Science Classroom Practice Research Articles

Digital simulations as a pedagogical tool: How ready are Fiji year‐11 science teachers?

AbstractBackgroundDigital simulations are emerging technologies in science education that allow students to visualise abstract concepts and enable science teachers to conduct laboratory work/experiments online.ObjectiveTo determine teacher readiness, the study focused on their cognitive skills and knowledge and perceptions of the use of digital simulations as a pedagogical tool incorporating an intervention in its research design.MethodsThe theoretical framework of this study combines the modified Technology Acceptance Model with the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Snowball sampling was used to recruit 10 chemistry teachers from secondary schools and a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design was adopted. The data was collected through survey, interview, pre‐test and post‐test results before and after the intervention (training).ResultsScience teachers perceive digital simulations as valuable and easy to use and are ready to use them in future lessons. An increase in cognitive knowledge and skills coupled with a positive mindset was noted after the training. The teachers indicated the need for training and support at all levels to successfully integrate digital simulations in their classrooms. Additionally, parents' engagement to enhance their awareness of such initiatives was deemed crucial for their support.ConclusionsThe study calls for a rethinking and a revision of science curriculum, policies and enhancement of infrastructure/general resources to support technology‐enabled learning, teaching and assessment practices in science classrooms; a continuous professional development program for teachers to keep up with the changing needs of 21st‐century education is imperative.

Demonstrating representational competence through the utilisation of potential disciplinary meanings during scientific explanation construction

ABSTRACT The construction of scientific explanations is considered an important component of scientific practices in science classrooms. When constructing explanations, students utilise multimodal representations to make and convey specific meanings, which are useful in supporting their thinking and learning. The mastery of these recognised functions makes up and signifies representational competence. However, the literature has yet to offer a clear description of the demonstration of representational competence from the perspective that views competency as a goal-oriented meaning-making process that relies on specialised representations. This research took a case study approach and collected data from six first-year undergraduates tasked to construct scientific explanations of phenomena. Using multimodal discourse analysis, we identified sequences of representations that suggest how particular disciplinary meanings were realised. The results showed that students demonstrated representational competence by making available, recognising, and utilising what we termed as potential disciplinary meanings. These meanings acted as a basis with which to construct new meanings that fulfil the explanation. The same potential disciplinary meanings were recognised and utilised to varying extents by different students leading to diverse outcomes. Based on the findings, we discussed the significance of potential disciplinary meanings towards understanding and developing representational competence.

Show and tell: scaffolding practices in lower secondary social science classrooms

ABSTRACT Inquiry and teaching with high levels of student activity are central to social science education, and research has shown the importance of scaffolding and other expressions of supportive structures in teaching (Christensen, 2021; Mathé, 2020). Nevertheless, there have been few studies documenting how actual teaching takes place and whether a teacher’s activities support the work of their students. This article, part of QUINT—Quality in Nordic Teaching, drew on video observations from 16 lower secondary social science classrooms in Denmark and Norway. We began by using the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO; Grossman, 2019) to identify the extent of teacher scaffolding practices. From this, we analysed the scaffolding to understand what kinds can be observed in social science education, with a specific focus on inquiry-based teaching. Although we identified scaffolding in a minority of lesson segments, what we did observe was related to a number of skills and strategies, both generic and specific to social science education. We concluded by identifying the strong potential in developing scaffolding practices related to social science inquiry further, before discussing implications and opportunities based on our findings.

Evaluating Pedagogical Practices in Science Classrooms: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study on Teacher Virtual Professional Development with Virtual Mentoring and Coaching

In this randomized control study, we evaluated science teachers’ pedagogical practices via classroom observations following ongoing, intensive, and structured instructional support sessions. These sessions included virtual professional development (VPD) and virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) that accompanied a literacy-infused science curriculum. Using a low-inference observational instrument, we explored the direct impact of VPD and VMC on fifth-grade science teachers’ observed time allocation in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) validation study. The observations were collected three times during science instruction from 121 teachers in 68 schools from 35 public school districts in the U.S. state of Texas, during the 2017-2018 school year. Preliminary findings revealed pedagogical differences in time allocation among teachers between treatment and control classrooms. We identified improved instructional practices within treatment classrooms, which suggests the intervention had a positive effect by enhancing the quality of pedagogy as well as the content-area instruction in science.

