Profiles of freshman physics students' views on the nature of science
J Res Sci Teach 46: 248-264, 2009
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tea.20219
Bashirah Ibrahim, Andy Buffler, Fred Lubben
The views on various aspects of the nature of science (NOS) of 179 novice undergraduate physics students were investigated using six open-ended, written probes. These views were consolidated within compact NOS profiles, which were designed based on the students' responses to the probes. These profiles may be understood as sets of key descriptors, which represented the variation in the views of individual students in a succinct way. The views of 86% of the sample were found to be represented by four profiles, each containing five descriptors. The consequences for the teaching and learning of tertiary science, and advantages for linking NOS views to other research observables were explored.
Showing posts with label JRST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JRST. Show all posts
2009-02-23
Nielson Nashon Anderson - JRST 2009
Metacognitive engagement during field-trip experiences: A case study of students in an amusement park physics program
J Res Sci Teach 46: 265-288, 2009
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tea.20266
Wendy S. Nielsen, Samson Nashon, David Anderson
This article reports on a study that investigated students' metacognitive engagement in both out-of-school and classroom settings, as they participated in an amusement park physics program. Students from two schools that participated in the program worked in groups to collectively solve novel physics problems that engaged their individual metacognition. Their conversations and behavioral dispositions during problem-solving were digitally audio-recorded on devices that they wore or placed on the tables where groups worked on the assigned physics problems. The students also maintained reflection journals on the strategies they employed to manage their own understanding as well as learning processes. Prior to the amusement park physics discourse, the students completed a specially developed questionnaire instrument. This provided signposts of the students' metacognitive engagement during group problem-solving at the park and subsequent related physics learning tasks back in the classroom. This data, added to field notes arising from observations, and formal and informal interviews during post-visit learning activities provided the data corpus on the students' metacognitive engagement. Analysis of this data revealed three types of metacognitive engagement during group learning tasks: collaborative and consensus-seeking, highly argumentative, and eclectic, resulting from high levels of dissonance. In both cases, evidence of individual students' deeper understandings, which manifested through students' cognitive and social behaviors, demonstrated the invocation of metacognition to varying degrees. The novel physics problems tackled by the students created situations where discrepancies between their prior knowledge and the direct experiences enabled them to explicate their thinking through dispositions of behavior. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
J Res Sci Teach 46: 265-288, 2009
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tea.20266
Wendy S. Nielsen, Samson Nashon, David Anderson
This article reports on a study that investigated students' metacognitive engagement in both out-of-school and classroom settings, as they participated in an amusement park physics program. Students from two schools that participated in the program worked in groups to collectively solve novel physics problems that engaged their individual metacognition. Their conversations and behavioral dispositions during problem-solving were digitally audio-recorded on devices that they wore or placed on the tables where groups worked on the assigned physics problems. The students also maintained reflection journals on the strategies they employed to manage their own understanding as well as learning processes. Prior to the amusement park physics discourse, the students completed a specially developed questionnaire instrument. This provided signposts of the students' metacognitive engagement during group problem-solving at the park and subsequent related physics learning tasks back in the classroom. This data, added to field notes arising from observations, and formal and informal interviews during post-visit learning activities provided the data corpus on the students' metacognitive engagement. Analysis of this data revealed three types of metacognitive engagement during group learning tasks: collaborative and consensus-seeking, highly argumentative, and eclectic, resulting from high levels of dissonance. In both cases, evidence of individual students' deeper understandings, which manifested through students' cognitive and social behaviors, demonstrated the invocation of metacognition to varying degrees. The novel physics problems tackled by the students created situations where discrepancies between their prior knowledge and the direct experiences enabled them to explicate their thinking through dispositions of behavior. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
2009-01-15
Airey Linder - JRST 2009
A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes
J Res Sci Teach 46: 27–49, 2009
John Airey, Cedric Linder
