Instructional practices in reformed undergraduate STEM learning environments: a study of instructor and student behaviors in biology courses

ABSTRACT

Theoretically, organisational culture, instructor training, and learning space design influence how faculty teach STEM courses. Previous studies have used classroom observation protocols to characterise the range of teaching practices in mostly teacher-centered, traditional STEM classrooms. In this study, we examined the classroom behaviour of 13 STEM faculty teaching biology courses in a reformed undergraduate STEM learning environment. Our findings indicate that instructors teaching in this reformed environment guided student learning (58.4?±?1.9%) almost three times more than they presented information (20.0?±?2.2%). Students worked individually or in groups and talked to the whole class (57.1?±?1.8%) 1.5 times more than they received information (35.5?±?1.9%). We found significant positive correlation between ‘instructor presenting’ and ‘students receiving’ information (r?=?0.743, p?=?1.4?×?10^?4) and ‘instructor guiding’ and ‘student working and talking’ in class (r?=?0.605, p?=?7.2?×?10^?5), suggesting that instructors can change their own classroom behaviours and expect concurrent change in their students’ behaviours. Finally, sequencing teaching practices in high active-engagement classrooms showed instructors move and guide student group work and lead whole class discussions before lecturing to students, which could lead to deeper learning of conceptual knowledge. We discuss insights from these findings that have implications for acculturating evidence-based teaching practices in STEM departments.     

浅析职业素质在《酒店英语》教学中的培养

《酒店英语》课堂教学在注重学科知识传授的同时应将“职业”与“技能应用”结合起来,将学生职业素质的培养融入教学的每一个环节,使教材、教师、学生三要素更好地相互作用,帮助学生提高口语实践能力,提高职业兴趣,提升职业技能,具备良好职业道德,达到零距离上岗并为职业发展打下良好基础。     

论教学理论研究的知识学转向

“所谓教学理论的知识学转向”,指的是知识问题在教学理论研究中的凸现,以及由此所引起的教学理论研究视界的转换。综观20世纪80年代以来的教学理论研究的文本及其变迁走向,就教学理论研究的“知识传统”而言,在教学理论知识的生成理念上潜隐着一种对“规律”“消解”的走向,而这种走向正是在对以往教学理论研究“知识”范型的破解下形成的,它的突出表现是教学理论研究新的“知识规则”的形成。     

The effectiveness of computer-based EFL instruction among primary school students in Israel

This paper presents an effectiveness study of a computer-based English reading program, the Waterford Early Reading Program (WERP), among first and second grade students in Israel. Students who used the program were compared to a control group only receiving English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction as part of the school curriculum. First grade students who used the software during the study period experienced significantly greater gains than control group students on all four measures of reading ability. Second grade students in the treatment group experienced greater gains than control group students on the nonsense word and phoneme segmentation measures. These results indicate that adaptive English reading software has a place in an EFL education system, especially among young students with complex linguistic backgrounds. Adaptive programs like WERP may produce better EFL results than non-adaptive programs because they are able to adjust based in part on a student’s linguistic proficiency.     

任务型教学法在高校英语语法教学中的实践

分析了任务型教学法在语法教学领域的应用,主张学生的学习需要有意义、有目的,是为了做成一件事情而进行活动,不仅仅是机械的语言操练。教育的中心应从教师和教科书转到学生,教师应引导学生在各种活动中学习。课堂教学应始终围绕既定的教学任务展开,使每节课目的明确、内容实在、效果最佳。大学语法教师应明确任务教学法的基本含义、设计原则以及实施步骤,使它更好地为语法教学服务。     

“We do not know what is the real story anymore”: Curricular contextualization principles that support indigenous students in understanding natural selection

We propose a process of contextualization based on seven empirically derived contextualization principles, aiming to provide opportunities for Indigenous Mexican adolescents to learn science in a way that supports them in fulfilling their right to an education aligned with their own culture and values. The contextualization principles we empirically derived account for Nahua students' cultural cognition, socialization, and cultural narratives, thus supporting Indigenous students in navigating the differences between their culture and the culture and language of school while learning complex science concepts such as natural selection. The process of curricular contextualization we propose is empirically driven, taking culture and socialization into account by using multiples sources (cognitive tasks to explore teleology, ethnographic observation of students' community and classroom, and interviews with students and community members) and builds on the scholarship in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Indigenous Education. We used these principles to redesign a middle school biology unit on natural selection to make it more culturally relevant for Nahua students. The enactment of this unit resulted in students being engaged in science learning and achieving significant learning gains. The significance of this study lies in presenting evidence that learning science in culturally relevant ways supports the learning of challenging biology concepts. We provide evidence that Western science can be learned in ways that are more aligned with Indigenous students' Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, thus informing the implementation of educational policies aiming to improve the quality of secondary education for Indigenous adolescents. Our proposed contextualization principles can benefit students of all cultural identities who feel that their religion, language, or traditional knowledge are not aligned with school science, facilitating their access to culturally relevant science education.     

Editorial Statement

Over the past couple of decades, K–12 schools have courageously struggled with the concept of shared, or distributed, leadership; however, the basic landscape of K–12 school leadership remains heavily hierarchical. Nonetheless, teachers can share leadership. This article explores productive forms of teacher leadership that are models of collaboration, integration, encouragement, learning, modeling, challenging, building consensus, and displaying professionalism.     

物理实验教学的改革与探索

改革物理实验教学的首要方式是计算机介入教学过程。它具有提高实验课堂效率、提高实验教学效果、引发学生兴趣的作用。还可以利用互动式教学激发学生的学习主动性，具体可以分为学生辅助教学法、换位式教学法和互相排除故障教学法。     

任务型教学法在英语视听说教学中的应用

任务型教学法是指把教学内容分解成具体任务,使学生在各项活动中用所学的语言知识去完成各项任务,以此来提高自己的语言运用能力。将任务型教学法合理有效地运用到英语视听说课程中,能够达到培养和提高学生英语听说能力和跨文化交际能力的目的。     

Using Adjustments to Support the Learning and Assessment Needs of Students with Disabilities: Macau and Mainland China Teachers’ Report

Adjustments are considered necessary for students with disabilities to be fully included in classroom instruction, classroom assessment and external accountability tests. The 67 item Checklist of Learning and Assessment Adjustments for Students (CLAAS), translated for the Chinese community, was used by 74 teachers from Macau and Mainland China to document their application of adjustments for 319 students with special educational needs across these three settings. Results indicated consistently large gaps between adjustment use in classrooms compared with national tests, with the allowable adjustments for public testing reportedly used very little. Findings also provided evidence for the content validity of the checklist for teachers of students with disabilities in China and its utility in documenting applied adjustments. This study also indicates the potential for CLAAS to provide teachers across China with a comprehensive list of adjustments, to reflect on and review adjustment decision-making and assessment protocols for all students.