bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The interplay of scientific epistemological views, learning strategies, and attitudes of college students
Authors: Edmondson Katherine M. , Novak Joseph D. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis paper focuses on research that illustrates the important interplay between students' scientific epistemological views and their learning strategies. We address the problem of facilitating meaningful science learning as contrasted to rote memorization, which is practiced by many students and encouraged by instructional and evaluation practices. We show that when metacognitive tools are used to facilitate meaningful learning, positive consequences in learning of subject matter, attitudes toward science, and epistemological views can emerge. Positivistic epistemology continues to be the subtle enemy to encouraging meaningful learning and constructivist views of the nature of science and knowing.If you're a scientist, you can say that all knowledge is scientific and everything can be based on fact and experiment. I've taken so many science classes that I've started to believe that.
School science as a rite of passage: A new frame for familiar problems
Authors: Costa Victoria Brookhart 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this article is twofold: to characterize and describe school science as a rite of passage, and to expose problems in school science that are made visible through the use of this metaphor. Like other rite‐of‐passage studies by van Gennep, Turner, and White, school‐science‐as‐a‐rite‐of‐passage follows the classic model: First, science students are separated from other students through their enrollment in introductory science classes and laboratory (the phase of separation). Science students are then secluded in the classroom and laboratory where a specialized body of knowledge unique to the scientific community is transmitted to them (the phase of transition). Eventually, students are presented via graduation ceremonies to the ordinary world with accompanying changes in their status and rights (the phase of reincorporation). However, unlike traditional passage rites, school science is a lengthy and ambiguous process that muddles the points of separation and reincorporation and fails to clarify the value of transition rituals.
A study of changes in middle school teachers' understanding of selected ideas in science as a function of an in‐service program focusing on student preconceptions
Authors: Shymansky James A. , Woodworth George , Norman Obed , Dunkhase John , Matthews Charles , Liu Chin‐Tang 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis article examines the impact of a specially designed in‐service model on teacher understanding of selected science concepts. The underlying idea of the model is to get teachers to restructure their own understanding of a selected science topic by having them study the structure and evolution of their students' ideas on the same topic. Concepts on topics from the life, earth, and physical sciences served as the content focus and middle school Grades 4–9 served as the context for this study. The in‐service experience constituting the main treatment in the study occurred in three distinct phases. In the initial phase, participating teachers interviewed several of their own students to find out what kinds of preconceptions students had about a particular topic. The teachers used concept mapping strategies learned in the in‐service to facilitate the interviews. Next the teachers teamed with other teachers with similar topic interests and a science expert to evaluate and explore the scientific merit of the student conceptual frameworks and to develop instructional units, including a summative assessment during a summer workshop. Finally, the student ideas were further evaluated and explored as the teachers taught the topics in their classrooms during the fall term. Concept maps were used to study changes in teacher understanding across the phases of the in‐service in a repeated‐measures design. Analysis of the maps showed significant growth in the number of valid propositions expressed by teachers between the initial and final mappings in all topic groups. But in half of the groups, this long‐term growth was interrupted by a noticeable decline in the number of valid propositions expressed. In addition, analysis of individual teacher maps showed distinctive patterns of initial invalid conceptions being replaced by new invalid conceptions in later mappings. The combination of net growth of valid propositions and the patterns of evolving invalid conceptions is discussed in constructivist terms.
Performance‐based assessment of biology teachers: Promises and pitfalls
Authors: Collins Angelo 
Published: October 2006

AbstractBioTAP, the biology component of the Teacher Assessment Project, explored three modes of performance‐based teacher assessment: portfolios, simulations, and portfolio‐based simulations. Assessments were designed by a team of university‐based researchers and classroom teachers. Assessments were completed by 15 high school biology teachers from a variety of teaching contexts. Portfolios are defined as collections of evidence gathered on site, such as videotapes of instruction. The portfolios had four sections: planning, instruction, assessment, and professional development. Simulation exercises are replications of critical tasks of teaching in a standardized setting, for example, an interview about adapting a textbook. Portfolio‐based simulations take advantage of the contextual aspects of portfolios and the standardization of simulations, for example, an interview on student misconceptions about the laboratory experience that was presented in the portfolio. Using a holistic process, teachers were rated in categories derived from the five core propositions of teacher knowledge and skill proposed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Teachers reported that the assessments had a high degree of fidelity to teaching and provided stimuli to improving teaching. The description presented in this article provides a foundation for those who wish to advance the research in science teacher assessment.
