A comparison of year 1 and year 6 students' conceptions of evaporation and condensation: dimensions of conceptual progression

A range of challenging activities centred on evaporation and condensation were explored with year 1 and year 6 children. Their explanations in group discussion, written responses and interview were analysed, using NUD*IST qualitative analysis software, to explore the nature and coherence of their conceptions. The data was used to critically evaluate previous claims in the literature concerning the characteristics of progression in understanding of evaporation, and to identify the main dimensions that characterize the differences in children's explanations. The older children displayed a surer sense of ontological categories, greater epistemological sophistication including their ability to link explanations and evidence, greater precision in the use of conceptual language, and a greater range of associations they could make.     

Deconstructing learning in science—Young children's responses to a classroom sequence on evaporation

Five year old children's ideas were tracked by a range of means during and subsequent to a classroom sequence on evaporation. They held a range of conceptions which changed in complex ways across context and time. These could only be made sense of by moving outside traditional conceptual change interpretations to include broader notions of appropriation of language as a cultural tool, of personal and social narrative responses to features of the phenomena and the classroom setting, and the nature of science explanations. The findings are used to explore the relationship between social and individual perspectives on learning, and to question some assumptions underlying conceptual change research.     

Representational Issues in Students Learning About Evaporation

This study draws on recent research on the central role of representation in learning. While there has been considerable research on students’ understanding of evaporation, the representational issues entailed in this understanding have not been investigated in depth. The study explored students’ engagement with evaporation phenomena through various representational modes. The study indicates how a focus on representation can provide fresh insights into the conceptual task involved in learning science through an investigation of students’ responses to a structured classroom sequence and subsequent interviews over a year. A case study of one child’s learning demonstrates the way conceptual advances are integrally connected with the development of representational modes. The findings suggest that teacher-mediated negotiation of representational issues as students construct different modal accounts can support enriched learning by enabling both (a) richer conceptual understanding by students, and (b) enhanced teacher insights into students’ thinking.     

Progression in primary school children's conceptions of burning: Toward an understanding of the concept of substance

Children's conceptions of burning were explored through observation and discussion or a number of challenging phenomena. Analysis of written responses showed that children's conceptions are both specific and contextually based, and that there is little coherence in the use of any one conception across phenomena. Progression across the primary school years can be described, however, in terms of children's growing confidence with the idea of transformation of substances and the analysis relates this to a model based on changing commitments to the notion of substance defined by properties, rather than history. The conceptual trajectories described in the study are broadly consistent with previous studies of secondary school children.     

A Curriculum Innovation Framework for Science, Technology and Mathematics Education

There is growing concern about falling levels of student engagement with school science, as evidenced by studies of student attitudes, and decreasing participation at the post compulsory level. One major response to this, the Australian School Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM) initiative, involves partnerships between schools and community and industry organisations in developing curriculum projects at the local level. This project fulfils many of the conditions advocated to engage students in learning in the sciences. ASISTM is underpinned by the notion of innovation. This paper describes the findings of case study research in which 16 ASISTM projects were selected as innovation exemplars. A definition of innovation and an innovation framework were developed, through which the case studies were analysed to make sense of the significance of the ideas and practices, participating actors, and outcomes of the projects. Through this analysis we argue that innovation is a powerful idea for framing curriculum development in the sciences at the local level that is generative for students and teachers, and that these ASISTM projects provide valuable models for engaging students, and for teacher professional learning.     

Discourse communities: A framework from which to consider professional development for rural teachers of science and mathematics

This paper explores aspects of professional development for teachers of science and mathematics in schools in rural Australia. The study identified a range of issues including tensions between government, school and individual professional learning priorities and their respective responsibilities; the shaping of professional development by rurality; and issues of generic versus subject-specific professional learning. The paper will focus on the needs of teachers, particularly secondary teachers, for subject-specific professional development and the capacity of different professional development approaches for satisfying these needs. The notion of discourse communities is proposed as a framework for considering this issue.     

One-arm maximal strength training improves work economy and endurance capacity but not skeletal muscle blood flow

Maximal strength training with a focus on maximal mobilization of force in the concentric phase improves endurance performance that employs a large muscle mass. However, this has not been studied during work with a small muscle mass, which does not challenge convective oxygen supply. We therefore randomized 23 adult females with no arm-training history to either one-arm maximal strength training or a control group. The training group performed five sets of five repetitions of dynamic arm curls against a near-maximal load, 3 days a week for 8 weeks. This training increased maximal strength by 75% and improved rate of force development during both strength and endurance exercise, suggesting that each arm curl became more efficient. This coincided with a 17-18% reduction in oxygen cost at standardized submaximal workloads (work economy), and a 21% higher peak oxygen uptake and 30% higher peak load during maximal arm endurance exercise. Blood flow assessed by Doppler ultrasound in the axillary artery supplying the working biceps brachii and brachialis muscles could not explain the training-induced adaptations. These data suggest that maximal strength training improved work economy and endurance performance in the skeletal muscle, and that these effects are independent of convective oxygen supply.