Middle School Science Teachers Research Articles

The student hat in professional development: Building epistemic empathy to support teacher learning

AbstractProfessional development (PD) can support science teachers to learn about instructional reforms, but more work needs to be done on broadening our understanding of how specific PD activities support teacher learning. One understudied PD activity is the student hat: when teachers engage in student learning activities while considering ideas, language, and feelings students might have to build their empathy for how student experience reform instruction. Little is known about if and how student hat activities support teacher learning. I conducted a single embedded case study of a 2.5‐day PD for middle school science teachers using the OpenSciEd curriculum. I interviewed 12 participants to understand how they perceived the student hat activities and analyzed 36 hours of PD video, focusing specifically on moments in which participants struggled to act in student hat, to gain insights on how it helped them to learn. Teachers found student hat difficult, but it helped them better understand science ideas, their students, and the instructional approach. These learning outcomes likely occurred because of two mechanisms: creating a safe environment to be wrong and building epistemic empathy with students. By allowing teachers to feel safe expressing confusion with content ideas, the student hat helped teachers to build their science understanding. Developing teachers' epistemic empathy for students helped them to understand how students might think and feel while engaging in reform instruction.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Online Professional Development for Rural Middle-School Science Teachers

ABSTRACT In rural, geographically dispersed school districts, access to high-quality face-to-face professional development (PD) is challenging. Our study developed and compared the effectiveness of an online PD for middle-school science teachers working in remote, rural areas of Kansas with an evidence-based traditional face-to-face PD with the goal of supporting change in teachers’ conceptual understanding and self-efficacy in utilizing Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), change in instructional practices, and overall student content learning. Fifteen rural middle-school science teacher participants were randomly selected to participate in the online or traditional PD, then taught the Toward High School Biology curriculum to their 504 middle-school students. Findings aligned with our hypothesis that online PD is as effective as traditional in improving student content knowledge related to the curriculum. Teachers’ instructional practices in using Next Generation Science Standards improved, as did their use of student-centered instruction and making science relevant to the lives of their students. Our study supports the importance of designing PD that effectively and economically brings teachers in isolated and diverse rural communities together.

중학교 과학 수업에서 학생 행위주체성 발현을 위한 문제중심학습 활용 프로그램 개발 및 적용

Objectives The purpose of this study is to develop a program using problem-based learning to express student agency in middle school science classes and to verify the effectiveness of the program by applying it to science classes in the third grade of middle school.
 Methods Among the existing models of problem-based learning, the program was developed using the model of IMSA, and the validity of the program was reviewed by six incumbent science teachers with more than five years of educational experience. The developed program was applied to 180 third grade students at S Middle School in I City in December 2022, a pre-post test using tools to measure student agency for middle and high school students and class satisfaction survey were conducted on 135 students who agreed to participate in this study and participated in both the pre- and post-test in questionnaires. In order to analyze the results of the survey using the tools to measure student agency, a paired t-test was conducted using SPSS 12.0. In addition, the course was recorded to understand the meaning of the survey results in detail, and various data such as small group activity papers, student output, course-based evaluation data, and researchers' observation journals were used as auxiliary data. In addition, a class satisfaction survey was conducted to confirm the perception of the classes of students who participated in the program, In order to understand students' perceptions of the class in depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted after class, and the transcribed data were analyzed by recording them.
 Results A total of six classes were developed and applied to students, and their effectiveness was verified. As a result of paired t-test for survey using the tools to measure student agency, there was statistically significant differnece between the pre- test and the post-test in both total student agency and their 3 sub-domains. In addition, it was confirmed that the components of student agency, such as a sense of purpose, reflective behavior, investment of time and effort, and responsibility, appeared in the course of the class. In addition, the average of the class satisfaction survey was high at 4.13. And it was confirmed that the perception of the class was positive through semi-structured interviews conducted after class.
 Conclusions The program using problem-based learning for the expression of student agency developed in this study is effective in expressing student agency, and students' perception of the class is positive. Therefore, this study is expected to help middle school science teachers in the field who are considering designing the class support the expression of student agency, and to provide students who experience this program an opportunity to learn whole middle school science concepts.

Integrating historical cases in middle school science curriculum: Copernican revolution and the solar system

Research shows that middle school science teachers in the United States rarely integrate history of science or historical cases in their lessons (Hottecke & Allchin, 2020). History of science plays a great role in building robust foundational knowledge in science disciplines, especially in the hearts of middle school students. This article describes a step-by-step teaching technique on how to integrate historical cases in middle school science lessons. In this paper, the author used a historical case of Copernican revolution and the solar system as an illustration to demonstrate how middle school science teachers could effectively explain scientific concepts to their students through historical perspectives.

