Work-Based Curriculum to Broaden Learners’ Participation in Science: Insights for Designers

Research in Science Education - Around the globe, science education during compulsory schooling is envisioned for all learners regardless of their educational and career aspirations, including...     

Contrasting disclosure practices and experiences of school support for Australian adolescents with cancer,cystic fibrosis and anorexia nervosa: parent perspectives

Schools in Australia are required to promote equitable access to education and provide support services to students with chronic health conditions (CHCs). This qualitative study was conducted to explore stakeholders’ experiences and perceptions regarding school-based support. In-depth interviews were conducted with 38 parents of upper secondary school students with cystic fibrosis, anorexia nervosa or cancer (which were illustrative of different types of severe congenital, mental health or somatic CHCs). This enabled comparison of findings to determine whether there were any patterns in perceptions and experiences that were tied to the different CHCs. Data were analysed using a modified grounded theory approach to identify themes. Even though analysis indicated that all cohorts of parents viewed informed educators as best placed to provide tailored school-based support, major cohort differences were reported in parental experiences of school-based support as well as parental diagnosis disclosure behaviour. This latter finding was associated with cohort-related perceptions of risk to their adolescent child. Barriers to school-based support were perceived as varying by condition, the advocacy experience of parents and the nature of health service supports. Taking these findings into account, modification of current policies and practices within education and health sectors may lead to more equitable educational outcomes.     

Science and Mathematics Literacy: PISA for Better School Education

In this study, we explored how a teacher used a new mobile application that enables students to collect data inside and outside the classroom, and then use the data to create scientific explanations by using claim-evidence-reasoning framework. Previous technologies designed to support scientific explanations focused on how these programs improve students’ scientific explanations, but these programs ignored how scientific explanation applications can support teacher practices. Thus, to increase our knowledge about using mobile devices in education, this study aims to portray the synergy with an emphasis on a teacher’s practices when using mobile devices in 2 different units (water quality and plants). Synergy can be thought of as various scaffolds (scaffolds in the mobile application and the teacher support) working together to enable students to support creating explanations when using the mobile application. The findings of this study showed that the decrease in the teacher’s support for claims did not affect the quality of the students’ claims. On the other hand, the quality of students’ reasoning was linked with the teacher’s practices. This suggests that when supporting students’ explanations, focusing on components that students find challenging would benefit students’ construction of explanations. To achieve synergy in this process, the collaboration between teacher’s practices, professional development days, and scaffolds designed to support the teacher played a crucial role in aiding students in creating explanations.     

Assessment of the integration of AAMC Medical Informatics Objectives into the medical school curriculum

The School of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University examined the 2005/2006 medical school curriculum to ensure that students were prepared to meet the informatics objectives put forward by the AAMC Medical School Objectives Project published in 1998. The AAMC Medical Informatics Objectives Survey, issued in 2005, led the VCU School of Medicine to investigate the points of integration between informatics objectives and course syllabi for the first three years of the medical school curriculum. This analysis raised awareness of the informatics objectives with SOM faculty and staff and showed that more than 74% of the informatics objectives have been integrated into the curriculum.     

National Vocational Qualifications: the candidates' experience

PURPOSE: To examine the experience of studying for an National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) by past and present candidates in the library and information science sector, their reasons for choosing this qualification and its impact on completion. METHODOLOGY: Following a review of the literature, a number of NVQ candidates were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Candidates were contacted via e-mail through NVQ Centres and the LondonLinks e-mail list. There is a focus on health libraries as the flexibility and work-based nature of NVQs enable more staff to access training and education in this sector, despite the not uncommon low levels of staffing. RESULTS: NVQ Centres have gained experience since NVQs were launched 10 years ago. More support is offered to candidates and a number of issues such as isolation, are no longer a problem. An interesting result was the high number of candidates who had gone on to higher education following the completion of an NVQ. CONCLUSIONS: The NVQ is a useful method of providing staff with an opportunity to gain a recognized qualification. A significant number of candidates reported that the NVQ was ultimately a positive experience that improved their working practices. It can be an important first step for non-professional staff, but the future remains uncertain.     

