bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of laboratory and lecture teaching methods on cognitive achievement in integrated science
Authors: Odubunmi Olagunju , Balogun T. A.
Published: October 2006

A sample of 210 class‐two (grade 8) students from six randomly selected classes from six Nigerian schools was divided into two (experimental and control) groups. Using materials from some units of the Nigerian Integrated Science Project (NISP), the experimental group was taught by a laboratory method while the control group was taught by the lecture method. Data were collected using an Achievement Test for Integrated Science Students developed by the authors and student ability was measured by tests secured from the Department of Teacher Education, University of Ibadan. In analyzing the data, an analysis of covariance was employed. T‐test statistics were also used to determine significant difference between means of different groups.

High achievers of both groups had identical achievement, but the low achievers in the experimental group performed better than their counterparts in the control group. While the study showed that males in this study prefer laboratory method to lecture method when compared with their female counterparts, the study also revealed that females in the control classes performed better than males of the same group.
Science teacher beliefs and their influence on curriculum implementation: Two case studies
Authors: Cronin‐Jones Linda L.
Published: October 2006

The influence of teacher beliefs on curriculum implementation was explored in two different contexts. Two middle‐level teachers implemented a 20‐lesson curriculum package in the presence of participant observers. Data sources included field notes and interview transcripts. The data were reviewed daily and tentative assertions were developed. Assertions and their accompanying evidence were examined weekly for recurring patterns. Case studies of the belief structures of each teacher were then prepared. In both cases, four major categories of beliefs appeared to influence curriculum implementation. These included beliefs about how students learn, a teacher's role in the classroom, the ability levels of students in a particular age group, and the relative importance of content topics. Both teachers believed that the most important student outcome is factual knowledge, that middle‐grade students learn through repeated drill and practice, and that middle school students require a great deal of direction. The teachers' beliefs differed in other areas, including beliefs about a teacher's role in the classroom and beliefs regarding the curriculum and its content topics. Although certain components of both teachers' belief structures enhanced the success of curriculum implementation, overall their existing belief structures were incongruent with the underlying philosophy of the intended curriculum, thus hampering successful implementation.
The roots of gender inequity in technical areas
Authors: Campbell James Reed
Published: October 2006

This article describes a study of the academic self‐concepts, attributions and achievements of male and female Asian American and Caucasian students who won Westinghouse Awards in 1984 and 1985. The results of the study showed that fewer Caucasian female recipients anticipated college majors in the technical areas. Furthermore, this group of females scored lower on both parts of the SAT, scored lower on all of the self‐concept scales, and also scored lower on both attribution scales. In contrast, the Asian females optimized courses for the gifted and specialized research courses to distance themselves from the American females in almost all areas. The author linked these ethnic, gender differences to underlying psychological and sociological forces that are responsible for the self‐concept and attribution differences. It is these forces that must be altered for Caucasian females to rectify the gender inequalities that exist in the technical areas.
Formal operational reasoning modes: Predictors of critical thinking abilities and grades assigned by teachers in science and mathematics for students in grades nine through twelve
Authors: Bitner Betty L.
Published: October 2006

To test the hypothesis that formal operational reasoning modes are predictors of critical thinking abilities and grades assigned by teachers in science and mathematics, in September 1986 the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) and in December 1986 the Watson‐Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) were administered to 101 rural students in Grades 9 through 12. The grades assigned by teachers were collected in May 1987. Construct and criterion‐related validities and internal‐consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha method were established on the GALT. On the WGCTA, content and construct validities and internal consistency reliability using the split‐half procedure, coefficient of stability, and coefficient of equivalence were established. The five formal operational reasoning modes in the GALT were found to be significant predictors of critical thinking abilities and grades assigned by teachers in science and mathematics. The variance in the five critical thinking abilities attributable to the five formal operational reasoning modes ranged between 28% and 70%. The five formal operational reasoning modes explained 29% of the variance in mathematics achievement and 62% of the variance in science achievement.
Conceptual change strategies and cooperative group work in chemistry
Authors: Basili Patricia A. , Sanford Julie P.
Published: October 2006

