Internet‐based Science Learning: A review of journal publications

Internet‐based science learning has been advocated by many science educators for more than a decade. This review examines relevant research on this topic. Sixty‐five papers are included in the review. The review consists of the following two major categories: (1) the role of demographics and learners' characteristics in Internet‐based science learning, such as demographic background, prior knowledge, and self‐efficacy; and (2) the learning outcomes derived from Internet‐based science learning, such as attitude, motivation, conceptual understanding, and conceptual change. Some important conclusions are drawn from the review. For example, Internet‐based science learning is equally favorable, or in some cases more so, to learning for female students compared to male students. The learner's control is essential for enhancing students' attitudes and motivation toward learning in Internet‐based science learning environments. Nevertheless, appropriate guidance from teachers, moderators, or the Internet‐based learning environment itself is still quite crucial in Internet‐based science learning. Recommendations for future research related to the effects of Internet‐based science learning on students' metacognitive reflections, epistemological development, and worldviews are suggested.     

University Programme Preferences of High School Science Students in Singapore and Reasons that Matter in their Preferences: A Rasch analysis

This study explored an under-researched area in science education—the university programmes preferred by high school students who take physical science subjects and the reasons that matter in their preferences. A total of 1,071 upper secondary and pre-university students in Singapore, who take physical science subjects among their range of subjects, participated in this study. A survey method was adopted and the Rasch model was used to analyse the data. Overall, Business Studies was ranked as the predominant choice; nonetheless, scientific programmes such as Science, Engineering, and Mathematics are generally still well liked by the students. When gender differences were examined, we found that students largely followed gender-typical programme preferences, in which males tend to incline towards Engineering while females tend to incline towards Arts and Social Sciences. Students prefer a university programme based on their individual interest and ability, with career aspiration and remuneration coming next. Interestingly, females place greater emphasis on career aspiration than males. Some implications of the study are discussed.     

The Sources of Science Teaching Self-efficacy among Elementary School Teachers: A mediational model approach

This study aimed to investigate the factors accounting for science teaching self-efficacy and to examine the relationships among Taiwanese teachers’ science teaching self-efficacy, teaching and learning conceptions, technological–pedagogical content knowledge for the Internet (TPACK-I), and attitudes toward Internet-based instruction (Attitudes) using a mediational model approach. A total of 233 science teachers from 41 elementary schools in Taiwan were invited to take part in the study. After ensuring the validity and reliability of each questionnaire, the results indicated that each measure had satisfactory validity and reliability. Furthermore, through mediational models, the results revealed that TPACK-I and Attitudes mediated the relationship between teaching and learning conceptions and science teaching self-efficacy, suggesting that (1) knowledge of and attitudes toward Internet-based instruction (KATII) mediated the positive relationship between constructivist conceptions of teaching and learning and outcome expectancy, and that (2) KATII mediated the negative correlations between traditional conceptions of teaching and learning and teaching efficacy.     

Does STES‐Oriented Science Education Promote 10th‐Grade Students’ Decision‐Making Capability?

Today’s society is continuously coping with sustainability‐related complex issues in the Science‐Technology‐Environment‐Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students’ higher‐order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question‐asking, critical‐thinking, problem‐solving and decision‐making capabilities within science teaching have been argued by several science educators for decades. Three main objectives guided this study: (1) to establish “base lines” for HOCS capabilities of 10th grade students (n = 264) in the Israeli educational system; (2) to delineate within this population, two different groups with respect to their decision‐making capability, science‐oriented (n = 142) and non‐science (n = 122) students, Groups A and B, respectively; and (3) to assess the pre‐post development/change of students’ decision‐making capabilities via STES‐oriented HOCS‐promoting curricular modules entitled Science, Technology and Environment in Modern Society (STEMS). A specially developed and validated decision‐making questionnaire was used for obtaining a research‐based response to the guiding research questions. Our findings suggest that a long‐term persistent application of purposed decision‐making, promoting teaching strategies, is needed in order to succeed in affecting, positively, high‐school students’ decision‐making ability. The need for science teachers’ involvement in the development of their students’ HOCS capabilities is thus apparent.     

