Culture wars in the classroom: Prospective teachers question science

Does studying about the nature(s) of science contribute to a prospective teachers' effectiveness as a science teacher? This research grew out of a course created by a science educator and historian of science who believed prospective teachers needed more complex understandings of the cultural wars surrounding science. The research team consisted of five prospective teachers who participated in the course as well as the two instructors. This paper describes the experience of participating in the course from both perspectives. We argue that studying the cultural wars over science contributes to prospective teachers' professional growth as much because the course elicits tacit beliefs about school science as it introduces more complex understandings of science. We found that prospective teachers' tacit beliefs about school science were their greatest barrier to developing more complex understandings about the nature(s) of science. We contend that willingness to grapple with complexity and developing a professional identity by locating oneself in the conversations about the nature(s) of science are better criteria for determining the professional growth of prospective teachers than knowledge measures. Finally, we argue that prospective teachers should be viewed as professionals who are responsible for finding their own voice, making their own decisions, and considering the consequences of their beliefs on their practice. This study raises questions critical to teacher education programs for prospective teachers and teacher‐educators alike. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 895–915, 2000     

Models in Physics, Models for Physics Learning, and Why the Distinction may Matter in the Case of Electric Circuits

Models are important both in the development of physics itself and in teaching physics. Historically, the consensus models of physics have come to embody particular ontological assumptions and epistemological commitments. Educators have generally assumed that the consensus models of physics, which have stood the test of time, will also work well as teaching models, and for many topics this assumption is at least unproblematic and in many cases productive. However, in the case of electric circuits the consensus models are highly abstract and consequently inaccessible to beginning learners. Certain historically derived analogues for the consensus models are accepted in texts, but these are demonstrably ineffective for helping learners grasp the fundamental concepts of electric circuits. While awareness of other models circulates informally in the teaching community, these are not well documented in the science education literature and rarely referred to in authoritative texts, possibly because the models do not share the ontological assumptions and epistemological commitments that characterise consensus models. Consequently these models have not been subjected to a disciplined critique of their effectiveness for teaching purposes. In this paper I use criteria drawn from the science education literature to reflect on why I have found particular models valuable in teaching electric circuits. These criteria contrast with the epistemological and ontological features that characterise the consensus models of science, and my reflection leads me to attend explicitly to the ways in which meanings are created within physics. This suggests that all models, whether consensus models or not, can be used more knowingly for important educational ends.

Student attitudes toward mandatory fees

Responses to questions on demography, knowledge about student fees, attitudes toward collection and distribution of fees, and utilization and satisfaction with 8 specific fee-funded programs were collected by mail survey from a sample of 1,002 University of Colorado (Boulder campus) students stratified by class year, ethnic group, and school. Only one-third paid their own fees, and less than 30% knew the amount of their fees within $5. Only graduate students advocated a cutback in services to obtain a reduction in fees; most students would accept higher fees to fund three new programs. Differences among students in attitudes toward and use of fee-funded services were definite among year subgroups and minimal among ethnic and school subgroups.     

Suburban American Punks and the Musical Rhetoric of Green Day's “Jesus of Suburbia”

This essay examines Green Day's “Jesus of Suburbia” as an artifact and reflection of suburban American punk culture. It looks at how music, lyrics, and the ethos of the performer interact to create a message that fostered identification between speaker and audience by using Sellnow and Sellnow's Langer-based illusion of life perspective. In this case it was found that music can be seen as an effective tool for expressing the suburban punk experience due to its ability to convey both linguistic and emotional content.     

Requisite Variety: The problem with generic guidelines for diverse genres of inquiry

In response to an invitation to explore the idea that potential guidelines be considered for qualitative inquiry in environmental education research, this article argues that prerequisite understanding of the nature and scope of qualitative inquiry required for such a task will reveal the problem inherent in it. Understanding the diverse complexities, the requisite variety, of qualitative inquiry not only challenges the methodological uniformity necessitated by this task philosophically; it unmasks the epistemological and ontological limits of such an endeavor, however well intentioned.     

Unraveling the Relation Between Reading Comprehension and Print Exposure

The purpose of this study was to test the directionality of influence between reading comprehension (RC) and print exposure (PE), thereby estimating genetic and environmental effects of this relation. The sample consisted of 910 twins in fourth through ninth grades (M_age = 12.33 years, SD = 1.41) from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior, and Environment. Using direction-of-causation model in a twin design, results supported a direction of influence running from RC to PE. This relation was underpinned by genetic and environmental factors of RC as well as PE. Implications for reading education are discussed.     

Fostering Instructor Knowledge of Student Thinking Using The Flipped Classroom

Abstract

In this article, we share a model of flipped instruction that allowed us to gain a window into our students’ mathematical thinking. We depict how that increased awareness of student thinking shaped our mathematics instruction in productive ways. Drawing on our experiences with students in our own classrooms, we show how flipped instruction can be used to design experiences that help students make sense of mathematics during class sessions.     

Optical chromatographic sample separation of hydrodynamically focused mixtures

Optical chromatography relies on the balance between the opposing optical and fluid drag forces acting on a particle. A typical configuration involves a loosely focused laser directly counter to the flow of particle-laden fluid passing through a microfluidic device. This equilibrium depends on the intrinsic properties of the particle, including size, shape, and refractive index. As such, uniquely fine separations are possible using this technique. Here, we demonstrate how matching the diameter of a microfluidic flow channel to that of the focusing laser in concert with a unique microfluidic platform can be used as a method to fractionate closely related particles in a mixed sample. This microfluidic network allows for a monodisperse sample of both polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) spheres to be injected, hydrodynamically focused, and completely separated. To test the limit of separation, a mixed polystyrene sample containing two particles varying in diameter by less than 0.5 μm was run in the system. The analysis of the resulting separation sets the framework for continued work to perform ultra-fine separations.