52 research outputs found
Exploring the development of biological literacy in Tanzanian junior secondary school students
No full textInternationally, scientific literacy is a major goal of science education in the twenty first century. In Tanzania, where there is a widespread lack of public understanding about major health issues, biological literacy is needed so that people can make decisions about the socio-scientific issues that confront them. To that end, the Tanzanian school curriculum aims to connect students’ understandings of Biology to their everyday lives but few studies have been conducted that show whether these aims have been achieved, especially in junior secondary school. This ethnographic case study investigates the ways in which the junior secondary school Biology curriculum in Tanzania supports or constrains the development of biological literacy and how institutional context, particularly as it relates to urban and rural schools, influences the delivery of the Biology curriculum. Teachers’ and Year Four students’ of secondary schools views about school Biology were sought in the course of this study and the issues that emerged were analysed using social constructivist and social constructionist theoretical frameworks. Data were collected through student questionnaires, student focus group interviews, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. The research sites included rural and urban schools, and government and private schools. The findings suggest that the Biology curriculum and the ways it is delivered do not adequately address the students’ needs and therefore is unlikely to enable them to become biologically literate. Rural schools are less well equipped than urban schools to deliver the curriculum and teachers and students face bigger challenges. A key finding was that Tanzanian young people have a strong desire to learn more about reproductive Biology and health issues but these are not prioritised in the current curriculum. In light of these findings, curriculum changes are recommended to provide learning opportunities for students to gain biological knowledge and skills that are relevant to their daily lives
Exploring Teachers’ Approaches to Science Practical Work in Lower Secondary Schools in Malaysia
No full textPractical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers’ views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers’ understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers’ practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia
SciNow: Multimodal Educational Resources
No full textThe necessity for this project was identified as a response to declining levels of science engagement, academic success and literacy observed in New Zealand secondary science education (OECD, 2016). As international advancements in sciences and technology create shifts in the current economic landscape, increasing importance is being placed on knowledge-intensive industries. This changed weighting of industry contributions to economic prosperity creates a simultaneous change in future workforce skill requirements (Gilbert & Bull, 2013). With the importance of education in long-term social and economic prosperity being long acknowledged, the changing economic climate intensifies the urgent need to address New Zealand’s declining science engagement and academic success.
While the most significant facets of educational operations lie in education pedagogy and policy, the wide range of factors involved in educational outcomes yield expansive opportunities for potential innovations and commercialisation in the education sector. The opportunity for this project was derived from identifying the elements that contribute to these challenges, and isolating a gap in the market of science education resources. The purpose of this project was to research this potential market gap, as well as identifying how to appeal to it. This led to the proposal for the SciNow multimodal resource database, a resource database designed to provide engaging lesson and study materials to science students and teachers with an emphasis on real-life application of content. Through utilising the concept of multimodality, the database design proposes offering materials through ranging modes of communication to increase appeal to varying student learning preferences (Jewitt, 2008). The overall intention for the SciNow database is to raise attractiveness of science education by making it more interesting and relevant to students, thereby positively affecting educational outcomes and in turn leading to economic benefits in the form of a more ideally skilled workforce.
While initial investigation focused on creating a business model for commercialising the SciNow resource database, this intention was adjusted in response to literature reviews revealing the significant performance gap between high and low achievers in science education (Education Review, 2016). In addition to New Zealand exhibiting one of the largest performance gaps in the OECD, concerns are exacerbated by the lowest performing population’s overrepresentation of Maori and Pasifika students and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (OECD, 2015). In response to the level of inequality in science education, the SciNow proposal was adjusted to be provided to all students and teachers nationwide for free.
The methodology implemented in this project was of a qualitative nature (Morgan, 1997). Interviews were conducted with secondary science teachers and students in which questioning focused on experiences with science education, including education resource availability and provision. Further focus groups were held with university students from wide-ranging backgrounds to gather reflective insight into experiences with science in school and in subsequent life.
The key findings indicated a desire for improved resource availability and quality, responding favourably to the proposition of the SciNow resource database. Further findings validated the proposed use of multimodality for engagement and focus on real-life content application.
Considering research findings, literature reviews, and the decision to provide the service freely, a flexible business model and case for investment is proposed and outlined in a strategic assessment business case. This business case proposes a three-phase process of development and implementation, influenced by the lean start-up business model. This three-phased plan begins with further research and subsequent development of a prototype as a minimum viable product. Following development, the prototype will then undergo testing and enhancement through feedback analysis, followed finally by expansion of the prototype to encompass the full database spectrum. The initial governing body will be composed of a core working group. Upon formation of a charitable trust, this core working group will evolve into an advisory board to act alongside the more commercially focused charitable trust board.
