Exploring pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment through analyses of student answers

Background: There has been an increasing emphasis on empowering pre-service and in-service science teachers to attend student reasoning and use formative assessments to guide student learning in recent years. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment. Sample: This study took place in Turkey. The participants include 53 pre-service science teachers in their final year of schooling. All but two of the participants are female. Design and methods: We used a mixed-methods methodology in pursing this inquiry. Participants analyzed 28 responses to seven two-tiered questions given by four students of different ability levels. We explored their ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses in students’ answers. We paid particular attention to the things that the pre-service science teachers noticed in students’ explanations, the types of inferences they made about students’ conceptual understanding, and the affordances of pedagogical decisions they made. Results: The results show that the majority of participants made an evaluative judgment (i.e. the answer is correct or incorrect) in their analyses of students’ answers. Similarly, the majority of the participants recognized the type of mistake that the students made. However, they failed to successfully elaborate on fallacies, limitations, or strengths in student reasoning. We also asked the participants to make pedagogical decisions related to what needs to be done next in order to help the students to achieve academic objectives. Results show that 8% of the recommended instructional strategies were of no affordance, 64% of low-affordance, and 28% were of high affordance in terms of helping students achieve the academic objectives. Conclusion: If our goal is to improve pre-service science teachers’ noticing skills, and the affordance of feedback that they provide, engaging them in activities that asks them to attend to students’ ideas and reasoning may be useful.     

Reflections from dual-mode alumni on the differences between distance and F2F education

The relevant literature is rich enough about the differences between distance and face to face education. However, the number of studies examining these differences from the viewpoint of dual-mode alumni, those graduated from both distance and face to face education programmes is limited. In this study, opinions of 33 dual-mode alumni from Turkey were analysed. As a result of an inductive content analysis, seven themes were determined. The themes relating to the differences between distance and face to face education were reputation, workload, experience, tuition fees, quality, procrastination and flexibility, respectively. Contrary to expectations, five out of seven themes were found out to be in favour of distance education. The theme of reputation consisted of the most important difference between distance and face to face education. Another interesting theme related to campus life was procrastination which is to the detriment of face to face education. At the end of the study, future research directions and practical implications are presented.     

COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES AND DISCIPLINES: THE BUCHAREST READING GROUP AS EMBODIED SOCIAL KNOWING

This article reports on a pedagogical experiment conducted by three American Soros Foundation‐sponsored professors and several Romanian sociology students who formed a reading circle. Its purpose was to encourage an exchange of ideas among students and teachers in an informal setting. Beginning in 1994, its first topic of discussion was Sex, Love, and Death in Postmodern Literature. During the following year, the topic was Public and Private Space in Society, and for the current (1996‐1997) academic year, it is Communication: Embodied Action in Culture. Partially presented in an interview format, this article serves as an interim evaluation of this type of teaching‐learning experience and also of the possibilities of academic mobility.     

An experimental investigation of properties of polyethylene reinforced with Al powders

Mechanical and physical properties, such as tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus of elasticity, Shore D hardness, melt flow rate (MFR), and electrical and thermal conductivities of composites with high density polyethylene matrix reinforced with Al powders were investigated experimentally. Measurements of the mechanical and physical properties were performed up to a reinforcing component concentration of 30% volume Al powder and compared with mathematical models from the literature. The obtained results have shown that experimental data were in good agreement with theoretical data. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation at break decreased with increasing Al powder content, which was attributed to the introduction of discontinuities in the polymer structure, and modulus of elasticity increased with increasing Al content. The composite preparation conditions allowed the formation of a random distribution of metallic particles in the polymer matrix volume for system high density polyethylene-Al (HDPE-Al). There was a cluster formation of Al particles at higher Al contents in the polymer matrix. Electrical and thermal conductivity values of HDPE-Al composites were higher than pure HDPE values.     

A matrix method for solving high-order linear difference equations with mixed argument using hybrid legendre and taylor polynomials

A numerical method for solving the higher order linear difference equations with variable coefficients and mixed argument under the mixed conditions is presented. The method is based on the hybrid Legendre and Taylor polynomials. The solution is obtained in terms of Legendre polynomials. IIIustrative examples are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the technique.     

Codes over Galois rings with respect to the Rosenbloom-Tsfasman metric

We investigate the structure of codes over Galois rings with respect to the Rosenbloom-Tsfasman (shortly RT) metric. We define a standard form generator matrix and show how we can determine the minimum distance of a code by taking advantage of its standard form. We compute the RT-weights of a linear code given with a generator matrix in standard form. We define maximum distance rank (shortly MDR) codes with respect to this metric and give the weights of the codewords of an MDR code. Finally, we give a decoding technique for codes over Galois rings with respect to the RT metric.     

Question types and wait-time during science related activities in Turkish preschools

The aim of the study is to investigate the types of questions that preschool teachers used during the science-related activities and preschool teachers’ behaviors in terms of wait-time. Through this study, the types of questions (lower level and higher level), the time that teachers allocate to their students to respond, and the teachers’ responses to the students’ answers were investigated. The study was conducted with six teachers working with six-year-old children in preschool institutions. In this qualitative study, the data were obtained through classroom observations. The findings of the study revealed that the teachers mostly asked lower level questions to the students and that they did not use the wait-time strategy effectively. Additionally, the findings showed that the teachers did not pay enough attention to the students’ responses. The teachers allowed students answer the questions as quickly as possible without encouraging them to think over their answers. Moreover, the teachers answered the questions themselves when the students did not give the correct answers. Finally, the teachers mostly dealt with the children actively participating much more than the other students who were less attentive.     

Comparing the Impacts of Tutorial and Edutainment Software Programs on Students’ Achievements, Misconceptions, and Attitudes towards Biology

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment design of instructional software programs related to the “cell division” topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the cell division achievement test (CAT), the cell division concept test (CCT) and biology attitude scale (BAS) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the research. After the treatment, general achievement in CAT increased in favor of experimental groups. Instructional software programs also had the positive effect to the awareness of students’ understandings to the general functions of mitosis and meiosis. However, the current study revealed that there were still some misconceptions in the experimental groups even after the treatment. It was also noticed that only using edutainment software program significantly changed students’ attitudes towards biology.     

Effects of technology-enhanced constructivist learning on science achievement of students with different cognitive styles

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of technology-enhanced constructivist learning on science achievement of seventh-grade students with...     

Effects of sustained attention and video lecture types on learning performances

Educational technology research and development - Video lectures are one of the primary learning resources embedded in e-learning environments. Many universities prepare video lectures and share...