In this theoretical article we use an interpretative study with physics undergraduates to exemplify a proposed characterization of student learning in university science in terms of fluency in disciplinary discourse. Drawing on ideas from a number of different sources in the literature, we characterize what we call “disciplinary discourse” as the complex of representations, tools and activities of a discipline, describing how it can be seen as being made up of various “modes”. For university science, examples of these modes are: spoken and written language, mathematics, gesture, images including pictures, graphs and diagrams, tools such as experimental apparatus and measurement equipment, and activities such as ways of working—both practice and praxis, analytical routines, actions, etc.. Using physics as an illustrative example, we discuss the relationship between the ways of knowing that constitute a discipline and the modes of disciplinary discourse used to represent this knowing. The data comes from stimulated recall interviews where physics undergraduates discuss their learning experiences during lectures. These interviews are used to anecdotally illustrate our proposed characterization of learning and its associated theoretical constructs. Students describe a repetitive practice aspect to their learning, which we suggest is necessary for achieving fluency in the various modes of disciplinary discourse. Here we found instances of discourse imitation, where students are seemingly fluent in one or more modes of disciplinary discourse without having related this to a teacherintended disciplinary way of knowing. The examples lead to the suggestion that fluency in a critical constellation of modes of disciplinary discourse may be a necessary though not always sufficient condition for gaining meaningful holistic access to disciplinary ways of knowing. One implication is that in order to be effective, science teachers need to know which modes are critical for an understanding of the material they wish to teach. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
J Res Sci Teach 46: 27–49, 2009
John Airey, Cedric Linder
In this theoretical article we use an interpretative study with physics undergraduates to exemplify a proposed characterization of student learning in university science in terms of fluency in disciplinary discourse. Drawing on ideas from a number of different sources in the literature, we characterize what we call “disciplinary discourse” as the complex of representations, tools and activities of a discipline, describing how it can be seen as being made up of various “modes”. For university science, examples of these modes are: spoken and written language, mathematics, gesture, images including pictures, graphs and diagrams, tools such as experimental apparatus and measurement equipment, and activities such as ways of working—both practice and praxis, analytical routines, actions, etc.. Using physics as an illustrative example, we discuss the relationship between the ways of knowing that constitute a discipline and the modes of disciplinary discourse used to represent this knowing. The data comes from stimulated recall interviews where physics undergraduates discuss their learning experiences during lectures. These interviews are used to anecdotally illustrate our proposed characterization of learning and its associated theoretical constructs. Students describe a repetitive practice aspect to their learning, which we suggest is necessary for achieving fluency in the various modes of disciplinary discourse. Here we found instances of discourse imitation, where students are seemingly fluent in one or more modes of disciplinary discourse without having related this to a teacherintended disciplinary way of knowing. The examples lead to the suggestion that fluency in a critical constellation of modes of disciplinary discourse may be a necessary though not always sufficient condition for gaining meaningful holistic access to disciplinary ways of knowing. One implication is that in order to be effective, science teachers need to know which modes are critical for an understanding of the material they wish to teach. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
2008-10-02
Basu - JRST 2008
How students design and enact physics lessons: Five immigrant caribbean youth and the cultivation of student voice
J Res Sci Teach 45: 881-899, 2008
Sreyashi Jhumki Basu
An array of data suggests that low-income, minority students are excluded from a high-quality physics education. The education literature proposes that cultivating student voice in classrooms helps youth feel a deeper, more meaningful connection with school. However, limited data exist in the physics education literature on how student voice is expressed. The purpose of this study was to use critical ethnography to explore how student voice developed in the context of a ninth-grade conceptual physics class. I developed case studies of five immigrant Caribbean youth from student, family and teacher interviews, participant observations and field notes. I relied on grounded theory as an analytic technique. Findings suggest that in expressing voice, youth designed lessons reflective of their identities, leveraged and enhanced their epistemic and positional authority (two new constructs I propose in this manuscript), and creatively utilized physics and school-sponsored resources. This information about how students express voice has implications for how they learn physics, how critical theory is connected with physics classroom practice, and how student identity, shared authority and youth agency develop in physics classrooms.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 881-899, 2008
Sreyashi Jhumki Basu
An array of data suggests that low-income, minority students are excluded from a high-quality physics education. The education literature proposes that cultivating student voice in classrooms helps youth feel a deeper, more meaningful connection with school. However, limited data exist in the physics education literature on how student voice is expressed. The purpose of this study was to use critical ethnography to explore how student voice developed in the context of a ninth-grade conceptual physics class. I developed case studies of five immigrant Caribbean youth from student, family and teacher interviews, participant observations and field notes. I relied on grounded theory as an analytic technique. Findings suggest that in expressing voice, youth designed lessons reflective of their identities, leveraged and enhanced their epistemic and positional authority (two new constructs I propose in this manuscript), and creatively utilized physics and school-sponsored resources. This information about how students express voice has implications for how they learn physics, how critical theory is connected with physics classroom practice, and how student identity, shared authority and youth agency develop in physics classrooms.
