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Ninth grade student engagement in teacher-centered and student-centered technology-enhanced learning environments
No full text[[abstract]]Engagement has been viewed as an important construct to understand students' learning performances in classroom settings. Taking an interactive perspective, the study investigates ninth graders' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in teacher-centered (TC) and student-centered (SC) technology-enhanced classrooms. 54 students from two science classes in Taiwan participated in this study. Multiple sources of data were collected during a 3-week instructional unit. The statistical results showed that although students in the SC class reported having significantly higher emotional engagement, the emotional engagement level had no impact on students' learning achievement. Analyses of qualitative data showed that students in both classes spent a majority of class time on cognitive involvement in learning activities, but there were qualitative differences in cognitive and behavioral engagement between the two classes. One type of activities that did not occur in the TC class was making reflections in which students in the SC class self-assessed what they did. In addition, the SC class usually interacted through group discussions provoked by the simulations, whereas the TC class frequently interacted through initiation–response–evaluation sequences and engaged in student-initiated discussions. The findings suggest that both instructional approaches promoted students' conceptual understanding and provided students with different opportunities to engage in science learning.
Exploring the development of fifth graders' practical epistemologies and inquiry skills in inquiry-based learning classrooms
No full text[[abstract]]The purposes of this study are to explore fifth graders’ epistemological views regarding their own experiences of constructing scientific knowledge through inquiry activities (i.e., practical epistemologies) and to investigate possible interactions between students’ practical epistemologies and their inquiry skills to construct scientific explanations (i.e., explanation skills). Quantitative and qualitative data including interview transcripts, classroom video recordings, and pre- and post-tests of explanation skills were collected from 68 fifth graders in two science classes. Analyses of data show that after engaging in 5-week inquiry activities, students developed better inquiry skills to construct scientific explanations. More students realized the existence of experimental errors, viewed experimental data as evidence to support their claims, and had richer understanding about the nature of scientific questions. However, most students’ epistemological beliefs were still na?ve (the beginning level); they could not differentiate between experimental results and scientific knowledge and believed that the purpose of science is doing experiments or research. The results also show that students who held a more sophisticated epistemology (the intermediate level) tended to develop better inquiry skills than those with na?ve beliefs. Analyses of classroom observations suggest possible explanations for how students reflected their epistemological views in their inquiry practices.
Establishing the criterion-related, construct, and content validities of a simulation-based assessment of inquiry abilities
No full text[[abstract]]The emphasis on scientific inquiry has increased the importance in developing the fundamental abilities to conduct scientific investigations and urged a need for valid assessments of students' inquiry abilities. We took advantage of the advanced technology to develop a simulation-based assessment of inquiry abilities (SAIA) that allowed students to generate scientific explanations and demonstrate their experimental abilities. This paper describes the validation of the assessment. Data were collected from 48 12th-grade students at a local high school who were categorized into three groups based on their program majors. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized to validate SAIA. The quantitative results showed that SAIA was aligned with a validated reasoning-skill test (criterion-related validity), discriminated variance among different groups (construct validity), and was highly suitable for examining inquiry abilities (content validity). Additionally, we utilized the think-aloud technique in order to identify the performances exhibited by students while they accomplished the SAIA tasks. The protocol analysis indicated that in general, students demonstrated the expected abilities in SAIA and that their SAIA scores accurately reflected their performance levels of inquiry abilities. The results suggested that SAIA was a valid assessment for evaluating the inquiry abilities of high school students. This study also provided systemic strategies for validating simulation-based assessments.
Whole class dialogic discussion meets Taiwan's physics teachers: Attitudes and culture
No full text[[abstract]]There is a distance between the power that whole class dialogic discussions (WCDD) may offer to the science class and their use in practice. Teachers’ attitudes toward WCDD are part of the problem. The aims of this study were twofold: (a) to examine Taiwanese physics teachers’ attitudes toward WCDD by considering cultural perspectives and describe how these attitudes changed as a result of a special workshop designed for this purpose, and (b) to report on how these attitudes should be taken into account in designing such workshops in the future. Nine experienced physics teachers participated in the WCDD workshop. The workshop was based on the WCDD model developed by Eshach (2010). Inductive analyses were performed on interviews with the teachers and their students, which were composed of 36 questions and developed specially for the purpose of this study, yielded the following categories: (1) In-school reasons for opposing WCDD—reasons belonging to school ways/tradition of teaching that may cause barriers to WCDD implementation; (2) External Factors—cultural reasons relating to Taiwanese views concerning education in general, which cause barriers to WCDD implementation; and (3) Cognitive aspect—refers to what teachers know about WCDD. The paper concludes with a discussion on what should be done in order to successfully bring WCDD to the Taiwanese physics class.
101-102年科學教育學門研究規劃推動計畫
No full text[[abstract]]科學教育為國家人力品質的重要基石，台灣近二十年在科技發展的優勢多仰賴厚實的科教人力。國外各國對科學教育的重視，亦可見於國際評比研究將科學學習視為重要指標；而美國近年更積極推動 STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)，可見科學教育的發展和研究為其重要的政策目標。基於以上背景，本學門在今年完成的工作重點可分成五大項：一、學門研究計畫的申請及初複審二、辦理研究主題討論群（special interest group, SIG）三、學門徵求重點的諮詢及修訂 四、辦理「培育數學與科學教育新進研究人員計畫」五、辦理學門說明會及寫作工作坊六、辦理學門成果討論會
社區學習
No full text[[abstract]]本書以闡揚社區學習理念為主軸，以建構本土社區知識體系為目標。首先倡議以「空間」的概念來重新解讀「學習」，以「空間舒適論」做為「社區學習」的理論基礎；其次以「系統動力模型」做為建構「社區學習體系」的實務理論，揚棄傳統社區營造對於「由上而下」或「由下而上」的運作論辯；最後以「知識學習的建構階段就是知識生產的階段」之整合觀點，做為建構「本土知識體系」的操作理論，為社區學習揭開嶄新的學術視野。全書共分十五章，逐一從個人生活的小空間，到全球化的大空間；從游牧社會的生活空間，到創意社會的跨越界線，循著空間的線索，探討學習的足跡，從概念澄清到理論建構以致於實務運作，引導讀者重新體會這個既熟悉卻又很陌生的生活實境，共同生產真正屬於社區生活的本土知識。