This study conducted at a suburban community college tested a method of conceptual change in which treatment students worked in small cooperative groups on tasks aimed at eliciting their misconceptions so that they could then be discussed in contrast to the scientific conceptions that had been taught in direct instruction. Categorizations of student understanding of the target concepts of the laws of conservation of matter and energy and aspects of the particulate nature of gases, liquids, and solids were ascertained by pre‐ and posttesting. Audiotapes of student verbal interaction in the small groups provided quantitative and qualitative data concerning student engagement in behaviors suggestive of the conditions posited to be part of the conceptual change process (Posner, Strike, Hewson & Gertzog, 1982). Chi‐square analysis of posttests indicated that students in treatment groups had significantly lower (p < 0.05) proportion of misconceptions than control students on four of the five target concepts. Students who exhibited no change in concept state had a higher frequency of verbal behaviors suggestive of “impeding” conceptual change when compared to students who did change. Three factors emerged from qualitative analysis of group interaction that appeared to influence learning: (a) many students had flawed understanding of concepts that supported the target concepts; (b) student views towards learning science affected their engagement in assigned tasks, (c) “good” and “poor” group leaders had a strong influence on group success.
A case study of two exemplary biology teachers
Authors: Treagust David F.
Published: October 2006

Research has indicated that most science classrooms are not intellectually demanding and place little emphasis on small group discussions and laboratory activities. However, successful science programs and competent science teaching that can provide models for other science teachers do exist. This study sought to document the teaching practices of two exemplary biology teachers of grades 11 and 12 by means of an interpretive research methodology. Both teachers had a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the content they were to teach and had a range of teaching strategies that could be used without a great deal of thought. Their expectations for student performance were high, consistent, and firm. Students were expected to complete a high level of academic work in discussions, in problem work, and in laboratory activities, and were encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. A distinctive feature of these biology classes was the high level of managerial efficiency, where lessons were busy occasions for both teacher and students; students had little opportunity for off‐task behavior. Both teachers actively monitored the behavior of both high‐ and low‐ability students by moving around the room and speaking with individuals, while still maintaining control of the entire class. By manipulating questioning and the social environment, both teachers encouraged students to engage in work, gave effective praise to the whole class and to individuals, encouraged student input by referring to it, helped students to effectively use their time, and gave marks for completion of set work. Compared to research with less‐successful teachers, these teaching behaviors contributed to exemplary practice.
Effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology
Authors: Ajewole Gabriel Adeniyi
Published: October 2006

The effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology was investigated. The sample consisted of 240 Form IV biology students randomly drawn from six selected secondary schools in the Oyo state of Nigeria. They were assigned into two groups—experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to the discovery method, and the control group was taught using the expository method. The science class of Form IV in each of the six schools was selected intact for the study. A nonrandomized pretest‐posttest control group design was employed. The major instrument was the 40–item Scientific Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ). It is a Likert‐type questionnaire using five scales. Two hypotheses were tested. Analyses of the results showed that the experimental group evinced a significantly more favorable attitude to biology than the control group (t = 8.87, p < 0.01). It was also found that the high, average‐, and low‐ability groups in the experimental class evinced a more favorable attitude to biology than their counterparts in the control class. However, there was no significant difference in the attitude of male and female students exposed to the discovery and expository methods (F1,227 = 0.07, p > 0.999). The article concludes with a recommendation that science learning using the discovery method may enable the learner to evince more a favorable attitude toward problem recognition and problem solving than when learning is done by the expository method.
Enhancing learning using questions, adjunct to science charts
Authors: Holliday William G. , Benson Garth
Published: October 2006

This study supported two hypotheses. First, adjunct questions interacted with a science chart so powerfully that content established as difficult to learn in the pilot and in this study's control groups became easier to learn when charted. Second, students familiar with the chart test before instruction (test exposure) were better prepared to take this test after instruction. This adjunct‐question study examined the generalizability of selective‐attention and academic‐studying hypotheses to a modified science chart medium. About 300 high school students were randomly assigned to four conditions each including a vitamin chart (chart only, test exposure, importance of questions emphasized to students by teachers, and combinational conditions—test exposure and question importance) across 16 biology classrooms. Then these same students were again randomly assigned within each classroom to a control and to four question treatments no questions, questions focusing on easy‐to‐learn charted content, questions focusing on difficult‐to‐learn charted content, and a combinational treatment.
Role of the epistemic subject in Piaget's genetic epistemology and its importance for science education
Authors: Niaz Mansoor
Published: October 2006