Key implications derived from this project are dual. In part, the project research emphasises the necessity for the education sector to consider more deep-rooted changes in the New Zealand education system (Bull, Gilbert, Barwick, Hipkins, & Baker, 2010). Significant changes are needed to truly optimise New Zealand science education, and provision of a resource database can only accommodate educational challenges, not fix them. However, the research and business case demonstrate that execution of the SciNow proposal is feasible, with the intended research and development crucial in maximising potential benefit of the service. Upon completion of this project, further work is intended to bring the SciNow concept to fruition
Book Review: A review of language literacy and science: enhancing engagement and achievement in science
No full textBook review of 'A review of language literacy and science: enhancing engagement and achievement in science' by Azra Moeed and Brendan Cooney, Singapore, Springer Briefs in Education, 2021, 71 pp., $49, ISBN 978-981-16-4000-1</p
Exploring New Zealand year 11 students' understanding of Nature of Science concepts
No full textNature of Science (NOS) is a core part of science education. Extensive effort has gone into establishing educationally appropriate NOS tenets, teaching practices and assessments tools. However, while previous research has identified the importance of prior knowledge in science education, there is limited research that investigates students’ prior knowledge and beliefs about NOS. This information is critical in identifying what teachers need to target in order develop informed NOS beliefs amongst students. In this study the NOS beliefs of year 11 secondary school students in New Zealand were explored using a mixed methods approach. Factor analysis of the students’ (N=502) NOS questionnaire responses revealed that students’ conceptions of NOS differed from the constructs identified in the NOS literature. Coding of the purposively selected sample of student interviews (n=22) revealed a naïve realist model of science was common. This model along with the alternative constructs provided insights into students’ NOS conceptions. The findings were used to develop a model that could help teachers’ better identify explicit and implicit teaching practices to help students develop more appropriate NOS models
Exploring Teachers’ Approaches to Science Practical Work in Lower Secondary Schools in Malaysia
No full textPractical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers’ views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers’ understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers’ practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia
An analysis of National Certificate of Educational Achievement chemistry courses in terms of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment: With comparison to the International Baccalaureate Diploma
No full textNew Zealand has seen significant change in curriculum and qualification frameworks in recent years. The implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) from 2002 and a revised national curriculum in 2007 have underpinned the forces of change. However, preceding its implementation, the NCEA qualification sparked controversy both in the education literature and general media. This controversy around the NCEA continues. Classroom-based evidence on the impact of the NCEA on teaching and learning has a significant role in informing policy, and this work aimed to make such a contribution. As a number of secondary schools in this country offer alternative senior school qualifications, this invited the opportunity to compare the phenomenon of teaching chemistry to Years 12 and 13 students under two structurally different qualification frameworks. The overarching research question investigated in this study was: In the context of NCEA and International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBD) chemistry courses in New Zealand secondary schools, how do teachers manage the tension between learning, teaching, and assessment? Teachers’ views and practices were explored through inquiry questions relating to the following: Teaching the content and procedural knowledge of chemistry (referring to curriculum and pedagogy); and their approaches to assessment.
Qualitative research was undertaken from a comparative case study within an interpretive paradigm. Two case schools offered both NCEA and IB Diploma qualifications, and one case school NCEA only. A total of ten participants from the three case schools were interviewed, and short sequences of lessons taught by the participant teachers were also observed. Following the coding of the interview data, emergent themes provided direction for the simple statistical analysis of national NCEA results data.
Manageability of courses and their assessment, feeling accountable for high grade outcomes, and the wish for subject specific professional development were areas that teachers of both NCEA and IBDP noted as factors that concerned them. The influence of high-stakes assessment was seen in the teaching methods used in the case schools towards preparing students to attain these qualifications.
It was evident from the interviews that participants had much more to say about their teaching of NCEA than they did for the IB Diploma qualification. The imbalance in the collected data, with more being related to the NCEA, was interpreted as arising from issues related to the achievement standard structure of this qualification. The impact of the NCEA on teaching and assessment of chemistry in Years 12 and 13 was found to be significant. NCEA achievement standards were seen to be the default curriculum (rather than the New Zealand Curriculum), and drove course designs in the three case schools. Extrinsic motivation from NCEA credits and grades were considered by the teachers to be key factors in students’ approaches to learning. Courses were designed to maximise grades, and teachers identified the time spent on rehearsal leading up to internal assessment as a concern. When mapped to the New Zealand Curriculum, it was evident that curricular holes in NCEA courses existed; in particular with regard to nature of science and investigation learning objectives. In the case schools, coherence of chemistry as a discipline was compromised in NCEA courses, with implications for students understanding. The performance of schools is evidently being judged, by both government and the media through the publication of league tables of NCEA grade data. This seems to be driving chemistry learning in directions that are counter to international directions in curriculum reform.
