Science and Scientific Curiosity in Pre-school—The teacher's point of view

Nowadays, early science education is well-accepted by researchers, education professionals and policy makers. Overall, teachers’ attitudes and conceptions toward the science subject domain and science education influence their ways of teaching and engagement. However, there is a lack of research regarding factors that affect this engagement in pre-school years. The main assumption of this study is that teachers’ attitudes regarding science in pre-school can shape children's engagement in science and develop their scientific curiosity. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to investigate the attitudes of pre-school teachers toward engaging in science and to explore their views about the nature of curiosity: who is a curious child and how can a child's natural curiosity be fostered? An extensive survey was conducted among 146 pre-school teachers by employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Results indicate that most of the participants believe that scientific education should begin in early childhood; very young children can investigate and take part in a process of inquiry; and scientific activities in pre-school can influence children's long-term attitudes toward science. Despite these views, most participants felt they did not possess sufficient scientific knowledge. Furthermore, participants expressed diverse opinions when asked to identify what constitutes curiosity, how the curious child can be identified and how a child's curiosity can be fostered. The research findings carry significant implications regarding how to implement scientific activities in pre-school, and how to encourage pre-school teachers to engage children in scientific activities in a way that will nurture their natural curiosity.     

If Science Teachers Are Positively Inclined Toward Inclusive Education,Why Is It So Difficult?

This paper describes the unique challenges that students with learning disabilities (LD) experience in science studies and addresses the question of the extent to which science teachers are willing and prepared to teach in inclusive classrooms. We employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB), according to which behavioral intentions are a function of individuals’ attitudes toward the behavior, their subjective norms, and their perceived control—i.e., their perception of the simplicity and benefits of performing the behavior. The study comprised 215 junior high school science teachers, who answered a TPB-based quantitative questionnaire. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to support and enrich the findings and conclusions. We found that teachers held positive attitudes and were willing to adapt their teaching methods (perceived control), which correlated and contributed to their behavioral intention. In terms of subjective norms, however, they felt a lack of support and ongoing guidance in providing the appropriate pedagogy to meet the needs of students with LD. We therefore recommend that educational policy makers and school management devote attention and resources to providing professional training and appropriate instructional materials and to establishing frameworks for meaningful cooperation between the science teachers and special education staff. This could ensure the efficient cooperation and coordination of all the involved parties and send a positive message of support to the science teachers who are the actual implementers of change.

     

TEACHING SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SCIENCE STUDIES: DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

This study explores the impact of ‘Scientific Communication’ (SC) skills instruction on students’ performances in scientific literacy assessment tasks. We present a general model for skills instruction, characterized by explicit and spiral instruction, integration into content learning, practice in several scientific topics, and application of performance tasks. The model was applied through an instructional program that focuses on the following learning skills: information retrieval, scientific reading and writing, listening and observing, data representation, and knowledge presentation. Throughout the 7th–8th grades, 160 students learned the whole program or one of its components: structured instruction (SI) of SC skills, or performance tasks (PT). A comparison group of 42 students did not receive instruction of SC skills. Students’ performances were assessed through a questionnaire and a complex task that measured students’ scientific content knowledge, SC skills, and the quality of the final products. Results indicated that students who learned the whole program or one of its components achieved higher scores in all categories than the comparison group students. High achievers can benefit from just one component of the program: either structured instruction (SI) or learning from practice (PT). However, they can hardly acquire SC skills spontaneously. Low and average achievers require both components of the SC program to improve their performances. Results show that without planned intervention, the spontaneous attainment of SC skills occurs only to a limited extent. Systematic teaching of skills can make a significant difference. The explicit instruction of skills integrated into scientific topics, the opportunities to implement the skills in different contexts, the role of performance tasks as ‘assessment for learning’—all these features are important and necessary for improving students’ scientific literacy. Our general model of skills instruction can be applied to the instruction of other high-order skills. Its application can lead to the realization of the central goal of science education: literate students possessing scientific knowledge.     

Teaching communication skills in science: Tracing teacher change

This paper describes a general model for skills instruction and its implementation through the program “Scientific Communication” for acquiring learning skills. The model is characterized by modularity, explicit instruction, spiral integration into contents, practice in various contexts, and implementation in performance tasks. It requires flexible planning and implementation by the teachers. The study investigated how science teachers implemented this model for a two-year period. Results show that they coped with this task by customizing the program; they underwent a positive change in perceptions about skills instruction, instructional models, using instructional materials, influence and involvement in school and beyond.