Students' reasoning about chemical bonding: The lacuna of repulsion

This article concerns a lacuna in chemistry students' reasoning about chemical bonding. Although chemistry students are familiar with the charges that make up the atom––both positive and negative––they refer only to the attraction between unlike charges. Specifically, they ignore the repulsion between the positive nuclei. We named this disregard of repulsion the lacuna of repulsion. Repulsion is a crucial component in the force-based explanation of chemical bonding, presenting the bond as a dynamic equilibrium between attraction and repulsion electrical forces. We noticed this lacuna incidentally while interviewing chemistry students for a bigger project aimed at supporting students in understanding the force-based explanation of chemical bonding. This article describes our systematic qualitative study of the lacuna of repulsion and its impact on mental models of 23 high school chemistry students. Our findings show that students use six mental models, most of them built upon each other. Beginning from a simple mental model that describes the chemical bond as electrons, continuing with the including attraction forces, and completing with repulsion and a dynamic view of the bond. Only when one considers both attraction and repulsion forces and understands the dynamic balance between them is it possible to build the force-based dynamic mental model of chemical bonding.     

‘Who is zooming who’? A study of young PE-students in their figurations

The article presents an analysis of 93 essays written in an upper secondary school context. The essays were collected in relation to a larger research project, which went on for 5 years in a Danish upper secondary school (2010–2015). The material represents both genders and the students are 15–17 years old. We deploy a theoretical framework taken from Norbert Elias’ notion on established-outsider relations [Elias, N., &; Scotson, J. L. (1994 [1965]). The established and the outsiders. London: SAGE] as well as his use of personal pronouns [Elias, N. (1978). What is sociology? London: Hutchinson, Elias, N. (2001). The society of individuals. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group] in illustrating how people negotiate, position and navigate within figurational contexts [Elias, N. (1994 [1939]). The civilizing proces. Oxford: Blackwell.]. We do this in an effort to interpret how young people negotiate ‘we-I-relations’ when it comes to their sporting identity. Elias’ processual framework provides a tool for a much needed analysis of how young people continually orientate and develop their sense of selves. The web of human interdependencies and processes of change are key words when it comes to understanding the social practices and doings of the students’ constructions of self-steering. What social scientists may see as laziness and drop-outs of sports [Seippel, Ø. (2016). Prek, vekker og kjedelig? Trening og mening blant ungdom: 1985–2013. In Ø. Seippel, M. K. Sisjord, &; Å Strandbu (Eds.), Ungdom og Idrett. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk] can in the essays of students be analysed as a struggle for group connectedness and social inclusion in the classroom. The results of our research show that identity is a multiple concept and an ongoing process of emotional work [Elias, N. (1987). On human beings and their emotions: A process-sociological essay. Theory Culture Society, 4, 339–361], but also a power balance of playing and presenting what is imagined as the right performance as not being shamed as outcasts.     

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.     

Using APIs for Data Collection on Social Media

This article discusses how social media research may benefit from social media companies making data available to researchers through their application programming interfaces (APIs). An API is a back-end interface through which third-party developers may connect new add-ons to an existing service. The API is also an interface for researchers to collect data off a given social media service for empirical analysis. Presenting a critical methodological discussion of the opportunities and challenges associated with quantitative and qualitative social media research based on APIs, this article highlights a number of general methodological issues to be dealt with when collecting and assessing data through APIs. The article further discusses the legal and ethical implications of empirical research using APIs for data collection.     

Teacher Stress Related to Student Mental Health Promotion: the Match Between Perceived Demands and Competence to Help Students with Mental Health Problems

The present study highlights teacher stress related to student mental health promotion through the relationship between perceived competence, perceived responsibility and negative emotions. Data were derived from a mixed methods design, utilizing three focus group interviews (n = 15), followed by survey research (n = 771) amongst Norwegian K–12 teachers. The results suggest that teacher stress emerges chiefly from a mismatch between feeling responsible for and being able to help students with mental health problems. The data also point to the impact of time constraints in school context. Finally, the findings reveal significantly higher levels of perceived responsibility and negative emotions amongst female teachers, and significantly lower levels of perceived responsibility amongst teachers at higher grades.