Research in Science Education

doi: 10.1007/BF02356871pmid: N/A

Gardner, Paul

doi: 10.1007/BF02356872pmid: N/A

Adey, Philip

doi: 10.1007/BF02356873pmid: N/A

The last fifteen years of research in science education has seen the emergence, flowering, proliferation, and now perhaps slight wilting of studies of pupils' alternative constructs. Meanwhile the older, broadly Piagetian, tradition of work rooted in notions of cognitive development was attacked as being, inter alia, deterministic, concentrating on what children could not do, and getting even that wrong since children could be shown to be a lot cleverer than the cognitive developmentalists claimed. The time has perhaps now come to look at these two lines of work together to see what assumptions they share and where their paradigms, aims, and methods differ significantly. In this paper I will claim that there is far less antagonism between the two traditions than is often represented, but that nevertheless the differences are fundamental and lead to different views of the purposes and potential of science education. Possible evidence that might be adduced in support of one view at the expense of the other will be considered and exemplified with recent results of a cognitive acceleration project.

Appleton, Ken

doi: 10.1007/BF02356874pmid: N/A

There has been renewed debate in recent years about the relatively poor science discipline background knowledge of primary and preschool teachers, and their lack of confidence to teach science stemming from this. A reaction from teacher educators, such as recommended by theDiscipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science Report, has been to provide more explicit science discipline units in pre-service teacher education courses. However, a few studies have cast some doubt on the notion that more science discipline studies (Skamp, 1989; Stepans & McCormack, 1985). This paper reports on pre-service students' perceptions of their cofidence to teach science before and after a science education unit adapted from the PECSTEP work (Kirkwood, Bearlin & Hardy, 1989), which included only a small amount of physical science, and took an explicit gender approach emphasising the students as learners.

Aubusson, Peter; Webb, Colin

doi: 10.1007/BF02356875pmid: N/A

It is argued that the introduction of many new curricular with their associated teaching practices have failed because the beliefs, views and attitudes of teachers have been ignored. This paper reports the implications of the initial belicfs of primary school teachers involved in a professional development program about science and technology education. In particular, a mismatch between teachers views of learning and teaching is identified and analysed.

Baimba, Andrew

doi: 10.1007/BF02356876pmid: N/A

Eight physics teachers from three research schools working in collaboration with the author developed, tried, and evaluated a teaching module on “Force”. The module was designed for students in a non-western society, for whom there is no cultural term that explicitly defines the concept. This paper describes illustrative examples of the trials and evaluation exercise of the module. It concludes with a summary of the effects the teachers' interaction with the module had on their professional development.

Beiers, Robin; McRobbie, Cam

doi: 10.1007/BF02356877pmid: N/A

The potential of informal sources of science learning to supplement and interact with formal classroom science is receiving increasing recognition and attention in the research literature. In this study, a phenomenographic approach was used to determine changes in levels of understanding of 27 grade 7 primary school children as a result of a visit to an interactive science centre. The results showed that most students did change their levels of understanding of aspects of the concept “sound”. The study also provides information which will be of assistance to teachers on the levels of understanding displayed by students on this concept.

Black, Paul; Simon, Shirley

doi: 10.1007/BF02356878pmid: N/A

A national curriculum comprising statements of attainment at different levels must be underpinned by some idea of “progression” in learning. Questions arise as to the nature and meaning of progression. To gain a deeper insight into how children progress in their understanding of science, this research involves the construction and testing of a hypothetical learning sequence for the topic of forces. This interim report explains how children aged 7 to 13 are being interviewed to explore their explanations of phenomena involving forces. These explanations will be mapped onto the sequence to provide a multi-dimensional model of progression.

Brew, Christine; Gunstone, Richard

doi: 10.1007/BF02356879pmid: N/A

This paper presents some of the findings of a naturalistic study of a first year university biology laboratory. We report on the affective outcomes for a field trip and a practical exercise that incorporated innovations aimed at increasing the scientific realism and students' responsibility in the learning process. Concern with assessment procedures and a perceived lack of teaching support dominated outcomes for students. Feelings of confusion, lack of satisfaction and hostility were evoked. Recognition of the need to foster greater student input into the learning process is commended, but this paper raises issues about the strategies utilised.

Brown, Mark

doi: 10.1007/BF02356880pmid: N/A

This paper presents an “ecological perspective” on research with computers in science education. It is proposed that current and past research within the computer education field has been characterised by an over-emphasis on technical applications of the machinery, rather than a deeper consideration of the teaching and learning process. This tendency toward “technocentric thinking” has usually failed to take into account the important social and cognitive interactions within the computer learning environment. The view advanced here, is that an understanding of the effects of computers on students' learning can be achieved only through an analysis of the dynamic interactions between students and teachers as they work with computers in a particular environment. A theoretical framework for understanding this range of interactions is presented. Finally, an ecological model is proposed for conducting future research on the application of computers in science education.