Closing the Gap: Inquiry in Research and the Secondary Science Classroom

Teaching students how to conduct authentic scientific inquiry is an essential aspect of recent science education reform efforts. Our National Science Foundation-funded GK-12 program paired science graduate students—fellows—with secondary science teachers in order to enhance inquiry-based instruction. This research examined the roles of the fellows, teachers, and school culture in the implementation of inquiry and the fellows’ conceptions of classroom inquiry versus that in their own research. Qualitative data were collected for two academic years. Overall, the classrooms shifted toward a more inquiry-oriented approach over the academic year. Several aspects of school culture influenced inquiry implementation. Fellows described their research as similar in overall structure but less constrained by known concepts, less guided by mentors, and more in-depth than that of secondary school students. The teacher-fellow scientist partnership is a potentially effective professional development model to create positive and lasting change within the science classroom.     

体力活动与多发性硬化症研究的10大问题

摘要：全世界约有250万人患有多发硬化症（MS）,并且发病率有增加趋势。MS是一种中枢神经系统疾病,与多种症状和功能障碍相关。目前一线治疗方法对晚期患者基本无效。越来越多的证据表明体力活动（PA）有益于MS患者,但是大多数MS患者存在PA不足和静坐少动行为。因此,我们提出了10个研究问题,旨在指导今后有关PA和MS的研究：1）PA是否是一种MS的缓解性治疗行为？2）PA对MS患者有哪些益处？3）什么样的PA处方最适合MS患者？4）MS患者在PA中有哪些安全问题？5）哪些MS患者可以通过PA获得益处？6）哪些变量可以用来解释PA对MS患者的作用？7）有效促进 MS患者进行PA的行为干预方法是什么？8）我们如何将研究成果用于实际临床工作中？9）静坐少动行为对MS患者有什么影响？10）评价MS患者PA的最佳方法是什么？这些问题对于帮助我们了解PAPA对MS患者长期和短期的效果,开发新方法促进和保持MS患者的PA至关重要,解决这些问题可以大大改善MS患者的生活质量。     

Fourth graders’ dyadic learning on multi-touch interfaces—versatile effects of verbalization prompts

Educational technology research and development - Multi-touch interfaces allow for direct and simultaneous input by several co-present learners and afford hands-on learning experiences. Additional...     

Routed through Canada: a roundtable discussion on Inter-Asia and transnational research

ABSTRACT

The series of reflections are based on a roundtable discussion amongst Canada-based scholars with research interest in transnational, postcolonial, migration and diaspora studies. Their reflections engage with key ideas from Inter-Asia Cultural Studies through the lens of their research practices and personal histories. Y-Dang Troeung revisits generational memories that are shaped by the “Cold War fraternity” of China, Cambodia, and North Korea through the perspective of Critical Refugee Studies and her personal transits between Asia and Canada. Robert Diaz traces shifts in migratory routes by attending to diasporic returns to the Philippines under complex conditions of globalization that shape and constrain mobility between North America and Asia. Lara Campbell examines overlooked moments of transpacific connections in Canadian women’s history to show how Inter-Asia encounters complicated the racial dynamics of the suffrage movement in early twentieth century British Columbia. The roundtable discussion demonstrates the potential for ongoing dialogues on Inter-Asia issues among scholars in Canada and beyond.     

The effect of a structured story reading intervention,story retelling and higher order thinking for English language and literacy acquisition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of structured story reading intervention, Story reTelling and higher order thinking for English Language and Literacy Acquisition (STELLA), delivered to 38 Hispanic English language learners (ELL) placed in an enhanced transitional bilingual programme over 2 years from first to second grade as compared with 34 control students placed in a typical practice transitional bilingual programme during the same time period. Both treatment and comparison ELL students' retellings of two stories in Spanish and English were measured by five story elements. Findings were that (a) students receiving intervention outperformed their comparison peers in all five story elements in English and Spanish of both stories; (b) students showed stronger ability in their native language in four of five story elements; and (c) students performed at a higher level in the narrative‐informational story than a narrative story in both languages. Educational implications are discussed.     

“I didn’t know water could be so messy”: coteaching in elementary teacher education and the production of identity for a new teacher of science

Through the examination of the experiences of a pre-service teacher participating in a field-based science methods course, we make evident the ways in which a combination of collaborative teaching experiences and reflexive dialogues allowed for the evolution and transformation of her identity. This teacher is Johaira Lara, the second author of this paper, and we have engaged in a cowriting approach that has created layers of writings over time, with the focus of providing evidence of her changing perceptions and understandings of teaching and learning science. We describe the ways coteaching and cogenerative dialogues provided the opportunity for Johaira to examine and reconsider her views on science teaching, and mediated the production and transformation of her identity. We offer an evolving analysis of her identity transformation related to specific aspects of the course that were pivotal for her emergence as an elementary teacher of science.