The ideal versus the real: Mismatches in reading instruction for emergent bilinguals in secondary science classrooms

AbstractThe emphasis on language and literacy in science education research has urged science teachers to include reading as an integral part of learning science. However, in US secondary schools, the percentage of students reading under grade level is high, and emergent bilinguals (EBs) are significantly represented among this group. While researchers across disciplines have proposed a number of prescriptive reading practices in science classrooms tightly aligned with instructional standards, few scholars have closely examined the starting point of reading instruction in science classrooms, and even fewer have focused on actual instruction for EBs in these classrooms. This study examines the nature of existing reading practices in science classrooms, with a particular focus on EBs. Using a qualitative multiple case study method, this study found significant mismatches between actual classroom practices and the ideal prescriptions about science reading instruction portrayed in educational standards and research. This study also found that teachers were battling numerous obstacles to implementing research/standards‐based prescriptions. With the implications of science reading instruction for EBs' language and science content learning, this article will contribute to developing reading instruction and practices grounded in real classrooms and improving the instructional environment for reading‐inclusive science classrooms.

Broadening what counts as science: Developing teacher candidates translanguaging stances in their teacher education program towards translingual, multimodal, interdisciplinary and justice-centered elementary science practices

More research is needed to understand how Teacher Candidates (TCs) develop translanguaging stances and shift towards justice-centered science pedagogies. Using interviews and classroom observations, we describe how three elementary TCs drew on learning from their teacher education program to develop translanguaging stances in their science teaching. These stances in turn moved them towards more expansive, multimodal, and interdisciplinary pedagogies. This study offers insight for teachers, teacher educators, and researchers, in increasingly racially and linguistically diverse contexts. It demonstrates how investing in the development of translanguaging stances with teacher candidates can lead to more expansive and justice-oriented practices in elementary science classrooms.

Understanding the Process of Changes in Science Beliefs and Classroom Practices from Immersive Research Experience for Science Teachers

This study explored 8 high school science teachers’ experiences in an 8-week immersive research laboratory professional development program. The aim was to understand their motivation for participating and what factors influenced changes in beliefs about science instructions. Mentor scientists and their lab members hosted teachers for the duration of the program allowing teacher participants to become active members of research. Results showed that participants used three major lenses to understand their research experience: self as educator, self as learner, self as researcher. The use of overlapping lenses provided participants with the impetus to change beliefs about science and research practices in their classrooms. Ample time and collaboration in professional development is critical to changes in beliefs about science instruction.

Blackout Poetry: Eclipsing With Words and Images to Illuminate Ideas.

Integrating literacy practices in science classrooms can help students read complex scientific text, write arguments as part of shared cross-disciplinary practices, and engage with content. In the Linking Science, Mathematics, and Literacy for All Learners program, middle school science, mathematics, ELA, and special education teachers have been implementing multimodal STEM text sets that include a range of texts and scaffolds that support instruction and students' content learning. One of these strategies combines reading and writing in unique and creative ways: poetry writing! Blackout and found poems are accessible approaches to help students focus on key words and ideas in a complex text, pull out those words to work with them, and then reconstruct them into a poem. This approach can be used in a variety of ways, and in some of the examples provided, students include an altered page from a scientific article on which they find their words, black out the rest of the text, and then illustrate the entire document to help show their message.

