Correct Interpretation of Chemical Diagrams Requires Transforming from One Level of Representation to Another

Volunteer non-major chemistry students taking an introductory university chemistry course (n = 17) were interviewed about their understanding of a variety of chemical diagrams. All the students’ interviewed appreciated that diagrams of laboratory equipment were useful to show how to set up laboratory equipment. However students’ ability to explain specific diagrams at either the macroscopic or sub-microscopic level varied greatly. The results highlighted the poor level of understanding that some students had even after completing both exercises and experiments using the diagrams. The connection between the diagrams of the macroscopic level (equipment, chemicals), the sub-microscopic level (molecular) and the symbolic level (equations) was not always considered explicitly by students. The results indicate a need for chemical diagrams to be used carefully and more explicitly to ensure learner understanding. Correspondingly, students need to interpret visual chemical diagrams using meta-visualization skills linking the various levels of representation, and appreciating the role of the diagrams in explanations need to be developed.     

Learners' perceptions of the role of peers in a research experience: Implications for the apprenticeship process,scientific inquiry,and collaborative work

This study investigates the interaction between four pairs of high school students in a 7‐week national research apprenticeship program. Each student was interviewed about perceptions of experiences working with a peer in the same setting, and the resulting stories were analyzed. Through discourse analysis of the interviews and interrelated analyses of data from journals and responses on pre‐ and postprogram questionnaires, three types of support were identified that students experienced to varying degrees: social–emotional, social–technical, and social–cognitive. It is concluded that social–cognitive support is best engendered if there is sufficient similarity of problems and processes, and ample room for different results and debate about interpretation. Additionally, the culture and reward system students work within (i.e., classrooms) must encourage discussion of ideas and value an outsider's perspective, in recognition of the roles creativity, uncertainty, and ambiguity play in science. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 251–271, 2008.     

Building teacher capacity for implementing curricular coherence: mathematics teacher professional development tasks

Improving mathematics education in the United States has taken many forms. Our work has focused on two aspects: the content knowledge of teachers and a well-articulated coherent curriculum. Our aim was teacher “capacity building” that is enabling teachers to teach to coherent and significant mathematical curricular goals and describe the implementation in a large-scale project based at Michigan State University. We highlight the design, structure and use of mathematics teacher learning tasks that were intended to improve teachers’ capacity to teach to these goals and note how the teachers’ perceptions of the structure and sequencing of mathematics itself affect the ways they organize mathematics in their teaching and the ways they teach.     

Communication in spiders

As in other animals, the exchange of signals between spiders serves many purposes and in recent years it has been shown that they have evolved a very complex system. This includes the exchange of information by acoustic/vibratory mechanisms; by visual means; and by pheromones. This article reviews these systems and the circumstances in which they are brought into play.     

Communicating Mathematics on the Internet: Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools

Communicating and collaborating online are becoming common requirements in education. The specialized notations and symbols necessary for some content areas where mathematical expressions are part of the conversation require that users select appropriate communication tools. The purpose of this article is to describe tools that can be used for online, asynchronous or synchronous communication involving mathematical expressions.     

Evaluation of the Feasibility and Perceived Value of Integrating Learn the Signs. Act Early. Developmental Monitoring Resources in Early Head Start

Early Childhood Education Journal - Many children with developmental disabilities are not identified before age 3 years of age, preventing them from being able to fully benefit from early...     

Standpoint theory,realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education

This paper evaluates the contribution of ‘social realism’ in resolving questions of knowledge and curriculum in the sociology of education. Social realists argue that, in the interests of educational equality, all pupils should have access to ‘powerful’ knowledge produced by specialist intellectual communities. Social realism relies upon a critique of standpoint theory, taking it to be irrealist, relativist and ignorant of the post-empiricist revolution in the philosophy of science. This paper argues however, that social realists fail to appreciate the critical realist response to the post-empiricist revolution and thereby end up critiquing a caricatured version of standpoint theory. The paper concludes that if we are concerned with restoring objectivity, in a manner that avoids both relativism and cultural elitism in school curricula, a turn away from standpoint theory in the sociology of education is not warranted and may be obstructive.     

Children can represent complex social status hierarchies: Evidence from Indonesia

Children's ethnicity-status associations are often studied in societies where one ethnic group possesses status across multiple dimensions, such as political influence and wealth. This study examined children's (6–12 years) and adults' representations of more complex hierarchies in Indonesia (N = 341; 38% Native Indonesian, 33% Chinese Indonesian, and 27% other ethnicities; 55% female, 36% male; 2021–2022), a society where ethnic groups hold distinct forms of status (on average, Native Indonesians have political influence; Chinese Indonesians have wealth). By 6.5 years, children associated Native Indonesians with political influence and Chinese Indonesians with wealth. Intersectional analyses indicated that ethnicity-status associations were stronger for male than female targets. Children of all ethnicities preferred Chinese Indonesians and preferences were predicted by wealth judgments.