scholarly journals The Challenge to Educational Reforms during a Global Emergency: The Case of Progressive Science Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (Sp.Issue) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith S. Taber
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
School Science ◽  
Alternative Conceptions ◽  
Good Teaching ◽  
Normal Functioning ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Core Features

This article argues that what is most at risk in schooling during a global pandemic, or other similar broad challenges to normal functioning, are those elements that might be considered the less traditional and so the most progressive. After setting out some general background common to the challenge faced by schools and school teachers, this argument is exemplified through the case of school science education. Two particular aspects are considered: one related to pedagogy (responding to learners’ alternative conceptions or ‘misconceptions’) and one related to curriculum (teaching about the nature of science). These are considered ‘progressive’ features in the sense that they have widely been championed as ways of improving and reforming science education across a wide range of national contexts but can be understood to have faced resistance both in the sense of being opposed by ‘reactionary’ stakeholders and in terms of the level of support for teacher adoption. It is argued that at a time when the education system is placed under extreme stress, such progressive elements are at particular risk as teachers and administrators may view them as ‘extras’ rather than ‘core’ features of practice and/or as reflecting more ‘difficult’ educational objectives that may need to be de-prioritised (and so neglected) for the time being. In that sense, they are fragile aspects of practice that lack the resilience of more established, and thus robust, features. It is concluded that where progressive elements are especially valued, they need to become sufficiently embedded in custom and practice to no longer be viewed as luxuries but rather to be recognised as core elements of good teaching to be protected and maintained during a period of emergency.

METHODS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION OF SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-35
Author(s):  
Олег Петунин ◽  
Oleg Petunin
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Interdisciplinary Communication ◽  
School Science ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Interdisciplinary Integration

<p>The article is devoted to an actual problem of integration of school courses in physics, chemistry, biology, ecology and physical geography. The author analyzes the content of the concept of integration of science education and enumerates the positive effects of its implementation. The article also presents the three levels of the integration: intra-, inter- and transdisciplinary. The author thoroughly describes methods of interdisciplinary integration, stopping on interdisciplinary communication, integrated lessons and integrated courses. The article revealed issues of interdisciplinary integration and suggest ways to overcome them. In conclusion, the author comes to the conclusion that the integration of science education is an urgent 9mki0problem of general education. To date, there are a number of successful solutions for this problem. In this article we have tried to summarize some material on this issue.</p>

Duoethnography: A Polytheoretical Approach to (Re)Storing, (Re)Storying the Meanings That One Gives

2020 ◽  
pp. 396-423
Author(s):  
John Joseph Norris ◽  
Richard D. Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Third Space ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Core ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Feminist Inquiry

This chapter summarizes the advancement of duoethnography throughout its fifteen-year history, employing examples from a variety of topics in education and social justice to provide a wide range of approaches that one may take when conducting a duoethnography. A checklist articulates what its cofounders consider the core elements of duoethnographies, additional features that may or may not be employed and how some studies purporting to be duoethnographies may not be so. The chapter indicates connections between duoethnography and a number of methodological concepts including the third space, the problematics of representation, feminist inquiry, and critical theory using published examples by several duoethnographers.

scholarly journals Behavioral medicine challenges in the shadow of a global pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa T Brooks ◽  
Hannah K Allen ◽  
Louise Thornton ◽  
Tracy Trevorrow
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Health Behavior ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Future Data ◽  
Short And Long Term

Abstract Health behavior researchers should refocus and retool as it becomes increasingly clear that the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic surpass the direct effects of COVID-19 and include unique, drastic, and ubiquitous consequences for health behavior. The circumstances of the pandemic have created a natural experiment, allowing researchers focusing on a wide range of health behaviors and populations with the opportunity to use previously collected and future data to study: (a) changes in health behavior prepandemic and postpandemic, (b) health behavior prevalence and needs amidst the pandemic, and (c) the effects of the pandemic on short- and long-term health behavior. Our field is particularly challenged as we attempt to consider biopsychosocial, political, and environmental factors that affect health and health behavior. These realities, while daunting, should call us to action to refocus and retool our research, prevention, and intervention efforts

scholarly journals Integrating engineering in K-12 science education: spelling out the pedagogical, epistemological, and methodological arguments

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senay Purzer ◽  
Jenny Patricia Quintana-Cifuentes
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
School Science ◽  
School Resources ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Teaching Models ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Stem Literacy ◽  
K 12

