Using Scaffolding Strategies to Promote Young Children’s Scientific Understandings of Floating and Sinking

The purposes of this study are to examine young children’s explanations of floating and sinking and to investigate how scaffolding strategies provided by a tutor could promote their scientific understandings. Fifteen 4-year-olds and fifteen 5-year-olds from a public kindergarten in northern Taiwan participated in this study. The children were interviewed before and after an instructional intervention to examine their understandings about how the weight, volume, and material of an object are related to sinking and floating. During the intervention, children manipulated objects made of different materials and were assigned to one of the three groups: scaffolding-material (provided with teaching scaffolding and allowed to see the materials of the objects), scaffolding (teaching scaffolding only), and material groups (seeing the materials only). In the first two groups, 16 teaching strategies based on six scaffolding principles were employed. Analyses of interviews showed that before the intervention, the 4-year-olds seemed to have a variety of explanations for sinking and floating and a majority of the 5-year-olds used weight as an explanation for floatation. After the intervention, both 4- and 5-year-olds in the scaffolding-material and scaffolding groups improved their understandings of floating and sinking. Particularly, three out of five 5-years-olds in the scaffolding-material group related the material of an object to its buoyancy and generalized their explanations to the objects made of the same material. The findings suggest that manipulative experiences alone might not be enough for children to further their understandings about floatation and that combining teaching scaffolding with children’s perceiving of the materials of objects is more effective. This study provides insight into how to support young children to learn science through effective teaching strategies.     

Scientific epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning science and self-efficacy of learning science among high school students

This study examined the relationships among Taiwanese high school students’ scientific epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning science, and self-efficacy of learning science. The questionnaire responses gathered from 377 high school students in Taiwan were utilized to elicit such relationships. The analysis of the structural equation model revealed that students’ absolutist scientific epistemic beliefs led to lower-level conceptions of learning science (i.e. learning science as memorizing, preparing for tests, calculating, and practicing) while sophisticated scientific epistemic beliefs might trigger higher-level conceptions of learning science (i.e. learning science as increase of knowledge, applying, and attaining understanding). The students’ lower-level conceptions of learning science were also found to negatively associate with their self-efficacy of learning science, while the higher-level conceptions of learning science fostered students’ self-efficacy. However, this study found that students who viewed scientific knowledge as uncertain (advanced epistemic belief) tended to possess lower self-efficacy toward learning science.     

Maternal work conditions and child development

How do maternal work conditions, such as psychological stress and physical hazards, affect children's development? Combining data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Occupational Information Network allows us to shed some light on this question. We employ various techniques including OLS with extensive controls, a value added approach and individual fixed effects in order to address potential endogeneity problems. Our results reveal that mothers’ exposure to work-related hazards negatively affects children's cognitive development and to work-related stress negatively affects children's behavioral development. While maternal time investments play a small but significant role in mediating these negative associations, paternal time investments neither reinforce nor compensate these associations.     

Effects of a concept mapping-based problem-posing approach on students’ learning achievements and critical thinking tendency: An application in Classical Chinese learning contexts

In language courses, it is important to foster students’ systematic thinking and to develop their competence to express, appreciate, criticize and reflect, in particular in such courses as classical Chinese, which aim to develop students’ cultural and literature knowledge. Problem posing is a promising strategy to achieve this objective. However, without sufficient supports, students could feel frustrated since problem posing is a challenging task, in particular for young students. In this study, a fill-in concept mapping-based problem-posing approach was proposed to address this problem. A learning system was developed based on the proposed approach and a quasi-experiment was conducted on an eighth-grade classical Chinese course to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The experimental results show that the concept mapping-based problem-posing approach improved the students’ learning achievement, critical thinking tendency and problem-posing quality. The interview results further show that the students perceived the approach as being effective from the perspectives of “Improving article comprehension,” “Improving problem-posing performances,” and “Boosting diverse thinking.”     

Examining Psychometric Properties and Level Classification of the van Hiele Geometry Test Using CTT and CDM Frameworks

The van Hiele theory and van Hiele Geometry Test have been extensively used in mathematics assessments across countries. The purpose of this study is to use classical test theory (CTT) and cognitive diagnostic modeling (CDM) frameworks to examine psychometric properties of the van Hiele Geometry Test and to compare how various classification criteria assign van Hiele levels to students. The findings support the hierarchical property of the van Hiele theory and levels. Using conventional and combined criteria to determine mastery of a level, the percentages of students classified into an overall level were relatively high. Although some items had aberrant difficulties and low item discrimination, varied selection of the criteria across levels improved item discrimination power, especially for those items with low item discrimination index (IDI) estimates. Based on the findings, we identify items on the van Hiele Geometry Test that might be revised and we suggest changes to classification criteria to increase the number of students who can be assigned an overall level of geometry thinking according to the theory. As a result, practitioners and researchers may be better positioned to use the van Hiele Geometry Test for classroom assessment.     

