Constructivism In Science Education Research Articles

Global Problems and the Curriculum: Toward a Humanistic and Constructivist Science Education

Global Problems and the Curriculum: Toward a Humanistic and Constructivist Science Education

Democratic constructivist science education: Enabling egalitarian literacy and self-actualization

Although pedagogical approaches drawing on constructivist learning theories often place students in environments that are to resemble professional knowledge-building communities, paradoxically, they also orchestrate students' re-constructions to harmonize with canons of Western science. Under the cover of social-constructivist epistemologies and Vygotskian pedagogies, students' prior conceptions are denigrated, their experiences regulated, their investigations shepherded, and their conclusions restricted. Such actions are undemocratic-citizens' literacy is confined to that narrowly defined by society's e´lite and, therefore, is not egalitarian. Students have few opportunities to become self-actualized-to develop in ways unique to their needs, interests, abilities and perspectives. After elaborating these concerns, I provide a framework for curriculum development that may help democratize science education. It is an approach that gives priority to personalization, inclusion, problematization, explicitness, apprenticeship, authenticity and freedom.

Chapter VIII: Constructivism in Science Education: Moving on…

Chapter VIII: Constructivism in Science Education: Moving on…

Russian/US comparison using the expert science teaching educational evaluation model (ESTEEM)

A small group of Russian teachers who were interested in adopting aspects of the US science educational reform movement, participated in a constructivist science teaching project. Baseline data from translated classroom observations were scored using the science classroom observation rubric from the expert science teaching educational evaluation model (ESTEEM) and compared with a traditional (teacher centered) group of US science teachers and a group of US constructivist (student centered) science teachers. The purpose of the research is to investigate how Russian teachers who were beginning a US science education reform project compared with two US groups of science teachers, a traditional and a reform group. Analysis of variance was used to analyse the total rubric score and four categories for the Russian/traditional US and the Russian/constructivist US studies in order to examine closely the traditional and the constructivist teaching practises. In the first study US traditional teachers were statistically higher on 'facilitating the learning process' and 'context-specific pedagogy'. Russian teachers were higher on the 'content' category. In the second study the experienced constructivist US teachers were statistically higher on all four categories and the total rubric score. The educational culture of both countries is very traditional. However, the reform movement in science education has changed some US teachers, and is in the process of changing some Russian teachers. Both countries are working on the reform process. The results of this study provide baseline information on a small group of Russian teachers, who have chosen to be a part of the ideas contained in the US science education reform movement. The study also promotes the mutual understanding of both cultures among teachers, administrators, and researchers, which should ultimately form a bond for working together on common educational issues.

Portraying Science Accurately in Classrooms: Emphasizing Open-Mindedness Rather Than Relativism

Constructivist science education typically presents a relativist image of scientific knowledge that is not shared by scientists. Truth and time are defined differently by scientists than by postmodern observers of science; a theoretical definition of truth is often applied to scientific knowledge within science education, whereas a practical definition, supported by evidence, is used within science. Similarly, time is sometimes taken out of context within science education when scientific concepts that have developed slowly and are well accepted by scientists are treated as though they were tentative. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 225–236, 2000.

?Laboratory exercises help me memorize the scientific truths?: A study of eighth graders' scientific epistemological views and learning in laboratory activities

Upon analysis of 25 Taiwanese eighth graders' questionnaire responses, actual laboratory observation recording, and interview details, the present study was conducted to explore the interplay between students' scientific epistemological views (SEVs) and their learning in school laboratory activities. It was revealed that, although higher achievers tended to have a greater frequency of verbal negotiations directly related to laboratory details, students' SEVs were also related to their laboratory verbal interactions. It was found that students having SEVs more oriented to constructivist views of science, called constructivist students, tended to focus more on negotiating the meanings of experiments with their peers than did students having SEVs more in line with empiricist views of science, called empiricist students (p < 0.05). Constructivist students perceived actual laboratory learning environments as less open-ended and less integrated (p < 0.05) and they tended to prefer a more student-supported and open-ended approach to experimentation (p < 0.05). Interview details showed that constructivist learners tended to explore deeply the involved concepts of laboratory activities, resulting in a richer understanding. On the other hand, empiricist learners placed greater emphasis on “doing” laboratory work, following the codified procedures of science textbooks, and they believed that laboratory exercises made scientific concepts more impressive, acting as memory aids. This study concludes that an appropriate understanding of the constructivist epistemology of science should be an essential prerequisite for implementing so-called “constructivist science teaching.” © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83:654–674, 1999.