Middle School Science and Mathematics Teachers' Views on Science-Mathematics Integration

This study was conducted to determine the opinions of middle school science and mathematics teachers about science-mathematics integration. A total of 38 teachers (19 science teachers, 19 math teachers) participated in this qualitative research. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. The data were evaluated with descriptive and content analysis in qualitative analysis. While all of the science teachers included in the study thought that integration was necessary, mathematics teachers expressed different opinions. While the teachers had different definitions of integration, it was determined that they generally exchanged ideas with the other branch teachers. It was determined that the most course needed integration for mathematics teachers was the Turkish and the mathematics for science teachers. According to teachers, the most important advantage of integration is that it increases student course success. As a result; although science and mathematics teachers have heard about the integration of science and mathematics, they do not have sufficient knowledge and application. For this reason, it is recommended that teachers of both branches should be informed about science-mathematics integration and integrate them into their lessons.

Incorporating investigations of environmental racism into middle school science

AbstractTo promote a justice‐oriented approach to science education, we formed a research‐practice partnership between middle school science teachers, their students, curriculum designers, learning scientists, and experts in social justice to co‐design and test an environmental justice unit for middle school instruction. We examine teacher perspectives on the challenges and possibilities of integrating social justice into their standards‐aligned science teaching as they participate in co‐design and teach the unit. The unit supports students to investigate racially disparate rates of asthma in their community by examining pollution maps and historical redlining maps. We analyze interviews and co‐design artifacts from two teachers who participated in the co‐design and taught the unit in their classrooms. Our findings point to the benefits of a shared pedagogical framework and an initial unit featuring local historical content to structure co‐design. Findings also reveal that teachers can share similar goals for empowering students to use science knowledge for civic action while framing the local socio‐political factors contributing to the injustice differently, due in part to different institutional supports and constraints. Student interviews and a pre/postassessment illustrate how the unit facilitated students' progress in connecting socio‐political and science ideas to explain the impacts of particulate matter pollution and who is impacted most. Analyses illuminate how teachers' pedagogical choices may influence whether and how students discuss the impact of systemic racism in their explanations. The findings inform refinement of the unit and suggest supports needed for co‐design partnerships focused on integrating social justice and science.

Future of the Lebanese Middle School Science Teaching Methods: The Importance of Teacher’s Shifting from Passive Learning to More Active Learning in Science Classes

This study evaluated the importance of integrating active learning techniques in to Lebanese middle school science classes. It examined the effect of this modification on students' academic performance and social development .The researcher collected data by using mixed method approach referred to as sequential explanatory design where the research collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data was collected by distributing questionnaire developed based on 5 point Likert- scale to a non-probability convenience sample (N=50) of science teachers and the qualitative data was collected by performing an online interview with four middle school science teachers. The researcher used Statistical Package for the social sciences program (SPSS) to analyze quantitative data and to answer the studied hypothesis and problematic by using three tests (a) one sample T-test, (b) one way Manova test, and (c) correlation test. The interview data was analyzed qualitatively .The findings of this study showed that (a) there is a significant importance for teachers’ shifting from passive learning to more active learning in Lebanese middle school science classes, (b) Lebanese middle school science teachers are modifying their teaching methods in their classes to improve students' academic performance and social development, and (c) there is a significant effect of the teaching methods modification on students' academic performance and social development based on the Lebanese middle school teachers' perspective.

Analysis of Middle School Science Teachers' Process of Designing and Implementing Process-based Assessments

Analysis of Middle School Science Teachers' Process of Designing and Implementing Process-based Assessments

Modeling preservice middle school science teachers’ reflective practice

Modeling preservice middle school science teachers’ reflective practice

Scaffolding with Peer Tutoring in the Teacher's Perspective: Could Its Implementation in Learning Programs Improve Scientific Communication Skills and HOTS

This essay's purpose is to provide a summary the perceptions of science teachers towards scaffolding learning programs with peer tutoring in improving scientific communication skills and HOTS. This research was conducted in the province of Lampung, Indonesia, involving 74 middle school science teacher respondents. A mixed method with a sequential explanatory design was used for the study. Data were collected through interviews and surveys, and descriptive analysis was used to analyse the results. The survey findings indicate that science instructors have a favourable opinion of using scaffolding in conjunction with peer tutoring. The analysis's findings indicate that most instructors have not used peer tutoring and scaffolding in the classroom to help students advance from their current competencies to potential competencies. In addition, teachers also have not implemented scaffolding learning programs with peer tutoring.

