issues and demonstrated limited global perspectives. While they tended to approach the issues with emotion and sympathy, they nonetheless failed to perceive themselves as major moral agents who are able to actively resolve large-scale societal issues. This study also suggests that the SSI programs can facilitate socioscientific reasoning to include abilities such as recognition of the complexity of SSIs, examine issues from multiple perspectives, and exhibit skepticism about information.     

Factors influencing the higher education of international students from Confucian East Asia

Higher education, especially that leading to a degree from a high-prestige university, is strongly related to social status and employment opportunities in East Asian countries. This is a consequence of both traditional Confucian attitudes to education and the social and economic changes accompanying industrialisation. Since the number of places available at high-prestige universities is limited, competition is intense. Successful entry to such a university is not only an important achievement for the future career of the student, but also a victory for the family. In contrast, failure to do so is often seen as shameful for the family, sometimes resulting in psychological problems or suicide. This background affects the international education of East Asian students, who often have a high level of family support, with correspondingly high expectations of their success. Motives for international study vary, from avoidance of the hyper-competitive domestic system, pursuit of an overseas degree as an ‘easy option’ of moderate prestige, to an expectation of more up-to-date teaching and content. Understanding this background can be a first step for Australian or other Western educators to better meet the needs of East Asian international students and to attract students from East Asia in the long term.     

Learning through digital storytelling: exploring entertainment techniques in lecture video

Although online education is popularized, it is in a developing stage that continues to struggle with communicating and engaging with students. The question remains on how students can be better engaged in online educational materials that are presented in asynchronous media, especially in lecture videos. Thus, using engagement theory, the present study explored how online lecture videos can be improved by incorporating entertainment education. Using a public lecture video found on YouTube, an online survey (N = 133) was conducted to identify digital storytelling techniques and their effects. Results revealed that these techniques that are often utilized in entertainment became meaningful components to increase student engagement and learning outcomes. However, they can also negatively affect instructor credibility, which could suggest the need to increase instructors’ skills. The implications for the development of lecture videos using entertainment and its potential to positively impact online education are discussed.     

Noise Levels in Hong Kong Primary Schools: Implications for classroom listening

Many researchers have stressed that the acoustic environment is crucial to the speech perception, academic performance, attention, and participation of students in classrooms. Classrooms in highly urbanised locations are especially vulnerable to noise, a major influence on the acoustic environment. The purpose of this investigation was to determine noise levels in one such urban environment, Hong Kong. The ambient noise level, and its relationship to the speech intensity levels of both teachers and students was surveyed in 47 primary school classrooms. Moreover, the presence of acoustical treatments for noise reduction and the use of classroom amplification systems were documented for each classroom. The survey found that the mean occupied noise level was 60.74 dB (A); the mean unamplified and amplified speech‐to‐noise ratios of teachers were 13.53 dB and 18.45 dB, respectively; while the mean unamplified speech‐to‐noise ratio for students was 4.13 dB. Most of the classrooms exhibited insufficient acoustical treatments to provide significant noise reduction. The listening environment in many Hong Kong primary schools was not favourable for optimal classroom learning. Recommendations for improving the acoustical environment in classrooms in highly urbanised locations such as Hong Kong are discussed.     

Decentralized adaptive output-feedback control of interconnected nonlinear time-delay systems using minimal neural networks

This paper presents a minimal-neural-networks-based design approach for the decentralized output-feedback tracking of uncertain interconnected strict-feedback nonlinear systems with unknown time-varying delayed interactions unmatched in control inputs. Compared with existing approximation-based decentralized output-feedback designs using multiple neural networks for each subsystem in lower triangular form, the main contribution of this paper is to provide a new recursive backstepping strategy for a local memoryless output-feedback controller design using only one neural network for each subsystem regardless of the order of subsystems, unmeasurable states, and unknown unmatched and delayed nonlinear interactions. In the proposed strategy, error surfaces are designed using unmeasurable states instead of measurable states and virtual controllers are regarded as intermediate signals for designing a local control law at the last step. Using Lyapunov stability theorem and the performance function technique, it is shown that all signals of the total controlled closed-loop system are bounded and the transient and steady-state performance bounds of local tracking errors can be preselected by adjusting design parameters independent of delayed interactions.     