Improving DHH students' grammar through an individualized software program

The purpose of this study was to determine if the frequent use of a targeted, computer software grammar instruction program, used as an individualized classroom activity, would influence the comprehension of morphosyntax structures (determiners, tense, and complementizers) in deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) participants who use American Sign Language (ASL). Twenty-six students from an urban day school for the deaf participated in this study. Two hierarchical linear modeling growth curve analyses showed that the influence of LanguageLinks: Syntax Assessment and Intervention (LL) resulted in statistically significant gains in participants' comprehension of morphosyntax structures. Two dependent t tests revealed statistically significant results between the pre- and postintervention assessments on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Norm Referenced. The daily use of LL increased the morphosyntax comprehension of the participants in this study and may be a promising practice for DHH students who use ASL.     

The Influence of Education Major: How Diverse Preservice Teachers View Pseudoscience Topics

Pseudoscience beliefs (e.g., astrology, ghosts or UFOs) are rife in American society. Most research examines creation/evolution among liberal arts majors, general public adults, or, infrequently, middle or high school science teachers. Thus, research truncates the range of ersatz science thinking and the samples it studies. We examined diverse beliefs, e.g., extraterrestrials, magic, Biblical creation, and evolution, among 540 female and 123 male future teachers, including 325 elementary education majors. We study how these cognitions related to education major and, because popular media often present pseudoscience “information”, student media use. Future elementary educators most often rejected evolution and endorsed “creationism” or Intelligent Design. Education majors held similar beliefs about astrology, UFO landings, or magic. Compared with other education students, elementary education majors watched less news or science television and read fewer popular science magazines. However, religious and media variables explained more variation in creation/evolution beliefs than education major. We discuss implications of our findings for elementary school science education and how teacher educators may be able to affect pseudoscience beliefs among their elementary education students.     

“What’s So Terrible About Swallowing an Apple Seed?” Problem-Based Learning in Kindergarten

Problem-Based Learning (PBL), an instructional approach originated in medical education, has gained increasing attention in K-12 science education because of its emphasis on self-directed learning and real-world problem-solving. Yet few studies have examined how PBL can be adapted for kindergarten. In this study, we examined how a veteran kindergarten teacher, who was experienced with PBL in her own learning, adapted PBL to teach students earth materials, a topic emphasized in the new state curriculum standards but students had difficulty understanding. The pre-post tests showed that students improved their content understanding. Analysis of the classroom discourse showed that PBL and the teacher’s facilitation strategies provided opportunities for students to develop their questioning skills. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of this study for using PBL in kindergarten classrooms.     

Asian medical students: quality of life and motivation to learn

Issues linked with the notions of quality of life (QOL) and motivation to learn among Asian medical students have not been well documented. This is true in both the international and the New Zealand contexts. Our paper addresses this lack of research by focusing on the QOL of international and domestic Asian students studying in New Zealand, where Asian students form a significant proportion of tertiary students. Although there is evidence to suggest that Asian students do well academically, it was felt that an investigation into their QOL would be instructive as QOL will likely have an impact on cognition, behavior, general well-being, and motivation. The present study surveyed fourth- and fifth-year medical students to examine the relationship between QOL and motivation to learn and to consider how Asian medical students compare against European medical and non-medical student peers. The study utilized the World Health Organization—Quality of Life questionnaire (BREF version) and a shortened version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The results show that the Asian medical students in this study generated significantly lower scores in terms of their satisfaction with social relationships compared with their non-Asian peers. In addition, international Asian medical students appear to be more at risk than domestic Asian students with respect to test anxiety. The paper considers the findings and the implications for quality of life, motivation to learn, medical education, and the Asian student community.