Showing papers in "Science Education in 2005"
TL;DR: The authors describe a research-based framework of current research and practice that identifies factors associated with reasoning about socioscientific issues and provide a working model that illustrates theoretical and conceptual links among key psychological, sociological, and developmental factors central to SSI and science education.
Abstract: An important distinction can be made between the science, technology, and society (STS) movement of past years and the domain of socioscientific issues (SSI). STS education as typically practiced does not seem embedded in a coherent developmental or sociological framework that explicitly considers the psychological and epistemological growth of the child, nor the development of character or virtue. In contrast, the SSI movement focuses on empowering students to consider how science-based issues reflect, in part, moral principles and elements of virtue that encompass their own lives, as well as the physical and social world around them. The focus of this paper is to describe a research-based framework of current research and practice that identifies factors associated with reasoning about socioscientific issues and provide a working model that illustrates theoretical and conceptual links among key psychological, sociological, and developmental factors central to SSI and science education. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:357–377, 2005
914 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that learning is a process of knowledge acquisition by individual learners (amonological approach) or participation to social interaction (adialogical approach), one should distinguish a "trialogical" approach, which concentrates on mediated processes where common objects of activity are developed collaboratively.
Abstract: We argue that beyond metaphors, according to which learning is a process of knowledge acquisition by individual learners (a “monological” approach) or participation to social interaction (a “dialogical” approach), one should distinguish a “trialogical” approach, i.e., learning as a process of knowledge creation which concentrates on mediated processes where common objects of activity are developed collaboratively. The third metaphor helps us to elicit and understand processes of knowledge advancement that are important in a knowledge society. We review three approaches to knowledge-creation, i.e., Bereiter‘s knowledge-building, Engestrom‘s expansive learning, and Nonaka and Takeuchi‘s organizational knowledge-creation. We give a concise analysis of the trialogical character of the knowledge-creation approach, and illustrate how the third metaphor may be applied at the school level.
570 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that students' inquiry is guided by practical epistemologies that are in need of study, and they propose an approach to studying epistemology that has the potential to produce a better psychological theory of epistemological development, as well as to realize goals of science education that develops scientifically informed citizens.
Abstract: It has long been a goal of science education in the United States that students leave school with a robust understanding of the nature of science. Decades of research show that this does not happen. Inquiry-based instruction is advocated as a means for developing such understanding, although there is scant direct evidence that it does. There is a gap between what is known about students inquiry practices and their epistemological beliefs about science. Studies of students ideas about epistemological aspects of formal science are unlikely to shed any light on how they perceive their own inquiry efforts. Conversely, inquiry-based instruction that does not account for the epistemological beliefs that guide students inquiry stands very little chance of helping students to understand professional science. This paper reviews largely independent lines of research into students beliefs about the nature of science and their practices of inquiry to argue that students inquiry is guided by practical epistemologies that are in need of study. An approach to studying practical epistemologies is proposed that has the potential to produce a better psychological theory of epistemological development, as well as to realize goals of a science education that develops scientifically informed citizens. (http://www.cs.uml.edu/ecg/projects/cricketscience/pdf/sandoval-epistemologies-inquiry-learning.pdf)
564 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a repeated measure design including interviews and observational and behavioral measures was used with a random sample of 217 adult visitors to a life science exhibition at a major science center, and the data supported the contention that variables such as prior knowledge, interest, motivation, choice and control, within and between group social interaction, orientation, advance organizers, architecture and exhibition design affect visitor learning.