According to Piaget, a fundamental epistemological distinction must be made between the psychological and the epistemic subject. The epistemic subject is studied by the genetic epistemologist who charts development through a “common universal rationality, which develops,” whereas the psychological subject is studied by the developmental/cognitive psychologist by focusing on accidental contingencies surrounding particular people and their individual differences. The epistemic subject as compared to the psychological subject is an idealized abstraction, viz., that set of underlying epistemic structures common to everyone at the same level of development. The objective of this study is to investigate the degree to which investigators in science education conceptualize the difference between the epistemic and the psychological subjects. It is argued that just as the ideal gas law (based on the theoretical formulation of Maxwell and Boltzmann) provides a “general model” to which the real gases approximate under different experimental conditions, so we can consider (by abduction) the epistemic subject to be an “ideal knower” to which the real (psychological) subjects approximate to varying degrees. The difference between the epistemic and the psychological subjects, however, cannot be used as an “epistemological shield” in defense of Piagetian theory. Any test of the Piagetian theory must involve psychological or real subjects. Empirical testability, however, need not be equated to being scientific. An analogy is drawn between Galileo's idealization, which led to the discovery of the law of free‐fall, and Piaget's epistemic subject. Research conducted in science education shows that at least for some critics the wide variations in the age at which individuals acquire the different Piagetian stages is crucial for rejecting the theory. It is argued that the real issue is not the “proportion of heterogeneity” but the understanding that Piaget, by neglecting individual differences, attempts to build a general model applicable across types of situations/subjects. The distinction between the epistemic and the psychological subjects is important not for defending Piaget's theory (which has serious theoretical flaws) but to understand epistemic transitions, for example, the one between Piaget's epistemic subject and Pascual‐Leone's metasubject. It is concluded that failure to understand the distinction between the epistemic and the psychological subjects would lead to misconstruing the significance of our research findings and, what is more serious, to a lack of a historical perspective.
Teaching/learning styles, performance, and students' teaching evaluation in S/T/E/S‐focused science teacher education: A quasiquantitative probe of a case study
Authors: Toller Uri
Published: October 2006

In response to the new needs for S/T/E/S‐literate science teachers, an S/T/E/S‐oriented ISMMC‐IEE combination model of instruction was implemented in two specially designed undergraduate courses and one graduate course within college science teacher training programs. These three courses served as case studies for class‐based, quasiquantitative pilot investigation aimed at gaining a deeper insight into some of the issues involved in the implementation in college of nontraditional, open‐ended, problem‐solving‐oriented teaching strategies which are in dissonance with the cognitive or affective styles and functional paradigms of most students. This probe into the dissonance issue revealed that prospective teachers are capable of handling the new instructional model and do gain in their higher‐level cognitive learning. However, undergraduates perceive these courses to be either difficult or not in accord with their needs, and their appreciation of the instructional techniques and style employed is different from that of graduate students accordingly. The current study suggests that although the ISMMC‐IEE model is useful in S/T/E/S‐oriented courses in science teacher training programs, special attention to the implementation stage is required to close the gap between students' and S/T/E/S educators' functional paradigms.
The development of reasoning on the balance beam
Authors: Roth Wolff‐Michael
Published: October 2006

The study described in this article examined the factors in the development of reasoning on the balance beam. The results of this and other investigations by the author led to the development of a model of problem solving and of the transition between levels of performance, that is, from novice to expert behaviors in a specific problem domain. The sample for this study consisted of 34 nonscience majors enrolled in Physical Science I at the University of Southern Mississippi. The results of this study showed (a) significant correlations between the predictor variables of numerical inductive reasoning ability and ratio span and the dependent measure of amount of practice until mastery of balance beam problems, (b) that there existed significant differences on the predictors between subjects who used the ratio scheme versus those who used the product‐moment rule to do balance beam problems, (c) that the sequence of behaviors until mastery of the balance beam was not invariant, and (d) that there existed significant negative correlations between individuals' tendencies to avoid unsuccessful algorithms and the frequency of incidences of monitoring the learning process on one side and the amount of practice and the construct of short‐term storage space on the other side. The results of this and other studies by the author are used to develop a model of problem solving and of the development of problem‐solving behaviors. This model also includes recent findings in short‐term memory and problem‐solving research. The implications of this model for instruction are discussed.
A study of the nature of students' understandings about the concept of burning
Authors: Boujaoude Saouma B.
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize students' understandings about the concept of burning. Naturalistic data‐collecting strategies used in this study included participant observation and interviewing. Twenty eighth graders were interviewed using the “interview‐about‐events” technique, a variation of the Piagetian interview. The interviews were audiotape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the process of analytic induction. The analysis showed that students' understandings about burning were fragmented, inconsistent, and at variance with scientific knowledge. These understandings are analyzed using Olson's (1977) characterization of common sense and scientific knowledge.
The concept map as an advance organizer
Authors: Willerman Marvin , Mac Harg Richard A.
Published: October 2006

