Curriculum translation and environmental education: considering issues of discursive intentionality, interpretation, and validity

We would like to thank our commentators Reis, Ercikan and Alper for their insightful comments on our research study and respond in brief to a few of their criticisms. More specifically, we would like to address what we consider to be the three main issues they raise with regard to the practices of curriculum translation and implementation across languages, namely viewing speakers’ intentions as a mode of signification in discourse analysis, exploring curriculum translation through an interpretive research approach, and establishing the validity of research on curriculum translation.

If We Teach Them, They Can Learn: Young Students Views of Nature of Science Aspects to Early Elementary Students During an Informal Science Education Program

There have been substantial reform efforts in science education to improve students’ understandings of science and its processes and provide continual support for students becoming scientifically literate (American Association for the Advancement of Science in Benchmarks for science literacy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993; National Research Council in Mathematics and science education around the world, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1996; National Science Teachers Association in NSTA position statement 2000). Despite previous research, it is still unclear whether young children are actually developmentally ready to conceptualize the ideas that are recommended in the reforms (Akerson V, Volrich M (2006) Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 43, 377–394). The purpose of this study was to explore how explicit-reflective instruction could improve young students’ understanding of NOS. During an informal education setting, the authors taught NOS aspects using explicit-reflective instruction. Overall the students participating in the program improved their understanding of the target aspects of NOS through use of explicit reflective instruction. However, the levels of improvement varied across different aspects. Students improved the most in their understanding of the tentative nature of science and the roles of observation in scientific work, although there was still some confusion regarding the distinction between observation and inference. More work needs to be done exploring these specific topics and the role explicit reflective practice can play in identifying the particular problems students have in distinguishing these constructs.     

“Who polluted the Potomac?” The translation and implementation of a US environmental story in Brazilian and Turkish classrooms

In this study we examine how elementary teachers in Brazil and Turkey approached the translation and subsequent classroom implementation of an instructional activity that promotes environmental awareness through a combination of student role playing and teacher oral delivery of an environmental story about river pollution. A discourse analysis showed that translation into Portuguese was literal, an approach that fostered a classroom implementation that emphasized detached transmission of knowledge (the teacher frequently interrupted her delivery to provide textual, contextual and recontextualizing information to students). In contrast, translation into Turkish was free, that is, with many modifications that led to a decontextualized and detached text. Implementation of this text was focused on the creation of student involvement, being dominated by oral strategies such as religious analogies (heaven and hell), and parallel repetitions of statements of shared guilt. Based on these findings, it was concluded that neither translation promoted an equivalent form of environmental instruction (i.e., involved transmission of environmental knowledge). Furthermore, an argument is made that effective translation requires that original and translated curricula foster analogous levels of involvement (or detachment) as well as equivalent forms of classroom relationships and social roles (pragmatic equivalence).

Fostering a community of practice through a professional development program to improve elementary teachers' views of nature of science and teaching practice

This study explored the development of a community of learners through a professional development program to improve teachers' views of nature of science (NOS) and teaching practice. The Views of Nature of Science questionnaire and interviews were used to assess teachers' conceptions of NOS three times over the course of the study. Notes and videotapes taken during workshops and classroom observations were used to track influence of the community of learners on classroom practice. The community of practice (CoP) was fostered through an intensive summer workshop, monthly school site workshops, and classroom support to aid teachers in incorporating new techniques and reflecting upon their learning and practice. We found that teachers became aware of their changes in views about NOS once they struggled with the concepts in their own teaching and discussed their struggles within the professional development community. The CoP on its own was not sufficient to change teacher's practice or knowledge, but it created a well‐supported environment that facilitated teacher change when paired with NOS modeling and explicit reflection. Cases of three teachers are used to illustrate changes in views and teaching practice common to the teachers in this study. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 1090–1113, 2009     

Exploring the use of Motivational Interviewing with a disengaged primary-aged child

Research suggests motivational interviewing (MI) techniques are both widely-used by educational psychologists (EPs) and effective in supporting young people of secondary age. To date, there has been no published research investigating the use of MI with primary-aged children. This study details the use of a short MI-based intervention with a primary-aged pupil identified as disengaged. A case-based approach was employed, using pupil and teacher interviews and observational fieldnotes to assess the usefulness of the intervention. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and the intervention checked for adherence to the MI spirit and principles. Here the process, structure and outcomes of the intervention are exemplified through an illustrative case study with a nine-year-old boy. Results indicate that the adapted intervention had a significant impact on learning motivation and classroom behaviour. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the use of school-based therapeutic interventions by EPs.     

The Influence of Metacognitive Training on Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions of Nature of Science

This study assessed the influence of training in, and use of, metacognitive strategies on the development of prospective elementary teachers’ views of nature of science (NOS). Participants were 49 students (92% female) enrolled in two sections of an elementary science methods course. The sections were randomly assigned to an intervention group and a comparison group. Students in both groups were engaged with explicit‐reflective NOS instruction, which focused on the empirical, tentative, theory‐driven, inferential, and creative NOS. Additionally, students in the intervention group received instruction in, and used, three metacognitive strategies during their engagement with thinking about NOS. The Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire—Form C and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory were respectively used to assess participants’ views of NOS and metacognitive awareness at the beginning and conclusion of the study. Data analyses indicated that significantly more students in the intervention group explicated more informed views of the target aspects of NOS. Moreover, these substantial changes were coupled with significantly increased Metacognitive Awareness Inventory scores for the intervention group participants. The results point to a relationship between improved metacognitive awareness and the development of informed understandings of NOS.     

Using Children’s Literature in the Middle School Science Class to Teach Nature of Science

Science & Education - In this study, we report the results of the content analysis of preservice middle school science teachers’ own written science storybooks and middle school female...