Science learning and graphic symbols: an exploration of early years teachers’ views and use of graphic symbols when teaching science

The study investigated early years teachers’ understanding and use of graphic symbols, defined as the visual representation(s) used to communicate one or more “linguistic” concepts, which can be used to facilitate science learning. The study was conducted in Cyprus where six early years teachers were observed and interviewed. The results indicate that the teachers had a good understanding of the role of symbols, but demonstrated a lack of understanding in regards to graphic symbols specifically. None of the teachers employed them in their observed science lesson, although some of them claimed that they did so. Findings suggest a gap in participants’ acquaintance with the terminology regarding different types of symbols and a lack of awareness about the use and availability of graphic symbols for the support of learning. There is a need to inform and train early years teachers about graphic symbols and their potential applications in supporting children’s learning.

Children's preconceptions of science: how these can be used in teaching

This paper focuses on young children’s initial ideas about science prior to any teaching and discusses teachers’ identification of these ‘preconceptions’ when teaching science in the early years. The research focuses on early years teaching in public and private kindergartens with children from three to five. The area of the children’s preconceptions has been extensively investigated by other researchers in the past. However, research focusing on children’s preconceptions and how teachers work with these in the early years is still limited in comparison, especially within Cypriot context. A case study was employed which facilitated in-depth investigation employing different methods of data collection including interviews and observations. The results indicate that teachers tend to avoid identification of the children’s preconceptions when planning and teaching science. This suggests a lack of appreciation of the children’s preconceptions and the consequences when they are not acknowledged. To help teachers respond to the children’s preconceptions, this paper provides a number of suggestion on how to identify children’s preconceptions.

Investigating early years teachers’ understanding and response to children’s preconceptions

This paper focuses on young children’s scientific preconceptions and discusses teachers’ identification of these preconceptions when teaching science in the early years, on which research is still limited. This paper is based on the theoretical framework of constructivism and it defines preconceptions as children’s erroneous concepts prior to formal education. A two phase case study approach was employed, facilitating in-depth investigation though the use of questionnaires, interviews and observations. The results indicate that the teachers did not dedicate time to identify children’s preconceptions when planning and teaching science, even when acknowledging preconceptions’ possible existence. This indicates a possible lack of appreciation of the importance of children’s preconceptions of the consequences when ignoring them. The results also indicate the need for further training and professional development in relation to the teaching of early-years science, especially since only a very small percentage of early years teachers tend to study science during their years compulsory education. A number of suggestions are also provided for practice and policy that can be useful for other subjects as well.

Secondary school teachers' perspectives on teaching about topics that bridge science and religion

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, Science and Religious Education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject area. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils hold religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training.

Using drama techniques for the teaching of early years science : a case study

This paper investigates the effect of drama techniques when employed to facilitate teaching and learning early years science. The focus is a lesson intervention designed for a group of children aged between four and five years old. A number of different drama techniques, such as teacher in role, hot seating and miming, were employed for the teaching of the water cycle. The techniques were implemented based on their nature and on what they can offer to young children considering their previous experiences. Before the beginning of the intervention, six children were randomly selected from the whole class, who were interviewed, aiming to identify their initial ideas in regards to the water cycle. The same children were interviewed after the end of the intervention in an attempt to identify the ways in which their initial ideas were changed. The results appear to be promising in terms of facilitating children’s scientific understanding and show an improvement in the children’s use of vocabulary in relation to the specific topic.

Children's misconceptions and the teaching of early years science: a case study

The aim of this paper is to examine how teachers’ awareness of children’s misconceptions can affect children’s acquisition of scientific concepts. In other words, this paper is aimed at examining whether teaching is altered when teachers are aware of pupils’ misconceptions of a specific science concept. This paper details a case study focused on two kindergarten classes of five year-old children and their teachers and took place in Cyprus. Two lessons were observed and three children from each class were interviewed. Through the analysis of children’s responses it was possible to identify specific misconceptions related to the concept of rain. The results indicate that it is very important for teachers to be aware of what misconceptions children have, because this can help them plan lessons for children to overcome their misconceptions. It seems that it is more likely for children to overcome their misconceptions when teachers take these misconceptions into account as they plan and teach science lessons.

The use of computer-based learning tools for teaching and clinical purposes: Interactive computing strategy for Iraq

Medical universities and teaching hospitals in Iraq are facing a lack of professional staff due to the ongoing violence that forces them to flee the country. The professionals are now distributed outside the country which reduces the chances for the staff and students to be physically in one place to continue the teaching and limits the efficiency of the consultations in hospitals. A survey was done among students and professional staff in Iraq to find the problems in the learning and clinical systems and how Information and Communication Technology could improve it. The survey has shown that 86% of the participants use the Internet as a learning resource and 25% for clinical purposes while less than 11% of them uses it for collaboration between different institutions. A web-based collaborative tool is proposed to improve the teaching and clinical system. The tool helps the users to collaborate remotely to increase the quality of the learning system as well as it can be used for remote medical consultation in hospitals.

Truth - the essential dimension of ethics in scholarship, teaching, learning and research

The introduction of metrics, league tables, performance targets, research assessment exercises and a range of other pressures placed by society, funding bodies and employers on scholars, teachers and students have resulted in diminished value being placed on the essential ethical criterion of truth. The impact of reduced valuation for truth has a huge impact on the standing of science and not least horticultural science in the eyes of the general public at a time when this should be a primary concern. This contribution discusses examples of the impact of diminished valuation of truth, the causes of this phenomenon, the results that come from this situation and remedies that are needed.