Views on the philosophy of science among undergraduate science students and their tutors at the University of Papua New Guinea: origins,progression, enculturation and destinations

Using a schedule originated by Nott and Wellington to explore science teachers’ views on the philosophy of science, data were gathered at the University of Papua New Guinea. Similarities in response were established for successive first year intakes of science undergraduates (1999–2000). Students with experience in national high schools or Australian high schools responded more positively than their provincial secondary school trained peers to items indicating that the findings of scientific enquiry were universally true. A cross‐sectional analysis showed the undergraduates in the third and fourth years to be more process orientated than the first or second years. Both the first and second years were different in their views compared with their tutors in the relativism–positivism scale, where they were more positivist, the contextualism–decontextualism scale, where they were less decontextualist, and the process–content scale where they were considerably less process orientated. Those with a preferred career destination of medicine were slightly more decontextualist in outlook while being marginally realist, those with a preferred physical science career being very weakly instrumentalist. The results can be interpreted in terms of respondents’ experiences in secondary schooling and on programmes at the University of Papua New Guinea.     

Eye Contact Modulates Cognitive Processing Differently in Children With Autism

In humans, effortful cognitive processing frequently takes place during social interaction, with eye contact being an important component. This study shows that the effect of eye contact on memory for nonsocial information is different in children with typical development than in children with autism, a disorder of social communication. Direct gaze facilitated memory performance in children with typical development (n = 25, 6 years old), but no such facilitation was seen in the clinical group (n = 10, 6 years old). Eye tracking conducted during the cognitive test revealed strikingly similar patterns of eye movements, indicating that the results cannot be explained by differences in overt attention. Collectively, these findings have theoretical significance and practical implications for testing practices in children.     

On the Subjective Representation of Statistical Problems

Montgomery, H. & Allwood, C. M. On the Subjective Representation of Statistical Problems. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 22, 107‐127. Think aloud data from 19 subjects solving three statistical problems are reported. The data indicated that the problem solving process could often be regarded as a successive development of the problem formulation where each formulation tended to be on the same or on a higher qualitative level than the preceding formulation. Good problem solvers were found to differ from the poor solvers inasmuch as they (a) more often made an exhaustive definition of an essential concept mentioned in the problem, or (b) appeared to attend more to what was asked for in the problem. It was tentatively concluded that some of the erroneous problem solutions were due to a pure lack of reflection on how the solution of the problem should be related to the information asked for in the problem. For a problem, which was formulated in a seemingly ambiguous way, subjects’ knowledge of the underlying statistical model was positively related to the correctness of their problem interpretation.     

The desire for longevity: Development of the Personal Longevity Scale

ABSTRACT

A new psychometrically acceptable measure of the desire to live a very long life was devised using two samples. In Study 1, initial exploratory analyses of the Personal Longevity Scale (PLS) scale revealed a two-factor structure. The Hope factor represents the hopefulness participants have with regards to their expectations about personal longevity. The second factor, Dread, represents the fear and uneasiness associated with self-perceptions of living a very long life. In Study 2, the bidimensional nature of the PLS measure was confirmed, and the scale was further refined to include a final of seven items. Four items represent Hope (α = .85), and three items represent Dread (α = .78). Theoretical rationales for the two-factor structure of personal longevity are discussed. In Study 3, the PLS was compared to three similar measures of attitudes about aging. The results indicate that the PLS has moderate levels of convergent and discriminant validity. Potential uses for the new scale are discussed.     

Helping the In‐Group Feels Better: Children’s Judgments and Emotion Attributions in Response to Prosocial Dilemmas

Five‐ to 13‐year‐old European American children (N = 76) predicted characters’ decisions, emotions, and obligations in prosocial moral dilemmas. Across age, children judged that characters would feel more positive emotions helping an unfamiliar child from the racial in‐group versus out‐group (African American), happier ignoring the needs of a child from the racial out‐group versus in‐group, and greater obligation to help a child from the racial in‐group versus out‐group. Situations varied by whether the race of the needy child matched versus mismatched that of the focal character. With increasing age, children attributed more positive emotions to people who sacrifice their own desires to help needy others as well as became more discriminating about the situations that call for altruistic action.     

‘Bridging work’ and its role in improving progression and continuity: an example from science education

Science in English primary schools has been judged a success, yet few pupils make the progress in secondary schools that their performance at the end of primary school suggested. Projects where pupils start science work at the end of the primary school and complete it at the start of secondary school—known as bridging units—have been suggested as one solution. This article reports an evaluation of bridging work in science in the north‐east of England. Pupils' and teachers' views of bridging lessons were collected and data on pupils' performance before and after bridging lessons compared. Claims that pupils find this type of work repetitive and that their teachers would rather teach something else either side of transfer are challenged. Findings highlight areas that are still problematic, including the use made of transferred assessments and progression in pupils' abilities, to comment on relationships between variables and patterns in data. The future for bridging work is discussed.