The objective of this study was to determine if a concept map used as an advance organizer can improve the science achievement of eighth‐grade students. Eighty‐two eighth‐grade students in four science classes participated in this study. The experimental group completed the concept map at the beginning of the science unit under the teacher's supervision. At the end of the two‐week unit a science test was administered to the experimental and the control group. The results of a one‐tailed t test indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups. The effect size is 0.40. It appears that the concept map can provide the classroom teachers with a meaningful and practical structured approach for using advance organizers in their classes.
A method to quantify major themes of scientific literacy in science textbooks
Authors: Chiappetta Eugene L. , Fillman David A. , Sethna Godrej H.
Published: October 2006

Science textbooks are frequently used to convey a great deal of the information that students receive in science courses. They influence how science teachers organize the curriculum and how students perceive the scientific enterprise. An overreliance on these teaching aids often results in an overemphasis on terminology and vocabulary, and presents a false impression of the nature of science. As a result of their importance, a method was developed to assess the curricular emphasis in science textbooks. The procedure is explained in a 25‐page manual to train researchers to determine the relative emphasis that has been given to (a) science as a body of knowledge, (b) science as a way of investigating, (c) science as a way of thinking, and (d) the interaction among science, technology, and society. Textbooks in the areas of life science, earth science, physical science, biology, and chemistry were used in the analyses. Interrater agreements of at least 80% and kappas of at least 0.73 were achieved in the content analyses among two experienced researchers and one science teacher who were given the training manual to learn the assessment procedure.
Development of explanation: Incremental and fundamental change in children's physics knowledge
Authors: Metz Kathleen E.
Published: October 2006

In contrast to predictions or actions, explanations require articulating a model that accounts for the physical phenomenon. Therefore, examination of children's explanations provides a more powerful window onto their developing understanding of causality. This study investigates children's developing causal knowledge, by analyzing changes in the content and form of the explanations they generate, across the age span of three to nine years. The study aims to examine the balance of incremental versus fundamental change and the forms each takes in children coming to understand one physical domain, the working of gears. Thirty‐two subjects, ages, 3, 5, 7, and 9, participated in the study. The experimenter elicited each subject's predictions and explanations about what would happen when you turned the knob in a series of gear configurations. Age trends in the explanation type subjects generated revealed broad progress in their understanding of causality within the domain and a complex picture of fundamental and incremental changes. Parsing the sequence of explanation types at points of fundamental change, three phases of development emerged: (a) function of the object as explanation, (b) connections as explanation, and (c) mechanistic explanation. Analysis of development from one phase to the next revealed two forms of fundamental change: radical substitution (where one explanation is supplanted by the next) and transforming incorporation (where one explanation forms the basis for the next and yet is itself transformed in the context of the fundamentally new way of conceptualizing causality). Analysis of development within the individual phases revealed incremental change primarily in the forms of differentiation and decomposition.
The scientific theory profile: A philosophy of science model for science teachers
Authors: Loving Cathleen C.
Published: October 2006