Abstract: Falk and Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning was used as a theoretical construct for investigating learning within a free-choice setting. A review of previous research identified key variables fundamental to free-choice science learning. The study sought to answer two questions: (1) How do specific independent variables individually contribute to learning outcomes when not studied in isolation? and (2) Does the Contextual Model of Learning provide a useful framework for understanding learning from museums? A repeated measure design including interviews and observational and behavioral measures was used with a random sample of 217 adult visitors to a life science exhibition at a major science center. The data supported the contention that variables such as prior knowledge, interest, motivation, choice and control, within and between group social interaction, orientation, advance organizers, architecture, and exhibition design affect visitor learning. All of these factors were shown to individually influence learning outcomes, but no single factor was capable of adequately explaining visitor learning outcomes across all visitors. The framework provided by the Contextual Model of Learning proved useful for understanding how complex combinations of factors influenced visitor learning. These effects were clearerest when visitors were segmented by entry conditions such as prior knowledge and interest. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:744–778, 2005
421 citations
TL;DR: This article explored how content knowledge influenced the negotiation and resolution of contentious and complex scenarios based on genetic engineering and found that participants with more advanced understandings of genetics, demonstrated fewer instances of reasoning flaws, as defined by a priori criteria, and were more likely to incorporate content knowledge in their reasoning patterns.
Abstract: This study focused on informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues. It sought to explore how content knowledge influenced the negotiation and resolution of contentious and complex scenarios based on genetic engineering. Two hundred and sixty-nine students drawn from undergraduate natural science and nonnatural science courses completed a quantitative test of genetics concepts. Two subsets (n = 15 for each group) of the original sample representing divergent levels of content knowledge participated in individual interviews, during which they articulated positions, rationales, counterpositions, and rebuttals in response to three gene therapy scenarios and three cloning scenarios. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine the effects of content knowledge on the use of informal reasoning patterns and the quality of informal reasoning. Participants from both groups employed the same general patterns of informal reasoning. Data did indicate that differences in content knowledge were related to variations in informal reasoning quality. Participants, with more advanced understandings of genetics, demonstrated fewer instances of reasoning flaws, as defined by a priori criteria, and were more likely to incorporate content knowledge in their reasoning patterns than participants with more naive understandings of genetics. Implications for instruction and future research are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:71–93, 2005
383 citations
TL;DR: The authors describes some of the key linguistic features of scientific writing, discusses the challenges these features present to comprehension and composition of science texts in school, and argues for greater attention to the specialized language of science in teaching and learning.
Abstract: Scientific writing contains unique linguistic features that construe special realms of scientific knowledge, values, and beliefs. An understanding of the functionality of these features is critical to the development of literacy in science. This article describes some of the key linguistic features of scientific writing, discusses the challenges these features present to comprehension and composition of science texts in school, and argues for greater attention to the specialized language of science in teaching and learning. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:335–347, 2005
365 citations
TL;DR: This paper proposed the construct of discursive identity as a way to examine student discourse and argued that theories of scientific literacy need to consider the sociocultural contexts of language use in order to examine fully affiliation and alienation associated with appropriation of scientific discourse.
Abstract: In this paper we propose the construct of discursive identity as a way to examine student discourse. We drew from the work of Gee (2001, Review of Research in Education, 25, 99–125) and Nasir and Saxe (2003, Educational Researcher, 32(5), 14–18) to consider the multiple contexts and developmental timescales of student discursive identity development. We argue that theories of scientific literacy need to consider the sociocultural contexts of language use in order to examine fully affiliation and alienation associated with appropriation of scientific discourse. As an illustrative case, we apply discursive identity to series of short exchanges in a fifth-grade classroom of African-American students. The discussion examines potential co-construction of student identity and scientific literacy. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:779–802, 2005
