Designing,evaluating, and reacting to a secondary science methods class

Most science educators spend much of their time planning and teaching science methods classes yet there is very little dialogue among science educators concerning what ought to be taught. This study involved a small sample. Readers should think of it as a model for conducting similar self-studies. The instructor of this course has been teaching it since 1966, and each year, he has revised 10–20% of it. These data show that some, but not all, of the revisions have resulted in improvement. This analysis illustrates how helpful the perceptions of methods students can be for initiating and continuing a dialogue among educators regarding the structure of methods courses. Although the question of “What ought to be taught?” has been clarified to a degree, it has and always will remain.     

Introduction to the Special Section on Knowledge Management in Postmodern Society

This introductory essay contextualizes and meditates on the three articles—Bhattacharya, Day, and Waller—presented in this special section on “Knowledge Management in Postmodern Society.” In the process it reflects on following points: (1) the capacity the university had in the past to incorporate the irregular and its loss in the contemporary university, (2) the devaluation of humanities and social sciences because of the reduction of the narrative as well as the reflective and critical thinking to mere doxa, (3) the competition from mass media on university's traditional role in knowledge dissemination and the building of the public sphere, (4) the oscillation of academy between Taylorism and post-Taylorism, (5) the possible role students can play in overcoming crisis faced by the university, and (6) the evolution of the binomial writing/reading in the shift to digitalization and the information society.     

Evolution 2.0. The Unexpected Learning Experience of Making a Digital Archive

Studies in the history of science and education have documented that the reception and understanding of evolutionary theory is highly contingent on local factors such as school systems, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and language. This has important implications for teaching evolution in primary and secondary schools. No universal strategy can be applied in overcoming the barriers of learning that exist and that are part of the practical and daily life in classrooms all over the world. In light of this, a huge challenge is to make high standard teaching materials fit to specific target audiences readily available. As more and more schools require teachers to use low cost or free web-based materials, in the research community we need to take seriously how to facilitate that demand in communication strategies on evolution. This article addresses this challenge by presenting the learning experience of making a digital archive of Danish Darwin editions that marked the beginnings of a series of public engagement and teaching initiatives including, among other things, comprehensive new websites, exhibits, lecture series, television documentaries, and a computer game.     

Outstanding Mentor

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Comprehensive Return on Investment Evaluation System for Local Self‐Government Training in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Case: Project Cycle Management Course

This article describes a case study in the use of the return on investment (ROI) evaluation methodology in local self‐government training in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Out of 20 training programs, the Project Cycle Management course was selected. The article describes pioneering work for the ROI approach in the Western Balkan public sector. A main challenge was to identify an impact measure due to difficulties in accessing relevant data. A conservative approach to data management showed the strengths of the ROI methodology and the reliability of the results.     

Views of elementary and middle school Turkish students toward environmental issues

This study was conducted in order to identify the intensity of Turkish students’ views with regard to environmental issues presented in the national curriculum and to determine how these views differ by gender, grade level, previous science achievement, socio‐economic status (SES), and school location. For this project, a 51‐item Attitude Toward Environmental Issues Scale (ATEIS) was created and utilized. In total, the scale involved 30 distinct environmental issues. These environmental issues are emphasized in the current Turkish science education curriculum. A total of 458 students in grade 4–8 classrooms completed the scale. Rasch analysis results indicated that, in general, the students felt environmental problems should be confronted in Turkey. But when students were presented with a range of survey items stating that a particular environmental issue should take precedence over economic growth, it was often very difficult for students to agree. On the other hand, when students were simply presented a range of survey issues concerning environmental problems in Turkey, it was easy for them to agree with the presence (or importance) of these environmental issues in Turkey. Subsequent analysis suggested that the set of ATEIS survey items were understood and functioned in a similar measurement manner for male and female students, as well as elementary and middle school students. Results of ANOVA analyses indicated that recent high achievement in science courses resulted in more positive attitudes toward environmental issues. T‐test analyses revealed that the older female students of this data set exhibited more support for environmental issues than did male students. Students with high family income, and those students living in urban areas, displayed more positive attitudes toward environmental issues than did students with low family income, and those living in suburban areas.     

Intuitive ideas and scientific explanations as parts of students' developing understanding of biology: The case of evolution

Questions concerning 13–16 year old students' developing understanding of different biological concepts related to the theory of evolution of species are focused. The aim is to get more detailed examples of the ways in which students understand complex biological concepts and the development of these concepts. Data were collected from two different periods: at the beginning of the seventh and at the end of the ninth grade of the Swedish compulsory school. The examples given show how students, in various ways, construct and develop their understanding of animal and plant adaptation to nature, with the help of their biological knowledge as well as by alternative and more intuitive ideas about the function of nature. The varying abilities of students to express their ideas are discussed as well as different arguments concerning the student's difficulties in adapting to scientific ideas from more intuitive ideas.