Issues In Science Education Research Articles

Letter from the Editor of the Elementary Science Education Issues of JSTE

Welcome to the November Elementary Science Education (ESE) issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education (JSTE). Formerly Journal of Elementary Science Education, the journal was officially merged with JSTE in 2010 when I took over as editor. Since that time, ESE has been published as two stand-alone issues yearly (No. 2 and 7), and we have received a steady flow of submissions related to elementary science education (68 in 2011, and 63 already as of October 2012). A special thank you to all the editorial review board members who have worked with us through that transition; the thoughtfulness of their reviews has helped ensure the high quality of manuscripts selected for inclusion in these issues. As we near 2013, we will undergo yet another transition—one that is intended to bring greater coherence to the journal and to establish its niche in science teacher education. The ESE issues will now appear as a regular section on Elementary Science Teacher Education (ESTE). As editor of this section, I believe the transition will allow for a more regular presence of elementary-focused research within each issue, and also help ensure authors’ work appears in a timely manner in print form following acceptance for publication. That said, volume 23 issue seven will be the last stand-alone issue of ESE. The ESTE Section, like JSTE more broadly, will serve as a forum for disseminating high quality research and theoretical position papers concerning the preparation and inservice education of teachers of science. I look forward to receiving manuscripts from our readers that communicate important ideas, theories, research, and field-oriented information related to policy, supervision, curriculum, instruction, and assessment in elementary science teacher education.

Gendered education in a gendered world: looking beyond cosmetic solutions to the gender gap in science

Young people in countries considered to be at the forefront of gender equity still tend to choose very traditional science subjects and careers. This is particularly the case in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (STEM), which are largely male dominated. This article uses feminist critiques of science and science education to explore the underlying gendered assumptions of a research project aiming to contribute to improving recruitment, retention and gender equity patterns in STEM educations and careers. Much research has been carried out to understand this gender gap phenomenon as well as to suggest measures to reduce its occurrence. A significant portion of this research has focused on detecting the typical “female” and “male” interest in science and has consequently suggested that adjustments be made to science education to cater for these interests. This article argues that adjusting science subjects to match perceived typical girls’ and boys’ interests risks being ineffective, as it contributes to the imposition of stereotyped gender identity formation thereby also imposing the gender differences that these adjustments were intended to overcome. This article also argues that different ways of addressing gender issues in science education themselves reflects different notions of gender and science. Thus in order to reduce gender inequities in science these implicit notions of gender and science have to be made explicit. The article begins with an overview of the current situation regarding gender equity in some so- called gender equal countries. We then present three perspectives from feminist critiques of science on how gender can be seen to impact on science and science education. Thereafter we analyze recommendations from a contemporary research project to explore which of these perspectives is most prevalent.

Science Denial and the Science Classroom

Biology teachers are accustomed to engaging individuals who do not accept biological evolution. Denial of evolution ranges from ignorance of the evidence to outright denial or distortion of data. The list of science denial topics has grown alarmingly over the years to include: HIV as the cause of AIDS, exaggeration of the health and environmental risks of genetically modified organisms, existence of holes in the ozone layer, the rise in antibiotic resistance, health risks caused by cigarette smoking, exaggeration and denial of harmful side effects of pesticides, water and environmental damage caused by hydraulic fracturing, the fear that vaccines do more harm than good, and, of course, global warming and climate change. Teaching climate science has become so perilous in some school districts that the National Center for Science Education, long known for activism in the arena of evolution education, has greatly expanded efforts in the arena of climate (http://ncse.com/climate).

A Study of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Science Teaching Efficacy and Their Recognition of Science Education Issues during Their Student Teaching of SSCS

A Study of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Science Teaching Efficacy and Their Recognition of Science Education Issues during Their Student Teaching of SSCS

Promoting Student Interest in Science

The authors of this article argue both the urgency and the promise of establishing a constructive conversation among different bodies of research, including science interest, sociocultural studies in science education, and culturally relevant teaching. With the instructional practices of eight exemplary African American elementary teachers serving their investigative site, they begin to develop a theory for promoting student interest in science. They argue that this emerging theory is distinguishable by three broad propositions: having a genuine interest, scaffolding student interest, and offering multiple standpoints. They further show that their theory based on these three related propositions has provided an important framework to better understand a number of important issues in science education (e.g., early interest in science and hands-on science activities).