314 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored how science teachers' epistemological beliefs and teaching goals are related to their use of lab activities and found that various syntheses of different aspects of epistemology beliefs and instructional goals are linked to teachers' diverse ways of using lab activities.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore how science teachers' epistemological beliefs and teaching goals are related to their use of lab activities Research questions include (a) What are the teachers' epistemological beliefs pertaining to lab activities? (b) Why do the science teachers use lab activities? (c) How are the teachers' epistemological beliefs and instructional goals related to teaching actions? Two major aspects of epistemologies guided this study: ontological aspect (certainty/diversity of truth) and relational aspect (relationship between the knower and the known) The ontological aspect addresses whether one views knowledge as one certain truth or as tentative multiple truths The relational aspect addresses whether one views him/herself as a receiver of prescribed knowledge separating self from knowledge construction or as an active meaning maker connecting self to the knowledge construction processes More sophisticated epistemological beliefs include the acknowledgement of multiple interpretations of the same phenomena and active role of the knower in knowledge construction Three experienced secondary science teachers were interviewed and observed throughout an academic course The findings illustrate that a teacher's naive epistemological beliefs are clearly reflected in the teacher's teaching practices However, a teacher's sophisticated epistemological beliefs are not always clearly connected to the practice This seems to be related to the necessary negotiation among their epistemological beliefs, teaching contexts, and instructional goals Ontological and relational beliefs seem to be connected to different facets of teaching practices Findings indicate that various syntheses of different aspects of epistemological beliefs and instructional goals are linked to teachers' diverse ways of using lab activities Implications for research and teacher education are discussed © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc Sci Ed89:140–165, 2005
267 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the integration of project-based learning (PBL) in an IT environment into three undergraduate chemistry courses, each including both experi- mental and control students, where the experimental group volunteered to carry out an individual IT-based project, whereas the control students solved only traditional problems.
Abstract: Project-based learning (PBL), which is increasingly supported by infor- mation technologies (IT), contributes to fostering student-directed scientific inquiry of problems in a real-world setting This study investigated the integration of PBL in an IT environment into three undergraduate chemistry courses, each including both experi- mental and control students Students in the experimental group volunteered to carry out an individual IT-based project, whereas the control students solved only traditional problems The project included constructing computerized molecular models, seeking information on scientific phenomena, and inquiring about chemistry theories The effect of the PBL was examined both quantitatively and qualitatively The quantitative analysis was based on a pretest, a posttest, and a final examination, which served for comparing the learning gains
248 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework of narrative elements and characteristics of narrative explanations is developed and two possible examples of narrative explanation are presented and examined in light of the framework, bringing to light various conceptual and empirical questions related to the examples and to the larger issue of the use of examples like them in science instruction.
Abstract: This paper deals with a number of conceptual and theoretical issues that underlie the proposal to employ narrative explanations in science education: What is narra- tive? What is explanation? and What is narrative explanation? In answering these questions, we develop a framework of narrative elements and characteristics of narrative explanations. Two possible examples of narrative explanation are presented and examined in light of the framework. This examination brings to light various conceptual and empirical questions related to the examples and to the larger issue of the use of examples like them in science instruction. The value of the framework lies partly in its power to point to such questions. The questions can guide a program of theoretical and empirical research into the psycho- logical reality of the narrative form of explanation, the existence of narrative explanations in science, the use of narrative explanations in science teaching, and the nature and extent of the narrative effect upon which proposals for the use of narrative often are justified. C � 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 89:535 - 563, 2005
247 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a survey distributed to upper elementary teachers resulted in a variety of open-ended responses that were analyzed and coded to identify recurring themes such as connecting with the classroom curriculum, providing a general learning experience, encouraging lifelong learning, enhancing interest and motivation, providing exposure to new experiences, and providing a change in setting or routine.
Abstract: This investigation sought to identify the motivations that comprise teachers' agendas when leading student fieldtrips to science museums or similar sites. A survey distributed to upper elementary teachers resulted in a variety of open-ended responses that were analyzed and coded to identify recurring themes. In addition, ten teachers planning to lead a school trip to a natural history museum were interviewed and observed. Interview and observation data were used to triangulate findings and refine descriptions of actual practice. Eight fieldtrip motivations were identified including to connect with the classroom curriculum, to provide a general learning experience, to encourage lifelong learning, to enhance interest and motivation, to provide exposure to new experiences, to provide a change in setting or routine, for enjoyment, and to meet school expectations. Results indicated that ‘connecting to the classroom curriculum’ was an important consideration, although teachers had different interpretations of what this meant. Further examination of the teachers' agendas suggested the influence of different contexts, including that of the school and the museum site. These findings lead to suggestions for facilitating school visits to informal settings by considering the teachers' fieldtrip perspectives and agendas. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:936–955, 2005
TL;DR: The STTIS (Science Teacher Training in an Information Society) project as discussed by the authors focused on curriculum innovations in science, and investigated ways in which teachers transform these innovations when putting them into practice.