Rethinking the Subject: (de)constructing human agency in environmental education research

SUMMARY In this article I critically analyse some of the ways in which human subjectivity and agency are constructed in contemporary discourses of environmental education research, with particular reference to conceptual change discourses such as those borrowed from ‘misconceptions’ research in science education. I argue that the methods of constructivist science education research are not necessarily applicable to either the (human) ‘subjects’ or subject‐matters (in an epistemological sense) of environmental education, and that poststructuralist methodologies may provide useful frames for rethinking the ways in which understandings of human subjectivity and agency are deployed in environmental education research.

The nature of science: A perspective from the philosophy of science

The nature of science: A perspective from the philosophy of science

Examining the social and scientific roles of invention in science education

I have been drawn to the construct of “invention” and “inventive acts” because in my research involving how homeless children construct science and the self-in-science, an overwhelming theme has been the multiple ways in which self-identity in science has been described by the children through a language of invention. Using post-modern feminism and science and technologies studies, I examine the multiple uses and definitions of “invention” in science in order to develop a theory of invention and inventive acts around the themes: invention as a social act, invention as a recursive and socially linked process, and embodied agency. I use this framework to examine the construct of “invention” in two different case studies involving the science education of urban homeless children. Finally, I link this discussion of invention and inventive acts with current international reform initiatives revolving around constructivist science teaching and learning.

Research traditions in comparative context: A philosophical challenge to radical constructivism

Constructivism in science education has incorporated a multitude of perspectives. Many of these perspectives agree with the general assertion that knowledge is constructed. Two such projects are conceptual change theory and radical constructivism. In this article, I distinguish these two traditions based on four issues: ontology; epistemological commitments; view of learners; and authority of received ideas. I bring a philosophy of science perspective to bear, treating conceptual change theory and radical constructivism as Lakatosian research programs. Through this process the philosophical coherence of the radical constructivist research program is brought into question. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Research traditions in comparative context: A philosophical challenge to radical constructivism

Constructivism in science education has incorporated a multitude of perspectives. Many of these perspectives agree with the general assertion that knowledge is constructed. Two such projects are conceptual change theory and radical constructivism. In this article, I distinguish these two traditions based on four issues: ontology; epistemological commitments; view of learners; and authority of received ideas. I bring a philosophy of science perspective to bear, treating conceptual change theory and radical constructivism as Lakatosian research programs. Through this process the philosophical coherence of the radical constructivist research program is brought into question. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A Bibliography for Philosophy and Constructivism in Science Education.

The research literature on educational constructivism is voluminous (see the Carmichael (1990) Pfundt & Duit (1994) and Driver et al. (1994b) bibliographies cited below). The research - in both the Piagetian and Alternative Conception traditions - covers children's learning, cognitive development, curriculum development, classroom practices, teacher education, and much else. There is a further enormous literature on constructivism in philosophy of science (see Leplin (1984) and Churchland & Hooker (1985)), and on constructivism in the sociology of science (see Brown (1984), McMullin (1988, 1992). In turn these latter literatures overlap with the ocean of writing on post-modernist theory of knowledge and cognition (see Gross & Levitt (1994)). The following references relate mostly to educational constructivism, and then, with some exceptions, to articles that address epistemological and philosophical matters in science education. Even so it is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it will be useful for teachers and researchers in the field. The author welcomes additions or omissions being brought to his attention.

Constructivism in science and science education: a philosophical critique

This paper argues that constructivist science education works with an unsatisfactory account of knowledge which affects both its account of the nature of science and of science education. The paper begins with a brief survey of realism and anti-realism in science and the varieties of constructivism that can be found. In the second section the important conception of knowledge and teaching that Plato develops in the Meno is contrasted with constructivism. The section ends with an account of the contribution that Vico (as understood by constructivists), Kant and Piaget have made to constructivist doctrines. Section three is devoted to a critique of the theory of knowledge and the anti-realism of von Glaserfeld. The final section considers the connection, or lack of it, between the constructivist view of science and knowledge and the teaching of science.

Epistemological antecedents to culturally relevant and constructivist classroom curricula: A longitudinal study of teachers' contrasting world views

This study explored how teachers' prior experiences, beliefs about knowledge, and schooling contexts collectively influenced their ability to implement classroom curricula that were culturally relevant to their students and that were constructivist in orientation. Using a case study design, this paper presents a 4-year longitudinal study of Dan, a second-career teacher who entered teaching after being a field scientist for an international corporation for 6 years, and Amy, who became an English teacher after being a floral designer for 10 years. Using the theoretical perspective of world view as described by Shuell (1992) [ Teaching and Teacher Education, 8(1), 83–90] and Cobern (1993) [ The practice of constructivism in science education, Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science], I explored the professional development of Dan and Amy, who differed in their world views. Specifically, I examined how their world views gave shape to their classroom learning environments, including their classroom curricula and their interactions with students during their initial years of becoming teachers. Multiple sources of data were gathered throughout the 4 year study from formal and informal interviews, observations of classroom teaching, stimulated recall interviews, and biographical interviews. Using the constant comparative method of data analysis, salient themes emerged from the data, including beliefs about teaching content knowledge, beliefs about learners, and influences on classroom curriculum. Implications for creating constructivist and culturally relevant classroom curricula are discussed.