Science Education in Bhutan: Issues and challenges

Science education in a developing country is pivotal in the developmental process. Bhutan, like other developing countries, places great importance in institutionalising a relevant and challenging science curriculum for all of its school-aged children. A number of factors have made the review of the science curriculum in Bhutan a priority including international debates about scientific literacy and the changing time and needs of Bhutanese society and its students. This article reports on the findings of a study to investigate the present status and challenges of the current science curriculum from interviews with teachers, students, and other key stakeholders such as higher education lecturers and employers. The study also draws on observations of science classes and key curriculum documents. This study was conducted as a prelude to the major science curriculum reform prioritised in the government's 10th Five Year Plan (2008–2012) in order to provide a research informed perspective for science curriculum development. The findings from the research are reported here and show a number of positive issues in science education including good student motivation in lower classes. Challenges are identified including issues of teacher development, resourcing, and fragmentation and discontinuity in the current curriculum. These issues and challenges are discussed in the light of literature on science education in developing countries.

Pre-service teachers’ attempts at debating contemporary issues in science education: A case study from Botswana

This paper constitutes an attempt to explore trends, issues and challenges that emerge when three different cohorts of pre-service teachers debate contemporary issues in science education at the University of Botswana. Apart from the author's experience of teaching the course, the impetus for this study also comes from a growing interest in the contemporary literature in the need for teachers who, in the context of globalization and knowledge economy, are ‘self-reforming’ through continually addressing the key issues of their profession. Unfortunately, the current situation is such that this burden of interrogation falls heaviest on teachers, despite their lack of skills in undertaking the task. The study suggests that pre-service teachers were generally reluctant to debate issues outside the realms of their experiences; instead, they made ‘parallel contributions’ that generally lacked critical reflection and thorough analysis. This makes it a challenge to assess whether the pre-service teachers have developed the requisite conceptual clarity and skills for handling contemporary issues. However, further research needs to focus on their learning strategies to help to unravel the mystique behind these ‘parallel contributions’ – this may help us to understand the strategies adopted by pre-service teachers, and also what they make of our instructional methods.

Conceptual Change in Science: A Process of Argumentation

Learning is a process of knowledge construction, individually and socially. It has both rational and irrational features. From this stance, the paper reviews an earlier model of conceptual change and its related pedagogical interventions for their inadequate attention to the irrational and social dimensions of learning. More recent developments in conceptual change pedagogy advocate the incorporation of motivational constructs and social-cultural factors, but fail to explicitly address some important issues in science education. In order to advance the conceptual change theory, the paper proposes an argument approach to teaching for conceptual change. It embraces what past models or approaches have achieved while simultaneously addressing their shortcomings.

Joseph Priestley Across Theology, Education, and Chemistry: An Interdisciplinary Case Study in Epistemology with a Focus on the Science Education Context

This paper discusses the findings of a search for the intellectual tools used by Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) in his chemistry, education, and theology documents. Priestley’s enquiring democratic view of knowledge was applicable in all three areas and constitutes a significant part of his lifework. Current epistemological issues in science education are examined from the point of view of the nature of theory and experiment as observed in Priestley’s writings and as espoused in modern philosophy of science. Science and religious faith issues in the context of science education are examined from the point of view of one’s understanding of sacred texts, and the suggestion is made that a Priestleyan model of “the liberty to think for oneself” and “to hold knowledge with humility and virtue” could prove helpful in dealing with the known divergent opinions in relation to science, education, and religion.

The Possibilities and Limitations of Curriculum-Based Science Inquiry Interventions for Challenging the “Pedagogy of Poverty”

Low-income and minority students in the U.S. are disproportionately subjected to didactic, teacher-controlled instruction—a phenomenon called “the pedagogy of poverty” (Haberman, 1991). This study examined the role that curriculum-based interventions could play in addressing these equity issues in science education. Eight teachers from three demographically diverse urban schools participated. Teaching in intervention classrooms was more inquiry-based and less didactic than in control classrooms, and differences in control/intervention teaching were most pronounced at the two higher-need schools. Learning benefits were found for intervention students at these two schools. Findings suggested both potential and limitations of curriculum-based interventions in challenging the pedagogy of poverty.

