Research in Science Education最新文献

This paper draws from our Science Material Development Project which was interested in understanding how engagement strategies used by science communicators in informal learning environments such as science museums could be used to improve science teaching and learning experiences in under-resourced schools. We demonstrate how the Complementarity of Learning Framework (Colfram), a design tool, was used to develop a simple Do-It-Yourself (DIY) science kit. We followed the design-based research methodology which had three stages: needs analysis, development of learning material, and evaluation of the designed learning material. A detailed needs analysis was conducted, focusing on Grade 9 natural sciences classes at three secondary schools from a rural district in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Afterwards, a nucleotide blocks DIY science kit was developed and evaluated by the Grade 9 students and teachers at the same schools. Further evaluations were conducted by consulting five life science teachers based at urban schools in Durban, South Africa. Our results showed that the designed DIY science kit successfully facilitated effective science education experiences in under-resourced classrooms by eliciting the affective domain as well as affording teachers alternative approaches for content delivery. We also illustrated how the Colfram’s minimalist design approach may be suitable for teachers to use in designing their own inquiry-based learning material. Overall, the study demonstrated how engagement strategies from informal learning environments have the potential to offer cheaper, more accessible, and immediate interventions to help close the resource gap in under-resourced schools.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into K-12 education is gaining momentum for its potential to enhance AI literacy among students. This study, conducted in a professional development program context, analyzed the approaches teachers took to integrate task-specific AIs into science instructions based on what they learned through PD experiences. Specifically, we focused on the approaches teachers highlighted and discussed in their individual Peer Teaching Videos (PTVs), created as the final learning outcomes of the PD. PTVs are 15–20 min videos showcasing their AI-integrated science instruction for fellow teachers, produced with guidance from the PD instructor and shared on an online platform. Using constant comparative content analysis of PTVs, along with data from surveys and interviews, we identified three approaches teachers used to engage students with AI. These approaches differed in the positionality and depth of integrating AI in students’ science learning: (1) Trying out AI as a digital tool, (2) Training and testing AI as an inquiry practice partner, and (3) Exploring AI as an epistemic system. Although these approaches were initially developed for integrating task-specific AIs, they hold significant relevance in the context of the current surge in the use of generative AI. Specifically, these findings offer instructional implications for integrating AI not only as a technological tool but also in ways that promote a critical understanding of the epistemic processes and outcomes fostered by engaging with both science and AI.

Incorporating socioscientific issues (SSI) into science instruction has demonstrated significant potential for enhancing K-12 students’ abilities to connect scientific concepts to real-world contexts. While the implementation of SSI is well-established in secondary education, its application in elementary settings is still developing. As with many innovative teaching approaches, formal preparation on how to effectively integrate SSI into the curriculum is essential for educators. The purpose of the current study was to investigate a Community of Practice (CoP) model as a framework for delivering formal professional learning experiences related to SSI-based lesson planning and instruction for elementary teacher candidates. Using qualitative methods, the study aimed to explore how the content of the CoP focused on SSI transferred into the science instruction of these candidates during their student teaching experiences. The researcher analyzed CoP meeting transcripts, conducted interviews, and observed classroom practices to gain insights into the transfer of SSI constructs from the CoP to the teaching practices of elementary teacher candidates. The findings indicate a positive transfer of SSI principles into the candidates' instructional methods, demonstrating how they integrated SSI into their lesson plans and classroom interactions. However, the analysis also revealed nuances in how individual candidates interpreted and enacted each SSI construct, suggesting that while there is a general understanding of the framework, personal experiences and pedagogical beliefs influenced their application in the classroom. Based on the findings presented in this manuscript, the researcher advocates for the expansion of professional learning opportunities for elementary teacher candidates that focus specifically on SSI.

This study examines preservice teachers’ (PSTs) practices of noticing and responding to students’ scientific thinking within the context of their science methods courses (pedagogy focused). The PSTs, in their senior year and later in their student-teaching internship year at a Midwestern university teacher preparation program, participated in two sequential science methods courses. Over the course of these two semesters, they completed two key course assignments: Sensemaking tasks (senior year) and Student learning analysis (internship year). Their written responses to these assignments were evaluated using Kang and Anderson’s (Sci Educ 99(5):863–895, 2015) framework, which is designed to study teachers’ practices of noticing and responding. The findings reveal that PSTs primarily focused on their own actions as teachers, their students’ behavior, and the canonical nature of their students’ responses. However, their attention to students’ science ideas was limited, often leading to narrow interpretations when these ideas were noticed. The nature of the methods course assignment prompts may have influenced PSTs to prioritize certain aspects of students’ learning over others. These findings suggest important implications for supporting and enhancing PSTs’ practices of noticing and responding through targeted coursework and the design of methods courses.

