Supporting Teachers’ Understanding of Nature of Science and Inquiry Through Personal Experience and Perception of Inquiry as a Dynamic Process

Research in Science Education - One of today’s challenges in science education involves the development of appropriate conceptions of inquiry teaching and realizing how these experiences can...     

Rising to the Challenge: The Effect of Individual and Social Metacognitive Scaffolds on Students’ Expressions of Autonomy and Competence Throughout an Inquiry Process

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Engaging students in inquiry is a key component in order to fulfill essential goals in science education. To achieve successful engagement in inquiry...     

Early literacy and parental writing mediation in young children with and without ADHD

The study compared early literacy of Israeli children aged five to six years with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), contrasted parental writing mediation in the two groups and tested the relations between parents’ mediation characteristics and children’s early literacy skills. Each of 62 parent‐child dyads (32 with ADHD) was videotaped at home while writing words. Videotapes were transcribed and analysed for mediation (specific writing task measures, emotional measures typical of problem‐solving tasks, and general measures of interactions). Children’s early literacy (word writing, letter knowledge and phonological awareness) was assessed at home. Results showed that children with ADHD already exhibited lower literacy achievements at ages five to six compared to their peers without ADHD. Parents of children with ADHD scored lower than parents of children without ADHD on the writing‐specific, emotional and general mediation measures. In both groups, the specific writing mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy. More emotional mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy in the ADHD than in the non‐ADHD group. Discussion focused on parent‐child writing interactions as a context of early literacy development among young children with ADHD.     

The “Life at the Poles” Study Unit: Developing Junior High School Students’ Ability to Recognize the Relations Between Earth Systems

Understanding of Earth’s systems, including the crucial role of human beings within them, is an important part of citizens’ ability to think intelligently and critically about the environment, pollution, sustainability and other socio-economic and scientific issues central to life in the modern world. Part of this understanding involves seeing the world as an integrated whole in which what happens in diverse places in the world may be equally relevant for students' lives. In this regard, it makes sense to study both remote and local environments within the system thinking approach—where such distinctions naturally become blurred. The present research, accordingly, focuses on a study unit entitled “Life at the Poles” and investigates the development of junior high school students’ understanding of Earth systems and their level of conceptual complexity as a result of participating in it. The “Life at the Poles” unit is based on the “explanatory story” approach where one central theme is used as a focal point for an interdisciplinary study of certain natural phenomena, in this case, the possibility of life under the extreme conditions at the poles. Concept maps and Likert-type questionnaires were employed as research tools, allowing the collected data to be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The research findings indicate that the students significantly improved their Earth systems understanding and, importantly, greatly increased their awareness of human beings’ influence on the environment, including remote environments such as the pole.     

Understanding shifts in students’ academic motivation across a school year: the role of teachers’ motivating styles and need-based experiences

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Students’ adaptive motivation to study tends to decrease over time. However, the reasons for this decline are not fully understood. Drawing on...