Socioscientific issues in science education: labels, reasoning, and transfer

This paper provides a critical analysis of some of the issues raised in Simonneaux and Simonneaux’s analysis of socioscientific reasoning among a group of university level students negotiating three socioscientific issues. I first discuss the labels used to reference approaches in science education that prioritize socially relevant issues and the science related to these issues. I draw distinctions between approaches labeled science-technology-society (STS), the socioscientific issues framework, and les questions socialement vives (socially acute questions), which Simonneaux and Simonneaux introduce. Next, I discuss ways in which Simonneaux and Simonneaux’s use socioscientific reasoning as an analytic construct varies with respect to its initial conceptualization. The primary distinctions include linguistic inconsistencies and the conceptual differences these language choices confer, expansion of the construct to subsume a broader range of practices, and issues related to unit of analysis (i.e., applying socioscientific reasoning as an analytic resource for assessing individual practice vs. group patterns). Finally, the issue of transfer of socioscientific reasoning is addressed. When considering the extent to which and how students leverage experiences and practice relative to the exploration of one socioscientific issue to inform their negotiation of another, I suggest that researchers and practitioners consider the distinction between the content of arguments advanced and underlying reasoning patterns. The tension between embedding science in meaningful, specific contexts and promoting forms of scientific literacy applicable to diverse, socially-relevant issues emerges as an important point of emphasis for educators interested in the socioscientific issues (or socially acute questions) movement.

Evolving into science advocates

Evolving into science advocates

In search of new lights: getting the most from competing perspectives

Some 18 months ago, Wolff-Michael Roth approached me with the idea to have a special issue on conceptual change theory and sociocultural theories that might be complementary or alternative. He was writing an article that adopted a bottom-up approach to the learning of science, that is, an approach that addressed questions such as ‘‘What competencies allow students and interviewers alike to talk about conceptions?’’ ‘‘Under what conditions can researchers extract conceptions from interview materials?’’ and ‘‘What are the implications of the fact that interviewers and students talk about conceptions that researchers denote as ‘misconceptions’?’’ I readily agreed because I regarded the pervasive acceptance of conceptual change theory as an ideology that obscured some of the most important issues in science education. Providing a forum in which the status quo was analyzed alongside of sociocultural alternatives was appealing to me. For my professional life as a science educator, which began more than 40 years ago, I have experienced the steady rise of conceptual change theory as a theoretical framework for science education. I never fully embraced this framework even though I was primarily interested in teaching and learning of science, and learning to teach science. I carefully studied its tenets, considered how they might be applied, but never really saw any advantage in adopting its premises, largely because conceptual change theory did not address praxis or knowledgeability. Hence, neither teaching nor learning was adequately addressed in ways that shed light on the issues that my research sought to address. I have continuously searched for appropriate theoretical frameworks for my research in science education, being mindful of Max Van Manen’s (1990) advice that those seeking to shine fresh light on an issue first must find the light. In so doing I have been mindful that as theories illuminate landscapes in particular ways, they simultaneously obscure or fail to discern other potentially salient issues.

PISA and Issues in Science Education of Nippon(Saloon)

PISA and Issues in Science Education of Nippon(Saloon)

La evolución de los significados de los conceptos científicos en relación con la estructura cognitiva de los estudiantes

El significado de los conceptos científicos constituye una interesante cuestión, tanto en el educación en ciencias como en la investigación y plantea interrogantes desde los más diversos ángulos: lógico, epistemológico, psicológico, lingüístico etc. El problema lógico y epistemológico, así como el proceso cognitivo de su construcción, tiene particular importancia en la enseñanza de la ciencia. En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar de la teoría del significado de Mario Bunge, desde lo epistemológico y la de Gérard Vergnaud, desde la psicología cognitiva. Estableceremos algunas relaciones con la visión epistemológica de la complejidad y propondremos algunas implicancias que se desprenden de este análisis para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la Ciencia y de la Física en particular.

