The development of students’ higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) is central to the problem-based component of a freshman organic chemistry course. HOCS within science education is strongly connected to critical thinking (CT) and problem solving (PS), and often manifested by question asking and decision making. The laboratory, if utilized effectively, can be fertile ground for HOCS/PS development and CT advocacy. The ultimate goal is to develop a student culture having a broader, deeper, and more interconnected level of scientific literacy, conceptual understanding, and the contextual applications of knowledge. The concluding 6-hour laboratory session of the course ‘Introduction to Modern Organic Chemistry’ is presented here as an example of problem (not exercise) solving, and is proposed as a model for a ‘HOCS- promoting’—CT/PS-requiring laboratory activity in organic chemistry teaching. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2007, 8 (2), 153-171]

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Matching Higher-Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS) promotion goals with problem-based laboratory practice in a freshman organic chemistry course

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study examining the effectiveness of flipped instruction in a 9th grade biology classroom. This study included four sections of freshmen-level biology taught by the first author at a private secondary school in the Pacific Northwest. Using a block randomized design, two sections were flipped and two remained traditional. The quiz and posttest data were adjusted for pretest differences using ANCOVA. The results suggest that flipped instruction had a positive effect student achievement, with effect sizes ranging from +0.16 to +0.44. In addition, some students reported that they preferred watching video lectures outside of class and appreciated more active approaches to learning.

Flipped Instruction in a High School Science Classroom

Concept maps consist of both content and structure. When working with concept maps, educators give instructions for the students to follow while working on concept mapping. These instructions are usually provided in terms of conditions on the structure and the content of the maps. While educators have expectations in terms of the result of the concept mapping activity, often they are not aware of how the conditions on content and structure that are given to the students often has strong effects on the type and quality of concept maps the students construct. In this paper we analyze how different conditions affect the concept maps constructed and discuss how educators must be aware of these possibilities and limitations when working with students and in particular during the assessment of their concept maps.

/pdf/freedom-vs-restriction-of-content-and-structure-during-e4crr9swls.pdf

Freedom vs. Restriction of Content and Structure during Concept Mapping - Possibilities and Limitations for Construction and Assessment

Concept maps are used extensively as an assessment tool, and the literature is abundant with studies on the use of concept maps for assessment and on the assessment of concept maps. The assessment of concept maps can be an arduous process, in particular when assessing a large number of maps. CmapAnalysis is a software tool that facilitates performing various analysis measures on a collection of concept maps. A set of measures that consider size, quality and structure properties of the maps are included. The program is designed to be extensible, allowing users to add their own measures. The program is not intended to replace the individual evaluation of concept maps by teachers and instructors, as it does not capable of â€œunderstandingâ€ the content of the maps. It is aimed at researchers who are looking for more general trends and measures across a large number of maps, and who can extend it with their own measures. The output of CmapAnalysis is an Excel spreadsheet that can be further analyzed.

/pdf/cmapanalysis-an-extensible-concept-map-analysis-tool-ov47qad10j.pdf

Cmapanalysis: an extensible concept map analysis tool

After defining concept maps, we will present the historical development and theoretical foundations of concept maps derived from disciplines outside of medical education With this foundation and based on the scoping review conducted, the major focus of this article will shift to the application of concept mapping in medical education We have selected instructional strategies and sample maps for three contemporary challenges facing medical education to illustrate the portability and broad application of concept maps: 1 linking basic sciences and clinical practice, 2 developing clinical reasoning, and, 3 interprofessional and group learning Finally, future research studies in concept mapping are suggested The purpose of this article is to provide an in-depth discussion of concept mapping as a meaningful learning strategy in medical education Figure 1 presents the major areas addressed in this article, including the theoretical foundations, along with the applications in medical education in the form of a concept map

https://www.mededpublish.org/MedEdPublish/PDF/380-981.pdf

Using Concept Maps to Create Meaningful Learning in Medical Education

The study describes a teaching action undertaken in the belief that the use of methodologies based on active and cooperative learning could obviate some of the most worrying deficiencies in current scientific teaching, while at the same time supporting the validity of the constructivistic theory that prompted them. A teaching action on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was planned which involved the setting up of tools (diagnostic tools, strategies imbued with problem-based learning and concept cartoons), a teaching sequence and laboratory materials (replica-plating aimed at the recognition of transformed bacteria, Nicotiana cultures, electrophoresis comparing protein patterns of GM and non-GM plants). It was then carried out in 10 classes of six upper secondary schools (three specialising in classical and three in scientific studies) in Rome, with a total of 144 students ranging in age from 16 to 19. The written texts of students' views and arguments were analysed statistically and conceptually, whic...

Active/cooperative learning in schools

In recent years concept mapping has become a powerful tool that is frequently applied in different contexts in science education. There are still, however, questions and problems that arise when researchers in science education begin to design concept map formats and search for appropriate methods of analysis. In a symposium, five research groups from different countries shared experiences of using concept maps and hence provided some answers to the questions and some illumination of the problems.

Concept Mapping as a Tool for Research in Science Education

The paper re-employs the title of a previous article which reported the worldview presuppositions of Science teachers in Botswana, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria and the Philippines. There was an interest to perform the same investigation in our countries, namely "Do science teachers in the western world similarly hold such a multiplicity of worldview presuppositions?" For comparison's sake the same questionnaire was used, although adapted to our cultural contexts. From our investigation two positive points have emerged, or rather, that science teachers in Italy and Brazil hold a multiplicity of worldviews which coexist with the scientific one and that there are some differences between the Italian sample and all the others. More Italian teachers seem to accept scientific (or pseudoscientific) statements and to reject (in this order) magic-mystery, religion and spiritism, and parapsychology-oriented statements. Is it feasible to assign this difference to cultural context?

Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in

The reform process begun in 19971 will weigh remarkably on the Italian School System, both on school organisation and on teachers’ professional profile. A synthetic overview of the present and future situation (figure 1) will make easier the contextualisation of the coherent, innovative proposals for science teaching elaborated at “Roma Tre” University.

Milena Bandiera

Papers

Active/cooperative learning in schools

Concept Mapping as a Tool for Research in Science Education

Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in Nature of Worldview Presuppositions among Science Teachers in

School Reform in Italy: Orientation as a Key Aspect for Science Teaching Innovation