Zoo educators face common and specific demands and resources: an application of the JD-R model

Zoo educators are important communicators of the targets in education for sustainable development and therefore carry great responsibility for global environmental change. However, German zoo educators form a heterogeneous group, many of them working in non-permanent job positions and facing multiple challenges at work. Applying the job demands-resources model, our study aims at revealing factors influencing zoo educators’ job strain. Our data from eight in-depth interviews with German zoo educators confirm that they perceive common factors known from other studies, such as demands (e.g. workload) and resources (e.g. supervisory support). Besides this, job-specific factors were identified (e.g. working with humans and animals). The demands zoo educators mentioned could be classified either as job hindrances (e.g. lack of equipment) or job challenges (e.g. learning). Future studies should quantify these results to facilitate the development of appropriate measures to reduce educators’ job strain, thus enhancing their performance.     

Students’ Socioscientific Reasoning and Decision-making on Energy-related Issues—Development of a measurement instrument

The concept of energy is one key component of science education curricula worldwide. While it is still being taught in many science classrooms from a mainly conceptual knowledge perspective, the need to frame the concept of energy as a socioscientific issue and implement it in the context of citizenship education and education for sustainable development, is getting more and more explicit. As we will be faced with limited fossil fuels and the consequences of global climate change in the future, students have to be supported in becoming literate citizens who are able to reach informed energy-related decisions. In this article, we focus on students’ reasoning and decision-making processes about socioscientific energy-related issues. In more detail, we developed a paper-and-pencil measurement instrument to assess secondary school students’ competencies in this domain. The functioning of the measurement instrument was analysed with a sample of 850 students from grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 using item response theory. Findings show that the measurement instrument functions in terms of reliability and validity. Concerning student ability, elaborate reasoning and decision-making was characterised by the use of trade-offs and the ability to weigh arguments and to reflect on the structure of reasoning and decision-making processes. The developed measurement instrument provides a complement for existing test instruments on conceptual knowledge about the concept of energy. It aims to contribute to a change in teaching about energy, especially in physics education in the sense of education for sustainable development.     

The Influence of Class-Size Variations on Cognitive and Affective Learning of College Freshmen

The influence of class-size variations on cognitive and affective learning was measured by use of a 15-concept semantic differential scale and a teacher-made test. A Non-equivalent Control Group design was employed with two groups of college freshmen (N = 320). After attending a weekly lecture, 160 Ss were divided into eight permanent discussion sections (twenty Ss each) for two weekly meetings. Small-group discussions emphasized critical examination of feelings and their impact on evaluation of personal, social, and professional problems. The remaining 160 Ss (serving as a control) were divided into three conventional classes (fifty-five Ss each) for similar purposes. No significant differences were revealed from an ANOCOVA (analysis of covariance) analysis. Within the limits of this study, it appeared that large-group lectures combined with small-group discussions, were as effective as conventional classes of fifty to sixty Ss.     

Identifying Non-Sustainable Courses of Action: A Prerequisite for Decision-Making in Education for Sustainable Development

Students are faced with a multitude of decisions as consumers and in societal debates. Because of the scarcity of resources, the destruction of ecosystems and social injustice in a globalized world, it is vital that students are able to identify non-sustainable courses of action when involved in decision-making. The application of decision-making strategies is one approach to enhancing the quality of decisions. Options that do not meet ecological, social or economic standards should be excluded using non-compensatory strategies whereas other tasks may require a complete trade-off of all the evidence, following a compensatory approach. To enhance decision-making competence, a computer-based intervention study was conducted that focused on the use of decision-making strategies. While the results of the summative evaluation are reported by Gresch et al. (International Journal of Science Education, 2011), in-depth analyses of process-related data collected during the information processing are presented in this paper to reveal insights into the mechanisms of the intervention. The quality of high school students’ (n?=?120) metadecision skills when selecting a decision-making strategy was investigated using qualitative content analyses combined with inferential statistics. The results reveal that the students offered elaborate reflections on the sustainability of options. However, the characteristics that were declared non-sustainable differed among the students because societal norms and personal values were intertwined. One implication for education for sustainable development is that students are capable of reflecting on decision-making tasks and on corresponding favorable decision-making strategies at a metadecision level. From these results, we offer suggestions for improving learning environments and constructing test instruments for decision-making competence.     