AbstractThis position paper is motivated by recent educational reform efforts that urge the integration of engineering in science education. We argue that it is plausible and beneficial to integrate engineering into formal K-12 science education. We illustrate how current literature, though often implicitly, discusses this integration from a pedagogical, epistemological, or methodological argumentative stance. From a pedagogical perspective, a historically dominant argument emphasizes how engineering helps make abstract science concepts more concrete. The epistemological argument is centered on how engineering is inherently interdisciplinary and hence its integrative role in support of scientific literacy and more broadly STEM literacy is natural. From a methodological perspective, arguments focus on the engineering design process, which is compatible with scientific inquiry and adaptable to answering different types of engineering questions. We call for the necessity of spelling out these arguments and call for common language as science and engineering educators form a research-base on the integration of science and engineering. We specifically provide and discuss specific terminology associated with four different models, each effectively used to integrate engineering into school science. We caution educators against a possible direction towards a convergence approach for a specific type of integrating engineering and science. Diversity in teaching models, more accurately represents the nature of engineering but also allows adaptations based on available school resources. Future synthesis can then examine student learning outcomes associated with different teaching models.

scholarly journals The environment and politics in science education: the case of teaching fracking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda Dunlop ◽  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Maria Turkenburg-van Diepen
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Young People ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
School Science ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
High School Science ◽  
Illustrative Case

AbstractHydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’), like other complex social and environmental issues, is a controversy about science which raises educational questions about how best to prepare young people to understand, respond to and, where necessary, act (or not) in response. It raises political questions. We present a state-of-the-art review of research literature on fracking and education using systematic strategies, with a view to finding out how it is framed in educational situations and how politics enters the science classroom. This serves as an illustrative case of how contested scientific and technological interventions with implications for the environment and society are treated in school science. The review is supplemented by interviews with 10 teachers of science and engineering working in schools or colleges near sites of operational exploratory fracking. We find that the research literature on teaching hydraulic fracturing is sparse, with only 25 studies relating to teaching and learning about fracking. Few studies (n = 7) relate to high school education. Where it features in science education, fracking is used as a context for interdisciplinarity and critical thinking, and lends itself to approaches using discussion, dialogue and modelling. Outcomes from fracking education range include knowledge gains and critical thinking. Teachers interviewed tended not to see a place for fracking in the curriculum or in the classroom and were averse to including politics in upper high school science education. Our analysis suggests depoliticization through absence of this specific complex environmental issue from the public (education) sphere, reinforced by the desire for ‘balance’ in high school science education and instrumental approaches to science education which prioritize assessed learning outcomes. Dealing with complex social and environmental issues such as hydraulic fracturing in the years of compulsory science schooling is necessary because scientific knowledge is necessary but not sufficient to prepare young people for the critical scientific literacy required to meet sustainable development goals. There is a need to assess and respond to the educational needs of local communities affected by industrial interventions such as fracking. These findings are likely to be relatable to other issues where there are local and global consequences of action or inaction and where the environment and health are pitted against economic and energy demands.

Voices Inside Schools - Historical Perspective as an Important Element of Teachers' Knowledge: A Sonata-Form Case Study of Equity Issues in a Chemistry Classroom

2000 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Dean Sconiers ◽  
Jerry Lee Rosiek
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
School Science ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Full Detail ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
University Researcher

In this article, middle school science teacher Zachary Sconiers and university researcher Jerry Rosiek introduce the sonata-form case study, a narrative structure designed to document teachers' understandings of how subject matter and sociocultural influences intersect in the classroom. Written in collaboration with the Fresno Science Education Equity Teacher Research Project, this case study is told from the perspective of Jerome Jameson, a fictional chemistry teacher, whose story is based on Sconiers's actual teaching experiences. Also integrated into the narrative are Sconiers's in-depth reflections on the connections between his commitment to science education and his commitment to promoting educational equity. The sonata-form case study is followed by an afterword, written by Rosiek and Sconiers, that describes this unique methodology for teacher inquiry in full detail. The writing process for the case study was extensive and iterative: the two authors worked closely over the course of a year to develop the narrative, with Rosiek taking the lead on revising and editing. With this case study, Sconiers and Rosiek highlight the critical need for a new form of educational research, one that "builds bridges between the discourses of educational excellence and educational equity, as well as between theory and practice."

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