Youth science expertise,environmental identity,and agency in climate action filmmaking

Abstract

The Green Ninja Film Academy (GENIE) is an interdisciplinary curriculum development project that examines the efficacy of combining climate science concepts and practices with digital storytelling for middle school youth. We present findings from iterative enactments of this design-based research project in 2017 (N?=?296) and 2018 (N?=?539). On average, youth increased scores on assessments of science content and practices while demonstrating competencies in filmmaking and science explanations. Further, an inverse correlation was seen between initial identification with the environment and change in environmental identification throughout the unit. Results suggest that integration of creative filmmaking into a climate science curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards can increase engagement and science proficiency particularly for youth who initially show less engagement in environmental science.     

‘I never heard the word methodology’: personal accounts of teacher training in Ireland 1943–1980

This article examines the experiences of 27 retired secondary school teachers (respondents) who completed initial teacher education (ITE) courses between 1943 and 1980. The eldest respondent completed ITE in 1943 and the youngest in 1980. The timespan 1943–1980 is not purposeful but dependent on the cohort that volunteered to take part in the study. Twenty-one of the cohort completed ITE prior to 1970 and four between 1970 and 1979, while only two did so in the 1980s. Consequently, much of the data and discussion relates to the period between the mid-1940s and late 1970s – one not characterised by pedagogic innovation in ITE, or education generally, in Ireland as successive governments struggled with economic challenges, the most prescient of which are discussed later in this study. All universities offering post-primary ITE in Ireland during this period were attended by at least one of the cohort and collectively they taught in 17 of Ireland’s 26 counties, while one respondent taught for a time in Northern Ireland. The majority of the cohort (63%) taught in rural towns, 28% in urban towns or cities while 9% taught in rural locations. The diversity of school-type is noted, as is the year in which the respondent began teaching. The respondents’ experiences of ITE demonstrate negligible differences depending on geographical location. Twenty were female and seven male. The age range was 96 (Sr. Boniface) to 65 (Mike). All of the respondents were accorded anonymity. Based on oral testimony the study suggests that ITE offerings in this period were conservative and consensualist in nature, that the social changes that characterised Irish society in the 1960s failed to impact upon teacher education programmes but that, according to respondents, the last decade has seen significant changes in ITE and in the dispositions of those entering secondary school teaching.     

Online teaching tool simplifies faculty use of multimedia and improves student interest and knowledge in science

Digital technologies can improve student interest and knowledge in science. However, researching the vast number of websites devoted to science education and integrating them into undergraduate curricula is time-consuming. We developed an Adobe ColdFusion- and Adobe Flash-based system for simplifying the construction, use, and delivery of electronic educational materials in science. The Online Multimedia Teaching Tool (OMTT) in Neuroscience was constructed from a ColdFusion-based online interface, which reduced the need for programming skills and the time for curriculum development. The OMTT in Neuroscience was used by faculty to enhance their lectures in existing curricula. Students had unlimited online access to encourage user-centered exploration. We found the OMTT was rapidly adapted by multiple professors, and its use by undergraduate students was consistent with the interpretation that the OMTT improved performance on exams and increased interest in the field of neuroscience.     

Welcoming nora: a family event

In this column, Allison and Paul Walsh share the story of the birth of Nora, their third baby and their second child to be born at home. Allison and Paul share their individual memories of labor and birth. But their story is only part of the story of Nora's birth. Nora's birth was a family event, with Allison and Paul's other children very much part of the experience. Jane and Gavin share their own memories of their baby sister's birth.     

A Grounded Theory of Counseling Students Who Report Problematic Peers

All counselors, including students, are responsible for intervening when a colleague shows signs of impairment. This grounded theory study investigated experiences of 12 counseling students who reported problematic peers. An emergent theory of the peer reporting process is presented, along with implications for counselor educators and suggestions for future research.     

Under the Umbrella: Pedagogy,knowledge production,and video from the margins of the movement

Abstract

In September 2014, students and Hong Kong citizens took to the streets demanding universal suffrage. Cell phones and video cameras in hand, amateur student filmmakers were some of the first to capture the police tear-gassing young people that brought the city to its feet. Young people were positioning themselves as storytellers and knowledge producers on the streets. How has this restructured hierarchy of knowledge production often found in university education in Hong Kong? How too has being active participants and/or passive observers of the events of the Umbrella Movement translated into a pedagogy of experience in student’s daily lives, and how has this knowledge returned to the classroom? Specifically, I am interested in ways that young women who are not Cantonese first-language speakers understand their role in the movement and the kinds of knowledge they produced. Through interviews with these diverse students, and visual data from the footage they shot during the protests, we gain a rare glimpse into the multicultural world gathered beneath the umbrella of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, and how a new generation of young female filmmakers are using video to share their changing perspectives on democratic reform, education, and everyday life.     

Investigating Students’ Explanations about Friction Concepts after Interacting with a Visuohaptic Simulation with Two Different Sequenced Approaches

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The current study investigates the differences in students’ explanations of friction concepts after the use of the visuohaptic simulation with...