Based on the findings of this study, several recommendations are made. Attention should be paid to supporting (and resourcing) full implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum, with a focus on subject specific professional development for teachers. The relationship between the New Zealand Curriculum and the NCEA needs addressing; the achievement structure of the NCEA as it currently exists, is coming at a high cost in terms of compromising pedagogy and subject connectedness. Issues of the reliability and validity of NCEA assessment also exist, suggesting that review of current implementation and assessment policy, including that relating to the conduct of national examinations, need review
Improving the quality of science education in Tanzanian junior secondary schools: The stakeholders' perspectives, issues, and promising practices
No full textImproving quality science education (SE) in many countries across the world has been a focus of international inquiry. Though Tanzania, like many other countries, has placed an increasing focus on improving the quality of SE experiences in its schools, little has been made to achieve this goal. This means the process of providing quality SE remains problematic and challenging. This study explores promising practices for improving the quality of SE in Tanzanian junior secondary schools (JSS) from the perspectives of 67 key SE stakeholders involving: educators, policy makers, parents, students, science alumni and selected education officers. In order to address the issue, the study used a mixed method approach involving interviews and questionnaires (with all respondents except students); document review, and focus group discussions (with students). A pragmatic perspective, with an emphasis on creating a more relevant, contextual, responsive and functional SE experiences in schools, was used as a lens. The study was conducted in two concurrent (embedded) phases within two regions in Tanzania beginning with in-depth interviews with policy makers and followed by intensive study of schools. All phases of data collection generated qualitative and quantitative data sets, which were then analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics respectively. The findings of this research identified that despite policy articulation, the understanding and delivery of quality SE in Tanzanian JSS has remained debatable, divisive and antagonistic controversy over its meaning, value, nature, features and measures. As such, a comprehensive framework is needed to harmonise the existing and diverse conceptions of what quality SE is among different stakeholders. The findings also revealed that there are several contextual challenges rooted in the processes of planning, delivery, assessment and monitoring of quality SE practices in schools. Respondents identified these challenges as limiting the efforts to provide quality SE. Employing comprehensive and multiple frameworks to address the issue of quality SE is likely to help in making school SE experiences become as relevant, context responsive and functional as possible. This thesis hybridises an American pragmatism and uses it in linking and integrating collective and different perspectives towards identifying promising practices for quality SE in Tanzanian JSS
Teaching to investigate in Year 11 science, constrained by assessment
No full textSchool science learning aims to engage students into understanding science concepts, developing procedural understanding, and an understanding of the nature of science. In recent times, teachers of senior science in New Zealand have had to adapt to two significant systemic policy changes that have impacted on their practice. The first was a new curriculum that required the teaching of science investigation and the second, internal assessment of science investigation for National Certificate of Educational Assessment (NCEA). This paper presents findings of research that investigated the case of science investigation from the teachers’ perspective. The data were collected through questionnaire, interviews and classroom observations. The findings suggest that teachers changed their practice of teaching science investigation in response to the change in assessment of policy. The consequence of this change led to students being trained to mostly learning a fair testing type of investigation to gain NCEA credits and grades
Science Investigation in New Zealand Secondary Schools: Exploring the Links between Learning, Motivation and Internal Assessment in Year 11
No full textScience investigation is one of the three aspects of science learning, along with scientific knowledge and an understanding of the nature of science, within the constructivist science curriculum statement of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework. Year 11 students in New Zealand secondary schools who learn to investigate in science are assessed internally for National Certificate of Educational Achievement credits and grades. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the phenomenon of student learning and motivation to learn in year 11 science investigation and how the recent systemic change to formal assessment in New Zealand secondary education is related to teaching and learning of science investigation in year 11. This research, which adopted a case study approach, investigated the phenomenon of science investigation at a regional level through a survey of all year 11 science teachers in the Wellington region and an in-depth study of science investigation in one coeducational, medium size, state, secondary school and one year 11 science class in that school. The data were collected through surveys, classroom observations, teacher and student interviews and document analysis. Findings suggest that the introduction of internal assessment of science investigation led to change in teacher practice. The narrow fair testing type of investigation required for internal assessment and experienced by the students encouraged a surface approach to learning rather than deep learning for understanding. Students set performance goals and were motivated to achieve credits and grades in the assessment
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