Improving Science literacy through interdisciplinary collaboration using media reported science.

The capability to respond critically to science in the news is recognised as one aspect of science literacy. Consequently, science-related news reports are an essential resource for science teachers wishing to promote critical reading as the foundation of a critical response to media reported science. Consequently Science education in schools should prepare students to engage with informal sources of science, including news media, in the world beyond formal science education. An interest in science news media is not limited to the science specialist. Science news provides an authentic context for teachers of science and English to collaborate in promoting interdisciplinary learning. The challenges of using science related news, as a context for cross-curricular collaboration, highlight the professional development needs of both science and English teachers working in this context. This qualitative study with over 150 pupils involved secondary school science and English teachers working collaboratively using media reported science resources and collated data from interviews, pre and post intervention tasks, pupils’ classwork and teacher notes. The outcomes of the project showed pupil engagement and greater capacity to carry knowledge and skills across traditional subject boundaries. Teachers reported increased understanding of the pedagogy of the alternative subject specialist and increased confidence to move outside their subject in order to facilitate pupil learning. This study would suggest that adopting an interdisciplinary approach could enhance learning for pupils and increase the confidence and capability of teachers. Additionally teachers’ engagement in professional conversations focusing on pupil progress was noteworthy.

Committing Curricular Time to Science Literacy: The Benefits from Science-based Media Resources

Science reported in the media is an authentic source material to explore science research and innovation, to learn how science works and to consolidate science literacy skills.

Media reports intended to communicate science research and innovation provide opportunities for teachers to develop among their pupils the critical reading skills that are essential for promoting literacy in science.

This study focuses on a curricular intervention with upper primary pupils (age 11 years) and uses science reported in the media to facilitate science directed learning in the primary curriculum.

The study suggests that the use of science based media reports can be a positive learning experience for pupils. Strategies and teaching approaches can be used to boost pupils’ confidence and competence to adopt critical reading strategies when they encounter science-based media.

Critical reading and reasoning strategies vary in their degree of difficulty. This study would suggest that, when using media-based resources, teachers need approaches that systematically address the different levels of cognative challenge presented by media resources and create opportunities within the curriculum to revisit, consolidate and develop pupils’ critical reasoning skills.

Democratic Citizenship - A Conditioned Apprenticeship : A Call for Destabilisation of Democracy in Education

We live in times when the search for a citizenship education that can transcend national, ethnical and cultural borders is an important part of educational policy. In times of increased pressure by the European Union on its nation states to provide for nation-transcending democracy, this question becomes crucial for national policymaking in Europe. In this text, Swedish education policy will be taken as a case in point in order to shed light on how this question is being handled in this particular national policy setting. It is argued that the policy’s citizen fostering agenda tends to be counterproductive in the sense that it is still situated in national notions of the relationship between democracy and education, which tend to exclude certain individuals and groups of people on an age-related and (ethno) cultural basis. It is further argued that these excluding features can be related to educational ideas about socialisation. The aim of this text is underlined by suggesting a different way of framing democracy and democratic citizenship education: to increase the potential of education as regards the renewal of democracy and democratic citizenship.

Learning from Text: Examining Teacher Thinking and Practice in AP Environmental Science

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

"It’s just very natural" – interpersonal knowledge as a didactical device in guided classroom conversations in religious education

This article investigates how teachers in religious education (RE) think and act as professionals while working with differences in religious and philosophy of life experiences and beliefs in class and trying to do this in respectful and inclusive ways. It analyses data from two research projects that were carried out in lower secondary school in Norway. The main research question is: What is the relationship between teachers’ contextual knowledge and knowledge of the child and how do these two dimensions of professional knowledge interact when religious education teachers try to strike a good balance between inclusion and productive learning in their teaching practice? The data analysed were drawn from three different data sets featuring three Norwegian religious education-teachers. The research was part of the EU-funded "REDCo"-project and the "Religious education and diversity" - project ["ROM"] funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The interviewees emphasized the potential of the religious education subject to contribute to a wider tolerance for difference and to support individual students in their identity management. The analysis shows, however, that considerable contextual awareness - of the classroom and of the local community - is needed to realize this potential. It also shows the importance of interpersonal knowledge between the teacher and each student if contextual awareness is to be effective in terms of inclusion, participation, wellbeing and good learning outcomes for all students.

