Using Theater and Drama to Expose and Expand the Epistemic Insights of Youth Regarding the Nature of Science

Students learn about science in a range of life contexts. Unfortunately, science classrooms are often disconnected from the ways of knowing about science that are embedded in, and embodied by, the life experiences of students. Drama has been identified as a potential means by which deeper understandings of the nature of science can be derived and nurtured but research on how this might be achieved is sparse. This study uses drama methodology to explore epistemologies of science with two groups of secondary school students from very different social contexts: one from a private university preparatory school and another from an after-school community group in a low-income neighborhood. We use a combination of traditional instruments and contemporary methodologies to elucidate students’ perspectives on the nature of science. Despite the similarity in perspectives revealed by the two groups when using the more traditional nature of science testing format, we have shown how drama activities can uncover very different ways in which the two cohorts mobilize their understandings about science. We propose ways in which these methodologies may be employed by teachers to explore and expand the epistemic insights that students bring to the science classroom.     

Effects of different types of true–false questions on memory awareness and long-term retention

This study investigated the effects of two different true–false questions on memory awareness and long-term retention of knowledge. Participants took four subsequent knowledge tests on curriculum learning material that they studied at different retention intervals prior to the start of this study (i.e. prior to the first test). At the first and fourth (pre- and post-) tests, participants indicated which form of memory awareness (i.e. remember, know, familiar and/or guess) accompanied their answer. On the two intermediate tests, testing format was manipulated: true/false or true/false justification, that is a true/false statement with the additional instruction to explain why the statement is true or false. The results resembled earlier findings in that different forms of memory awareness could be distinguished. The study did not indicate (additional) knowledge schematisation as a result of testing or testing format. However, independent of test format, the proportion of correct answers on the post-test was higher than on the pre-test. This could indicate that the beneficial effects of testing can occur even when the learning episode was at a long retention interval prior to the first test.     

Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home

We describe a two year empirical investigation of three‐ and four‐year‐old children's uses of technology at home, based on a survey of 346 families and 24 case studies. Using a socio‐cultural approach, we discuss the range of technologies children encounter in the home, the different forms their learning takes, the roles of adults and other children and how family practices support this learning. Many parents believed that they did not teach children how to use technology. We discuss parents' beliefs that their children ‘pick up’ their competencies with technology and identify trial and error, copying and demonstration as typical modes of learning. Parents tend to consider that their children are mainly self‐taught and underestimate their own role in supporting learning and the extent to which learning with technology is culturally transmitted within the family.     

Does having vulnerable friends help vulnerable youth? The co-evolution of friendships,victimization, and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents' social networks

This study examined whether having vulnerable friends helps or hurts victimized and depressed (i.e., vulnerable) adolescents and whether this depends on classroom supportive norms. Students (n = 1461, 46.7% girls, 93.4% Han nationality) were surveyed four times from seventh and eighth grade (M_age = 13 years) in 2015 and 2016 in Central China. Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that having vulnerable friends can both hurt and help vulnerable adolescents. Depressed adolescents with depressed friends increased in victimization over time. Victimized adolescents with victimized friends increased in victimization but decreased in depressive symptoms. These processes were most likely in classrooms with high supportive norms. Having friends and a supportive classroom may hurt vulnerable adolescents' social position but help victims' emotional development.