Taking active learning into the primary school: a matter of new practices?

This paper examines the extension of active learning pedagogical practices familiar in preschool settings to the first class of primary school. Policy and practice guidance in the UK is advocating the benefits of experiential learning as a way of engaging young children as they move into primary school but for teachers this means a move to new practices which can be in tension with other expectations. In this paper, the rationale for active learning is considered along with an account of the classroom activities of teachers and children in five primary schools that were implementing the policy shift to active learning. The children in these classes spent varying amounts of time in whole class activities led by the teacher or in small groups directed to engage with specific activities. They had opportunities to engage and respond verbally, through manipulating objects and with physical actions but the emphasis was on planned, teacher-directed learning activities. The characteristics of active learning as introduced in these innovative classes are compared with the expectations of practice guidance and theorising about early learning.     

杜威与蒙台梭利教师观之比较

杜威和蒙台梭利作为20世纪前半期著名的教育家,都非常重视儿童教育。他们都在批判传统教育的基础上提出了自己的观点。他们都认为教师是引导者,强调教师要尊重儿童的天性。但杜威体现的是\"教育即生活\"的思想,而蒙台梭利体现的是\"生活即教育\"的理念。     

关于提高教师职业自我效能的思考

自我效能理论(self-efficacy theory)是个体对自我能力的信念程度,它在一定程度上影响着个体职业效能的发挥。教师的职业自我效能影响到教师专业发展方案的设计、应对突发事件和调控情绪的能力。教师职业自我效能的提高,要寻找选择职业的意愿,构建教师职业生涯目标体系,从工作中感受成功。     

Using ‘HOCS-Centered Learning’ as a Pathway to Promote Science Teachers' Metacognitive Development

An element of current reform in science education worldwide is the shift from the dominant traditional algorithmic lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) teaching, to the higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS)-promoting learning; that is, the development of students' capabilities including those of question asking (QA), critical/system thinking (CST), decision making (DM), problem solving (PS), conceptualisation of fundamental concepts (CFC) and the transfer of these within both the science disciplines and real life interdisciplinary situations. Accordingly, an innovative metacognition-promoting science teacher professional development course, integrating formal and informal science education, was developed and implemented within a traditional model, focusing on the HOCS skills of QA, PS, and CFC. The HOCS promoting teaching and assessment strategies of this course not only enabled participants to reflect on their own learning, but also facilitated their self-reflective assessment, utilising a pre–post designed research-based methodology. The results suggest that such, or similarly appropriate, metacognition-oriented courses can contribute positively to the development of science teachers' HOCS capability.