Conditions for Teaching and Learning in Religious Education (RE) : Perspectives of Teachers and Pupils at the Beginning of the 6th Grade in Sweden

In this article empirical findings from interviews with teachers of three classes of 12-year-old pupils are presented, together with questionnaire-responses from these 54 pupils. The interviews focus on teaching aims for Religious Education (RE), a subject that in Sweden, besides dealing with religion, also explores other kinds of beliefs, ethics and life questions. In the questionnaire the pupils are asked to solve four RE tasks with content that is central from a Swedish curriculum perspective. The research involves pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade and the purpose of this article is to look at the teachers’ aims and the pupils’ responses, and consider what these may indicate about conditions for teaching and learning RE in these classes. The findings show that the perspectives of the pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade seem to be rather far from the expectations of the RE syllabus. The pupils’ statements are rather vague with regard to religion as a phenomenon and there are few examples of pupils interpreting religious symbols in a way that is useful in further analysis. While existential and ethical plots, messages and point of views are comparatively easy to describe, it is harder to express multiple perspectives, reasons, comparisons and questions. A problem for the teachers in developing the perspectives of their pupils is that they find it hard to say what kind of general difficulties pupils have in RE, a fact that makes it hard to direct the teaching. Another challenge is that the teachers’ RE-aims are rather overarching and primarily related to fostering fundamental values. What improves the conditions for teaching and learning is the teachers’ concern for the pupils and their relationships with the teacher and with each other, a factor which is of vital importance for learning and which can also be used as a specific teaching method in subject matter education.

Citizenship education, national identity and political trust: The case of Sweden

The challenging effects of globalization upon the nation-state have been a recurrent theme in the social science discourse since the 1990’s. Nationally organized education is also seen as challenged by new demands originating from globalization. In this article it is argued that ‘nation-state’ and ‘national identity’ are highly relevant concepts when discussing a citizenship education that seeks to develop a civic ethos with, potentially, a global reach. It is further argued that the understanding of such an ethos would benefit significantly from incorporating the role of political trust since trust has been identified as a main feature of the social capital that makes democracy work. Three themes are brought together: national identity and identification, the importance for democracy of political trust and the challenges citizenship education face when carried out in a national context but intended to manage issues that go far beyond the reach of the nation-state. The importance of citizenship education is discussed using recent research on the Swedish citizenship education classroom.

Att möta det förflutna i de historiska källorna. Ett utforskande av lärande och meningsskapande genom två källtolkningsuppgifter i historia.

The article uses a form of content focused conversation analysis to explore processes of learning and attributing meaning when upper secondary students work with two primary source assignments in history. Empirical data was collected through audio recordings of students’ collaborative work on the assignments, which consisted in analysing two primary sources in small groups. The article addresses one primary research question: what is characteristic for the processes of learning and meaning-making when students work with two source analysis assignments? As a first step, the students’ learning processes, understood as a change in participation in the learning activity, are described. As a second step, the article describes how the students’ construct meaning when working with the primary sources. The main results are descriptions of the students’ learning, and meaning-making, processes. Based on the analysis of the students’ conversations it is suggested that the temporal aspect is discerned in a contrastive process between the present and the past in terms of values, ideas and societal conditions. In relation to the human aspect the students experienced a difficult balancing act in contrasting their own perspective with the historical actor’s perspective. However, a successful strategy was to take on the role of hypothetical historical agents. Finally, in relation to the contextual aspect once the students were involved in a process of inquiry and reasoning they managed to discern subtexts of the sources in relation to the historical context. It is suggested that certain aspects of school culture might inhibit the students’ learning of primary source analysis, as they occasionally strive to find the "right answers" rather than engaging in interpretative work. One interesting finding was the vital role of the students’ life-world perspective in creating meaning while working with the primary sources, and it is suggested that this perspective should be regarded in educational design.

Digitala primärkällor i historieundervisningen: En utmaning för elevers historiska tänkande och historiska empati

In this study, 110 Swedish upper secondary students use a historical database designed for research. We analyze how they perceive the use of this digital tool in teaching and if they are able to use historical thinking and historical empathy in their historical writing and presentations. Using case-study methodology including questionnaires, observations, interviews and text analysis we find this to be a complex task for students. Our results highlight technological problems and problems in contextualizing historical evidence. However, students show interest in using primary sources and ability to use historical thinking and historical empathy, especially older students in more advanced courses when they have time to reflect upon the historical material.

Authentizität und Lernen - das Fach in der Fachdidaktik. Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik Jahrestagung in Berlin 2015

Die 42. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik (GDCP) wurde im September 2015 an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ausgerichtet. Zum Tagungsthema „Authentizität und Lernen - Das Fach in der Fachdidaktik“ diskutierten neben den Plenarreferentinnen und -referenten eine große Anzahl an Tagungsgästen. Der vorliegende Band umfasst die ausgearbeiteten Beiträge der Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer. (DIPF/Orig.)