A model called the Scientific Theory Profile was developed for use with preservice and inservice science teachers or with graduate students interested in the various ways scientific theories are perceived. Early indications—from a survey of institutions with science education programs and a survey of current science methods texts—are that too little emphasis is placed on what contemporary writings reveal about the nature and importance of scientific theories. This prompted the development of the Profile. The Profile consists of a grid, with the x‐axis representing methods for judging theories (rational vs. natural), and the y‐axis representing views on reigning scientific theories as being the Truth versus models of what works best (realism vs. anti‐realism). Three well‐known philosophers of science who were selected for detailed analysis and who form the “keystone” positions on the Profile are Thomas Kuhn, Carl Hempel, and Sir Karl Popper. The hypothesis was that an analysis of the writings of respected individuals in philosophy and history of science who have different perspectives on theories (as well as overarching areas of agreement) could be translated into relative coordinates on a graph; and that this visual model might be helpful to science teachers in developing a balanced philosophy of science and a deeper understanding of the power of reigning theories. Nine other contemporary philosophers, all influenced by the three originals, are included in brief analyses, with their positions on the grid being relative to the keystones. The Scientific Theory Profile then forms the basis for a course, now in the planning stages, in perspectives on the nature of science, primarily for science teachers, with some objectives and activities suggested.
Students' transition from an engineering model to a science model of experimentation
Authors: Schauble Leona , Klopfer Leopold E. , Raghavan Kalyani
Published: October 2006

This study investigates the hypothesis that when children are engaged in science experiments, the goal of which is to understand relations among causes and effects, they often use the engineering model of experimentation, characterized by the more familiar goal of manipulating variables to produce a desired outcome. Sixteen fifth‐ and sixth‐graders worked on two experimentation problems consistent with the engineering and science models, respectively. The context in which these problems were framed was also varied, to encourage adoption of either an engineering or science model. Over six 40‐min sessions, the group achieved significant increases in the percentages of inferences about variables that were both correct and valid. Improvement was greatest for those who began with the engineering problem and then went on to the science problem. The science model was associated with broader exploration, more selectiveness about evidence interpreted, and greater attention to establishing that some variables are not causal. The findings suggest that research on scientific inquiry processes should attend not only to the science content students are reasoning about, but also to their beliefs about the goals of inquiry.
How can comprehension adjunct questions focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of a computer‐animated science lesson?
Authors: Holliday William G. , McGuire Barry
Published: October 2006

Two focusing hypotheses were evaluated. First, do adjunct questions, focusing on science concepts and inserted after computer‐animated sequences, selectively alter students' attentional or practice processing and thus produce differential learning effects? Theoretically, such questions selectively focus students' attention and enhance concept learning of focused concepts. Second, do these questions still provide enough metacognitive scaffolding to produce differential learning effects when only the first 8 out of 12 sequences are followed by focusing questions? Eighth‐grade students (n = 160) were randomly assigned to a control group (lesson alone) or one of four treatment groups (lesson plus 12 questions focusing either on heat or on temperature, or lesson plus the same first 8 questions on heat or temperature followed by 4 placebo questions). Two significant two‐way interactions with widely varying F ratios supported the differential focusing hypotheses (12 questions—more robust interaction, 8—less robust interaction).
Expertise and the organization of knowledge: Unexpected differences among genetic counselors, faculty, and students on problem categorization tasks
Authors: Smith Mike U.
Published: October 2006

Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser (1981) observed that experts (physics faculty) organized problems into groups according to the underlying physics law or principle applicable, whereas the groupings of novice physics students focused on objects, literal physics terms, and physical configurations in the problems. Replication of these findings in a number of similar studies has led to the general acceptance of the proposition that the mental schemes used by experts to organize information within a content domain are organized according to the “deep structure” of the domain, whereas the schemes of novices are bound by “surface” dimensions.

Categorizations of genetics problems produced by genetics counselor and faculty experts in comparison to student novices obtained in the present study, however, are inconsistent with a deep structure/surface structure dichotomy. As expected, faculty experts focused almost exclusively on conceptual principles, but student sorts focused primarily on problem knowns and unknowns. The expert counselor sortings unexpectedly resembled those of the students in this regard. Counselors also emphasized solution techniques to be used, whereas students emphasized the verbatim wording of the problem statement. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that as expertise is attained, a person restructures his/her knowledge of the domain into a framework that is based on critical dimensions that facilitate the daily use of that knowledge. Implications for theoreticians, researchers, and teachers are drawn. Whenever possible, future studies of expertise should include noneducator experts; teachers should help students develop the ability to construct and reconstruct the organizational frameworks of their knowledge so as to facilitate the effective use of that knowledge in the face of change.
A comparison of the classroom dynamics of a problem‐solving and traditional laboratory model of instruction using path analysis
Authors: Pizzini Edward L. , Shepardson Daniel P.
Published: October 2006