Abstract: This paper introduces the four research papers in this paper set, which all derive from a European research project, STTIS (Science Teacher Training in an Information Society). The central concern of the project was to study curriculum innovations in science, and to investigate ways in which teachers transform these innovations when putting them into practice. This work led to the construction of appropriate teacher training materials for use when an innovation is being introduced. The paper describes the mutual research strategy agreed upon by the STTIS partners. Both to avoid repetition and to underline the understanding that the partners share about the issues involved in curriculum innovation and related teacher education, the main theoretical background and the review of literature relevant to all four papers is to be found here. Themes and conclusions common to all the papers are highlighted. The paper also outlines the common features of the approach the STTIS partners took toward the construction of teacher training materials. These materials build in concrete results from the research, in forms that provoke discussion and reflection aimed at making teachers more aware of their ideas and behavior, with a view to effecting lasting change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:1–12, 2005
TL;DR: In this article, a typology of learning impediments informed by research into learning and students' ideas in science is proposed to diagnose the origins of students' learning difficulties in science.
Abstract: This paper reports the results of applying a particular analytical perspective to data from an interview study: a typology of learning impediments informed by research into learning and students' ideas in science. This typology is a heuristic tool that may help diagnose the origins of students' learning difficulties. Here it is applied to data from students interviewed about a problematic curriculum topic—the “oribital” model of atomic and molecular structures. Several specific features of learners' developing ideas about atomic and molecular structures were identified in published reports of the study. In this paper, interview data is examined “through” the analytical lens of the typology to explore possible explanations for students' learning difficulties in the topic. It is suggested that the typology provides a useful perspective for exploring some aspects of students' learning difficulties, but that the previously published form of the typology could be modified to include important additional types of learning impediments. The heuristic value of the typology is demonstrated in terms of the way that the analysis can both inform teaching, and suggest a focus for further research. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:94–116, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated students' views on the nature of science with the use of a large-scale survey and found that the majority of Korean students possessed an absolutist/empiricist perspective about the NOS.
Abstract: In this study, students' views on the nature of science (NOS) were investigated with the use of a large-scale survey. An empirically derived multiple-choice format questionnaire was administered to 1702 Korean 6th, 8th, and 10th graders. The questionnaire consisted of five items that respectively examined students' views on five constructs concerning the NOS: purpose of science, definition of scientific theory, nature of models, tentativeness of scientific theory, and origin of scientific theory. Students were also asked to respond to an accompanying open-ended section for each item in order to collect information about the rationale(s) for their choices. The results indicated that the majority of Korean students possessed an absolutist/empiricist perspective about the NOS. It was also found that, on the whole, there were no clear differences in the distributions of 6th, 8th, and 10th graders' views on the NOS. In some questions, distinct differences between Korean students and those of Western countries were found. Educational implications are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:314–334, 2005
TL;DR: Abd-El-Khalick et al. as discussed by the authors, 2001, J SCI TEACHER ED, V12, P215, DOI 10.1002-sce.
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TL;DR: This article used identity as a multidimensional lens to explore ways in which beginning teachers saw themselves as scientists and as science teachers during and after 10-week summer apprenticeships at a science lab.