Taking the 'physical' out of physical education

Bioexploration of wild Alaskan berries: From field screening to functional food

Wild berries are fundamental components of traditional diet and medicine for Native American and Alaska Native tribes and contain a diverse array of phytochemicals, including anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, with known efficacy against metabolic disorders. Bioexploration represents a new paradigm under which bioactive preparations are screened in coordination with indigenous communities, to prepare for subsequent in-depth chemical and biological analysis. The inclusive, participatory philosophical approach utilized in bioexploration has additional benefits that could be realized in seemingly disparate areas, such as education and economics. Five species of wild Alaskan berries (Vaccinium uliginosum, V. ovalifolium, Empetrum nigrum, Rubus chamaemorus, and R. spectabilis) were tested using “Screens-to-Nature” (STN), a community-participatory approach to screen for potential bioactivity, in partnership with tribal members from three geographically distinct Alaskan villages: Akutan, Seldovia, and Point Hope. Berries were subsequently evaluated via HPLC and LC-MS2, yielding significant species and location-based variation in anthocyanins (0.9-438.6 mg eq /100g fw) and proanthocyanins (73.7-625.2 mg eq /100g fw). A-type proanthocyanidin dimers through tetramers were identified in all species tested. Berries were analyzed for in vitro and in vivo activity related to diabetes and obesity. R. spectabilis samples increased preadipocyte-factor-1 levels by 82% over control, and proanthocyanidin-rich fractions from multiple species reduced lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Furthermore, extracts of V. uliginosum and E. nigrum (Point Hope) reduced serum glucose levels in C57bl/6j mice up to 45%. The same precepts of bioexploration, especially the inclusion of indigenous community perspectives and knowledge, have relevance in other areas of study, such as education and economics. Studies have established the apathetic, low-motivational environment characteristic of many introductory science laboratory classes is detrimental to student interest, learning, and continuation in scientific education. A primary means of arresting this decline and stimulating the students’ attention and excitement is via engagement in hands-on experimentation and research. Using field workshops, the STN system is investigated as to its potential as a novel participatory educational tool, using assays centered around bioexploration and bioactive plant compounds that hold the potential to offset human health conditions. This evaluation of the STN system provided ample evidence as to its ability to augment and improve science education. Furthermore, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was employed as a theoretical framework to review the potential benefits and hurdles associated with developing a wild Alaskan berry commodity. Synthesizing various sources of information – including logistics and harvest costs, sources of initial capital, opportunities in the current superfruit industry, and socioeconomic factors – the development of a berry commodity proves to be a complex amalgam of competing factors which would require a delicate balance before proceeding.

Atividades de matemática e de ciências no horto de Amato Lusitano

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Educação Pré- Escolar e Ensino do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico.

Supervisão e colaboração no ensino das ciências : estudo de caso realizado numa escola do ensino básico em Díli

O sistema educativo de Timor-Leste tem assistido, desde o momento da independência do país, a uma reorganização e a um desenvolvimento no sentido de aperfeiçoar os níveis de formação e de qualificação dos cidadãos timorenses. A intencionalidade é a de permitir o progresso social, económico, tecnológico e cultural de que o país precisa. Neste quadro, a formação inicial e contínua de professores assume um papel fulcral para o cumprimento das metas estabelecidas, sendo este o contexto principal onde a minha atividade profissional se desenvolveu. Este estudo situou-se na supervisão e colaboração de práticas letivas com uma professora de ensino básico, do sexto ano, no ensino das ciências, tendo por base os pressupostos teóricos da educação em ciências. O estudo que foi desenvolvido numa Escola Básica Central, em Díli, Timor- Leste, tem por base os pressupostos inerentes à supervisão, designadamente: os encontros de pré observação, observação e pós-observação, sustentados pela colaboração da investigadora no processo de desenvolvimento profissional da professora participante Os principais objetivos do estudo centraram-se em identificar e compreender quais as conceções da professora participante no estudo relativamente ao ensino das ciências e, simultaneamente, a implementação de práticas de ensino relacionadas com a didática das ciências, assumindo como referencial que as conceções em ciências que os professores possuem têm implicações no modo como ensinam (Praia, Cachapuz & Pérez, 2002). Mais especificamente, pretendeu-se analisar e compreender a forma como a professora responsável pelo ensino da disciplina de estudo do meio no numa turma do 6º ano desenvolve as suas atividades letivas . A disciplina de estudo do meio contém conteúdos da área das ciências da natureza e das ciências sociais, no entanto, este estudo desenvolveu-se apenas no âmbito das ciências naturais, por se tratar da minha área específica de formação e aquela que escolhi para aprofundar os meus conhecimentos. A investigação desenvolvida assumiu o paradigma qualitativo/interpretativo e enquadrou-se num design de estudo de caso. Para Coutinho & Chaves (2002), um aluno, um professor, uma turma, uma escola, a prática de um professor ou uma política educativa são apenas alguns exemplos de variáveis educativas para as quais o estudo de caso é a metodologia que melhor se aplica. A recolha de informação para a investigação realizou-se no decorrer dos encontros de preparação das atividades letivas, da observação de aulas e do registo realizado, dos encontros pós-observação, das entrevistas e da análise documental de interesse sobre o tema.