Asset and deficit discourses of student ideas in science formative assessment co‐design

AbstractThe Framework for K‐12 Science Education set an ambitious goal of broadening participation in science learning for all students. Meeting this vision will involve supporting teachers in making meaningful connections with the cultural and linguistic resources their students bring to school; in essence, developing pedagogies that frame these resources as assets important to learning. In this manuscript, we present a qualitative case study of one community of high school science teachers who participated in a year‐long professional learning focused on formative assessment co‐design related to natural selection. Findings show that the process of formative assessment co‐design surfaced both deficit‐ and asset‐based statements about students' contributions. Teachers were more likely to share deficit‐based statements as compared to facilitators, whose statements were more asset‐based. This was particularly true with reference to students' prior knowledge and linguistic resources. At the same time, our analysis suggests that teachers were more likely to share more asset‐based framings of learners when practicing for and reflecting on enactment of formative assessment tasks. These findings suggest that supportive co‐design environments can encourage teachers to take more asset‐oriented views of learners. We discuss the implications of these findings for professional learning and science classroom practice.

Teacher‐perceived science inquiry‐based instructional practice on student achievement and motivational beliefs in classroom contexts

AbstractA hotly debated topic is the effectiveness of inquiry‐based instructional practice in science classrooms on student achievement and motivation. Numerous studies based on multinational large‐scale education data show such student‐centered instructional practice positively led to students' motivational beliefs but was negatively associated with science achievement. Current literature, however, drew such a conclusion based on the measures of instructional practice from students' perceptions, not teachers, despite teachers being the subject matter experts and actual implementers of classroom activities. Thus, this study examined the relationships between teacher‐perceived instructional practice, science motivational beliefs, and science achievement. Specifically, this study investigated the predictive effects of instructional practices on aggregated student motivational beliefs (i.e., self‐concept, utility value, and intrinsic value) and science achievement in the classroom context. Moreover, the study explored the contextual effects of student motivational beliefs on science achievement. We examined 3861 eighth graders' data nested within 168 science classrooms in the Korean portion of the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that the inquiry‐based instructional approach did not predict science achievement or motivational beliefs at the classroom level. On the other hand, student self‐concept and utility value positively predicted individual achievement, while classroom‐level utility value statistically predicted average classroom achievement. In other words, the significant effect of classroom‐level utility value on achievement was beyond the effect of individual utility value. The unique contributions of the study lie in advancing the science education literature with a fresh reflection on such relationships by using a less examined data source (i.e., teacher perceptions), focusing on the classroom context (i.e., classroom‐level science motivational beliefs and achievement), and situating in an underrepresented country (i.e., Korea) in the literature. The results shed light on the discrepancies in the effectiveness of instructional practice perceived by teachers versus students on desired educational outcomes in a learning context. This study also discusses the practical and methodological implications for instructional and motivational research.

Gaining from Teacher Astronomy Camp: An Investigation of Science Teachers' Content Knowledge and Classroom Practices

Bu çalışmanın amacı, astronomi öğretmen kampının fen bilimleri öğretmenlerinin astronomi alan bilgileri ve sınıf içi uygulamaları üzerine etkilerinin araştırılmasıdır. Astronomi kampları, zengin içerik unsurları ve yoğun öğrenme deneyimleri ile mesleki gelişim fırsatları içerisinde öğretmenlerin öncelikli tercihleri arasındadır. “Penceremde Dünya Var 2” başlıklı kamp ve sonrasındaki izleme süreçlerine uzanan incelemeler, öğretmenlere kazandırılması hedeflenen astronomi bilgi ve kavrayışları ile ilişkili olarak, sınıf içi uygulamalar üzerine kampın potansiyel etkilerini açıklamaktadır. Nicel ve nitel veri toplama yaklaşımlarının kullanıldığı çalışma, kamp katılımcısı 35 fen bilimleri öğretmeni ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Veri toplama sürecinde dört aşamalı bilgi testleri, yansıtıcı değerlendirme formları ve izlemeye dönük görüşmelerden yararlanılmıştır. Sonuçlar, kampın öğretmen astronomi alan bilgisini pozitif yönde anlamlı derecede etkilediğini göstermektedir. Bunun yanı sıra nitel incelemeler, kampın sınıf uygulamalarını desteklemeye dönük etkilerinin, sadece öğretmen alan bilgisi ile sınırlı bir repertuarda gerçekleşmediğini göstermiştir. Nitel veriler, astronomi kamp etkinliklerinin öğretmenlere katkılarının pedagojik alan bilgileri üzerinden sınıf ortamlarına yansıtıldığını destekleyen güçlü kanıtlar sunmaktadır. Araştırma, astronomi kamplarının başta öğretmen bilgi ve kavrayışına etkilerini, sonrasında da sınıf uygulamalarını destekleme potansiyellerini daha geniş bir şekilde tanımlayarak alan yazına katkıda bulunmaktadır.