The classroom dynamics (class setting, lesson structure, student interactions, and student behaviors) of a traditional laboratory and a problem‐solving Search, Solve, Create, and Share (SSCS) model of instruction were compared using path analysis. Class setting was based on small‐group/large‐group settings. Lesson structure variables were problem finding/refining, research designing, data collecting, data analyzing, and evaluating. The student‐student interactions variable was determined by student‐student responding, student‐student initiating, and student (self‐) interaction; while the teacher‐student interaction variable was based on teacher‐student initiating and teacher‐student responding. The dependent variables of student behavior consisted of attending, responding, following, soliciting, and giving. A causal model was hypothesized for both instructional models based on the independent and dependent variables. The hypothesized causal model was tested using path‐analysis procedures described by Pedhazur (1982). The hypothesized causal models were adjusted based on path coefficients with levels of significance greater than p = 0.05. While the descriptive data indicated a similarity in the classroom dynamics of the two instructional models, path analysis indicated a difference in the classroom dynamics. In the traditional laboratory model, student behaviors did not correlate to lesson structure, class setting, or student interactions, whereas in the SSCS problem‐solving model student behaviors correlated to aspects of the lesson structure, class setting, and student interactions.
Teaching evolution: Understanding and applying the nature of science
Authors: Scharmann Lawrence C. , Harris William M.
Published: October 2006

The influence of a 3‐week institute upon secondary biology and earth science teachers regarding their experiences with respect to the teaching of evolution was investigated. The institute directors, with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding, hoped to foster an understanding of the nature of science, provide enhanced content, and support a forum for teachers to discuss problems common to the teaching of evolution. Analysis of data indicated statistically significant increases in participants' acceptance of the theory of evolution and their understanding of both applied evolutionary principles and the applied nature of science. In addition, a significant reduction in participants' perceived anxieties regarding the teaching of evolution was achieved. Further, a qualitative examination of Stages of Concern (SoC) profiles indicated a slight shift by participants toward the use of more student‐centered instruction. Finally, data were collected from 9 of the original 19 participants at a voluntary follow‐up session, 8 months after the formal institute. Scores from all of the data‐collection instruments (with the exception of SoC profiles) exhibited a slight decline. These decreases were not, however, statistically significant. Examination of SoC profiles, however, indicated a much stronger adoption by follow‐up participants for the use of student‐centered instructional strategies for the teaching of evolution.
The historicality of cognition: Implications for science education research
Authors: Wandersee James H.
Published: October 2006

This article discusses the growing consensus across diverse educational research domains that the historical aspects of cognition are important for understanding not only how individuals but also disciplines know what they know. After proposing and defining the new superordinate concept of historicality, fundamental interrelationships between time, events, memory, meaning, personal knowledge, public knowledge, and the histories of the sciences are explored. Relevant research findings that demonstrate the confluence of scholarly thought concerning historicality across five educationally important domains are presented for the reader's consideration. Using the historicality concept, it is suggested that the histories of the sciences be considered as “the collective mind of scientists” and viewed as vital to developing students' knowledge about science by building upon the critical distinctions drawn by Duschl (1990). The author's science teaching technique, based upon construction of historical vignettes, is introduced here because of the relationship between history and story and the documented educational effectiveness of the story format. Finally, the author adds several cautionary notes about the validity of explanations based upon historicality and anticipates future advances in our understanding of the historicality of cognition.
The beginning science teacher: Classroom narratives of convictions and constraints
Authors: Brickhouse Nancy , Bodner George M.
Published: October 2006

This article is a case study of a second‐year middle school science teacher's beliefs about science and science teaching and how these beliefs influenced—or failed to influence—classroom instruction. It illustrates how beginning teachers struggle to reconcile (a) conflicting beliefs about what is desirable, and (b) conflicts between what they believe is desirable and what is possible within the constraints of their preparation and the institutions in which they work. This teacher, for example, struggled to reconcile his view of science as a creative endeavor with his belief that students need to be provided with a high degree of structure in order to learn within the context of formal schooling. He also had difficulty resolving the conflict between the informal (“messing about”) type of science learning that he believed was desirable and the personal and institutional constraints he faced in the classroom.
A quantitative and qualitative inquiry into the attitudes toward science of nonscience college students
Authors: Gogolin Luanne , Swartz Fred
Published: October 2006