Examining the development of scientific reasoning in ninth‐grade physical science students
Authors: Westbrook Susan L. , Rogers Laura N. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis study‐was designed to test the hypothesis that descriptive learning cycles are neither sufficient to stimulate students to reason at a formal operational level nor to encourage facility with the processes of scientific investigation. A 6‐week long, three‐investigation unit on simple machines drawn from a ninth‐grade physical science curriculum was selected for the study. Students in the course were assigned to one of three instructional groups: descriptive group (DE), question design group (QD), and hypothesis testing group (HT). Each group completed identical exploration and invention activities. Each group participated in qualitatively distinct activities during the expansion phase. The DE students completed the activities outlined in the curriculum (a descriptive learning cycle). The QD group designed and conducted experiments to answer a question posed by the teacher. The HT group generated hypotheses concerning a problem, then designed and conducted experiments to test those hypotheses (a hypothetico‐deductive expansion). The effects of the treatments were assessed in a pretest–posttest format using Lawson's Seven Logic‐Tasks, the Test of Integrated Process Skills, and Lawson's Revised Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning. Analyses of the data indicated that the HT group exhibited a significant increase on the Test of Integrated Process Skills and on Task 1 of the Seven Logic Tasks during the 6‐week period.
Ability grouping and science education reform: Policy and research base
Authors: Lynch Sharon 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis article reviews current policy trends concerning the practice of ability grouping in K–12 science education. Relevant statements of key policy‐making, policy‐influencing organizations such as the NSTA, AAAS, NSF, the National Research Council, the U.S. Office of Education Department of Civil Rights, NAACP, the National Governors' Association, programs related to the Jacob Javits Grants for the Gifted and Talented, and others are summarized. The author's interpretation of the various positions are presented herein. The article also explores the research base supporting the various policies on grouping by examining selected general research literature on grouping, followed by research that is science education specific. Methodological issues color the research findings. The ethical and pragmatic implications of developing research and policy are discussed. The conclusions are that there is a dearth of recent empirical research specifically related to ability grouping in science, and that the time is ripe for the concerted development of a research agenda by key players in science education reform. Moreover, as controversial and value‐laden as the topic is, it should be noted that grouping practices alone are unlikely to influence science education reform unless considered in the context of comprehensive restructuring efforts at the local school level.
Mathematization of experience in a grade 8 open‐inquiry environment: An introduction to the representational practices of science
Authors: Roth Wolff‐Michael , Bowen G. Michael 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this classroom study was to investigate the use of mathematical representations in three Grade 8 general science classes that engaged in a 10‐week open inquiry about the correlations between biological and physical variables in the environment. A constructivist perspective was used to design the study and to assemble the data sources. These data sources included videotapes of students in their work, audiotapes of teacher–student interactions and teacher interviews, the transcripts of these tapes, the students' field notebooks, field reports, special problem assignments, examinations, and the teachers' curriculum guides, field notes, and reflective journal. An interpretive method was used to construct assertions and the supporting data. In the setting provided, students increasingly used mathematical representations such as graphs and data tables to support their claims in a convincing manner; the use of abstract equations and percent calculations did not change over the course of the study. Representations such as graphs, maps, averages, and equations were not only useful as inscriptions (representations in some permanent medium, usually paper), but also as conscription devices in the construction of, and through which, students engaged each other to collaboratively construct meaning. This study demonstrates the use of representations as conscription devices, and illustrates how the use and understanding of inscriptions changes over time. Understanding representations as inscription and conscription devices focuses on the social aspects of knowing, which has important implications for teachers' conceptualization of learning and their organization of science classrooms.
