International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education最新文献

Adaptive science dispositions (epistemology, enjoyment, interest, and self-efficacy) have been shown to be related to schools’ science climate and science literacy. School stratification may promote positive linkages among science dispositions, science literacy, and science climate. To examine the association between school stratification and such linkages, we undertook a comparative study of early secondary schools in Ireland (less stratified—modest tracking, modest grade retention) and Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgian region; more stratified—multiple tracks, extensive grade retention). Using Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2015) data and multilevel modeling methods, we included 5419 (Ireland) and 5675 (Flanders) students nested within 157 and 171 schools, respectively. Student- and school-level variables with potential associations with our outcome measures (science dispositions for the first research question (RQ1); science literacy for RQ2) were included in baseline models. Subsequent models estimated “over-and-above” associations of science climate with science dispositions (RQ1) and of both science dispositions and climate with science literacy (RQ2). Science dispositions, as outcomes, were associated with disciplinary climate and teaching support in science classroom, particularly in Ireland. All four science dispositions (as independent variables) were associated with science literacy (both separately and in concert) for both Irish and Flemish cases. Epistemology was most strongly associated with science literacy. A less stratified school system may grant teachers more opportunities to craft positive science learning environments. A more stratified school system may amplify existing divergences in science (dispositions and literacy).

Identifying the knowledge resources teachers productively and unproductively draw upon can provide a means by which to create support structures to develop a more robust understanding of the content. To provide more informed grade-level support structures in teacher education programs, this study examined the knowledge resources 20 secondary pre-service teachers (PSTs) and 13 elementary PSTs drew upon when solving a comparison proportional reasoning problem. Data from written work and videos of PSTs’ explanations were analyzed using the robust understanding of proportional reasoning for teaching framework. Both elementary and secondary PSTs ubiquitously drew upon the same four knowledge resources (comparison of quantities, ratios, proportional situation, and ratio as measure). Elementary PSTs were more apt to counterproductively draw upon the knowledge resource ratios ≠ fractions, while secondary PSTs more often counterproductively drew upon equivalence. Mathematics educators can leverage the knowledge resources afforded by this task and strategically highlight productive and counterproductive resources to tailor instruction that develops PSTs’ robust understanding of proportional reasoning.

Researchers in science education lacks valid and reliable instruments to assess students’ disciplinary and epistemic reading of scientific texts. The main purpose of this study was to develop and validate a Reading in Science Holistic Assessment (RISHA) to assess students’ holistic reading of scientific texts. RISHA measures students’ content, procedural, and epistemic domains of reading two texts, one history-of-science text and another socio-scientific text. The initial 24-item RISHA was administered to 161 Grade 9 students from 3 schools. The multidimensional Rasch partial credit model was used to analyze the reliability and validity of RISHA. All items demonstrated good fit and reliability. According to logit scores generated for each domain in Rasch analysis, students in our study performed better in content domain and less well in the epistemic domain. Students also performed significantly better in the epistemic domain of the socio-scientific text than in the history-of-science text. RISHA provides accurate measures in various domains of reading scientific texts and various contexts of scientific texts. We propose that RISHA could potentially be applied to studying the effect of reading-science intervention or predictors of students’ performance in each domain of reading scientific texts.

In this qualitative study, we examined how prospective mathematics teachers’ instructional visions align with their instructional practices through an approximation of practice opportunity. Namely, we employed scripting tasks to understand how prospective teachers complete a scripting task and respond to students’ misconceptions, and we compared their instructional visions with their responding practices. The 81 prospective mathematics teachers who were taking the “Misconceptions in Mathematics Teaching” course at two different state universities comprised the participants. Data was obtained from the instructional vision questionnaire and two scripting tasks in fractions. We analyzed the data using the content analysis technique. Our findings indicate that the majority of the participants’ instructional visions were aligned with ambitious instruction, while their responding practices were mostly inconsistent with their visions. Our findings suggest that while their instructional visions were highly reform based, prospective mathematics teachers still need to be oriented in an ambitious instructional direction in their practices.

The expectations within higher education to improve online STEM courses have continued to increase. The pressure to do so particularly pertains to the lower-level introductory courses that act as gatekeeping courses to various STEM-related majors. Rather than working alone to improve their courses, more instructors for these courses pair with the respective instructional designers at their institutions to refresh or revise, their online courses. This study examines the revisions of a two-part introduction-to-biology series of online courses with their respective online labs over the span of three years, and from a sampling of 905 students, compares the final scores from the courses and the labs between each iteration. Findings indicate that multiple iterations of a course have the potential to increase student outcomes and to decrease the student dropout rate over time. Additionally, purely online students can perform differently in response to course revisions in comparison to the online students who also enroll in non-online courses, implying that the needs of online-only students may differ from those who have a blended learning experience.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of an intervention on primary school students’ construction of knowledge on ocean acidification and the development of their systems thinking. Eighty-five 11 to 12-year-old students from five different classes of two public primary schools in Greece participated in the 8-h intervention. The intervention included inquiry-based and knowledge-integration activities, and students worked in groups during all activities. Rich pictures, made by the groups at the beginning and the end of the intervention, were used to evaluate their progress in their knowledge concerning the carbon cycle, as well as in their systems thinking. Our findings showed that the intervention contributed to primary students’ conceptual knowledge of the carbon cycle and the inclusion of ocean acidification in the carbon cycle. It also helped them improve their systems thinking, indicating that students’ systems thinking at this age could be developed through formal instruction with interventions which emphasize content knowledge and use an earth systems approach. Moreover, our findings indicate that the systems thinking perspective can serve as an effective approach to help children better understand and critically engage with complex environmental issues, such as ocean acidification.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the roles preferred by science teachers in the teaching of socioscientific issues (SSIs) in relation to the communicative approach and discourse patterns in the context of SSI and non-SSI. In this qualitative study, the holistic multiple case study design was used. The study group consisted of three science teachers and their students. Video recordings of lessons, semi-structured interviews, and vignettes about teacher roles on socioscientific issues were used as data sources. The communicative approach and discourse patterns of the teachers were analysed by discourse analysis in the context of the roles they preferred. At the beginning of the study, two teachers seemed to prefer the same role, whereas one preferred a different role. As a result of the analysis of the video recordings of the teachers’ classes, it was determined that one of the teachers enacted a different role from the one stated as her preferred role. The results of this study can provide a basis for professional development activities for teachers who are interested in improving the use of the dialogic interactive communicative approach and the discourse patterns based on this approach in their teaching.

The purpose of this study was to explore an approach to an elementary science methods course that utilized a science notebook to physically distinguished multiple perspectives of science teaching and learning. We conceptualized teacher candidates’ (TCs’) thinking within a framework titled Exploring Multiple Perspectives in the Methods Course, focusing on a student perspective and a teacher perspective. We examined the pre/post drawings of a science teacher, which included reflections on the drawings, and end-of-semester focus group responses of 30 TCs from two sections of the methods course. Nineteen TCs either included notebooks in their post-drawings or indicated their value in their reflections. Focus group responses suggested the impact of taking the student perspective and the teacher perspective in the methods course. Furthermore, TCs discussed the notebook as a reference and reflection tool for students and teachers, as a tool for assessment and recording thinking, and notebook use as an elementary teacher. The findings of this study add to the literature by examining how TCs perceive and talk about using the science notebook when it serves as a tool to support explicit attention to student and teacher perspectives in the methods course.