Suggesting a framework for students’ academic perspective-taking in secondary social science education

Contributing to secondary students’ perspective-taking is one of the main purposes of social science education in school, closely related to the democratic mandate. Previous literature has distinguished between interpersonal and academic perspective-taking, both deriving from theories on social perspective-taking (Gehlbach et al., 2012; Sandahl, 2020). The purpose of this article is to argue for and discuss a framework for facilitating academic perspective-taking in secondary social science education. The framework combines an existing model of perspective-taking with recent deliberative and agonistic democratic theory to integrate disciplinary perspectives, students’ per­spectives and perspectives from broader social and political debates and processes. In presenting the framework, I argue that and discuss how perspectives from deliberative and agonistic theory can contribute to and have different implications for social science classroom practice in secondary school. To contribute with practical implications of the article’s theoretical contributions to social science didactics research, I outline some didactic opportunities for working with perspective-taking, focusing on the specific purpose of the activity.

Usages pédagogiques de pratiques numériques translangagières dans les classes de sciences

Le projet franco-canadien « Enseigner les sciences aux élèves plurilingues1 » (ESCAPE), financé par le CRSH (Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada) de 2020 à 2022, que l’on retrouve sous l’acronyme BINOGI/ESCAPE, est une interface numérique2 conçue par l’entreprise suédoise BINOGI. Elle propose des ressources (vidéos et quiz) multilingues en sciences et en mathématiques pour des élèves de 11 à 14 ans. Nos objectifs de recherche sont d’étudier les usages pédagogiques à partir de cette plateforme numérique favorisant des pratiques translangagières en classe de sciences en France. Les résultats doivent permettre de mieux comprendre les pratiques numériques translangues que les enseignants s’approprient. Cet article contribue à la réflexion à propos du développement de pratiques d’enseignement innovantes qui tiennent compte de la diversité linguistique à l’école.

Students' Insights from Interactive Visualizations Arranged Multimodally in Knowledge Visualizations

In this study, a visual analytics application is put into practice in Swedish secondary school social science classrooms. The application offers support to analyse vast amounts of data through interactive data visualizations. Previous studies have demonstrated that the visual interactive interface challenges the traditional practice in school, where students usually demonstrate their knowledge by means of written texts. Thus, this study examines what happens if students work with more malleable, adaptable, or fluid modes when attempting to express their conclusions from work with interactive data visualizations. It aims to detect patterns in how knowledge visualizations are produced and arranged multimodally. Inspired by design-based research, the study conducted two classroom interventions followed by video captures. It employed a socio-material semiotic approach, which enables the study of interactions between both social and material actors. Three patterns emerged when students’ insights were translated into knowledge visualizations – exploring, gathering, and inserting. It became obvious how different actors taking part of such a digital multimodal writing activity affect and change every actor/everyone/everything, which in turn transfers, relocalizes, reformulates, and re-presents the communicated message. Knowing how knowledge visualizations are produced might strengthen students’ visual abilities when transforming insights multimodally.