Task design for online learning: the case of middle school mathematics and science teachers

IntroductionTeachers' task design in the context of online learning has been little researched by educational researchers. The current research examines the task design of science or mathematics teachers in the context of distance education based on the didactical situation theory and, in particular, situation types.MethodsFourteen teachers participated in the current study. They were interviewed regarding the situation types that they used to design online tasks. We used both deductive and inductive methods to analyze the transcribed interviews.ResultsThe research findings showed that the teachers utilized different categories of the situation types. Moreover, the teachers utilized three types of reference as follows: the institution, the individual, and the tool. The participating mathematics and science teachers attempted to integrate argumentation into their designed tasks. Furthermore, the situation of communication was designed by the participating teachers to enable the interaction between and inside different agents of online education (students, teachers, and parents) while utilizing different communicational channels (mobile social networks, Zoom rooms, Zoom sessions, student's homes, and Google Classroom). The teachers designed situations of action to address the various aspects of learning, namely, the cognitive, social, affective, and psychological aspects.DiscussionWe argue that the design of online tasks could utilize the didactical situation of action, where the online students are requested to reflect critically on the online tasks. We recommend that teachers request reflection and feedback from their students regarding the tasks that they design for online learning.

Interactive video’s urgency on guided inquiry laboratory to improve integrated science process skills

There are various obstacles to practice integrated science process skills of students through guided inquiry laboratory learning. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the results of the analysis phase on the ADDIE product development method, which forms the basis for the need for interactive videos in guided inquiry laboratory learning to improve integrated science process skills. The analytical procedures used were identifying gaps in the performance of students' integrated science process skills, identifying the cause, collecting infrastructure information, and determining appropriate products. Data was collected through tests and questionnaires from 42 students and 7 middle school science teachers in West Java. The results show that students' integrated science process skills are low. The cause is the rare provision of learning that facilitates students to design experiments. Students need more intensive guidance, but teachers have limitations in facilitating all the difficulties students face when designing and conducting experiments. Based on the results of an analysis of student characteristics, teacher difficulties, and availability of infrastructure, the interactive video in guided inquiry laboratory learning is suitable for addressing issues of readiness, time management, and difficulties in guiding students so it is hoped that integrated science process skills can improve.

Exploring Middle School Science Teachers’ Error-Reaction Patterns by Classroom Discourse Analysis

Exploring Middle School Science Teachers’ Error-Reaction Patterns by Classroom Discourse Analysis

물질의 상태 분류에 대한 과학교사와 머신러닝 모델의 분류 결과의 비교 분석

Objectives This study compares and analyzes state classification results of matter between developed machine learning model and research participants who are elementary and middle school science teachers, identifies the cause of the situation in which classification results are inconsistent. And based on the results, we tried to find educational implications that can help learn state classification of matter.
 Methods For 31 elementary and middle school science teachers enrolled in the Graduate School of Education at the College of Education located in the central region, matter classification activities were performed and a decision tree algorithm was applied to the machine learning model. And the effectiveness of the program was confirmed through model performance evaluation such as accuracy, F1-score, precision, recall.
 Results The classification accuracy of developed machine learning model for classifying state of matter was 0.820, the F1-score was 0.820, the precision was 0.826 and the recall was 0.820. In addition, the degree of discrepancy between the classification results of science teachers and the classification results of the decision tree algorithm was larger in heterogeneous mixtures than in pure matters or homogeneous mixtures. This discrepancy was analyzed as a phenomenon that occurs because science teachers do not consistently apply the classification criteria from the macroscopic and microscopic perspectives or do have the concept that a specific matter is a specific state in advance when classifying the state of matter. Based on the results of these studies, the cause of confusion revealed in the process of classifying the state of matter pointed out in previous studies was found.
 Conclusions Based on the research results, it was possible to find the cause of confusion revealed in the process of classifying the state of matter of students pointed out in previous studies, and since machine learning can be an effective tool for diagnosing learning conditions, it is suggested that teacher training is needed to utilize it.

