scholarly journals Bringing Māori concepts into school science: NCEA

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
Georgina Tuari Stewart ◽  
Angelo Tedoldi

This commentary article discusses the inclusion of Māori knowledge in senior school science in the context of some new senior school science qualifications that are currently being trialled. These proposals raise challenging questions and are provoking intense debates among secondary science teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand. We introduce the proposals and their rationale and summarise the main objections raised by science teachers. We focus on three specific Māori concepts used in the proposals and comment on the possibilities.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-252
Author(s):  
Disan Kuteesa

The study was an investigation of the Knowing Process of rural secondary science teachers in Uganda. The problem of the study was the poor performance of students in sciences in the rural secondary schools in Ugandan Certificate Examinations (UCE). The central point was to find out the beliefs of the rural secondary science teachers about how the educators come to know anything. A non-experimental research design was employed in the study. The research was carried using a purposive sampling technique. Regarding data collection, the researcher administered fifty (50) questionnaires to fifty (50) teachers; interviewed ten teachers and carried out classroom observations often live lessons. The findings of the study revealed that teacher’s conceptions about the mode of knowing to fall under three sources of knowledge, namely, authority, sense-perceptual experience, and reason. It was clear that teachers assume that learners do not have knowledge; hence the Bucket theory of mind is central in their teaching-learning process. Many teachers appeared to do things the way they were taught; in other words, a number of rural science teachers tended to be doing activities whose underlying assumptions they were not clear of. A functional approach to the teaching of Philosophy in Educational programs is recommended.


1970 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Oscarsson ◽  
Anders Jidesjö ◽  
Helge Strömdahl ◽  
Karl-Göran Karlsson

This article presents comparisons concerned with secondary school science teachers’ and their students’ beliefs about science and technology and also what science content secondary science teachers teach and what their students want to learn. Student data are part of the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) study and the teacher data are part of an extensive study carried out only in Sweden. The results indicate that both secondary science teachers and their students are optimistic about science and technology as essential parts of societal development. When content from these knowledge fields is considered for instruction, significant disparities exist between what teachers teach and what their students want to learn. Additional results concerning the secondary science teachers’ beliefs, ‘out-ofschool experiences’, ‘Science Technology and Society’ (STS) approaches and ‘inquiry-based instruction’ are pointed out as important for the development of science instruction in secondary schools. The results are discussed in the contexts of students’ voices and teachers’ beliefs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7963
Author(s):  
Michiel van Harskamp ◽  
Marie-Christine P. J. Knippels ◽  
Wouter R. van Joolingen

Environmental Citizenship (EC) is a promising aim for science education. EC enables people not only to responsibly make decisions on sustainability issues—such as use of renewable energy sources—but also to take action individually and collectively. However, studies show that education for EC is challenging. Because our understanding of EC practice remains limited, an in-depth, qualitative view would help us better understand how to support science teachers during EC education. This study aims to describe current EC education practices. What do secondary science teachers think sustainability and citizenship entail? What are their experiences (both positive and negative) with education for EC? A total of 41 Dutch science teachers were interviewed in an individual, face-to-face setting. Analysis of the coded transcripts shows that most teachers see the added value of EC but struggle to fully implement it in their teaching. They think the curriculum is unsuitable to reach EC, and they see activities such as guiding discussions and opinion forming as challenging. Furthermore, science teachers’ interpretation of citizenship education remains narrow, thus making it unlikely that their lessons are successful in fostering EC. Improving EC education therefore may be supported by explicit representation in the curriculum and teacher professional development directed at its implementation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 550-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjin Vikki Bo ◽  
Gavin W. Fulmer ◽  
Christine Kim-Eng Lee ◽  
Victor Der-Thanq Chen

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