Geier Blumenfeld Marx Krajcik Fishman Soloway Clay-Chambers - JRST 2008
Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform
J Res Sci Teach 45: 922-939, 2008
Robert Geier, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Ronald W. Marx, Joseph S. Krajcik, Barry Fishman, Elliot Soloway, Juanita Clay-Chambers
Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 922-939, 2008
Robert Geier, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Ronald W. Marx, Joseph S. Krajcik, Barry Fishman, Elliot Soloway, Juanita Clay-Chambers
Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support.
2008-08-27
JRST chemistry articles - JRST 2008
Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Volume 45, Number 7/September 2008
Classification of chemical reactions: Stages of expertise pp.771-793
Marilyne Stains, Vicente Talanquer
Seeking effectiveness and equity in a large college chemistry course: an HLM investigation of PeerLed Guided Inquiry pp.794-811
Scott E. Lewis, Jennifer E. Lewis
National Board Certification NBC as a catalyst for teachers learning about teaching: The effects of the NBC process on candidate teachers PCK development pp.812-834
Soonhye Park, J. Steve Oliver
Representations of nature of science in high school chemistry textbooks over the past four decades pp.835-855
Fouad AbdElKhalick, Mindy Waters, AnPhong Le
Volume 45, Number 7/September 2008
Classification of chemical reactions: Stages of expertise pp.771-793
Marilyne Stains, Vicente Talanquer
Seeking effectiveness and equity in a large college chemistry course: an HLM investigation of PeerLed Guided Inquiry pp.794-811
Scott E. Lewis, Jennifer E. Lewis
National Board Certification NBC as a catalyst for teachers learning about teaching: The effects of the NBC process on candidate teachers PCK development pp.812-834
Soonhye Park, J. Steve Oliver
Representations of nature of science in high school chemistry textbooks over the past four decades pp.835-855
Fouad AbdElKhalick, Mindy Waters, AnPhong Le
2008-05-13
Lichtenstein Owen Blalock Liu Ramirez Pruski Marshall Toepperwein - JRST 2008
Psychometric reevaluation of the scientific attitude inventory-revised (SAI-II)
J Res Sci Teach 45: 600-616, 2008
Michael J. Lichtenstein, Steven V. Owen, Cheryl L. Blalock, Yan Liu, Kacy A. Ramirez, Linda A. Pruski, Carolyn E. Marshall, Mary Anne Toepperwein
The central purposes of this study were to review the development and evolution of the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) and then reevaluate the psychometric properties of the revised form of the SAI, the Scientific Attitude Inventory II (SAI-II). The SAI-II was administered to a convenience sample of 543 middle and high school students from five teachers in four schools in four school districts in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. Confirmatory factor analysis on the full data set failed to support the existence of a 12-factor structure (as proposed by the scale developers) or a one-factor structure. The data were then randomly divided into exploratory [exploratory factor analysis (EFA)] validation and confirmatory [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)] cross-validation sets. Exploratory and confirmatory models yielded a three-factor solution that did not fit the data well [2 (321) = 646, p < .001; RMSEA = .061 (.90 CI = .054-.068); and CFI = .81]. The three factors were labeled Science is About Understanding and Explaining (13 items), Science is Rigid (6 items), and I Want to Be a Scientist (8 items). The -coefficients for these three factors ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Whether these identified subscales are valid will require independent investigation. In this sample, and consistent with prior publications, the SAI-II in its current form did not have satisfactory psychometric properties and cannot be recommended for further use. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 600-616, 2008
Michael J. Lichtenstein, Steven V. Owen, Cheryl L. Blalock, Yan Liu, Kacy A. Ramirez, Linda A. Pruski, Carolyn E. Marshall, Mary Anne Toepperwein
The central purposes of this study were to review the development and evolution of the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) and then reevaluate the psychometric properties of the revised form of the SAI, the Scientific Attitude Inventory II (SAI-II). The SAI-II was administered to a convenience sample of 543 middle and high school students from five teachers in four schools in four school districts in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. Confirmatory factor analysis on the full data set failed to support the existence of a 12-factor structure (as proposed by the scale developers) or a one-factor structure. The data were then randomly divided into exploratory [exploratory factor analysis (EFA)] validation and confirmatory [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)] cross-validation sets. Exploratory and confirmatory models yielded a three-factor solution that did not fit the data well [2 (321) = 646, p < .001; RMSEA = .061 (.90 CI = .054-.068); and CFI = .81]. The three factors were labeled Science is About Understanding and Explaining (13 items), Science is Rigid (6 items), and I Want to Be a Scientist (8 items). The -coefficients for these three factors ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Whether these identified subscales are valid will require independent investigation. In this sample, and consistent with prior publications, the SAI-II in its current form did not have satisfactory psychometric properties and cannot be recommended for further use. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Oliveira Sadler - JRST 2008