The effectiveness of using computer simulated experiments on junior high students' understanding of the volume displacement concept

Several researchers have suggested that the computer holds much promise as a tool for science teachers for use in their classrooms (Bork, 1979, Lunetta & Hofstein, 1981). It also has been said that there needs to be more research in determining the effectiveness of computer software (Tinker, 1983). This study compared the effectiveness of microcomputer simulated experiences with that of parallel instruction involving hands-on laboratory experiences for teaching the concept of volume displacement to junior high school students. This study also assessed the differential effect on students' understanding of the volume displacement concept using sex of the students as another independent variable. In addition, it compared the degree of retention, after 45 days, of both treatment groups. It was found that computer simulated experiences were as effective as hands-on laboratory experiences, and that males, having had hands-on laboratory experiences, performed better on the posttest than females having had the hands-on laboratory experiences. There were no significant differences in performance when comparing males with females using the computer simulation in the learning of the displacement concept. This study also showed that there were no significant differences in the retention levels when the retention scores of the computer simulation groups were compared to those that had the hands-on laboratory experiences. However, an ANOVA of the retention test scores revealed that males in both treatment conditions retained knowledge of volume displacement better than females.     

Do Stability of Care and Teacher–Child Interaction Quality Predict Child Outcomes in Early Head Start?

Research Findings: This study examined whether children’s outcomes at age 3 were predicted by their experiences in Early Head Start (EHS), focusing on 2 key features of infant and toddler care: (a) stability of care and (b) teacher–child interactions. This study further explored potential interaction effects between stability of care and teacher–child interactions in predicting child outcomes. Three main results were found from secondary analyses of the recently released EHS longitudinal data set the EHS Family and Child Experiences Study (Vogel & Boller, 2009–2012). First, children who had stability of care (no teacher change) were rated as having fewer behavior problems and higher social competence. Second, children were rated as demonstrating better orientation/engagement and emotional regulation when they were in EHS classrooms observed to have higher emotional and behavioral support. Third, teacher–child interactions that are emotionally and behaviorally supportive may mitigate the potential drawbacks of experiencing instability of care on early social-emotional development. Study implications are discussed. Practice or Policy: Both stability and quality teacher–child interactions are important in center-based infant and toddler care, and ensuring quality teacher–child interactions is particularly important for children who experience teacher changes during their infant and toddler years.     

Continuity of Care,Caregiver–Child Interactions,and Toddler Social Competence and Problem Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Continuity of care is a recommended practice in child care intended to promote secure and supportive relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers. Toddlers (N = 115) between 12 and 24 months were observed in 30 continuity and 29 noncontinuity classrooms. The average duration of care for toddlers with caregivers was 14 months in the continuity rooms and 5 months in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers observed in continuity rooms experienced higher levels of interactive involvement with their caregivers and were rated by their caregivers as having fewer problem behaviors compared with the toddlers in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers in rooms with higher staff–child ratios also experienced more involved caregiving. We did not find evidence that the level of involved caregiving mediated the association between continuity of care and toddlers’ social competence or problem behaviors. Practice or Policy: Continuity of care may be a promising practice for programs that strive to provide high-quality care for infants and toddlers.     

An analysis of the nature of epistemological beliefs: Investigating factors affecting the epistemological development of south korean high school students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of epistemological beliefs about learning (or learning beliefs) by analyzing the type of factors involved in the epistemological development of South Korean high school students (N=455). Learning beliefs are implicit assumptions held by learners about the source and certainty of knowledge and the ways to obtain knowledge. Previous studies on the epistemological development of American high school students showed that American students learning beliefs are positively related with their age, amount of formal education, and academic achievement. Multiple regression analysis of this study, however, showed that no such relationships were identified from the present South Korean sample except between students beliefs and their academic achievement. In addition, the present study showed that South Korean students learning beliefs were related with their independent-self construal (individualistic self-view) but not with their interdependent self-construal (collectivistic self-view). These results reconfirmed the culture-specific nature of epistemological beliefs which was identified from previous comparative studies with South Korean and American college students (Youn, Kim, & Yang, 1999; Youn, 2000). The differences between the present results and previous findings with South Korean college students will be further discussed in terms of the sub-cultural variations between South Korean young generations. A paper presented at the 26th International Association of Cross Cultural Psychology, Pultusk, Poland, 2000/7/16-21