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A TAIWANESE COMMUNICATION PROGRESSION IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

Today, early science education is a well-accepted view. Enhancing children’s curiosity about the natural world and fostering positive attitudes toward science are primary goals of science education. However, questions remain regarding the appropriate ways to identify, nurture, and study these emotional states in pre-schoolers. This study examines the potential of using pre-schooler’s verbal (e.g. self-generated figurative expressions) and behavioral (sensorimotor interactions) responses while participating in a scientific activity, as indicators of curiosity and attitudes toward science. The responses of 41 pre-schoolers were documented via a response questionnaire developed for this study. An integrated quantitative–qualitative approach was utilized for data analyses. Results show that pre-schoolers utilize figurative expressions to express various emotional valences. Generation of verbal expressions that entail positive emotional valences and the desire to engage in sensorimotor interactions during a scientific activity were identified as positively correlated. Additionally, girls were more likely to express curiosity and positive attitudes toward science than boys in the context of this study. The findings suggest that these verbal and behavioral measures may serve as indicators of attitudes and curiosity toward science among pre-school children.     

Developing and validating technological pedagogical content knowledge‐practical (TPACK‐practical) through the Delphi survey technique

Technological pedagogical content knowledge TPACK refers to the knowledge set that teachers currently use to further improve the quality of their teaching and assist their students in learning. Several TPACK models have been proposed, either for discussing TPACK's possible composition or its practical applications. Considering that teachers' practical experiences should also be critical to the development of those teachers' knowledge, this study invited a research panel (six researchers) and an expert panel (54 science‐related educators) to propose and validate the framework of TPACK‐practical. After two rounds of anonymous communications that followed Delphi survey techniques, a total of eight dimensions of TPACK‐practical and corresponding indicators were identified and rated as having high levels of importance. Among these knowledge dimensions, the knowledge of direct information and communication technology uses for enhancing teachers' professionalism and students' conceptual comprehension was rated with a high level of importance. Also, disciplinary differences were found to exist between the different groups of experts. Biology teachers showed significantly higher ratings across all knowledge dimensions, whereas physics teachers' ratings were comparatively low. Such findings suggest that the structure and content of subject matter shapes not only the way they teach with technology but also the thinking logics they build longitudinally from their learning experiences.     

Interpretation,teaching and rationality

That processes of interpretation are unavoidable in any educational experience has not received serious attention in teaching and teacher education. One of the authors devised an exercise for her graduate class to help them understand practical aspects of hermeneutic theory in connection with rationality, truth and the nature of teaching and learning. The three co‐authors, each from a different cultural background, monitored and described their experiences of this exercise in order to explore the role of interpretation in teaching and learning. The students' interpretive activity was found to link subject matter to their past experience, reconstructing both. This process is described in detail and it is suggested that curricular spaces for interpretation be deliberately incorporated into teaching and learning situations.

Le fait que des processus d'interprétation sont inévitables dans des expériences éducationnelles n'a pas reçu d'attention sérieuse en enseignement ou en enseignement pédagogique. Un des auteurs a conçu un exercice pour aider sa classe graduée à comprendre les aspects pratiques de la théorie ‘hermeneutique’ par rapport à la rationalité, la vérité et la nature de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage. Les trois co‐auteurs, provenant chacun d'une culture différente, analysent et décrivent leurs expériences de cet exercice a fin d'explorer le rôle de l'interprétation dans l'enseignement et l'apprentissage. L'activité interprétative des étudiants a démontré une tendance à lier les thèmes à leur expérience antérieure, reconstruisant tous les deux. Ce processus est décrit en détail et il est suggéré que des espaces curriculaires pour l'interprétation soient incorporés aux situations d'enseignement et d'apprentissage.

Los procesos de interpretación son inevitables en cualquier experiencia educativa que no ha recibido la debida atención, en la educación de la enseñanza y la educación pedagógica. Una de los autores ideó un ejercicio para que a su clase de graduados les ayude a entender aspectos prácticos de la teoría "hermeneutic" en conexión con la racionalidad, la verdad y la naturaleza de la enseñanza y el aprender. Las tres co‐autores, cada una de un diverso fondo cultural, analizan y describen sus experiencias de este ejercicio para explorar el papel de la interpretación en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. La actividad interpretativa de los estudiantes demostró un enlace del tema con sus experiencias previas, reconstruyendo ambos. Este proceso se describe detalladamente y se sugiere que los espacios curriculares para la interpretación estén incorporados deliberadamente en situaciones de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje.

Dass in jeder erzieherischen Erfahrung Interpretationsvorgange unumgänglich sind, auch im Bereich des Lehrens und der Lehrerbildung,, erhielt noch keine ernste Beachtung. Eine der Autorinnen entwickelte eine Aufgabe fur ihre “graduate students” um ihnen praktische Aspekte der Hermeneutic verstandlich zu machen, besonders in bezug auf Rationalitat, Wahrheit , und die Art des Lernens und Lehrens. Ihre Co‐autorinnen, jede aus einem anderen Herkunftsland, beobachten und beschreiben ihre Erlebnisse mit dieser Aufgabe, um,die Rolle der Interpretation im Lehren und Lernen zu erforschen. Es war zu ersehen, dass die Interpretationstatigkeit dieser Studentinnen eine Verbindung herstellte zwischen Lehrinhalt und vergangenen Erfahrungen, und zugleich auch beide Bereiche rekonstruierte. Dieser Prozess ist im Detail dargestellt, und es wird vorgeschlagen, curiculare Freiraume fur Interpretationsprozesse zu schaffen und diese ganz bewusst in Lehr‐und Lernsituationen zu integrieren.