The effects of a combination of text structure awareness and graphic postorganizers on recall and retention of science knowledge
Authors: Spiegel George F. , Barufaldi James P. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a self‐regulated strategy on immediate recall and retention of science knowledge in community‐college anatomy and physiology students who participated in a 14‐hour (8 weeks) study skills class. The class emphasized the recognition of five common science textbook text structures (cause and effect, classification, enumeration, generalization, and sequence) and the construction of graphic postorganizers of the text structures. A pretest, two immediate posttests, and a retention posttest were used to measure recall and retention. Results indicated that on immediate posttests students who actively constructed graphic postorganizers of the test structure recalled significantly more content than did the control students who simply underlined, reread, or highlighted. On a 3‐week retention posttest, those students in the study skills class retained significantly more of the material studied than did the control group of students.
A review of writing to learn in science: Implications for practice and research
Authors: Rivard Lé Onard P. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe published literature on writing to learn in science was reviewed in order to develop a conceptual framework for readers of this special issue and an agenda for future research. Professional journals, books, ERIC documents, and doctoral dissertations were consulted in this review process. Research on writing to learn has been hindered because studies have not always been well designed or clearly reported, and few have been conducted in authentic classroom environments. Furthermore, the links between writing to learn and conceptual change, and writing to learn and critical thinking have not received sufficient attention. Carefully designed studies, both qualitative and quantitative, are still required to provide data from a variety of perspectives. Because the reported studies at the college level outnumber those at other levels, research is still required to generalize the findings across a variety of science classrooms and to elucidate principles for guiding effective teacher use of writing‐to‐learn strategies.
Considering science and language arts connections: A study of teacher cognition
Authors: Baker Linda , Saul Wendy 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe Elementary Science Integration Project (ESIP) brought together teachers knowledgeable about, and committed to, whole‐language instruction with their science‐oriented counterparts to explore connections between the disciplines and build from teachers' strengths. By recognizing commonalities, that both hands‐on science and whole language center on inquiry and focus on children's learning processes, ESIP was designed to reveal the issues both groups of teachers see as important as they go about making classroom decisions. The ultimate goal of the project was to promote science as central to cross‐curricular study, thus increasing the comfort level of teachers, the amount of time devoted to science in the classroom, and an interest in inquiry. This article described the project and identified the considerations teachers used to evaluate science–language‐arts connections. Twenty expert and 7 novice teachers worked together over a 2‐year period to construct and elaborate their own understandings of curricular integrátion, designing action research projects to explore their newfound understandings. Teachers kept journals and participated in extensive group discussions and interviews that provided the data sources for this article. Results revealed the influence of teachers' scholarly and pedagogical orientations on the way they think about science–language‐arts connections and the influence of personal experiences in convincing teachers that science–language‐arts connections are worth fostering in the classroom.
Integrating instruction of science, reading, and writing: Goals, teacher development, and assessment
Authors: Gaskins Irene W. , Guthrie John T. , Satlow Eric , Ostertag Joyce , Six Linda , Byrne Janice , Connor Beth 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis article describes the interplay of goals, teacher development, and assessment in the context of a yearlong research and development project. The aim of the project was to integrate the teaching of science, reading, and writing processes in a conceptually based, constructivist curriculum for middle school students who read below grade level. A performance‐based assessment was designed and implemented to determine the level of student awareness and control over the processes taught during a unit of instruction. Interviews with science teachers and supervisors revealed the important interaction of curricular goals, the performance assessment, and instructional practice.
Effects of cooperative incentives and heterogeneous arrangement on achievement and interaction of cooperative learning groups in a college life science course
Authors: Watson Scott B. , Marshall James E. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the importance of cooperative incentives and heterogeneous grouping as elements of cooperative learning in a college life science course. Cooperative learning may be defined as a classroom learning environment in which students work together in heterogeneous groups toward completion of some task. Cooperative incentive structures provide some type of group reward based on group products or individual learning. In heterogeneous grouping, students are arranged in order to maximize variety within groups. A 2 × 2 design was utilized in this study. The independent variables considered included (a) use of cooperative incentives in learning groups, and (b) use of heterogeneous grouping in cooperative learning groups. Dependent variables for all treatment groups were scores from a multiple‐choice instrument developed for an earlier, related study, along with direct observational data on frequency of cooperative interactions. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used as the data analysis procedure for the achievement portion of the study, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for analysis of the cooperative interaction portion of the study. No significant differences were found between the treatment groups.