Abstract: We use identity as a multidimensional lens to explore ways in which beginning teachers saw themselves as scientists and as science teachers during and after 10-week summer apprenticeships at a science lab. Data included four interviews with each teacher, three during the apprenticeship and one after the first year of teaching. Two themes emerged that were used to organize the findings: (a) science as a practice and (b) science as a community of practice. Teachers came to appreciate certain science practices, speech acts, and tools. As scientists, they noticed and engaged in the nonlinearity, messiness, risk taking, evolution over time, and complexity of science (their own and others'), and in both levels of scientific activity, theory and data, and their interplay. Their scientist identity also came to incorporate the delicate dynamics of collaboration, autonomy, and mentoring within a community. However, for several reasons the teachers raised, such practices became elements of their science teacher identities to differing degrees. What they experienced as science teachers was a sense of conflict. At times this conflict took the form of ambivalence, a back-and-forth movement between their sense of the practice of science and their sense of what makes school different from the lab. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:492–516, 2005
TL;DR: The authors examined 9- to 15-year-old children's understandings about basic genetics concepts and how they integrated those understandings with their broader theories of biology, and found that the majority of students had a theory of kinship because they could differentiate between socially and genetically inherited characteristics.
Abstract: This research examined 9- to 15-year-old children's understandings about basic genetics concepts and how they integrated those understandings with their broader theories of biology. A cross-sectional case study method was used to explore the students' (n = 90) understandings of basic inheritance and molecular genetics concepts such as gene and DNA. Data were collected by interview and were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A theoretical framework consisting of an ontological perspective and an epistemological perspective informed the data analysis. The results indicate that the majority of students had a theory of kinship because they could differentiate between socially and genetically inherited characteristics. While these students had heard of the concepts gene and DNA, a bona fide theory of genetics was elusive because they did not know where genes are or what they do. The discussion explores popular cultural origins of students' understandings and potential ontological and epistemological barriers to further learning about genetics. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:614–633, 2005
TL;DR: The lack of attention paid to the technological dimension in science education contributes to a naive and distorted view of science which deeply affects the necessary scientific and technological literacy of all citizens.
Abstract: The current consideration of technology as ‘applied science’, this is to say, as something that comes ‘after’ science, justifies the lack of attention paid to technology in science education. In our paper we question this simplistic view of the science-technology relationship, historically rooted in the unequal appreciation of intellectual and manual work, and we try to show how the absence of the technological dimension in science education contributes to a naive and distorted view of science which deeply affects the necessary scientific and technological literacy of all citizens.
TL;DR: In this paper, five factors that characterize effective mentoring practices in primary science teaching were supported by confirmatory factory analysis, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback, had Cronbach alpha coefficients of internal consistency reliability of.93,.76,.94,.95, and.92, respectively.
Abstract: Perceptions of mentors' practices related to primary science teaching from nine Australian universities (N = 331 final-year preservice teachers) were gathered through a literature-based instrument. Five factors that characterize effective mentoring practices in primary science teaching were supported by confirmatory factory analysis. These factors, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback, had Cronbach alpha coefficients of internal consistency reliability of .93, .76, .94, .95, and .92, respectively. Final model fit indexes were χ2 = 1335, df = 513, CMIDF = 2.60, IFI = .922, CFI = .921, RMR = .066, RMSEA = .070 (p<.001). Specific mentoring interventions for improving primary science teaching practices may be implemented by measuring preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring with a valid and reliable instrument. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:657–674, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a framework drawing on theoretical and empirical science education research that explains the common prominent field-based components of the handful of persistent and successful Earth science education programs designed for indigenous communities in North America.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to propose a framework drawing on theoretical and empirical science education research that explains the common prominent field-based components of the handful of persistent and successful Earth science education programs designed for indigenous communities in North America. These programs are primarily designed for adult learners, either in a postsecondary or in a technical education setting and all include active collaboration between local indigenous communities and geoscientists from nearby universities. Successful Earth science curricula for indigenous learners share in common an explicit emphasis on outdoor education, a place and problem-based structure, and the explicit inclusion of traditional indigenous knowledge in the instruction. Programs sharing this basic design have proven successful and popular for a wide range of indigenous cultures across North America. We present an analysis of common field-based elements to yield insight into indigenous Earth science education. We provide an explanation for the success of this design based in research on field-based learning, Native American learning styles research, and theoretical and empirical research into the nature and structure of indigenous knowledge. We also provide future research directions that can test and further refine our understanding of best practices in indigenous Earth science education. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:296–313, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the role and perceptions of teachers who visited four natural history museums with their classes were investigated. And the authors found that teachers are hardly involved in planning and enacting the museum visit, while the majority of the teachers had no idea regarding the field trip program and rationale.