The attitudes toward science of nonscience college students were investigated using quantitative and qualitative forms of inquiry. Quantitative methods were used to determine (a) how attitudes toward science of nonscience college students compare with attitudes of science majors, and (b) whether attitudes toward science change with instruction. Qualitative assessment was used to investigate attitude development as it relates to science. The subjects were 102 nonscience students and 81 science students. Six attitudinal variables were investigated using the Attitudes Toward Science Inventory (ATSI) as the quantitative instrument. Hotelling's T2 showed a significant difference (p = 0.0001) in attitudes between the two groups. T tests revealed significant differences between the two groups for all six variables. A significant difference (p = 0.0001) was found between pretest and posttest results for the nonscience students. T tests showed significant differences between the two sets of scores for all six variables, indicating a favorable change in attitudes. An interview questionnaire was used to investigate factors contributing to attitude development. The interview results suggested that attitudes toward science are formed by interactions of both school and nonschool variables.
Grade‐12 students' misconceptions relating to fundamental characteristics of atoms and molecules
Authors: Griffiths Alan K. , Preston Kirk R.
Published: October 2006

An understanding of the concepts of atom and molecule is fundamental to the learning of chemistry. Any misconceptions and alternative conceptions that students harbor about these concepts will impede further learning. This article identifies misconceptions related to the fundamental characteristics of atoms and molecules which Grade‐12 students hold. Data were obtained by administration of semistructured interviews to a stratified, random sample of 30 students of differing abilities and backgrounds in science. Fifty‐two misconceptions were observed and are reported. These are grouped into 11 categories. Six relate to the structure, composition, size, shape, weight, bonding, and energy of molecules; five relate to the structure, shape, size, weight, and animistic perceptions of atoms. Some of the misconceptions identified parallel the historical development of scientific concepts.
Cognitive development, genetics problem solving, and genetics instruction: A critical review
Authors: Smith Mike U. , Sims O. Suthern
Published: October 2006

Recent studies have analyzed the cognitive demands of solving problems in genetics, focusing primarily on the Piagetian schemas of combinations, proportions, and probability. Based on data from these primarily correlational studies, some authors have argued for the elimination of classical genetics from the high school curriculum. The critical review of the literature presented in this article reaffirms that formal‐operational thought is conducive to successful genetics problem solving. The weight of the evidence to date, however, does not support the position that formal operational thought is strictly required for solving typical genetics problems. Arguments are therefore presented in support of the inclusion of genetics and genetics problem solving in high school biology. Implications of this analysis for the selection of appropriate content, problems, and instructional techniques for genetics instruction for nonformal students are presented.
Some interrelationships between constructivist models of learning and current neurobiological theory, with implications for science education
Authors: Anderson O. Roger
Published: October 2006

Recent advances in the neurosciences have begun to elucidate how some fundamental mechanisms of nervous system activity can explain human information processing and the acquisition of knowledge. Some of these findings are consistent with a cognitive view of constructivist models of learning and provide additional theoretical support for constructivist applications to science education reform. Current thought at the interface between neurocognitive research and constructivist philosophy is summarized here and discussed in a context of implications for scientific epistemology and conceptual change processes in science education.
Conceptual difficulties experienced by senior high school students of electrochemistry: Electrochemical (galvanic) and electrolytic cells
Authors: Garnett Pamela J. , Treagust David F.
Published: October 2006

This research investigated students' understanding of electrochemistry following a 7–9‐week course of instruction. A list of conceptual and propositional knowledge statements was formulated, and this provided the framework for semistructured interviews that were conducted with 32 students in their final year of high school chemistry, following instruction in electrochemistry. Three misconceptions identified in this study and five which have been reported earlier are incorporated into an alternative framework about electric current. The framework is grounded on the notion that a current always involves drifting electrons, even in solution. Another area where students' misconceptions were prevalent was in relation to the sign of the anode and cathode. Students who thought the anode was negatively charged believed cations would move toward it, and those who thought it was positively charged were unable to explain why electrons move away from it. Electrolytic cells also proved troublesome for students. Many students did not associate the positions of the anode and cathode with the polarity of the applied electromotive force (e.m.f.). Other students attempted to reverse features of electrochemical cells and apply the reversals to electrolytic cells. The implications of the research relate to students' interpretation of the language that is used to describe scientific phenomena and the tendency for students to overgeneralize, due to comments made by teachers or statements in textbooks.
Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students III: Testing the permanency of effects
Authors: Shayer Michael , Adey Philip S.
Published: October 2006