Students' conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution: Cases of replication and comparison
Authors: Demastes Sherry S. , Settlage John , Good Ron 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe work of Bishop and Anderson (1990) plays a major role in educators' understanding of evolution education. Their findings remind us that the majority of university students do not understand the process of evolution but that conceptual change instruction can be moderately effective in promoting the construction of a scientific understanding. The present article details two studies that represent an effort to focus on and define the limits of the Bishop and Anderson (1990) study. Study A describes a close replication of the work of Bishop and Anderson (1990) using the same conceptual‐change teaching module to teach a unit on evolution to students enrolled in a biology course for nonmajors. Study B, a case of comparison, used the same evaluation instrument used in Bishop and Anderson (1990) and Study A, but high school students were the participants and the instruction was based on the inquiry approach to science. Like Bishop and Anderson (1990), Study A showed that the amount of prior instruction and students' beliefs in evolution were not found to be large factors in students' use of scientific conceptions. Unlike the original study, the students in Study A showed only a meager increase in their use of scientific conceptions for evolution. In Study B, students in the experimental group showed significant increases in their use of scientific conceptions. These findings suggest a need to investigate more closely the teachers' theories of learning, their reliance on instructional conversations, and the amount of time devoted to the topic of evolution as we study conceptual change in this area.
Skills needed for reading comprehension of physics texts and their relation to problem‐solving ability
Authors: Koch Adina , Eckstein Shulamith G. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThis article reports an investigation of some of the skills needed for the critical reading of physics texts. To assess these skills a reading comprehension test was developed that combines features of errordetection and true–false–unreported tests. This test was administered to college students of physics, and the results were analyzed statistically to determine the separability of the skills and their hierarchical ranking. It was found that the skill required to comprehend texts in continuous format is of a higher level than and separable from the skill required to comprehend texts in the form of a separated list of statements. The skill required to discriminate unreported statements from the others (true and false) was found to be of a higher level than and separable from the skills required to make the other discriminations. The relation between the students' reading comprehension skills and their problem‐solving ability was also investigated. Students' scores on reading comprehension of texts that require a very low problem‐solving ability were found to be uncorrelated to their grades on solving problems that require a very low decoding ability. This implies that the two abilities are independent.
Teacher epistemology and scientific inquiry in computerized classroom environments
Authors: Maor Dorit , Taylor Peter Charles 
Published: October 2006

AbstractA 20‐week classroom‐based study was conducted to investigate the extent to which a computerized learning environment could facilitate students' development of higher‐level thinking skills associated with scientific inquiry. In two classes students' interactions with a scientific data base—Birds of Antarctica—were closely monitored, and the mediating roles of the teachers' epistemologies were examined. Interpretive data were generated and analyzed in relation to a constructivist perspective on learning. In the class where the teacher implemented a constructivist‐oriented pedagogy, students took advantage of enhanced opportunities to generate creative questions and conduct complex scientific investigations. These higher‐level thinking skills were much less evident in the class in which a more transmissionist‐oriented pedagogy prevailed. The results of the study suggest that it is not the computer itself that facilitates inquiry learning; the teacher's epistemology is a key mediating influence on students' use of the computer as a tool of scientific inquiry.
Student understanding of the volume, mass, and pressure of air within a sealed syringe in different states of compression
Authors: De Berg Kevin Charles 
Published: October 2006

AbstractProblem‐solving strategies in the physical sciences have been characterized by a dependence on algorithmic techniques often devoid of any reasoning skills. The purpose of this study was to examine student responses to a task relating to Boyle's Law for gases, which did not demand the use of a mathematical equation for its solution. Students (17‐ to 18‐year‐olds) in lower sixth form from two colleges in the Leeds district of Yorkshire in England were asked to respond to a task relating to pressure and volume measurements of air within a sealed syringe in different states of compression. Both qualitative and quantitative tasks for the sealed syringe system were examined. It was found that 34% to 38% of students did not understand the concepts of volume and mass, respectively, of a gas under such circumstances. Performance on an inverse ratio (2:1) task was shown to depend on gender and those students who performed well on the 2:1 inverse ratio task did not necessarily perform well on a different inverse ratio task when an arithmetic averaging principle was present. Tasks which draw upon qualitative knowledge as well as quantitative knowledge have the potential to reduce dependence on algorithms, particularly equation substitution and solution. The implications for instructional design are discussed.