A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration of Intrinsic Problems in Designing Inquiry Activities

A central concern in science education is promoting inquiry activities, and a significant amount of research in science education has addressed what inhibits this goal. However, this research has tended to be focused on implementation issues. Levels of implementation are correlated with extrinsic barriers such as time, resources and teacher knowledge, but the internal structure of inquiry remains unexamined. However, are there also some ways in which inquiry based instruction is intrinsically difficult? That is, given perfect conditions for implementation, is devising inquiry activities a non-trivial matter, and are there patterns to the difficulties in doing so? The aim of this paper is to provide both a theoretical and empirical basis for the intrinsic problems associated with the construction of inquiry activities. We present a theoretical framework that connects contemporary studies of science to the classroom context. We then examine a case study of teacher education students designing inquiry-based instruction to demonstrate empirical evidence of intrinsic problems. Our ultimate goal is to improve our ability as teacher educators to guide science teachers in fulfilling this central task of their work.     

A third use of sociology of scientific knowledge: a lens for studying teacher practice

Over the last two decades, science educators and science education researchers have grown increasingly interested in utilising insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) to inform their work and research. To date, researchers in science education have focused on two applications: results of sociological studies of science have been used to define new areas of content, generally referred to as Nature of Science (NOS). This has included research into students’ understanding of the NOS, teachers’ understanding of the NOS, and inclusion (or exclusion) of NOS themes in curricula. A second vein of inquiry has been investigations that consider the classroom as a microcosm of scientific discourse and inquiry. Such research has included investigations of student‐to‐student and student‐to‐teacher interactions. In this paper, we present a third application for educational research – the investigation of teacher knowledge and practice as sociological phenomena. In addition to supporting scholarly research, we believe it can be a useful tool for illuminating the complexities of teaching that needs to be taken into account by policy makers and practitioners. In this paper, we provide a thematic review of concepts from the sociology of scientific knowledge, and their application to a case of teacher work.     

Becoming connected,being caring

This paper highlights perspectives on action research in education, health and social care and was originally presented as a keynote at the International Practitioner Research Conference and Collaborative Action Research Conference in 2005. The paper links with the other conference keynote given by Stephen Kemmis, co‐author of Becoming Critical. It reflects on the importance of Being Caring in action research in the context of health and social care; particularly in relation to emotionally supporting practitioners to improve their practice in settings which do not always welcome more emancipatory or critical approaches often used in education. The paper begins by exploring the nature of practitioner research and action research in health and social care and its links with quality. It argues that health and social care professionals have often drawn their methodological understanding from the literature written by colleagues in education. This literature tends to support critical and emancipatory forms of action research, which health and social care professionals have tended to adopt in an uncritical manner. Reflecting on some of the contextual constraints in health and social care, it argues that many of these factors are beyond the control of individual practitioners and suggests a need to focus on the neglected area of emotions, in addition to, contextual issues. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach an example of psychodynamically informed action research is given. The paper concludes that in the quest to be critical, practitioner researchers/action researchers in education, health and social care may be ignoring the emotional contexts in which they work. It suggests that being caring may be the key to being critical.     

Building Teacher‐Researcher Collaboration: dilemmas and strategies

School‐based and university‐based research collaborations are becoming more common because they provide rich sources of data. Classrooms are complex systems and having the multiple perspectives of researchers from different contexts provides a broader and more dynamic view. However, collaborative research also brings with it some ethical issues researchers who have worked alone may not have experienced before. This paper examines problems of collaborative research and conditions for successful research that arose from discussions among university‐based researchers. The problem areas that emerged ranged across a variety of epistemological and institutional Issues. These fell within seven large categories: (a) definitions of collaborative research, (b) roles of teachers and researchers, (c) time constraints, (d) expectations of employers, (e) whose voice gets heard, (f) openness and trust, and (g) political and institutional constraints. As with any dilemma, there are no clear solutions to the problems listed above. Explicitly considering the following conditions in response to the problems has, however, led to more satisfying and productive collaborative research relationships and products: (a) recognising that relationships take time, (b) recognising the role of disagreement, (c) discussing all aspects of the research project from the beginning, (d) acknowledging the organic nature of research projects, (e) striving to achieve parity in research relationships, and (f) reaching agreements about reporting the research.     

Large-scale randomized controlled trial with 4th graders using intelligent tutoring of the structure strategy to improve nonfiction reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is a challenge for K-12 learners and adults. Nonfiction texts, such as expository texts that inform and explain, are particularly challenging and vital for students?? understanding because of their frequent use in formal schooling (e.g., textbooks) as well as everyday life (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and medical information). The structure strategy is explicit instruction about how to strategically use knowledge about text structures for encoding and retrieval of information from nonfiction and has consistently shown significant improvements in reading comprehension. We present the delivery of the structure strategy using a web-based intelligent tutoring system (ITSS) that has the potential to offer consistent modeling, practice tasks, assessment, and feedback to the learner. Finally, we report on statistically significant findings from a large scale randomized controlled efficacy trial with rural and suburban 4th-grade students using ITSS.     

Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations in professional football

The present study aimed to analyse the influence of speed and power abilities in goal situations in professional football. During the second half of the season 2007/08, videos of 360 goals in the first German national league were analysed by visual inspection. For the assisting and the scoring player the situations immediately preceding the goal were evaluated. The observed actions were categorised as: no powerful action, rotation (around the body's centre-line), straight sprint, change-in-direction sprint, jump, or a combination of those categories. Two hundred and ninety-eight (83%) goals were preceded by at least one powerful action of the scoring or the assisting player. Most actions for the scoring player were straight sprints (n = 161, 45% of all analysed goals, P < 0.001) followed by jumps (n = 57, 16%), rotations and change-in-direction sprints (n = 22, 6% each). Most sprints were conducted without an opponent (n = 109, P < 0.001) and without the ball (n = 121, P < 0.001). Similarly, for the assisting player the most frequent action was a straight sprint (n = 137, P < 0.001) followed by rotations (n = 28), jumps (n = 22) and change-in-direction sprints (n = 18). The straight sprints were mostly conducted with the ball (n = 93, P = 0.003). In conclusion, straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations. Power and speed abilities are important within decisive situations in professional football and, thus, should be included in fitness testing and training.     

Editorial

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Editorial