Interactive patterns and conceptual convergence during student collaborations in science
J Res Sci Teach 45: 634-658, 2008
Alandeom W. Oliveira, Troy D. Sadler
This study examines cognitive and social processes in group interactions that shape collaborative learning in science classrooms. Three small groups of students were observed while working collaboratively on explaining the burning of a candle under a jar. The learning environment served as a context for examination of conceptual convergence, a process wherein students construct shared meanings for science concepts through gradual refinement of ambiguous, partial meanings presented in group space. Despite engaging in the same activity with very similar instructional supports, the groups displayed very different patterns of interaction and achieved varied degrees of conceptual convergence. One group collaborated effectively and displayed evidence of individual conceptualizations of science content converging to establish a more well-informed shared conceptualization. The other groups were not as successful, each for unique reasons. Problems demonstrated in one group included lack of self-confidence, poor monitoring of group learning, and active avoidance of potentially fruitful conceptual conflicts. The other group struggled primarily because of a combative social context. The major educational significance of this study was the identification of social context and interactive patterns, group approaches to conceptual conflicts, and instructors' roles in collaborative activities as crucial aspects of productive group learning.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 634-658, 2008
Alandeom W. Oliveira, Troy D. Sadler
This study examines cognitive and social processes in group interactions that shape collaborative learning in science classrooms. Three small groups of students were observed while working collaboratively on explaining the burning of a candle under a jar. The learning environment served as a context for examination of conceptual convergence, a process wherein students construct shared meanings for science concepts through gradual refinement of ambiguous, partial meanings presented in group space. Despite engaging in the same activity with very similar instructional supports, the groups displayed very different patterns of interaction and achieved varied degrees of conceptual convergence. One group collaborated effectively and displayed evidence of individual conceptualizations of science content converging to establish a more well-informed shared conceptualization. The other groups were not as successful, each for unique reasons. Problems demonstrated in one group included lack of self-confidence, poor monitoring of group learning, and active avoidance of potentially fruitful conceptual conflicts. The other group struggled primarily because of a combative social context. The major educational significance of this study was the identification of social context and interactive patterns, group approaches to conceptual conflicts, and instructors' roles in collaborative activities as crucial aspects of productive group learning.
Liu Ruiz - JRST 2008
Using data mining to predict K-12 students' performance on large-scale assessment items related to energy
J. Res. Sci. Teach 45: 554-573, 2008
Xiufeng Liu, Miguel E. Ruiz
This article reports a study on using data mining to predict K-12 students' competence levels on test items related to energy. Data sources are the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1999 TIMSS-Repeat, 2003 Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Student population performances, that is, percentages correct, are the object of prediction. Two data mining algorithms, C4.5 and M5, are used to construct a decision tree and a linear function to predict students' performance levels. A combination of factors related to content, context, and cognitive demand of items and to students' grade levels are found to predict student population performances on test items. Cognitive demands have the most significant contribution to the prediction. The decision tree and linear function agree with each other on predictions. We end the article by discussing implications of findings for future science content standard development and energy concept teaching.
J. Res. Sci. Teach 45: 554-573, 2008
Xiufeng Liu, Miguel E. Ruiz
This article reports a study on using data mining to predict K-12 students' competence levels on test items related to energy. Data sources are the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1999 TIMSS-Repeat, 2003 Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Student population performances, that is, percentages correct, are the object of prediction. Two data mining algorithms, C4.5 and M5, are used to construct a decision tree and a linear function to predict students' performance levels. A combination of factors related to content, context, and cognitive demand of items and to students' grade levels are found to predict student population performances on test items. Cognitive demands have the most significant contribution to the prediction. The decision tree and linear function agree with each other on predictions. We end the article by discussing implications of findings for future science content standard development and energy concept teaching.
