Conceptual change: a discussion of theoretical, methodological and practical challenges for science education

Conceptual change views of teaching and learning processes in science, and also in various other content domains, have played a significant role in research on teaching and learning as well as in instructional design since the late 1970s. An important issue is whether conceptual change can provide a powerful framework for improving instructional practice in such a way that students’ levels of scientific literacy are significantly increased. In this article, the first section provides an overview on the development of conceptual change perspectives. In sections two to six, we examine the different ways that researchers have facilitated the collection of data and empirically evaluated learning as conceptual change based on these different theoretical perspectives. In section seven, we identify key issues of conceptual change with a deliberate emphasis on their contribution to improve instructional practice and conclude the article by posing challenges at theoretical, methodological and practical levels. We contend that conceptual change perspectives still have the potential to significantly improve instructional practice. However, it becomes also evident that actual practice is far from what conceptual change perspectives propose and that change of this practice will be a rather difficult and long-lasting process.

Chinese High-School Students in Physics Classroom as Active, Self-Regulated Learners: Cognitive, Motivational and Environmental Aspects

The present study investigates whether Chinese high-school students are self-regulated learners. A social-cognitive model that distinguishes environmental, motivational, and cognitive components of this active approach to learning is described. This provides an appropriate framework for investigating this complex issue with eighth and tenth graders attending a high-school in Beijing. By contrasting components of self-regulated learning and components indicating a more passive approach to learning that were both measured with self-report instruments, it could be shown that these students may indeed be considered as self-regulated physics learners. Comparisons of the grade levels revealed that tenth graders are not more active in self-regulating their learning processes than are eighth graders, and that they might even experience a motivational decline in learning physics. The same applies to girls versus boys. The physics-related self-efficacy belief of girls turned out to be considerably lower than with boys, a result that corresponds to findings with students from Western nations. Finally, assumptions about the causal role of motivational factors for using self-regulatory strategies could be confirmed. Possible consequences for further fostering self-regulated learning in physics instruction are discussed.     

Biotechnology in Switzerland: high on the public agenda, but only moderate support

In Switzerland, there have been intensive public debates about biotechnology because of the specific Swiss political system of direct democracy that led, in 1992 and 1998, to two national referenda on biotechnology regulation. As a result, the Swiss population is well informed but skeptical about this technology. These findings contrast with the deficit model of public understanding of science, which predicts a positive correlation between knowledge of, and support for, a specific technology. What role did the media play in the development of public opinion? This question is discussed because of a content analysis (time series) of national newspapers. In addition, representative surveys and focus groups yield insights into the public perception of biotechnology and the influence of mass communication for opinion formation.     

Understanding Energy as a Conserved Quantity‐‐Remarks on the Article by R. U. Sexl

Summaries

English

A series of learning difficulties hamper the understanding of energy as a conserved quantity. For example, the aspect of conservation is not covered by the everyday use of the word ‘energy’, and the idea of energy conservation is formed very late in the course of children's development. Empirical investigations about learning the energy concept indicate clearly that learning the conservation aspect of energy causes the students greater difficulties than learning the conversion aspect. Taking the remarks of R. U. Sexl on the didactics of the energy concept (see the preceding article) into consideration, it is discussed how students‐‐as early as the 5th to 10th grades‐‐can be guided to comprehending energy as a conserved quantity.     

An Account of a Teacher's Perspective on Learning and Teaching Mathematics: Implications for Teacher Development

This report presents an account of one teacher's mathematics teaching and a perspective that underlies his teaching. Nevil was a fifth grade teacher participating incurrent mathematics education reforms in the United States. Through the account, we make distinctions about teachers' thinking and practice that can inform teacher education efforts. We constructed an account by analyzing four sets of classroom observations and interviews. We observed that Nevil decomposed his understandings of the mathematics into smaller components and connections among those components. He created situations that he believed made those components and connections transparent and attempted to elicit those connections from the students. This account illustrates a practice that is different both from traditional practice and the type of practice that we would envision as a goal for teacher development. We contribute two important aspects of mathematics teacher development from traditional to reform-oriented teaching. In particular, we describe teachers' perspectives – assimilatory structures that constrain and afford (a) the sense they make of professional development opportunities and (b) their potential learning in teacher education settings. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Automatic item generation of probability word problems

Mathematical word problems represent a common item format for assessing student competencies. Automatic item generation (AIG) is an effective way of constructing many items with predictable difficulties, based on a set of predefined task parameters. The current study presents a framework for the automatic generation of probability word problems based on templates that allow for the generation of word problems involving different topics from probability theory. It was tested in a pilot study with N = 146 German university students. The items show a good fit to the Rasch model. Item difficulties can be explained by the Linear Logistic Test Model (LLTM) and by the random-effects LLTM. The practical implications of these findings for future test development in the assessment of probability competencies are also discussed.     

Gender,reasoning ability,and scholastic achievement: A multilevel mediation analysis

The present study investigated gender differences in scholastic achievement (school grades in sciences and languages) as mediated by reasoning ability in a large sample with a clustered data structure from an educational context. Whereas girls outperformed boys in languages, boys excelled in sciences and reasoning. Multilevel analyses indicated a small indirect effect of gender on school grades mediated by reasoning ability. Gender differences in sciences, but not in languages were largely explained by reasoning ability, but not by factors such as gender ratio in the classroom or mental speed. The predictive power of reasoning ability for languages, but not sciences was larger in classrooms with higher mean reasoning ability. Further, gender differences in languages, but not sciences varied significantly across classrooms. Reasoning ability appears to be important for predicting scholastic achievement in sciences, whereas languages are more affected by gender-related attributes.     

The composition of applicants and entrants to teacher education programmes in Ireland: trends and patterns

This article presents and discusses some results obtained from the analysis of data collected by the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (NUI) Applications Centre (PDEAC), which was established in 1999 to administer the selection of student teachers for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at the education departments of the four NUI (National University of Ireland) colleges centrally. Its main findings are that the number of applications for the PGDE has increased since 1999, that the student teacher cohort remains homogeneous with regard to nationality, that three-quarters of the student teacher body are made up of female students, that the number of mature applicants and entrants to the PGDE programmes has significantly increased, and that the numbers of graduates from Institutes of Technology and of students with business degrees entering teacher training have increased between 1999 and 2005. NUI remains the main provider of applicants to PGDE. The percentage of applicants with honours level primary degrees has increased, and prior teaching experience has become a crucial factor for acceptance.