A combined approach to strengthen children’s scientific thinking: direct instruction on scientific reasoning and training of teacher’s verbal support

Inquiry-based lessons have been demonstrated to improve children’s scientific thinking (i.e. reasoning abilities and domain-specific knowledge). Although empirical evidence shows that inquiry-based learning requires instruction, research comes from two approaches that have not been bridged yet: direct instruction of scientific reasoning and teacher training of verbal support. We investigated how these two types of instruction separately or combined strengthened children’s scientific thinking by comparing four conditions: baseline, direct instruction, verbal support, and a combined approach. Effectiveness of an inquiry-based lesson series on scientific reasoning abilities, vocabulary, and domain-specific knowledge (near and far transfer) were studied among 301 fourth graders. Results showed that both approaches strengthened different components of scientific reasoning abilities, and that a combination of instructions was most effective for scientific reasoning abilities, vocabulary, and domain-specific knowledge. Domain-specific knowledge acquisition was strengthened only when both instructions were provided. It can thus be concluded that each type of instruction has unique contributions to children’s science learning and that these instructions complement each other. Our study thus showed that inquiry-based lesson series when preceded by direct instruction of scientific reasoning and scaffolded with verbal support are most effective.     

武术课程中探究式教学的设计与实施

探究式教学就是教师在教学过程中引导学生对教学内容进行积极探究,鼓励学生自主地获取知识和技能,掌握解决问题的方法.在探究式教学中,学生的主体地位得到了加强、创新精神和实践能力得到了培养、智力和特长得到了展现.     

论科学探究活动中学生自我效能感的培养

自我效能感是动机的核心要素，是主体性学习的心理支持系统。科学探究活动对于培养学生的自我效能感具有重要作用。对自我效能感的内涵、教育定义以及在科学探究活动中培养学生自我效能感的途径作了深入探讨。     

研究性学习教学模式在体育教学中的运用

主要采用文献资料法与逻辑分析法对体育教学中研究性学习进行综合性研究,探讨了在体育教学中进行研究性学习的理论基础、研究性学习教学模式在体育教学中的构建及支持系统。     

Reconsidering the Character and Role of Inquiry in School Science: Analysis of a Conference

We summarize a conference on scientific inquiry bringing together science educators, cognitive scientists and philosophers of science with three goals:

让质疑探究融入高中数学课堂

探究性的课堂教学是当前基础教育课程改革中倡导的新理念,而设疑是提供探究性学习的重要内容,本文从高中数学课堂教学的几个重要方面探讨如何通过设疑提高课堂教学效果。     

Negotiating the teaching of history in times of curriculum reform: the narrative accounts of four Australian primary teachers

This research investigates the understandings of four teachers who teach history in primary and early childhood settings. Data were gathered from participants through semi-structured interviews. The participants were experienced teachers who were in the process of curriculum change – from teachers of studies of society and environment to teachers of history, under the auspices of the Australian Curriculum: History. The focus of the study was on their understandings of content knowledge and the pedagogies involved in classroom teaching, using a pedagogical framework, which sought to identify and categorise the nature of their knowledge base in the implementation phase of the Australian Curriculum: History. The study used narrative inquiry to show how temporality, sociality, and place play out in the lives of these teachers of history. The findings from this study indicate the challenges and opportunities for teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes in times of curriculum reform. Whilst there are a small number of participants in this study, their stories provide insight into how teachers responded to the challenges and opportunities of teaching history and how these teachers have shaped the implementation of the history curriculum.     

Narrative inquiry and the problem of representation: ‘giving voice’, making meaning

In this article, the author argues that the exploration of alternative forms of research representation can result in new possibilities for making meaning in educational research. Narrative inquiry as a methodology has become established as an approach in education but remains contested in many ways. How we come to an understanding of such research findings and in particular how the issues of voice and representation are resolved are subject to much debate. Here, the author proposes that using fictive methods of representation of research, particularly poetry, can have implications for the ways in which meaning is made and therefore the possible meanings that can be made. Further, this article argues that the poetic form allows for the inclusion of many voices and stories in a non-hierarchical manner, making the author's influence explicit without it being dominant. Researchers have argued for poetic representations of research data as a means to evoke the participants' experience whilst making the author's influence explicit; here, it is argued that poetry can be utilized to provide a fuller representation of the research, placing the voice of the participants, the researcher and the literature on an equal level within the whole story of the research project. This article first details narrative inquiry as a methodological approach and its particular application to educational research before discussing the issues surrounding voice and representation. Subsequently, fictive forms of representation are explored as a means of addressing these issues.     

A framework for scaffolding students' assessment of the credibility of evidence

Assessing the credibility of evidence in complex, socio‐scientific problems is of paramount importance. However, there is little discussion in the science education literature on this topic and on how students can be supported in developing such skills. In this article, we describe an instructional design framework, which we call the Credibility Assessment Framework, to scaffold high school students' collaborative construction of evidence‐based decisions and their assessment of the credibility of evidence. The framework was employed for the design of a web‐based reflective inquiry environment on a socio‐scientific issue, and was enacted with 11th grade students. The article describes the components of the Credibility Assessment Framework and provides the details and results of an empirical study illustrating this framework in practice. The results are presented in the form of a case study of how 11th grade students investigated and evaluated scientific data relating to the cultivation of genetically modified plants. Multiple kinds of data were collected, including pre‐ and post‐tests of students' conceptual understanding and their skills in assessing the credibility of evidence, and videotapes of students' collaborative inquiry sessions. The analysis of the pre‐ and post‐tests on students' conceptual understanding of Biotechnology and their skills in assessing the credibility of evidence revealed statistically significant learning gains. Students' work in task‐related artifacts and the analysis of two groups' videotaped discussions showed that students became sensitive to credibility criteria, questioned the sources of data and correctly identified sources of low, moderate, and high credibility. Implications for designers and educators regarding the application of this framework are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 711–744, 2011     

贫困大学生的心理健康问题探究及其解决方案

当前,诸多压力令大学生心力交瘁,心理健康问题接踵而来。尤其是贫困大学生,他们面临着更多社会、学校和家庭的压力,他们的心理健康问题已引起了社会各界的广泛关注。高校辅导员有责任和义务去探究贫困大学生的心理健康问题,并极力寻求解决方案。