scholarly journals Use of portfolios to correct alternative conceptions and enhance learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-43
Author(s):  
Takawira Kazembe

Forty first-year primary school student teachers at a Teacher Training College in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, participated in an action research study, employing the science student portfolio, during February to July, 2008 . They used the portfolio to record their prior knowledge about the lesson topic, new information learnt during the lesson, and how the new information related to their prior knowledge. Comments on lessons, monthly tests and assignment scores, reflections and a page-long conclusion were also recorded in the portfolio. The monthly test scores improved as the study progressed. Interviews revealed that alternative conceptions emanated from teachers, peers, textbooks, and the failure of students to understand teachers’ explanations. Students’ and administration’s comments revealed stakeholders’ satisfaction with the portfolio’s effectiveness.

Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Kariotoglou ◽  
Dimitris Psillos

This essay is a synthesis of more than twenty years of research, already published, on teaching and learning fluids and pressure. We examine teaching fluids globally, i.e., the content to be taught and its transformations, students’ alternative conceptions and their remediation, the sequence of educational activities, being right for students’ understanding, as well as tasks for evaluating their conceptual evolution. Our samples are junior high school students and primary school student-teachers. This long-term study combines research and development concerning teaching and learning fluids and has evolved through iteratively based design application and reflective feedback related to empirical data. The results of our research include several publications.


Author(s):  
Christiana D. Kumalasari ◽  
Julie A. Caplow ◽  
Nicole Fearing

This research study examines surgical residents’ perception of their learning after participation in a simulation followed by a reflection and feedback session. Eight first-year surgical residents participated in this study. A survey was administered prior their participation in the simulation, and individual interviews were conducted with all participants after the reflection and feedback session. Results of this study indicated that surgical residents make connections between prior knowledge and experiences while engaged in actions during the simulation and upon reflection after the simulation. Also, three areas of perceived learning were identified: (1) dealing with complexity; (2) dealing with distractions; and, (3) improvement of teamwork skills. The residents indicated that they were able to learn new strategies to address these complexities, distractions and improve teamwork for future, similar situations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 601-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Er Nas ◽  
Muammer Çalık

The relevant literature has shown that student teachers hold alternative conceptions of soil erosion. Even though Turkish science student teachers are expected to teach the concept of ‘soil erosion’ in lower secondary schools (grades 5-8), none of the earlier studies have explored their conceptual growth and/or mental models throughout a 4-year undergraduate program. Indeed, science (student) teachers, who play a pivotal role in teaching the sustainability of soil as an environmental heritage, are able to transfer their environmental knowledge and mental models to younger generations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to elicit science student teachers’ (SSTs) understanding of soil erosion. In a cross-age comparison, the sample of the research was comprised of the first-year (n=54), second-year (n=62), third-year (n=60), and fourth-year of a four-year science education program (n=65), a total of 241 SSTs, enrolled at the Department of Science Education in Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey. A questionnaire with 4 open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the majority of the SSTs confused the concept of ‘soil erosion’ with the one ‘landslide’. For this reason, the current research suggests the development of analogies and computer simulations to overcome this confusion. Keywords: conceptual understanding, cross-age, mental model, science student teacher, soil erosion.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muammer Çalık ◽  
Neslihan Ültay ◽  
Ali Kolomuç ◽  
Ayşe Aytar

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of some variables (gender and year of study) on science student teachers' (SSTs) chemistry attitudes. An adapted version of Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire was administered to 983 SSTs drawn from four different universities in the region of Eastern Black Sea, Turkey. Significant differences between genders' mean scores of the CAEQ indicate that the females somewhat develop stronger positive attitudes towards chemistry than do the males. Furthermore, because the first year of the study generally had the highest mean scores of the three subscales of the CAEQ, it can be deduced that tertiary education lacks improving the SSTs' positive chemistry attitudes to a satisfied level and/or a large effect size. Hence, its attitudinal quality should be intimately inquired.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003452372198937
Author(s):  
Caroline Elbra-Ramsay

This paper reports the findings of a small-scale study seeking to investigate how student teachers, within a three-year undergraduate programme, understand feedback. Feedback has been central to debates and discussion in the assessment literature in recent years. Hence, in this paper, feedback is positioned within the often-contradictory discourses of assessment, including perspectives on student and teacher feedback. The study focused on two first year undergraduate student teachers at a small university in England and considered the relationships between their understanding of feedback as a student, their understanding of feedback as an emerging teacher, and the key influences shaping these understandings. A phenomenological case study methodology was employed with interviews as the prime method of data collection. Themes emerged as part of an Nvivo analysis, including emotional responses, relationships and dialogue, all of which appear to have impacted on the students’ conceptual understanding of feedback as indelibly shaped by its interpersonal and affective, rather than purely cognitive or ideational, dimensions. The paper therefore seeks to contribute to the wider feedback discourse by offering an analysis of empirical data. Although situated within English teacher education, there are tentative conclusions that are applicable to international teacher education and as well as higher education more generally.


Author(s):  
Wanda Boyer ◽  
Paul Jerry ◽  
Gwen R. Rempel ◽  
James Sanders

AbstractExplanatory style is based on how one explains good and bad events according to three dimensions: personalization, permanence, and pervasiveness. With an optimistic explanatory style, good events are explained as personal, permanent, and pervasive, whereas bad events are explained as external, temporary, and specific. For counsellors, an optimistic explanatory style creates positive expectancy judgments about the possibilities and opportunities for successful client outcomes. In this research study, we explored the explanatory styles expressed in 400 events (200 good events and 200 bad events) extracted from 38,013 writing samples of first year and final year graduate level counsellors in training. Across the three optimism dimensions and within good and bad events, there was one occurrence of a positive relationship between counsellor training time and the amount of expressed optimism. The implications of this study include the need to cultivate optimistic explanatory styles of counsellors in training and practicing counsellors.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110181
Author(s):  
Sam Sugimoto ◽  
Drew Recker ◽  
Elizabeth E. Halvorson ◽  
Joseph A. Skelton

Background. Many diseases are linked to lifestyle in the United States, yet physicians receive little training in nutrition. Medical students’ prior knowledge of nutrition and cooking is unknown. Objective. To determine incoming medical students’ prior nutrition knowledge, culinary skills, and nutrition habits. Methods. A dual-methods study of first-year medical students. Cross-sectional survey assessing prior knowledge, self-efficacy, and previous education of cooking and nutrition. Interviews of second-year medical students explored cooking and nutrition in greater depth. Results. A total of 142 first-year medical students participated; 16% had taken a nutrition course, with majority (66%) learning outside classroom settings. Students had a mean score of 87% on the Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire versus comparison group (64.9%). Mean cooking and food skills score were lower than comparison scores. Overall, students did not meet guidelines for fiber, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Interviews with second-year students revealed most learned to cook from their families; all believed it important for physicians to have this knowledge. Conclusions. Medical students were knowledgeable about nutrition, but typically self-taught. They were not as confident or skilled in cooking, and mostly learned from their family. They expressed interest in learning more about nutrition and cooking.


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