Children’s Drawings About “Radiation”—Before and After Fukushima

Although the term “radiation” has a fixed place in everyday life as well as in the media, there is very little empirical research on students’ conceptions about this topic. In our study we wanted to find out what students associate with this term. In 2009, we asked 509 students (between grade 4 and grade 6) from seven different schools to draw pictures related to “radiation”. This method of children’s drawings was supported by short interviews (n?=?74). The motifs appearing in the drawings were analysed, and we investigated whether or not the age and the sex of the children had any influence on the choice of motifs. One major result was that the older the students were, the more likely they were to choose sources of invisible radiation (nuclear power plants, mobile phones) as their motifs. Nine months after the tragic events in Fukushima (and at the same time 2 years after the 2009 data collection), we replicated the study. This time, we received 516 drawings from the same schools as in the 2009 study (supported by 33 interviews). This replicative trend study made it possible to compare the choice of motifs and discover possible differences. The results of this analysis showed that the drawings of 2011 included significantly more motifs related to radioactivity. This difference was prevalent in the drawings regardless of sex or age differences. Direct references to the Fukushima accident could be found in both the drawings and interviews.     

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATION ACROSS EXTERNAL REPRESENTATIONS: EXPERTS' VIEWS AND CHALLENGES FOR LEARNING

Recent curriculum reform promotes core competencies such as desired ‘content knowledge’ and ‘communication’ for meaningful learning in biology. Understanding in biology is demonstrated when pupils can apply acquired knowledge to new tasks. This process requires the transfer of knowledge and the subordinate process of translation across external representations. This study sought ten experts’ views on the role of transfer and translation processes in biology learning. Qualitative analysis of the responses revealed six expert themes surrounding the potential challenges that learners face, and the required cognitive abilities for transfer and translation processes. Consultation with relevant curriculum documents identified four types of biological knowledge that students are required to develop at the secondary level. The expert themes and the knowledge types exposed were used to determine how pupils might acquire and apply these four types of biological knowledge during learning. Based on the findings, we argue that teaching for understanding in biology necessitates fostering ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ transfer (and translation) processes within learners through the integration of knowledge at different levels of biological organization.     

Assessing students’ understanding of models of biological processes: a revised framework

Models are very important tools when learning and communicating about science. Models used in secondary school biology education range from concrete scale models, such as a model of a skeleton, to abstract concept-process models, such as a visualisation of meiosis. Understanding these concept-process models requires a profound understanding of the concept of models and how they are used in biology. This study evaluates an existing framework for its use in assessing students’ understanding of biological concept-process models. Four additions were required to extend the applicability of the framework to concept-process models. We were also able to give an indication of students’ current level of understanding of these models, showing room for improvement in all aspects of understanding. Since concept-process models have a central place in many scientific disciplines, it is important that students have a deep understanding of the nature, application and limitations of these models. The current study contributes to assessing the way students reason with concept-process models. Knowing how to improve students’ view on the use of concept-process models in biology may lead to higher scientific literacy.     

Beginning literacy: links among teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student learning

Although the importance of phonological awareness has been discussed widely in the research literature, the concept is not well understood by many classroom teachers. In the study described here, we worked with groups of kindergarten and first-grade teachers (the experimental group) during a 2-week summer institute and throughout the school year. We shared with them research about learning disabilities and effective instruction, stressing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological and orthographic awareness. We followed the experimental group and a control group into their classrooms for a year, assessing teachers' classroom practices and their students' (n = 779) learning. The study yielded three major findings: We can deepen teachers' own knowledge of the role of phonological and orthographic information in literacy instruction; teachers can use that knowledge to change classroom practice; and changes in teacher knowledge and classroom practice can improve student learning.