Lopes Silva Cravino Costa Marques Campos - JRST 2008
Transversal traits in science education research relevant for teaching and research: A meta-interpretative study
J Res Sci Teach 45: 574-599, 2008
J. Bernardino Lopes, António Alberto Silva, José P. Cravino, Nilza Costa, Luís Marques, Carlos Campos
This study is a meta-interpretative analysis that focuses on research conducted and published by other researchers. Concepts central to this study include global practical relevance, curriculum design, and formative situation. We analyzed 35 studies selected from 374 published studies in the years 2000 and 2001 in three journals referenced in the International Scientific Index. Using a replicable methodology developed specifically for this research, we found evidence of s clusters of variables that suggest the existence of transversal traits in the 35 science education research studies. These results form a reference framework of theoretical and practical knowledge relevant for research and practice pertaining to teaching and learning science.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 574-599, 2008
J. Bernardino Lopes, António Alberto Silva, José P. Cravino, Nilza Costa, Luís Marques, Carlos Campos
This study is a meta-interpretative analysis that focuses on research conducted and published by other researchers. Concepts central to this study include global practical relevance, curriculum design, and formative situation. We analyzed 35 studies selected from 374 published studies in the years 2000 and 2001 in three journals referenced in the International Scientific Index. Using a replicable methodology developed specifically for this research, we found evidence of s clusters of variables that suggest the existence of transversal traits in the 35 science education research studies. These results form a reference framework of theoretical and practical knowledge relevant for research and practice pertaining to teaching and learning science.
Brown Ryoo - JRST 2008
Teaching science as a language: A "content-first" approach to science teaching
J Res Sci Teach 45: 529-553, 2008
Bryan A. Brown, Kihyun Ryoo
Our research project was guided by the assumption that students who learn to understand phenomena in everyday terms prior to being taught scientific language will develop improved understanding of new concepts. We used web-based software to teach students using a "content-first" approach that allowed students to transition from everyday understanding of phenomena to the use of scientific language. This study involved 49 minority students who were randomly assigned into two groups for analysis: a treatment group (taught with everyday language prior to using scientific language) and a control group (taught with scientific language). Using a pre-post-test control group design, we assessed students' conceptual and linguistic understanding of photosynthesis. The results of this study indicated that students taught with the content-first approach developed significantly improved understanding when compared to students taught in traditional ways.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 529-553, 2008
Bryan A. Brown, Kihyun Ryoo
Our research project was guided by the assumption that students who learn to understand phenomena in everyday terms prior to being taught scientific language will develop improved understanding of new concepts. We used web-based software to teach students using a "content-first" approach that allowed students to transition from everyday understanding of phenomena to the use of scientific language. This study involved 49 minority students who were randomly assigned into two groups for analysis: a treatment group (taught with everyday language prior to using scientific language) and a control group (taught with scientific language). Using a pre-post-test control group design, we assessed students' conceptual and linguistic understanding of photosynthesis. The results of this study indicated that students taught with the content-first approach developed significantly improved understanding when compared to students taught in traditional ways.
2008-04-09
Otero Nathan - JRST 2008
Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science
J Res Sci Teach 45: 497-523, 2008
Valerie K. Otero, Mitchell J. Nathan
Pre-service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre-service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre-conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty-one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience-based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 497-523, 2008
Valerie K. Otero, Mitchell J. Nathan
Pre-service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre-service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre-conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty-one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience-based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education.