Two years after the end of a two‐year intervention program intended to promote formal operational thinking, the achievement of students initially 12 years of age was tested by their results in British National examinations, taken at age 16. The intervention methodology was set within the context of science learning, so the difference between experimental and control classes was examined first in terms of their science results. The boys achieved an average of 40% more grades of C or above than the controls. This grade is the minimum criterion for higher education in Britain. The achievement was not found equally in all students: About 40% of the boys and 25% of the girls showed effect sizes of two standard deviations in relation to comparable controls, whereas the others did not differ from the controls. Both boys and girls showed significantly higher achievement in English than comparable controls, with an effect size about half that for science. The boys—but not the girls—also showed higher achievement in mathematics. It is argued that this evidence supports the interpretation that the students' increased science achievement was caused by increased general intellectual capacity, and not just by improved domain‐specific skills.
Empirical versus subjective procedures for identifying gender differences in science test items
Authors: Sudweeks Richard R. , Tolman Richard R.
Published: October 2006

When judgmental and statistical procedures are both used to identify potentially gender‐biased items in a test, to what extent do the results agree? In this study, both procedures were used to evaluate the items in a statewide, 78‐item, multiple‐choice test of science knowledge. Only one item was flagged by the sensitivity reviewers as being potentially biased, but this item was not flagged by the statistical procedure. None of the nine items flagged by the Mantel‐Haenszel procedure were flagged by the sensitivity reviewers. Eight of the nine statistically flagged items were differentially easier for males. Four of these eight measured the same category of objectives. The authors conclude that both judgmental and statistical procedures provide useful information and that both should be used in test construction. They caution readers that content‐validity issues need to be addressed when making decisions based on the results of either procedure.
Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students IV: Three years after a two‐year intervention
Authors: Shayer Michael , Adey Philip S.
Published: October 2006

Three years after the end of a two‐year intervention program intended to promote formal operational thinking, the achievement of students initially 11 years of age was tested by their results in British National examinations, taken at age 16. Although the intervention was set within the context of science learning, the effects were found in science, mathematics, and English. In contrast to results reported earlier for the older cohort aged 12 years initially, where the boys showed greater achievement than girls in science and mathematics, here the effect was limited to girls. In comparison with control classes the effect sizes were science, 0.67σ mathematics, 0.72σ, and English, 0.69σ. Although half of the students showed increased achievement in science, which was consistent with the Piagetian model used in the intervention, the achievement of some in science, mathematics, and English was not associated with gains on Piagetian tests above those of control students. These results were attributed to aspects of the intervention methodology intended to enhance metacognition. The distinction between intervention and instruction was discussed in relation to normative data on Piagetian development in adolescents.
Teacher knowledge and discourse control: Quantitative evidence from novice biology teachers' classrooms
Authors: Carlsen William S.
Published: October 2006

This article describes the effects of science teacher subject‐matter knowledge on classroom discourse at the level of individual utterances. It details one of three parallel analyses conducted in a year‐long study of language in the classrooms of four new biology teachers. The conceptual framework of the study predicts that when teaching unfamiliar subject matter, teachers use a variety of discourse strategies to constrain student talk to a narrowly circumscribed topic domain. This article includes the results of an utterance‐by‐utterance analysis of teacher and student talk in a 30‐lesson sample of science instruction. Data are broken down by classroom activity (e.g., lecture, laboratory, group work) for several measures, including mean duration of utterances, domination of the speaking floor by the teacher, frequency of teacher questioning, cognitive level of teacher questions, and student verbal participation. When teaching unfamiliar topics, the four teachers in this study tended to talk more often and for longer periods of time, ask questions frequently, and rely heavily on low cognitive level questions. The rate of student questions to the teacher varied with classroom activity. In common classroom communicative settings, student questions were less common when the teacher was teaching unfamiliar subject matter. The implications of these findings include a suggestion that teacher knowledge may be an important unconsidered variable in research on the cognitive level of questions and teacher wait‐time.