Multilevel Multiple-Group Latent Profile Analysis of Instructional Practices in Science: Cross-national Comparison between Korea and Japan

이 연구에서는 Morin et al. (2016)에서 제시한 다집단 잠재 프로파일 접근법을 다층 모형으로 확장하고, 이를 실제 자료에 적용해보는 데 목적이 있다. 이 연구에서는 과학 수업 방식에 대한 학생들의 인식 유형을 구분하고 국가 간 비교하기 위하여, PISA 2015의 한국, 일본 자료를 활용하였다. 이를 위해 다층 다집단 잠재 프로파일 분석(MMLPA)을 7단계로 나누어 실시하였으며, 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 이 연구에서는 PISA 2015 예시 자료를 활용한 다층 자료 분석 시, 다층 잠재 프로파일이 단수준 잠재 프로파일보다 적합한 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 두 번째와 세 번째 단계에서는 한국과 일본에서 다층 잠재 프로파일의 형태적 및 구조적 유사성이 충족되었으며 두 국가에서 가장 적합한 모형은 4개 잠재 프로파일로 나타났다. 이후, 4~7단계에서는 잠재 프로파일의 분산 및 분포, 예측변수와의 관계, 평균이 두 국가 간 동일한 지 살펴봄으로써, 잠재 프로파일 특성의 차이가 국가의 맥락에서 해석될 수 있는지를 확인하였다. 이 연구는 학생이 학교에 내재한 다층 자료의 특성을 반영한 잠재 프로파일을 도출하고, 이를 활용하여 국가 간 다층 잠재 프로파일의 특성을 비교할 수 있는 접근을 제안하였다는 점에서 의의가 있다.This study aims to extend the multi-group latent profile approach proposed by Morin et al. (2016) to a multilevel context and to provide an illustration with real-world data. Specifically, multilevel multiple-group latent profile analysis (MMLPA) models were fitted following seven steps to classify students according to their perception of instructional practices in science classrooms and to compare the latent profiles of two countries using Korean and Japanese data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. The results are as follows. First, multilevel latent profile analysis models fit better than single-level models. Second, configurational and structural similarity were satisfied for both countries in the second and third steps, and the four-profile solution had the best fit. Third, the means, variances, and distributions of latent profiles and their relationships to the predictors were similar for both countries, indicating that the differences across latent profiles could be attributed to the educational context of each country. The study results show that MMLPA can provide latent profile probabilities accounting for clustered data where students are nested within a school, enabling the international comparison of the characteristics of latent profiles for Korea and Japan.

Translanguaging as Inclusive Pedagogical Practices in English-Medium Instruction Science and Mathematics Classrooms for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

AbstractIn English-medium instruction (EMI), English-as-a-second-language students will learn all/some subjects through English. Although there are a considerable number of studies which explore classroom interaction in Hong Kong (HK) secondary EMI schools, few studies have investigated EMI lessons which involve South Asian ethnic minorised students. These students share different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and they may not share a common first language with the teacher and other classmates. This study conducts a multimodal conversation analysis of science and mathematics lessons at a HK EMI secondary school, triangulated with interview data, in order to explore how the EMI teacher mobilises various resources to make discipline-specific knowledge accessible and cater for the different needs of all students in the classroom. This study argues that the process of enacting inclusive practices is a process of translanguaging which requires the EMI teacher to mobilise various available multilingual and semiotic resources and draw on what students know collectively for transcending cultural boundaries from the students’ everyday culture to cultures of school science and mathematics.