Constructivism in Science Education

(1996). Constructivism in Science Education. Journal of Geoscience Education: Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 242-242.

Beyond constructivism

This article offers a critique of constructivism in science education which is an attempt to define and identify not only the weaknesses, but the successes of constructivism. Its success has been to generate a significant body of empirical data which has contributed to our knowledge and understanding of difficulties in the learning of science. That knowledge has also enabled the development of some innovative methodology for the pedagogy of science and a greater awareness of the learner. However, as a theoretical referent, it suffers from a flawed instrumental epistemology which is a misrepresentation of the views and practice of science and scientists. Further it has confused the manner in which new knowledge is made with the manner in which old knowledge is learned, assuming that the two are one and the same thing. The result of these failings is that it offers no guidance on adjudication between theories, the organization and sequencing of content within the science curriculum and rejects any value for didacticism. The failure of constructivism to recognize its own limitations has lead to it enjoying a hegemony in the research community which is undeserved. Instead, it is proposed that an alternative of modest realism offers, not only a better representation of the practice of science, but additionally some value in determining issues of pedagogy. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Look Inside Cross‐Sections: Planes Michael JohnstoneThe World Record Paper Airplane Book: Ken Blackburn and Jeff LammersReviewers: Lucille A. SlingerThe Practice of Constructivism in Science Education: Kenneth Tobin John EichingerMeasuring Earthquakes: Real‐World Mathematics Through Science: Nancy Cook Charles G. Oviatt

Knowing and teaching science: the constructivist paradox

This paper addresses the parallel between the changes in students' and teachers' learning advocated by constructivist science educators. It begins with a summary of the epistemology of constructivism and uses a vignette drawn from a set of case studies to explore the impact of a constructivist science in‐service programme on an experienced and formal elementary science teacher. Judged by constructivist standards, the teacher described in the vignette makes very little progress. The irony of applying a constructivist critique to his work, however, is that it fails to treat the teachers' imperfect knowledge of teaching with the same respect as constructivists treat students' imperfect learning of science. The remainder of the paper explores this constructivist paradox, and suggests that‐like students' knowledge of science‐teachers' knowledge of constructivist science teaching is likely to grow through slow and gradual re‐formation of their established understanding of classroom theory and practice.

Metaphor as a tool for constructivist science teaching

A teacher's personally created metaphor of constructivist science teaching can be used as a reflective tool for initiating and sustaining change in the classroom. This study reports how one experienced general science teacher used the metaphor tool during the implementation of constructivist approaches in both biology and physics topics. Three general assertions are discussed. Although these were based primarily on the qualitative data, the quantitative data arising from the administration of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey were used to strengthen these data.

Humanizing and feminizing school science: reviving anthropomorphic and animistic thinking in constructivist science education

Science and scientists in general reject any form of animism or anthropomorphism. Meanwhile, there is considerable evidence that these forms of thinking are quite commonly present in the constructions and causal explanations of both children and adults as they try to make sense of their everyday world. The question is: can animistic and anthropomorphic ways of thinking have any positive value in school science? This article addresses four distinctive but linked issues within the broad context of constructivist science education. The first concerns the mismatch between animistic thought and the ‘mechanistic’ world‐view of orthodox science. The second examines the extent to which such ways of thinking are manifest and their relationship to general constructivist theory. The third explores briefly some classroom and textbook examples in use. The fourth explores some implications of this for instruction in science education. Within this, the article is premised on the notion that the mechanistic nature of science is one barrier to the recruitment of young women to science. The corollary is that the deliberative use of animistic and anthropomorphic ideas would increase the ‘human’ appeal of science and reduce the alienation felt by young women in science. The article explores the fact that, while it is not uncommon for textbooks, teachers and pupils to use ideas like this‐which they seem to recognize as a useful approach to teaching and learning, such uses are ‘covert’ and lack any sense of approval and positive development. Given that school science is a ‘reconstruction’ of science itself, the suggestion is that it be reshaped further and that animistic and anthropomorphic ideas be explored in order to exploit their pedagogic potence.