Showtime: the biopolitical performance of ‘effective beginning science teacher’

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Over the past decade, neoliberal practices for ensuring teacher effectiveness have shaped the landscape of education. In the midst of policy mandates for...     

Decision Making and Sources of Knowledge: How Students Tackle Integrated Tasks in Science,Technology and Mathematics

This article reports on students' decision making processes and sources of knowledge in an integrated teaching and learning setting. The study was conducted in a Year 9 classroom as students undertook a 10-week solar-powered boat project and were exposed to related concepts from science, technology and mathematics. Data collection involved detailed case studies of three pairs of students, interviews, classroom observation and analysis of the artefacts and portfolios produced by the students. Students were found to access knowledge from a variety of sources, including teacher's notes from formal instruction, informal interactions with the teacher, observation of and interaction with other students, as well as sources outside the classroom. However, the utility of the knowledge sources was influenced by the nature of the task. When students were performing open-ended tasks, they drew on a wider variety of knowledge sources than when they were performing less open tasks. Moreover, subject discipline-based sources often were not as helpful in solving open tasks. The study leads to several important implications for designing teaching and learning in integrated curriculum settings.     

The Western Australian School Leadership Programme: towards a new paradigm for leadership development

The changes confronting the workplace, such as the process of decentralisation currently transforming the structure of school systems, have given rise to new relationships within organisations, particularly new models of leadership. These changes reflect a wider and more comprehensive set of forces shaping human social existence in the latter part of the twentieth century, often referred to as post‐modernism. It is argued that the post‐modern world requires a different kind of education for school leaders in terms of both the content and the manner in which it is delivered. This paper describes the design, structure and delivery of one such programme in the state of Western Australia—the School Leadership Programme. It is argued that features of this programme represent the shape of things to come in professional development for school personnel as the education sector responds to the move from modernity to post‐modemity.     

Introduction: Science Teaching Cases as Learning Opportunities

Research in Science Education -     

The X-Factor: An evaluation of common methods used to analyse major inter-segment kinematics during the golf swing

Abstract

A common biomechanical feature of a golf swing, described in various ways in the literature, is the interaction between the thorax and pelvis, often termed the X-Factor. There is no consistent method used within golf biomechanics literature however to calculate these segment interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine X-factor data calculated using three reported methods in order to determine the similarity or otherwise of the data calculated using each method. A twelve-camera three-dimensional motion capture system was used to capture the driver swings of 19 participants and a subject specific three-dimensional biomechanical model was created with the position and orientation of each model estimated using a global optimisation algorithm. Comparison of the X-Factor methods showed significant differences for events during the swing (P < 0.05). Data for each kinematic measure were derived as a times series for all three methods and regression analysis of these data showed that whilst one method could be successfully mapped to another, the mappings between methods are subject dependent (P <0.05). Findings suggest that a consistent methodology considering the X-Factor from a joint angle approach is most insightful in describing a golf swing.     

Effects of stimulus alternations on extinguishing a discrimination

Rats were trained in a light ON vs light OFF discrimination in operant chambers with food reinforcement. Following acquisition, extinction under conditions of no alternations between S+ and S? and under conditions of numerous alternations between S+ and S? were examined. In Experiment I, extinction in S+ or S? alone produced less responding to S+ and more responding to S? than extinction with regular alternations between S+ and S?. In Experiment II, 9, 39, or 79 alternations in extinction between S+ and S? produced no differences in responding. These results indicate that during extinction of a discrimination there is (a) sharpening of differential performance, (b) a difference between multiple- and single-stimulus procedures, and (c) little effect of different numbers of alternations.     

CREDENTIALS NEEDED FOR TEACHING BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Biology and chemistry instructors at 50 institutions within th North Carolina Community College System were surveyed concerning the types of courses they teach, the diversity of students in their courses, their own academic preparation, how they would have altered their academic preparation for their current position, their preceived value of secondary school teaching in their current position, and additional comments about preparation for teaching in the community college. Personel officers at these institutions were surveyed on degrees they require for hiring biology and chemistry instructors, additional qualifications they seek in instructors, and whether they believe secondary school teaching experience to be of benefit for someone considering a community college teaching position.

Major concerns in hiring an instructor are a stong academic preparation in the teaching field and a second major or minor in a related science field. An additional concern is the ability to address the special needs of the diverse student population found in the community college setting. The instructors suggest that programs in science education can help teachers improve their instructional techniques, and 7 6% of the instructors who have taught in secondary schools indicate that this experience had been beneficial in their community college teaching.     

Programming-languages as a conceptual framework for teaching mathematics

Formal mathematical methods remain, for most high school students, mysterious, artificial and not a part of their regular intuitive thinking. The authors develop some themes that could lead to a radically new approach. According to this thesis, the teaching of programming languages as a regular part of academic progress can contribute effectively to reduce formal barriers. This education can also be used to enable pupils to access an accurate understanding of some key mathematical concepts. In the field of heuristic knowledge for technical problem solving, experience of programming is no less valuable: it lends itself to promote a discussion of relations between formal procedures and the comprehension of intuitive problem solving and provides examples for the development of heuristic precepts (formulating a plan, subdividing the complexities, etc.). The knowledge gained in programming can also be used for the discussion of concepts and problems of classical mathematics. Finally, it can also facilitate the expansion of mathematical culture to topics in biological and physical sciences, linguistics, etc. The authors describe a programming language called ‘Logo’ adapted to objectify an enduring framework of mathematical experimentation.     

Facilitating Primary Science Teaching: A narrative account of research as learning

This paper is, in part, a narrative account of a teacher educator's professional growth during a longitudinal case study of three primary science teachers, Katie, Jean and Ruth, as they made the transition from pre-service to inservice teaching. The study sought to explore ways in which the beginning teachers perceived and dealt with constraints to science teaching in the primary school, and how they changed and adapted the knowledge and skills developed at university in a practical situation. The findings of the study are organised by considering what we, the researchers, saw as three categories of challenge for these beginning primary science teachers, their initial alienation from the study of science, the differences between teaching science and teaching other subjects in the primary school, and the impact of novice status on science teaching. Working with participants to help them respond to these challenges became an occasion for our own development as science educators.