The Effect of Research Evidence-Based Teaching Practices in Science Classrooms on Student Teachers' Attitudes towards Educational Research

Research in the field of education plays a pivotal role in developing evidence-based practices in teaching and improving the quality of education. However, research conducted in recent years has highlighted the unwillingness of teachers to benefit from scientific studies. This study set out to assess whether Research Evidence-Based Practices in Science Teaching (EBPST) influences the teaching practices of student teachers and their attitudes towards education research. Mixed methods research design was used in this study. The study was conducted through Quasi-experimental methods and focus group interviews. The data were collected with the "Teachers Attitude Scale towards Educational Research (TASTER)" and focus group interviews. Participants of the study included 106 third-year undergraduate student teachers. The experimental group applied EBPST during their teaching, while the control group applied existing traditional teaching at primary schools. The Quantitative findings showed that student teachers in the experimental group had significantly increased positive attitudes towards educational research when compared with student teachers in the control group. In addition, qualitative findings revealed that several factors negatively and positively influence the understanding and use of educational research for student teachers on the applicability of EBPST. Considering the results of this study, student teachers' EBPST effect on improving their attitudes, understanding, and the use of educational research in teaching.

‘I loved exploring a new dimension of reality’ – a case study of middle-school girls encountering Einsteinian physics in the classroom

ABSTRACT In recent years, the science education research community has become increasingly interested in the learning domain of Einsteinian physics (EP). While the literature has provided accounts of how EP education can impact secondary and undergraduate students’ attitudes and engagement with physics, we still lack such research with younger students. This exploratory case study addresses this need and adds to our knowledge of how middle-school girls’ experience EP in the classroom. We report on an EP programme run with 39 girls (14–15 years) in an independent day and boarding school in Australia. Based on a phenomenographic analysis of focus group interviews and open-ended questionnaires, we document the range of students’ experiences of EP. The analysis revealed three categories of description that correspond to a personal, scientific, and holistic way of experiencing EP. These experiences influence the girls’ perception of and orientation to physics by increasing interest in physics, challenging traditional stereotypes, and showing future possibilities such as career paths in science. Our findings inform a discussion about improving instructional practices in science classrooms to realise the full potential of EP education. Furthermore, our study adds to a growing body of research that aims to foster middle-school girls’ interest in physics.

Supporting Student Science Writing: Beyond Unreflective Macroscaffolds

Literacy practices in science classrooms have been traditionally limited to the provision of macroscaffolds (writing templates like Question-Hypothesis-Methodology-Results). This paper explores the allowances and shortcomings of such practice by means of a systematic examination of a corpus of lab reports written by two small groups of college students taught to write scientifically through a macroscaffold-based approach. Despite reporting the same experience and being supported by the same macroscaffold, students’ science writing differed in important ways. Group A’s impersonal inferences expressed social detachment and objectivity (students positioned themselves as distant and objective knowledge producers), whereas Group B adopted a position of social closeness and subjectivity more typical of personal genres (e.g., personal diaries). Atypical of what is expected of science writers, Group B’s personal inferences was taken as indicative of an alternative conception of what it meant to scientifically infer from one’s empirical observations. Such a different style pointed to the possibility of some students holding alternative conceptions about what it means to scientifically infer from one’s empirical observations. It is argued that, although macroscaffolding may be a helpful starting point, students need additional guidance on specific linguistic aspects of science writing, and possibly engage in genre-based literacy activities.

A Survey of Science Teachers’ Perception and Practices in Inclusive Science Classrooms

Abstract This paper reports on a first study about Singapore primary science teachers’ views and practices in inclusive science classrooms. Rasch analysis was performed on an online teacher survey administered to 108 teachers, which was conducted to investigate teachers’ views about students with special education needs (SEN; Construct A), self-efficacy views in teaching students with SEN (Construct B), and their science teaching practices in inclusive classrooms (Construct C). The findings show that it was generally easy for the science teachers to agree with items in Constructs B and C, but not in Construct A. A closer examination of the individual constructs revealed positive teachers’ views, their feelings of inadequacy and wish for greater school support, and selected types of accommodations and modifications practiced in their classrooms. This study contributes new insights drawn from an Asian study, offers a validated instrument, and provides science teacher educators ideas for supporting science teachers in inclusive science teaching.