Khishfe - JRST 2008
The development of seventh graders' views of nature of science
J Res Sci Teach 45: 470-496, 2008
Rola Khishfe
This study investigated the development in students' nature of science (NOS) views in the context of an explicit inquiry-oriented instructional approach. Participants were 18 seventh-grade students who were taught by a teacher with appropriateknowledge about NOS. The intervention spanned about 3 months. During this time, students were engaged in three inquiry-oriented activities that were followed by reflective discussions of NOS. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, inferential, and creative aspects of NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess students' views before, during, and after the intervention. Before instruction, the majority of students held naïve views of the four NOS aspects. During instruction, the students acquired more informed and intermediary views of the NOS aspects. By the end of the intervention, the students' views of the NOS aspects had developed further still into informed and intermediary. These findings suggest a developmental model in which students' views develop along a continuum during which they pass through intermediary views to reach more informed views. Implications for teaching and learning of NOS are discussed.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 470-496, 2008
Rola Khishfe
This study investigated the development in students' nature of science (NOS) views in the context of an explicit inquiry-oriented instructional approach. Participants were 18 seventh-grade students who were taught by a teacher with appropriateknowledge about NOS. The intervention spanned about 3 months. During this time, students were engaged in three inquiry-oriented activities that were followed by reflective discussions of NOS. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, inferential, and creative aspects of NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess students' views before, during, and after the intervention. Before instruction, the majority of students held naïve views of the four NOS aspects. During instruction, the students acquired more informed and intermediary views of the NOS aspects. By the end of the intervention, the students' views of the NOS aspects had developed further still into informed and intermediary. These findings suggest a developmental model in which students' views develop along a continuum during which they pass through intermediary views to reach more informed views. Implications for teaching and learning of NOS are discussed.
Papadouris Constantinou Kyratsi - JRST 2008
Students' use of the energy model to account for changes in physical systems
J Res Sci Teach 45: 444-469, 2008
Nicos Papadouris, Constantinos P. Constantinou, Theodora Kyratsi
The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which students, aged 11-14 years, account for certain changes in physical systems and the extent to which they draw on an energy model as a common framework for explaining changes observed in diverse systems. Data were combined from two sources: interviews with 20 individuals and an open-ended questionnaire that was administered to 240 students (121 upper elementary school students and 119 middle school students). We observed a wealth of approaches ranging from accounts of energy transfer and transformation to responses identifying specific objects or processes as the cause of changes. The findings also provide evidence that students do not seem to appreciate the transphenomenological and unifying nature of energy. Students' thinking was influenced by various conceptual difficulties that are compounded by traditional science teaching; for instance, students tended to confuse energy with force or electric current. In addition, the comparison between the responses from middle school students and those of elementary school students demonstrates that science teaching and maturation appeared to have a negligible influence on whether students had constructed a coherent energy model, which they could use consistently to account for changes in certain physical systems.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 444-469, 2008
Nicos Papadouris, Constantinos P. Constantinou, Theodora Kyratsi
The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which students, aged 11-14 years, account for certain changes in physical systems and the extent to which they draw on an energy model as a common framework for explaining changes observed in diverse systems. Data were combined from two sources: interviews with 20 individuals and an open-ended questionnaire that was administered to 240 students (121 upper elementary school students and 119 middle school students). We observed a wealth of approaches ranging from accounts of energy transfer and transformation to responses identifying specific objects or processes as the cause of changes. The findings also provide evidence that students do not seem to appreciate the transphenomenological and unifying nature of energy. Students' thinking was influenced by various conceptual difficulties that are compounded by traditional science teaching; for instance, students tended to confuse energy with force or electric current. In addition, the comparison between the responses from middle school students and those of elementary school students demonstrates that science teaching and maturation appeared to have a negligible influence on whether students had constructed a coherent energy model, which they could use consistently to account for changes in certain physical systems.