물질의 상태 분류에 대한 머신러닝 기반 교사교육 프로그램의 교육적 효과

Objectives In this study, a machine learning-based teacher education program for classifying the state of matter was developed and implemented for elementary and secondary science teachers and machine learning model for state classification of matter was established. And by analyzing the model evaluation and the experience of science teachers qualitatively, it was attempted to confirm the effectiveness of the program and the perception of science teachers about the application of machine learning to science classes.
 Methods For 31 elementary and middle school science teachers enrolled in the Graduate School of Education at the College of Education located in the central region, a total of three matter classification activities were performed and a decision tree algorithm was applied to the machine learning model. And the effectiveness of the program was confirmed through model performance evaluation such as accuracy and F1-score. In addition, we qualitatively analyzed the thoughts of science teachers on the application of machine learning.
 Results TAs a result of evaluating the performance of the built model during a total of 3 state of matter classification activities, it was determined that the accuracy and F1-score values increased statically, resulting in the educational effect of the Machine Learning-Based Teacher Education Program on the Classifying State of Matter. And as a result of analyzing the data of the study participants, it was revealed that there are cases in which the states of matter are classified through a deductive thinking process based on knowledge. As a result of comparing evaluation indicators of the machine learning models, the macroscopic classification criteria had a greater effect than the microscopic classification criteria. And when the classification results between the machine learning model and the research participants for various examples were compared, in the case of mixtures, the degree of inconsistency increased. In addition, through qualitative research analysis, the thoughts of science teachers on the application of machine learning were derived into nine topics, including ‘experience the process of creating science concepts’, ‘cognitive conflict’, and ‘communication’.
 Conclusions Machine learning should be actively introduced into teacher education as an inquiry-learning method of science education. And educational materials such as textbooks that can properly reflect scientific reasoning processes such as inductive thinking should be developed based on machine learning-based education programs. And it is necessary to discuss from a scientific point of view whether mixtures should be included in the learning of Classifying State of Matter.

Examination of the Views of Science Teachers Trained in a Project on Socioscientific Issues

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) have a scientific basis, have a dilemma in their nature and are often discussed under political and social influences. Teachers perceive SSIs as a difficult subject to teach. This project was carried out to guide teachers in overcoming this difficulty and to enable them to include practices that they can adapt more easily to their lessons. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the views of science teachers on the teaching of SSIs and the project carried out within the scope of a funding project for teaching SSIs. The study was designed according to a single-group pre-test post-test experimental design. The study group the study comprises teachers from different branches of science (15 middle school science teachers, four biology teachers, three physics teachers and two chemistry teachers) from various provinces of Türkiye. As the data collection tools of the study, the Project Participation Form, the Scale of Views on Teaching Socioscientific Issues, the Know-Want-Learn Form and the Project Evaluation Form were used. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were used together in the evaluation of the data. Because of the study, the implemented project activities contributed to the development of the participants’ views on the teaching of SSIs and caused a positive development in their views on the project. Suggestions were made considering the results of the project so that guidance could be provided for teachers and teacher educators.

Toward a debugging pedagogy: helping students learn to get unstuck with physical computing systems

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how a middle school science teacher, new to programming, supports students in learning to debug physical computing systems consisting of programmable sensors and data displays.Design/methodology/approachThis case study draws on data collected during an inquiry-oriented instructional unit in which students learn to collect, display and interpret data from their surrounding environment by wiring and programming a physical computing system. Using interaction analysis, the authors analyzed video recordings of one teacher’s (Gabrielle) pedagogical moves as she supported students in debugging their systems as they drew upon a variety of embodied, material and social resources.FindingsThis study presents Gabrielle’s debugging interactional grammar, highlighting the pedagogical possibilities for supporting students in systematic ways, providing affective support (e.g. showing them care and encouragement) and positioning herself as a learner with the students. Gabrielle’s practice, and therefore her pedagogy, has the potential to support students in becoming better debuggers on their own in the future.Originality/valueWhile much of the prior work on learning to debug focuses on learner actions and possible errors, this case focuses on an educator’s debugging pedagogy centered on the educator debugging with the learners. This case study illustrates the need for educators to exhibit deft facilitation, vulnerability and orchestration skills to support student development of their own process for and agency in debugging.

Readiness of Middle School Science Teachers in Implementing Kurikulum Merdeka: A Case of Public School in Sidoarjo

Readiness of Middle School Science Teachers in Implementing Kurikulum Merdeka: A Case of Public School in Sidoarjo

Readiness of Middle School Science Teachers in Implementing Kurikulum Merdeka: A Case of Public School in Sidoarjo

Readiness of Middle School Science Teachers in Implementing Kurikulum Merdeka: A Case of Public School in Sidoarjo

Project-Based Unit Development by Middle School Science Teachers: Investigations on Watershed Water Quality

This case study explored changes in seven in-service middle school science teachers’ understandings of project-based learning (PBL) environments after participating in a summer institute on PBL. Of particular interest was their participation in the institute as learners in a PBL unit exploring the effect of land use on water quality in the watershed. We investigated how well teachers were able to apply their understanding of PBL as they designed their own units on water quality in their watershed. Research questions focused the study on how participation in a summer teacher institute on PBL prepared middle school teachers to describe key features of project-based learning environments, and how well they were able to incorporate these features in PBL units. Data collection included a qualitative pre/post PBL survey, teachers’ watershed units, and field notes from the institute. Findings from the pre and post survey showed that teachers demonstrated a vague understanding of essential features of PBL environments pre institute and a detailed understanding of PBL post institute. Teachers’ units varied in the degrees to which PBL features were exhibited. Strengths of the units included driving questions and benchmark lessons. Shortcomings included few opportunities for student-directed investigation of sub-driving questions.