This case study of a Year 8 science class in South-East Queensland investigated the affective and cognitive experiences of engaging students in a science-writing project. Building on the work of Tomas, Rigano and Ritchie (2016), students wrote a series of short stories across two school terms about the socio-scientific issues (SSIs) of coal seam gas (CSG) mining and skin grafting. Data were collected using an emotion diary (in which students self-reported their interest and emotions at the end of each lesson), written thinking prompts (designed to elicit students’ evolving understanding of each SSI) and semi-structured, end-of-project student interviews. Three main assertions emerged from analysis of these data. First, students’ self-reported interest was statistically higher in relation to skin grafting compared to CSG. Second, interest and positive emotions reported by students in the skin grafting unit were associated mostly with the topic, while in the CSG mining unit, they were related mostly to pedagogical approaches. Thirdly, students could explain the scientific, social, moral and ethical dimensions of each SSI and an evidence-informed position at the end of both units. These assertions support our thesis that topic does matter when engaging students in writing stories about SSIs. At the same time, while the results of this study support the learning affordances of SSIs, they suggest that the teacher’s pedagogical decisions also matter in keeping students cognitively and affectively engaged when learning about a less interesting or relatable topic.

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the effect of vocabulary interventions on the science vocabulary and knowledge of English learners (ELs) who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD ELs). After searching four databases and conducting hand searches, we identified nine studies that met our criteria. All these studies included a treatment and control group, five of the studies were randomized control trials. Our effects analysis indicated main effects of the interventions on science vocabulary and science knowledge for all students, ELs and non-ELs (g = 0.66). Our moderator analysis indicated that type of intervention, type of outcome (science vocabulary, science knowledge, general academic vocabulary), age, and whether the assessment outcome was standardized, or researcher developed, had a significant moderating effect of the intervention on science outcomes. We discuss our findings in the context of other meta-analyses and science vocabulary studies.

This study investigates how teaching experience influences the design and implementation of inquiry-based practical work in South African primary science classrooms. Conducted in Gauteng, it features two novice and two experienced teachers, employing a qualitative approach with interpretive principles. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyse data collected from the interviews, classroom observations and worksheets. Findings reveal that novice teachers demonstrate competence in foundational aspects but have the potential for growth in fostering deeper inquiry, resource integration, and safety protocol incorporation. In contrast, experienced teachers exhibit proficiency in advanced inquiry practices, comprehensive lesson planning, and effective group management. Novice teachers tend towards confirmatory and structured inquiry, while experienced teachers use direct and open inquiry strategies. Both groups integrate formative assessments, emphasizing continuous assessment in the evaluation phase. The study contributes insights for targeted professional development, emphasizing the need to enhance science education practices in primary classrooms. Further research is recommended, particularly in resource-constrained primary schools.

Understanding the global cycling of carbon is critical to participate in the current public discussion on climate change in an informed manner. Fostering system thinking is key to reach this goal. Of the various influences on students’ development of system thinking in relation to the carbon cycle, the present study focuses on the influence of textbooks – both their explanatory texts and the activities they provide for students. Research-based information pertaining to ways students work on acquiring system thinking skills when solving textbook tasks on the carbon cycle is scarce. Therefore, this study investigates two research questions: (1) Which system thinking skills are addressed in German biology textbook tasks on the carbon cycle? and (2) Which entities and activities from different levels of biological organization do students deal with when working on the tasks? The second research question relates to the argument that the multi-level character of the carbon cycle causes particular learning difficulties for students. Following a qualitative content analysis, two coding schemes are developed and applied. The main results: the system thinking skills “identifying system organization” and “analyzing system behavior” are more frequently addressed than “system modeling”. The selection of entities and activities of the carbon cycle in the tasks depicts a variety of individual aspects but often does not allow a continuous tracing of dynamics in the carbon cycle along carbon flows. We suggest a greater emphasis on systems modeling in carbon cycle tasks and that the selection of entities and activities should support knowledge integration.

Contemporary science education themes are marked by the inevitable uncertainty of consequences emerging from human actions. They encompass disasters, pandemics and other events that have been marking our present times. Understanding new risks as the ones resulting from human action, even when proposing a solution for an issue, is one of the central assumptions of the Risk Society theory. Given the challenges of teaching about uncertain scenarios, in this work we address ways for dealing with science teaching situations in which unpredictable events are the rule. We report a teaching and learning sequence implementation in the 9th grade of a Brazilian mid school, using a real case of disaster to develop a didactic approach accounting for human-made risks. In this work we aimed to explore strategies for preparing teachers to deal with the inherent uncertainty of risk situations, overlapping semantic network analysis, risk matrix construction and its collective evaluation with. rounds of discussion and emphasizing the risk-confidence paradigm over the traditional hazardsecurity perspective. Our results show evidence of students' appropriation of the notion of manufactured risk by enacting complex causal relations in unpredictable scenarios, something also reflected in their utterances and in their pattern of choice during risk matrix building.

Integrating climate change education into engineering education is essential to prepare students for an uncertain and problematic future. The waste sector is a major consumer of natural resources and emitter of greenhouse gases, which is why it is a central theme in the training of engineering students. This paper presents the main takeaways from a pilot training module based on design fiction. The module aims to develop futures thinking in engineering students by helping them to imagine waste management in different climatic and technological contexts. An analysis of the futures images based on written output shows that the training module enables students to generate different technological schemes for waste recovery, which are conceived in their social and cultural context. Students nevertheless struggle to imagine futures that are radically different from lifestyles in a consumer society. Only output imagining a future of collapse explores ways of living that depart from our current lifestyles. Articulating the temporalities of technological and climatic processes and understanding low-tech approaches appear to be two opportunities for perfecting the module.