2008-03-05
Bell Trundle - JRST 2008
The use of a computer simulation to promote scientific conceptions of moon phases
J Res Sci Teach 45: 346-372, 2008
Randy L. Bell, Kathy Cabe Trundle
This study described the conceptual understandings of 50 early childhood (Pre-K-3) preservice teachers about standards-based lunar concepts before and after inquiry-based instruction utilizing educational technology. The instructional intervention integrated the planetarium software Starry Night BackyardTM with instruction on moon phases from Physics by Inquiry by McDermott (1996). Data sources included drawings, interviews, and a lunar shapes card sort. Videotapes of participants' interviews were used along with the drawings and card sorting responses during data analysis. The various data were analyzed via a constant comparative method in order to produce profiles of each participant's pre- and postinstruction conceptual understandings of moon phases. Results indicated that before instruction none of the participants understood the cause of moon phases, and none were able to draw both scientific moon shapes and sequences. After the instruction with technology integration, most participants (82%) held a scientific understanding of the cause of moon phases and were able to draw scientific shapes and sequences (80%). The results of this study demonstrate that a well-designed computer simulation used within a conceptual change model of instruction can be very effective in promoting scientific understandings.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 346-372, 2008
Randy L. Bell, Kathy Cabe Trundle
This study described the conceptual understandings of 50 early childhood (Pre-K-3) preservice teachers about standards-based lunar concepts before and after inquiry-based instruction utilizing educational technology. The instructional intervention integrated the planetarium software Starry Night BackyardTM with instruction on moon phases from Physics by Inquiry by McDermott (1996). Data sources included drawings, interviews, and a lunar shapes card sort. Videotapes of participants' interviews were used along with the drawings and card sorting responses during data analysis. The various data were analyzed via a constant comparative method in order to produce profiles of each participant's pre- and postinstruction conceptual understandings of moon phases. Results indicated that before instruction none of the participants understood the cause of moon phases, and none were able to draw both scientific moon shapes and sequences. After the instruction with technology integration, most participants (82%) held a scientific understanding of the cause of moon phases and were able to draw scientific shapes and sequences (80%). The results of this study demonstrate that a well-designed computer simulation used within a conceptual change model of instruction can be very effective in promoting scientific understandings.
2008-02-07
Dori Sasson - JRST 2008
Chemical understanding and graphing skills in an honors case-based computerized chemistry laboratory environment: The value of bidirectional visual and textual representations
J Res Sci Teach 45: 219-250, 2008.
Yehudit J. Dori, Irit Sasson
email: yidori@technion.ac.il
The case-based computerized laboratory (CCL) is a chemistry learning environment that integrates computerized experiments with emphasis on scientific inquiry and comprehension of case studies. The research objective was to investigate chemical understanding and graphing skills of high school honors students via bidirectional visual and textual representations in the CCL learning environment. The research population of our 3-year study consisted of 857 chemistry 12th grade honors students from a variety of high schools in Israel. Pre- and postcase-based questionnaires were used to assess students' graphing and chemical understanding-retention skills. We found that students in the CCL learning environment significantly improved their graphing skills and chemical understanding-retention in the post- with respect to the prequestionnaires. Comparing the experimental students to their non-CCL control peers has shown that CCL students had an advantage in graphing skills. The CCL contribution was most noticeable for experimental students of relatively low academic level who benefit the most from the combination of visual and textual representations. Our findings emphasize the educational value of combining the case-based method with computerized laboratories for enhancing students' chemistry understanding and graphing skills, and for developing their ability to bidirectionally transfer between textual and visual representations.
© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 4 December 2005; Revised: 24 December 2006; Accepted: 29 December 2006
DOI: 10.1002/tea.20197 About DOI
J Res Sci Teach 45: 219-250, 2008.
Yehudit J. Dori, Irit Sasson
email: yidori@technion.ac.il
The case-based computerized laboratory (CCL) is a chemistry learning environment that integrates computerized experiments with emphasis on scientific inquiry and comprehension of case studies. The research objective was to investigate chemical understanding and graphing skills of high school honors students via bidirectional visual and textual representations in the CCL learning environment. The research population of our 3-year study consisted of 857 chemistry 12th grade honors students from a variety of high schools in Israel. Pre- and postcase-based questionnaires were used to assess students' graphing and chemical understanding-retention skills. We found that students in the CCL learning environment significantly improved their graphing skills and chemical understanding-retention in the post- with respect to the prequestionnaires. Comparing the experimental students to their non-CCL control peers has shown that CCL students had an advantage in graphing skills. The CCL contribution was most noticeable for experimental students of relatively low academic level who benefit the most from the combination of visual and textual representations. Our findings emphasize the educational value of combining the case-based method with computerized laboratories for enhancing students' chemistry understanding and graphing skills, and for developing their ability to bidirectionally transfer between textual and visual representations.
© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 4 December 2005; Revised: 24 December 2006; Accepted: 29 December 2006
DOI: 10.1002/tea.20197 About DOI
Potgieter Harding Engelbrecht - JRST 2008
Transfer of algebraic and graphical thinking between mathematics and chemistry
J Res Sci Teach 45: 197-218, 2008.
