The ‘nature of science’ in the school curriculum: the great survivor

This paper explores the ways in which the ‘nature of science’ (NoS) has been interpreted, accommodated and justified within school curricula since science was first schooled in the mid-nineteenth century. It explores how different interpretations of ‘the NoS’ have been invoked by those seeking to reform school science education in response to wider political, economic or social concerns such as the demand to ‘humanise’ school science teaching, to increase the supply of qualified scientists or to promote scientific literacy. It offers some comments upon the implications of these interpretations for current attempts to promote the ‘NoS’ in school science education. The focus of attention is England and, to a lesser extent, the USA but the issues raised are of contemporary relevance to many other parts of the world.     

Teaching manuals and the blackboard: accessing historical classroom practices

The blackboard, a useful teaching tool in nineteenth-century England, was transformed into a teaching necessity in the decades follwing 1870, when the Education Acts made school free and mandatory for all children. The resulting huge population of schoolchildren inspired the development of teaching techniques appropriate for large-group learning. Many of these techniques relied on the blackboard as a reusable demonstration space visible to the entire class at once, unlike a book or slate. To share these new practices among teachers, particularly the novice teachers recruited to serve the increased school population, dozens of teaching manuals were published around the turn of the twentieth century. These manuals’ instructions for how to teach reading, writing, arithmetic and nature study to elementary school students offer historians a rare glimpse into teachers’ and students’ school experiences by suggesting how the blackboard shaped classroom practices in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century England.     

Role of Significant Life Experiences in Building Environmental Knowledge and Behavior Among Middle School Students

Significant life experience research suggests that the presence of role models, time outdoors, and nature-related media foster pro-environmental behavior, but most research is qualitative. Based on a random sample of middle school students in North Carolina, USA, we found limited positive associations between presence of a role model and time outdoors with behavior and a negative association between watching nature television and environmental knowledge. The strongest predictors of environmental knowledge and behavior were student/teacher ratio and county income levels, respectively. We also found that Native Americans engaged in environmental behaviors more than Caucasians, and that African American and Hispanic students had lower levels of environmental knowledge. Accordingly, life experiences appear less important than promoting small class sizes and addressing challenges associated with lower incomes in schools.     

Learning at eco-attractions: Exploring the bifurcation of nature and culture through experiential environmental education

ABSTRACT

This article explores informal environmental education (EE) experiences at eco-attractions. A consortium of three UK-based environmental charities designed an eco-attraction-based EE program aiming to inspire responses to environmental change. Over six months, educators at six eco-attractions delivered this two-day program to 430 young people. This article conveys qualitative insights into learning experiences at three participating eco-attractions. The study illustrates that experiential learning at eco-attractions provided unique opportunities to explore nature-culture connections. The program also appeared to enable novel confrontations of current ecological crises, including climate change. Furthermore, the experience influenced some young people's perceptions of how such crises might affect their futures.     

A Review of “Fields of Green: Restorying Culture,Environment, and Education”

This essay describes an educational initiative that used environmentally themed (green) hip-hop to stimulate learning in an environmental science classroom. Students were then challenged to compose their own green hip-hop and their lyrics demonstrated skills that have thematic consistency around what is called a Critical Ecological Literacy (CEL). An analysis of more than 200 creative pieces collected from eight runs of this curriculum over four years shows that CEL can be used as a guiding concept for the creation of curriculum targeting urban areas and racially diverse learners. Several examples of this student-produced green hip-hop are shared to delineate elements of CEL that can help educators evaluate student learning as well as their own teaching materials.     

Resources in Review

Abstract

Atomic Ghost: Poets Respond to the Nuclear Age , edited by John Bradley with an introduction by Terry Tempest Williams. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press. 1995. 330 pages. Softbound, $15.95.     

The Potential of Perspectivism for Science Education

Many science teachers are presented with the challenge of characterizing science as a dynamic, human endeavour. Perspectivism, as a hermeneutic philosophy of science, has the potential to be a learning tool for teachers as they elucidate the complex nature of science. Developed earlier by Nietzsche and others, perspectivism has recently re-emerged in the context of the philosophy of science in the work of Ronald Giere. Giere presents a compelling case that scientific theories and scientific observation are perspectival by using science itself. There are many tangible examples already present in science textbooks which, when approached in a certain way, offer an exciting opportunity for a realistic incorporation of philosophy of science into the classroom. Furthermore, introducing perspectivism to students necessitates an engagement with notions such as truth, reality, perception and experimentation, through a familiar medium, while painting a nuanced conception of the nature of science.     

Students and school characteristics related to elementary school students' views of the nature of science

The purpose of this study is to investigate student- and school-level factors that help to explain the difference in the nature of science (NOS) views. Overall, the design of this study is correlational. The sample consisted of 3062 students enrolled in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of elementary schools in Turkey. A hierarchical linear modelling was selected as a modelling technique. This study has established the importance of the student's socioeconomic background, learning approaches undertaken, self-efficacy, and motivational goals in the formation of their NOS views. The findings reveal that quality of both the physical infrastructure of schools and the educational resources in schools, parent educational levels, student achievement, self-efficacy, experience of meaningful learning, and learning goal orientation are positively related to different dimensions of student NOS views. Additionally, performance goal orientation and rote learning approaches have a negative relationship with different dimensions of student NOS views.     

生态型人工自然——和谐社会的人工自然形态

人工自然是人类实践的产物,与人类社会有着相辅相成的关系。由于人工自然自身特性及外部原因,造成了其异化的不良后果。在建设和谐社会的进程中,为了克服人工自然其异化后果,应该发展生态型人工自然,并从政治环境、文化环境、法律环境对其发展提供保障,惟此才能促进和谐社会乃至和谐世界的建立。     

浅谈竞技中人的本质力量

通过对开发运动员的物力、心力和外力三方面运动能力的全面研究分析,旨在使体育工作者能更好地实施训练,提高运动成绩,为运动训练的改革提供参考依据。