Abstract: Museums are favorite and respected resources for learning worldwide. In Israel, there are two relatively large science centers and a number of small natural history museums that are visited by thousands of students. Unlike other countries, studying museum visits in Israel only emerges in the last few years. The study focused on the roles and perceptions of teachers, who visited four natural history museums with their classes. The study followed previous studies that aimed at understanding the role teachers play in class visits to museums (Griffin & Symington, 1997, Science Education, 81, 763–779; Cox-Petersen et al., 2003, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 200–218; Olsen, Cox-Petersen, & McComas, 2001, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 12, 155–173) and emphasized unique phenomena related to the Israeli system. None of the teachers interviewed for this study was an active facilitator, and in many cases the teachers had no idea regarding the field trip program and rationale. Our main findings support previous studies that indicated that teachers are hardly involved in planning and enacting the museum visit. An issue of concern, which came up in this study, is the tendency of Israeli schools to use subcontractor companies that plan and make all the museum arrangements. Unlike the common patterns described in the paper, a case study of unique teacher's function is presented as well. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:920–935, 2005
TL;DR: Classroom FeederWatch (CFW) as mentioned in this paper was developed by a collaborative team of private curriculum developers and scientists (ornithologists) to support science inquiry in middle school students.
Abstract: This paper focuses on an early stage of developing curricular materials to sup- port students' learning of scientific inquiry. The materials being developed and tested, called Classroom FeederWatch (CFW), aimed to support science inquiry and were developed by a collaborative team of private curriculum developers and scientists (ornithologists). Inquiry dimensions were influenced at the outset by the newly released National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1996) and by prior successful experiences of ornithologists with inquiry experiences for adults. De- spite hopes that CFW materials would assist middle school students to learn inquiry, evalua- tion findings showed little increase in students' understanding of inquiry or the ability to plan and conduct inquiry. We learned that improvements to inquiry dimensions of the curriculum required aligning activities more closely with practices that reflected the work of scientists in the discipline, integrating learning of content knowledge with learning about inquiry, and adjusting evaluation protocols to more accurately assess inquiry as represented in the Standards. Discussion highlights the influence of the Standards on development of inquiry dimensions of the materials, including the way in which initial application of the Standards to the early version of CFW materials may have restricted the engagement of both students and teachers in conducting science inquiry. C
TL;DR: The authors found that high school students not only need to develop subject matter literacy but also a literacy concerning photographs to fully understand their textbooks, but also need to learn how to look at photographs.
Abstract: In some contexts, a photograph may be worth a thousand words Previous research revealed a dialectical character of photographs: they simultaneously lack determinacy and exhibit an excess of meaning The purpose of this study was to understand how, under this condition, high school students interpret photographs that were accompanied by different amounts and types of cotext (caption, main text) The data for this study consists of video-recorded interviews with twelve Brazilian high school students What students perceived was in part a function of the presence of caption and main text; these texts not only described what could be seen but also taught students how to look at photographs We conclude that high school students not only need to develop subject matter literacy but also a literacy concerning photographs to fully understand their textbooks © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc Sci Ed, 89:219–241, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, an approach to designing and evaluating an instructional sequence set in the context of Newton's third law is described, and evidence is presented to indicate that the designed sequence leads to enhanced learning gains when compared to those achieved with an equivalent group of students.