Marietjie Potgieter, Ansie Harding, Johann Engelbrecht
email: jengelbr@up.ac.za
Students in undergraduate chemistry courses find, as a rule, topics with a strong mathematical basis difficult to master. In this study we investigate whether such mathematically related problems are due to deficiencies in their mathematics foundation or due to the complexity introduced by transfer of mathematics to a new scientific domain. In the investigation we exposed a group of students to a chemistry instrument based on the Nernst equation in electrochemistry, and an equivalent group of students to a similar mathematics instrument in which the questions were stripped of all chemistry context. Both tests contained items requiring algebraic as well as graphical skills. Students experienced few problems with the algebraic questions in both the chemistry and mathematics tests. Their graphical construction and interpretation skills, on the other hand, are inadequate, as can be seen from the poor performance in both the mathematics and the chemistry results of the graphical question. Our conclusion is that the problem seems to lie at the mathematics side and is not due to the transfer of mathematics to an application.
© Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 18 April 2006; Revised: 15 February 2007; Accepted: 25 February 2007
10.1002/tea.20208 About DOI
J Res Sci Teach 45: 197-218, 2008.
Marietjie Potgieter, Ansie Harding, Johann Engelbrecht
email: jengelbr@up.ac.za
Students in undergraduate chemistry courses find, as a rule, topics with a strong mathematical basis difficult to master. In this study we investigate whether such mathematically related problems are due to deficiencies in their mathematics foundation or due to the complexity introduced by transfer of mathematics to a new scientific domain. In the investigation we exposed a group of students to a chemistry instrument based on the Nernst equation in electrochemistry, and an equivalent group of students to a similar mathematics instrument in which the questions were stripped of all chemistry context. Both tests contained items requiring algebraic as well as graphical skills. Students experienced few problems with the algebraic questions in both the chemistry and mathematics tests. Their graphical construction and interpretation skills, on the other hand, are inadequate, as can be seen from the poor performance in both the mathematics and the chemistry results of the graphical question. Our conclusion is that the problem seems to lie at the mathematics side and is not due to the transfer of mathematics to an application.
© Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 18 April 2006; Revised: 15 February 2007; Accepted: 25 February 2007
10.1002/tea.20208 About DOI
Marshall Carrejo - JRST 2008
Students' mathematical modeling of motion
J. Res. Sci. Teach 45: 153-173, 2008.
Jill A. Marshall, David J. Carrejo
email: marshall@mail.utexas.edu
We present results of an investigation of university students' development of mathematical models of motion in a physical science course for preservice teachers and graduate students in science and mathematics education. Although some students were familiar with the standard concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration from physics classes, most students had difficulty using these concepts to characterize actual or hypothetical motions. Furthermore, some students developed their own nonstandard method of describing accelerated motion in terms of changes in the average velocity, from the start of the motion up to a given time. This is in contrast to the physics community's use of the acceleration construct, defined in terms of changes in the instantaneous velocity, to describe such motion. Although the change in average velocity is not typically identified as an important construct in traditional physics texts, some students found it intuitively appealing, and were able to use it successfully to describe and predict motion. We conclude that by focusing on standard constructs, and ignoring possible intuitive ways that students might view motion, standard kinematics instruction may miss an opportunity to maximize student understanding.
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 27 October 2006; Accepted: 5 March 2007
DOI: 10.1002/tea.20210
J. Res. Sci. Teach 45: 153-173, 2008.
Jill A. Marshall, David J. Carrejo
email: marshall@mail.utexas.edu
We present results of an investigation of university students' development of mathematical models of motion in a physical science course for preservice teachers and graduate students in science and mathematics education. Although some students were familiar with the standard concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration from physics classes, most students had difficulty using these concepts to characterize actual or hypothetical motions. Furthermore, some students developed their own nonstandard method of describing accelerated motion in terms of changes in the average velocity, from the start of the motion up to a given time. This is in contrast to the physics community's use of the acceleration construct, defined in terms of changes in the instantaneous velocity, to describe such motion. Although the change in average velocity is not typically identified as an important construct in traditional physics texts, some students found it intuitively appealing, and were able to use it successfully to describe and predict motion. We conclude that by focusing on standard constructs, and ignoring possible intuitive ways that students might view motion, standard kinematics instruction may miss an opportunity to maximize student understanding.
© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Received: 27 October 2006; Accepted: 5 March 2007
DOI: 10.1002/tea.20210
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