Tracking Pre-service Teachers’ Changing Conceptions of Good Science Teaching: The Role of Progressive Reflection with the Same Video

A CD-ROM consisting of videos of two lessons by different teachers demonstrating exemplary science teaching was used to elicit, develop and track the changing conceptions of good science teaching of student teachers enrolled for the one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at several stages during the programme. It was found that the videos acted as an effective probe to elicit student teachers’ conceptions and had significant impact on those conceptions at different stages of the programme through the provision of teacher models demonstrating exemplary teaching. The experience has extended novice teachers’ awareness of alternative teaching methods and approaches not experienced in their own schooling, broadened their awareness of different classroom situations, provided proof of existence of good practices and prompted them to reflect on their current conceptions of good science teaching. Most importantly, the strategy of asking student teachers to watch the same videos on three separate occasions at different times of the course was recognized by them as a crucial element in facilitating their reflection on their changing conceptions of good science teaching. PGDE is the standard form of pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong. It provides qualified teacher status within Hong Kong. Student teachers enrolled for the PGDE have completed a relevant undergraduate degree.     

学习科学：推动教育的深层变革

当前教育信息化蓬勃发展,在备受赞赏的同时也屡被质疑。至于原因,恐怕还是“人究竟是怎么学习的,怎样才能促进有效学习？”这一根本性问题依然未得到彻底解决。该文从教育信息化的发展现状谈起,剖析目前存在的问题及解决方法,然后仔细梳理了学习科学的发生、发展和研究现状,指出脑科学与学习、基于大数据的学习分析和技术增强的学习等学习科学研究将有助于推动教育从更深的层面发生变革。     

模块化IC的构建与高校图书馆的服务创新

文章首先阐释了模块化理论概念,然后对模块化理论在IC构建中的应用情况进行介绍,最后对模块化IC构建的作用和基本思路进行了分析.     

基于平板电脑的电子课本在香港英语课堂教学实施的个案研究

随着科技的快速发展,基于平板电脑的电子课本以其独特的优势,被视为电子学习新的形式和体现,被越来越多地应用于课堂教学中。它的教与学效果如何?是否真正促进了课堂教学?是否真正提高了学生的学习兴趣、学习效果?这些问题有待研究。本案例来自香港教育局支持的实验计划,课程根据香港课程发展议会颁发的英文课程指南进行设计。实证研究主要采用课堂观察、问卷课查法对学生的学习方法和观感进行分析。研究发现:电子课本在电子教材设计、学生学习兴趣和动机、学生知识与技能获得、学生深层学习方法及课堂参与度等方面都起到了明显的促进作用,其在课堂教学中的应用有着良好的发展前景,有望在内容和功能上整合现有课堂中的一些电子教具,最大化地发挥优势,为新的课堂学习环境提供新的学习支持。     

A longitudinal study of the supply and demand for physics and chemistry teachers in Kansas

The continuing crisis in the supply and demand for high school physics and chemistry teachers has been documented by a series of national surveys. There is a need, however, to augment these surveys with accurate longitudinal data which identifies the age-specific variables of science teacher survival rates, incoming number of new teachers, and the rate at which science teachers change age cohorts. These three variables were used in a five year longitudinal study of all the physics and chemistry teachers in Kansas to project the need for teachers in 1985 and in 1990. The study indicated that the teachers 40 years and older comprised 33.5% of the physics/ chemistry teacher population in 1979–1980 and the percentage will steadily increase to 60.8 by 1990. The high turnover rate of science teachers 29 years old and younger is also contributing to the shortage of qualified physics and chemistry teachers. The cohort component population projection method outlined in this study is recommended for use in other states to document the age specific characteristics of the science teacher population.     

Science Teachers’ Professional Development and Changes in Science Practical Assessment Practices: What are the Issues?

This paper considers the circumstances under which science teachers can respond positively and productively to educational policy reforms in the area of science practical assessment. To understand what might be involved in linking science teachers’ assessment capacities and their professional development, we present illustrative data from recent research studies conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong showing contrasting approaches taken in the implementation of reforms in science practical assessment. In Singapore, teachers worked together to select, discuss, clarify and refine their practices as they made decisions about what to teach and assess. In Hong Kong, teachers took a critical stance towards the new policy and learnt from their own experiences in order to build their confidence. With the same policy initiative, one group of teachers focused more on the technicalities of complying with requirements imposed on them while in the other group had their professional consciousness of what they thought was best for their students provoked so that their practices would be transformed. In an attempt to draw lessons for other contexts in supporting the implementation of assessment policy reforms through professional development work, we identify and discuss a range of factors in science teachers’ professional development that arise once in situ professional development work has started. Overall, our intent in this article is to recast assessment reform as a driver or pivot in teachers’ professional development and learning. To do this it is necessary, we argue, to afford teachers’ experiences and the processes involved in learning from them greater emphasis in order to ensure the continuance of innovation in the assessment of laboratory-based work.     

游戏化网络课程的设计与应用研究

针对游戏进入中小学课堂教学出现的困难和障碍,提出了构建面向中小学生的基于游戏化学习的网络课程。分门别类地详细介绍了此类课程的设计理念和特点:一是基于游戏化学习的课程;二是面向中小学生的网络课程;三是大学和中小学共同开设课程,同时针对每种特点提出相应的设计策略。随后,开发了"农场狂想曲科学探究网络课程",并开展了准实验研究,探讨了游戏化网络课程的教学成效。     

Concentrating on affective feedforward in online tutoring

With considerable input from the student voice, the paper centres on a detailed account of the experiences of Western academic, tutoring Eastern students online to develop their critical thinking skills. From their online experiences together as tutor and students, the writers present a considered case for the main emphasis in facilitative online tutoring to be on building, and then building upon, congruent relationships and constructive feedforward. Initially, the Western tutor had followed as best he could the norms of a Confucian Heritage Culture, concentrating reactively on instructional feedback. He then took the considered risk of reverting to proactivity, following the advice of Rogers and Vygotsky and according to an explicit rationale. The ensuing changes in students' online discussions and their learning experiences were marked and were objectively analysed. The tutor and two of his students suggest that the nature of congruent tutor/student relationships, irrespective of culture, is more significant in effectively promoting development than the cognitive content that might feature in feedback in such interactions. For it seems possible from the reported experiences that learning dependent on technological links may benefit from meaningful tutor/student relationships. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teslTzgVBsc&feature=youtu.be     

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Enhancing student‐teachers’ understanding of nature of science and scientific inquiry through a case study of the scientific research in severe acute respiratory syndrome

Interviews with key scientists involved in research on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports and documentaries produced during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry. This novel insight into practice in the rapidly growing field of molecular biology was used in the development of instructional materials for use in the pre‐service and in‐service teacher education programme at The University of Hong Kong. The elements of NOS and scientific inquiry identified in the scientific research on SARS were explicitly emphasized in our instructional materials. The contemporary real‐life context of SARS was found to be effective in promoting student‐teachers’ understanding of NOS and scientific inquiry, particularly in terms of: the realization of inseparable links between science and the social, cultural, and political environment; deeper understanding of how science and technology impact on each other; and a richer appreciation of the processes of authentic scientific inquiry and the humanistic character of scientists. The effectiveness is attributed to immediacy, relevance, and familiarity, making the abstract tangible, personal experience of science history, and the powerful affective impact of the interviews with scientists.