New Vision and Challenges in Inquiry-Based Curriculum Change in Singapore

A new primary science syllabus with strong inquiry focus has been implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we attempted to understand how teachers experience the emphasis of inquiry-based curriculum under the current educational conditions that is routined and highly teacher fronted. We invited 50 pre-service and 41 in-service teachers to participate in survey questionnaires and narratives, reflective writings, and group discussions related to science inquiry which formed our data corpus. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding was carried out using NVivo8, with over 80% inter-rater coding agreement level. Three key aspects of teachers’ perceptions of science inquiry were revealed: (1) teachers’ responsibilities as facilitators, (2) privileging content knowledge rather than process skills, and (3) pressure of assessment systems in current educational contexts. These understandings bring out conflicts of inquiry teaching between teacher- and student-centredness, content and process, and curriculum and assessment. Based on these teachers’ perceptions and dilemmas of inquiry science teaching, the visions and challenges of inquiry science curriculum change against assessment requirements are discussed.     

A review of Computer Science resources for learning and teaching with K-12 computing curricula: an Australian case study

To support teachers to implement Computer Science curricula into classrooms from the very first year of school, teachers, schools and organisations seek quality curriculum resources to support implementation and teacher professional development. Until now, many Computer Science resources and outreach initiatives have targeted K-12 school-age children, with the intention to engage children and increase interest, rather than to formally teach concepts and skills. What is the educational quality of existing Computer Science resources and to what extent are they suitable for classroom learning and teaching? In this paper, an assessment framework is presented to evaluate the quality of online Computer Science resources. Further, a semi-systematic review of available online Computer Science resources was conducted to evaluate resources available for classroom learning and teaching and to identify gaps in resource availability, using the Australian curriculum as a case study analysis. The findings reveal a predominance of quality resources, however, a number of critical gaps were identified. This paper provides recommendations and guidance for the development of new and supplementary resources and future research.     

与时俱进,开拓创新,全面促进图书馆事业和谐发展——中国图书馆学会第六届理事会工作报告

中国图书馆学会第6届理事会任期之内,在开展学术交流、弘扬事业精神、培养一代新人、建立行业制度等方面,均取得了可喜成就。今后,应在进一步树立学会的行业权威性,提高其社会影响力和国际影响力方面,更加努力地工作。     

国家科技图书文献中心预订外文科技文献资源分析与评价

采用文献计量学和信息分析等方法对国家科技图书文献中心预订外文科技文献资源进行分析和评价。主要评价指标包括:是否被权威数据库收录、是否世界著名出版机构出版、被国外著名图书馆收藏情况、SCI影响因子值及SCI被引用次数、国内缺藏情况、是否属于收藏薄弱学科的期刊、被专家学者推荐情况。通过整体与分散评价,最终选出基本符合主要指标的期刊和会议文献作为新增文献资源的备选源。表3。参考文献7。     

学术良知、学术启蒙与学术期刊——写给《中国图书馆学报》创刊50周年

学术良知是学术理性的首要内容,是与知识分子的社会责任紧密联系的。学术期刊的启蒙作用主要体现于三方面:引领学科发展,不断推出学术精品;弘扬科学精神和学术理性,反对功利学术;倡导学术自由与民主,繁荣学术研究。对于前二者,《中国图书馆学报》都做得很出色。建议该刊增设"学术专论"等栏目。     

Complete graphs and bibliographic coupling: A test of the applicability of bibliographic coupling for the identification of cognitive cores on the field level

The method of bibliographic coupling in combination with the complete link cluster method was applied for mapping of the field of organic chemistry with the purpose of testing the applicability of a proposed mapping method on the field level. The method put forward aimed at the generation of cognitive cores of documents, so-called ‘bibliographic cliques’ in the network of bibliographically coupled research articles. The defining feature of these cliques is that they can be considered complete graphs where each bibliographic coupling link ties an unordered pair of documents. In this way, it was presumed that coherent groups of documents in the research front would be found and that these groups would be intellectually coherent as well. Statistical analysis and subject specialist evaluations confirmed these presumptions. The study also elaborates on the choice of observation period and the application of thresholds in relation to the size of document populations.