Abstract: This paper offers an account of, and findings from, an approach to designing and evaluating an instructional sequence set in the context of Newton's third law. The design of the sequence draws upon conceptual change theory and the concept of the “bridging analog” is extended to introduce the notion of a “bridging representation” Attention is also given in the instructional design to the proposed social interactions between teacher and students as the teaching and learning activities are played out or “stage” in the classroom. A range of instruments is used to measure the extent of student learning, and evidence is presented to indicate that the designed sequence leads to enhanced learning gains when compared to those achieved with an equivalent group of students. Although set in the context of teaching and learning about mechanics a number of general points are made in relation to both instructional design and perspectives on conceptual change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:175–195, 2005
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identified the conceptual progression sequence of various matter concept aspects, and compared students' latent abilities against the sequence, and proposed a dynamic overlapping wave model of matter concept development to make sense the above-identified progression patterns.
Abstract: Using the US national sample from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Rasch modeling method, this study identified the conceptual progression sequence of various matter concept aspects, and compared students' latent abilities against the sequence. We found that the four matter aspects, i.e. conservation, physical properties and change, chemical properties and change, and structure and composition, are interrelated. Although they differ in overall difficulty with an increased difficulty from conservation to physical properties and change to chemical properties and change and to structure and composition, the difference among them is not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Elementary school students (3rd and 4th grades) have an average latent ability below the average difficulty of items on the conservation aspect; 7th graders' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of the conservation and physical properties and change aspects; 8th and 12th grade students' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of all the aspects except for structure and composition; and 12th grade science specialization students' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of all the four aspects. We proposed a dynamic overlapping wave model of matter concept development to make sense the above-identified progression patterns. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:433–450, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative way of thinking about science is offered that would not only provide for a more authentic understanding of science, but also invite much needed public participation in the broad governance of science in modern-day democratic societies.
Abstract: Two seemingly complementary trends stand out currently in school science education in the United States: one is the increased emphasis on inquiry activities in classrooms, and the other is the high level of attention given to student understanding of the nature of science. This essay looks at the range of activities that fall within the first trend, noting, in particular, the growing popularity of inquiry activities that engage students in engineering-type tasks. The potential for public disengagement from science and technology issues is described as a result of the continued juxtaposition of these sorts of inquiry activities with our current, idealized portrayals of the nature of science—the emphasis of the second trend. Drawing on Dewey's instrumental theory of knowledge, an alternative way of thinking about science is offered that would not only provide for a more authentic understanding of science, but also invite much needed public participation in the broad governance of science in modern-day democratic societies. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed89:803–821, 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the knowledge-in-use of six acute-care nurses in a hospital surgical unit and found that nurses mainly drew upon their professional knowledge of nursing and upon their procedural understanding that included a common core of "concepts of evidence", which included validity triangulation, normalcy range, accuracy, and a general predilection for direct sensual access to a phenomenon over indirect machine-managed access.
Abstract: What science-related knowledge is actually used by nurses in their day-to-day clinical reasoning when attending patients? The study investigated the knowledge-in-use of six acute-care nurses in a hospital surgical unit. It was found that the nurses mainly drew upon their professional knowledge of nursing and upon their procedural understanding that included a common core of “concepts of evidence” (concepts implicitly applied to the evaluation of data and the evaluation of evidence—the focus of this research). This core included validity triangulation, normalcy range, accuracy, and a general predilection for direct sensual access to a phenomenon over indirect machine-managed access. A cluster of emotion-related concepts of evidence (e.g. cultural sensitivity) was also discovered. These results add to a compendium of concepts of evidence published in the literature. Only a small proportion of nurses (one of the six nurses in the study) used canonical science content in their clinical reasoning, a result consistent with other research. This study also confirms earlier research on employees in science-rich workplaces in general, and on professional development programs for nurses specifically: canonical science content found in a typical science curriculum (e.g. high school physics) does not appear relevant to many nurses' knowledge-in-use. These findings support a curriculum policy that gives emphasis to students learning how to learn science content as required by an authentic everyday or workplace context, and to students learning concepts of evidence. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:242–275, 2005