Social and Ethical Issues in Science Education: A Prelude to Action

Social and Ethical Issues in Science Education: A Prelude to Action

BSCS at 50 Years: Anniversary Reflections

In 2008 BSCS will celebrate 50 years of leadership in science education. During our history BSCS has endeavored to improve all students' understanding of science and technology by developing curriculum materials, providing professional development, and conducting research studies. In general, these activities have been, and continue to be, central to the BSCS mission. So, we begin our celebration. This editorial is the first of several this year and next. NABT has been very generous in opening the pages of The American Biology Teacher to BSCS. This gesture exemplifies the cooperation between the two organizations. Here I express my gratitude and appreciation tot the long, productive, and collaborative association BSCS has had with NABT. An anniversary, and certainly a 50th, affords an opportunity for reflection. In this editorial I offer some reflections on the history of BSCS, as some of the observations get to the heart of larger issues in science education. I conclude the essay with a contemporary perspective. Beginning at a Board of Directors meeting and the Nobel Laureate geneticist H. J. Muller pounding on a table and asserting that 100 years without Darwin is enough, BSCS has steadfastly defended biological evolution as a central idea of biology and integral to our programs. In recent years I have expressed this theme with the broader idea that BSCS programs must maintain the integrity of science by including evolution and enhancing students' and teachers' understanding of the nature of science. Biological evolution will continue to be central to our programs. Closely related to maintaining the integrity of science, BSCS has continually advocated teaching science as inquiry. During these 50 years the form and function of inquiry in our programs has expanded from emphasis on laboratories designed to help students understand biological concepts, to activities that facilitate the development of cognitive abilities associated with inquiry, e.g., reasoning and critical thinking. BSCS continues to develop programs and provide professional development that emphasizes a narrative of inquiry versus rhetoric of conclusion, as Joe Schwab once characterized BSCS programs versus that of other textbooks. BSCS represents innovation in science education. Being innovative presents any organization with continual intellectual and economic challenges. One must identify the appropriate balance between maintaining the old and advancing the new. The 50 years would indicate stability, most, but not all, of the time. For those associated with BSCS, innovation comes in the form of science content, curricular design, and the professional development of science education leaders. Mostly known for curricular materials and professional development, BSCS as an organization contributes to science education through products and services that address contemporary societal needs, incorporate advances in science, and include the latest research on student learning. Some contributions of BSCS are clear and direct; for instance, we produce programs such as BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach. Other contributions are less clear, but important nonetheless; for example, BSCS staff advises on international, national, state, and district policies, produce publications in journals and books, and deliver presentations on new content and pedagogy at professional meetings, such as NABT. I am confident and proud to state that BSCS has made a difference in science education. There is one innovation that has been more successful than I ever could have imagined. That is the BSCS 5E Instructional Model. We originally developed this instructional model in the late 1980s and included it in most programs since that time. However, the dissemination and success of the model far exceeds the adoption of BSCS programs or implementation in professional development institutes. The BSCS 5E Instructional Model is known internationally, is now included in state frameworks for science AND other disciplines, adapted by other science programs, and widely used in classroom practices. …

On Hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties for Your Science (Not Education) Department

On Hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties for Your Science (Not Education) Department

Avoiding the Issue of Gender in Japanese Science Education

This paper describes how the patriarchal structure of Japanese society and its notions of women, femininity, and gendered stereotypes produced strong cultural barriers to increasing the participation of females in science education. Baseline data on attitudes toward science and the perceptions of gender issues in science education, academic major and career choice were collected from 175 university students (124 female, 51 male). Students responded to a Likert scale that included the option “I don't understand the question”. All respondents took advantage of the option for items related to gender issues. On some items up to 67% of the males responded that they did not understand the question. Females in science choosing this option did not exceed 19%. In Japan, gender is an invisible, pervasive construct that impacts females' participation in science and science education. In other ways, attitudes toward science among Japanese students mirrored those found in the United States and in other countries. Respondents held the most favorable views of science when they were in elementary school and females preferred biology while males preferred the physical sciences. The exception to the Western pattern of liking science and science teachers is that male non-science majors rather than female non-science majors reported poor academic performance in elementary school, declining attitudes in middle school, and they held the most negative attitudes toward their science teacher and science subjects.

Socio‐scientific issues in science education: implications for the professional development of teachers

This paper offers a critique of existing models of continuing professional development (CPD) courses for science teachers in the light of recent thinking about the nature of the subject (in particular, the arguments associated with ‘post‐normal science’) and the challenges presented by the teaching of controversial socio‐scientific issues (especially topics like bio‐technology and genetic modification). An analysis of the outcomes and limitations of an ‘up‐date/top‐down’ kind of CPD is used to argue that future forms of effective CPD must involve teachers in reflecting on the scientific, the social and the pedagogical dimensions to ‘new science’, and the relationships between them in the interests of improved classroom learning.